Blacon is next to the Welsh border, on a hill one mile north-west of and overlooking Chester. The village is built on what was previously farmland and is surrounded by open countryside. Blacon has views across to the city centre of Chester and to the Welsh hills twenty miles to the west. Other nearby places include Upton-by-Chester to the north, Saughall and Mollington to the north-west, Newtown to the north-east and the border town of Saltney to the south. Blacon also has a close proximity to the Wirral, being 6.5 miles from the village of Overpool.[3]
History
North Blacon (Blacon Hall)
The Parade Shops in Blacon
Blacon was originally known as Blakon Hill and was owned by the Marquess of Crewe.[4] The Parish of Blacon cum Crabwall was formed in 1923, and on 1 April 1936, under the Cheshire County Review Order, 1936, most of the parish was transferred to Chester County Borough.[5]
It was a small farming village community until major building work by Chester City Council began in the early 1950s. Most of the older and original estate, was built in the ten years to 1960; though further parts were added on the old army camp site in South Blacon, in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. 'The Parade' Shops, built in 1954 in north Blacon, are an example of Chester City Council building. In 2015, the Parade Enterprise Centre opened, a joint venture between Avenue Services and Cheshire West and Chester Council. The Parade Enterprise Centre houses Sanctuary Housing, Blacon Library, as well as a community hall and various other offices for local businesses.
Blacon Camp (Blacon Lodge)
The British Army[6] maintained an army camp in south Blacon, from just before, to just after, the Second World War. A mixture of wooden and 'Nissen' huts were occupied by soldiers until the late 1950s; and the army firing range was still in evidence until the Chester City Council 'tower block' buildings of the mid-1960s. Blacon Camp housed various military operations, containing aircraft and war prisoners at the time. This part of (South) Blacon is referred to as 'The Camp' by local residents.
Community initiatives
The Blacon Together Pathfinder was established in 2001 as part of the first round of Pathfinders[7] and subsequently the Blacon community took part in many initiatives, led by the government's Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme,[8] and a number of projects have been established by, and for, Blacon residents.[9]
Progress to improve the estate continues apace, with work done by the Blacon Community Trust[10] in partnership with the Chester and District Housing Trust forming 'The Blacon Alliance'.
There are several places of worship in Blacon to cater for Christian and Islamic faiths. Holy Trinity-Without-The-Walls is the Church of England parish church. St Theresa's is the Roman Catholic Church, erected in 1959 with the support of the local Catholic Community; it is associated with a primary school of the same name and which is located behind the church. The primary school was formed by the combination of the former Our Lady of Mount Carmel Middle School and St Theresa's Junior School which was situated on Blacon Point Road. The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses is on Melbourne Road. There is a Shah Jalal Mosque on Clifton Drive to the south of the suburb.
Blacon Cemetery
Blacon Cemetery was laid out in 1940, during the Second World War, when two plots, in Sections A and H, were set aside for service burials.[13] The cemetery's first interment took place on 20 December 1941.[14] The cemetery contains in all the war graves of 461 Commonwealth service personnel, including an unidentified Royal Air Force airman, and 97 war graves of other nationalities (86 of them Polish servicemen from various hospitals in the area) that are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The plot in Section A was a Royal Air Force regional cemetery for air personnel from bases in Cheshire and neighbouring counties, while members of other armed services were buried in Section H.[13]
In 1965 Chester Crematorium, built with garden of remembrance adjoining Section A, was opened. The original chapel was replaced with a new larger chapel that was built alongside it and opened in April 2013. The site of the older building, after its demolition, has been utilised as a memorial garden.[15]
Blacon railway station
Blacon railway station in December 2006 showing cycle path/walkway and bridge in distance
Blacon station was served from Chester Northgate Station, Newtown, but was closed to passengers on 9 September 1968 as part of the 'Beeching Axe' for the economic modernisation of the British railway network in the mid-1960s.[16] Freight trains ran through Blacon until 20 April 1984, resuming as a single track line on 31 August 1986 before closing again in 1992.[17][18]
Although the old station and railway line have gone, they have been replaced with a tarmac road surface, which now provides a cycle path, jogging track and a countryside walkway.[19] This amenity is accessed from the side of old Blacon station bridge; but its route can also be joined (just off) Chester's 'Fountain' roundabout, travelling via Blacon, and on to the North Wales countryside. Other joined routes can be accessed along the way.
In 2008, a volunteer group headed by Stephen Perry in association with the Blacon Community Trust began to raise support for a major improvement of the Blacon Railway Station site. Improvements to date have included woodland sculptures, clearing and new planting of shrubs and trees and the planting of narcissi with much volunteer involvement from local schools and residents. The site (in November 2009) was undergoing phase 2 of a major development to introduce pathways, fencing and special hard-landscaping features. The community trust placed a large train wheel mosaic consisting of pieces from schools and services local to the Blacon area.
As of July 2015, the Blacon Railway has been refurbished and fully maintained. There now exists new stairs and ramps for easy access, signs containing the history of the station (exact contents will be given at a later date), and various landscaping improvements to increase appearance and appeal. There also exists a large concrete circle at the center of the station, which contains various carvings into concrete slabs and pieces arranged into sections. These segments were carved by various school children and teenagers from the local schools and projects, and contain each student's particular activity, object or person that they at the time cherished the most.
Blacon consisted of two Chester City Council[20]wards, each of which elected three councillors. Chester City Council became defunct on 1 April 2009 due to structural changes.
Cheshire West and Chester (CWAC) is the successor unitary authority area with borough status, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. It was established in April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
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Tattenhall is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Tattenhall and District, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Chester, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 1,986, increasing to 2,079 by the 2011 census.
Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located 19.2 miles (30.9 km) east of Chester, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) east of Winsford, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) south-east of Northwich and 4.7 miles (7.6 km) north-west of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. Middlewich, together with Northwich and Winsford, forms part of the Central Cheshire conurbation, with an estimated 2023 population of 130,000.
Tranmere is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, it is within the Birkenhead and Tranmere Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the county of Cheshire.
Wythenshawe is an area of south Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931, Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large new housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately 11 square miles (28 km2), Wythenshawe became the largest council estate in Europe. Despite it not having town status, the Manchester Metrolink station which serves the main district centre is called Wythenshawe Town Centre tram stop.
Upton-by-Chester is a civil parish and a large suburb on the outskirts of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It includes the villages of Upton and Upton Heath.
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The City of Chester is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2 December 2022 by Samantha Dixon of the Labour Party. She was elected in the by-election held following the resignation of Chris Matheson MP on 21 October 2022.
Guilden Sutton is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies approximately 3 miles (5 km) to the east of Chester and is south of the village of Mickle Trafford. The community consists of a church, a primary school, a post office, a pub, a village hall and several local businesses.
Goostrey is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is in open countryside, 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Crewe and 12 miles (19 km) west of Macclesfield. The parish contains the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, a UNESCO World Heritage site. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 2,179 in 956 housesholds. It contains 24 listed heritage assets and one scheduled monument. The parish also includes the hamlets of Blackden, Blackden Heath and Jodrell Bank.
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Bache is a small civil parish and suburb of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Located to the north of the city, Bache combines with Moston and Upton-by-Chester to form a joint parish council.
Malpas is a market town and a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies near the borders with Shropshire and Wales, and had a population of 1,673 at the 2011 census.
Mollington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is two miles north of the city of Chester, with the A41 Liverpool–Chester trunk road and Shropshire Union Canal to the east and southeast, the A540 Wirral peninsula trunk road to the south and west and the A5117 link road to the north. Nearby settlements include Backford, Blacon, Capenhurst and Saughall.
Thurstaston is a village and former civil parish, in the Wirral district, in Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is part of the West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The village lies on the A540 road between Heswall and Caldy, although it extends some distance down Station Road to the Wirral Way and the River Dee estuary.
Saughall is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Located between Shotwick and Blacon, it is approximately 4.8 km (3.0 mi) north west of Chester and 1.8 km (1.1 mi) from Sealand across the Welsh border.
Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. It superseded the boroughs of Ellesmere Port and Neston, Vale Royal and the City of Chester; its council assumed the functions and responsibilities of the former Cheshire County Council within its area. The remainder of ceremonial Cheshire is composed of Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington. Cheshire West and Chester has three key urban areas: Chester, Ellesmere Port and Northwich/Winsford.
Wardle is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies on the Shropshire Union Canal, north west of Barbridge Junction, and is 4 miles to the north west of Nantwich, and the parish also includes part of the small settlement of Wardle Bank. The total population is around 250. RAF Calveley was a flight-training station during the Second World War, and the Mark III radio telescope stood on the airfield site in 1966–96. The modern civil parish includes Wardle Industrial Estate and is otherwise largely agricultural. Nearby villages include Barbridge, Calveley and Haughton.
The 2015 Cheshire West and Chester Council election took place on 7 May 2015, electing members of Cheshire West and Chester Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections across the country as well as the general election.
The 2023 Cheshire West and Chester Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Cheshire West and Chester Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections, including contested elections in the civil parishes of Broxton, Dutton, Great Boughton, Mouldsworth and Tarporley and the towns of Frodsham, Northwich and Winsford.
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