Wheelock is a large village in the civil parish of Sandbach which is in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is south of Sandbach on the road to Crewe. It was named after the River Wheelock.
Green Bank Wheelock Spring 2009, in the background the Nags Head Hotel can be seen
Before its bypass was opened, among lorry drivers Wheelock was notorious for a vicious little hill running from the Trent and Mersey Canal bridge up to a bridge crossing over the North Staffordshire Railway near the junction with Zan Drive,[1] particularly when winter weather made the road icy. Zan Drive leads to a small industrial area named Zan Industrial Park.[1]
Wheelock is currently serviced by a number of local businesses. The village currently has one public house, The Cheshire Cheese, and three restaurants: a Chinese takeaway, the Shampaan Indian restaurant (in the former Nags Head pub)[2] and Barchetta Restaurant[3] next to the canal.
The Commercial Hotel, formerly the largest public house in the village, is now a dog centre: a small shop from which basic groceries can be purchased, and a large pet food store where all manner of foods and treats can be bought for a variety of animals also service the community.
Wheelock Hall Farm has converted their shop into a family day out. The business has been expanded to include an onsite café, and large play area for children.[4]
History
The Commercial Hotel, a Grade II Listed building and former public house
The village was named after the River Wheelock which runs through it, and in which Wheelock is derived from an Old Welsh source meaning "winding river".[5][6] The first recorded name for the village is Hoileck/Hoiloch in the Domesday Book.[6][7] By 1396 the name had evolved to Quelock then in 1382 to Whelock. Two years later, in 1384 it was Welock and by 1390 the name Wheelock was settled upon.[6][8]
In 1801 the population was 189, by 1851 it was 548 and by 1901 it was 685.[9] In 1931 the parish had a population of 756.[10]
The village was originally a township and chapelry within the ancient parish of Sandbach,[11] which formed part of Northwich Hundred. Later on it became part of Congleton Poor Law Union, Rural Sanitary District, and Rural District.[12] Wheelock and surrounding land was made a separate civil parish in 1866, on 1 April 1936 the civil parish was abolished, with the northern part (containing the village) being transferred to Sandbach Urban District and Sandbach civil parish, and the southern part (containing the hamlet of Wheelock Heath and surrounding farmland) being transferred to Haslington[13] civil parish in Nantwich Rural District.[12] Ecclesiastically, Wheelock lies in the Diocese of Chester, and a separate ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1840. It first formed part of Middlewich rural deanery, but since 1880 it has been part of Congleton rural deanery.[12]
Wheelock first lay in the general Cheshire county parliamentary constituency until 1832, when it became part of the Cheshire Southern Division constituency. From 1867 until 1885 it was in the Cheshire Middle Division constituency, and from 1885 until 1948 it lay in the parliamentary constituency of Crewe.[12]
The village was also served by a branch line from Kidsgrove to Sandbach with a station. This has since closed and the line is now a footpath. The old station survives as a garage and some cottages.
Governance
Local government
From 1974 to 2009 Wheelock had some services administered by Cheshire County Council, and others by Congleton Borough Council. On 1 April 2009 both these local authorities were succeeded by Cheshire East Council,[14] who are based at the former Congleton Borough headquarters at Westfields in Sandbach.[15] At the lowest level of local government Wheelock is administered by Sandbach Town Council as it is now part of Sandbach civil parish.[16]
The village had previously been administered by Sandbach Urban District Council, until this was then merged with other urban and rural councils to form Congleton Borough Council in 1974.
Some of the churches in Wheelock have joined with the ecclesiastical parish of Sandbach and others to form the group Churches Together in Sandbach.[18] This group helps bring the various denominational churches together. Wheelock has four churches:[9]
Dodgson, J. McN. (1970a). The place-names of Cheshire. Part one: Country name, regional and forest names, river names, road names, the place-names of Macclesfield hundred. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-07703-6.
Dodgson, J. McN. (1970b). The place-names of Cheshire. Part two: The place-names of Bucklow Hundred and Northwich Hundred. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-07914-4.
Youngs, F. A. (1991). Guide to the local administrative units of England. (Volume 1: Northern England). London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN0-86193-127-0.
Congleton was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It included the towns of Congleton, Alsager, Middlewich and Sandbach. The headquarters of the borough council were located in Sandbach.
Sandbach is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East borough of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock.
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.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 333 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, most of the county being parished. Cheshire East unitary authority is entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 565,259 people living in 332 parishes, accounting for 57.5 per cent of the county's population.
Congleton is a parliamentary constituency in Cheshire, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Sarah Russell of the Labour Party.
Eddisbury was a constituency in Cheshire last represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Edward Timpson, a Conservative who left office at the dissolution of parliament in advance of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, at which this former constituency was replaced.
Winterley and Wheelock Heath are two small, adjoining, villages in the civil parish of Haslington, Cheshire, England. A small part of Wheelock Heath is in the town and civil parish of Sandbach.
Betchton is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 620, increasing to 677 at the 2011 Census. The parish is immediately to the east of Sandbach, and includes Betchton Heath, Malkin's Bank and Hassall Green.
Haslington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies about 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of the much larger railway town of Crewe and approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Sandbach. The village was originally bisected by the A534 road that links Crewe with Sandbach, however, this road has now been re-routed to bypass the village to the north-west. The village is also a close neighbour to a number of small towns and villages, and is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Elizabethan market town of Nantwich.
Tarporley is a large village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. The civil parish also contains the village of Rhuddall Heath. Tarporley is bypassed by the A49 and A51 roads.
The River Wheelock is a small river in Cheshire in north west England. It drains water from the area between Sandbach and Crewe, and joins the River Dane at Middlewich, and then the combined river flows into the River Weaver in Northwich. Alternative names for the river were recorded in 1619 as Sutton Watter, Sutton Brooke, and Lawton Brooke.
Crewe was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Knutsford was a county constituency in Cheshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.
Church Lawton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and in the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. Its eastern boundary forms part of the county boundary between Cheshire and Staffordshire. As the village is near Stoke-on-Trent, it has a Stoke postcode. In addition to ribbon development connecting Kidsgrove with Scholar Green, the parish also contains the hamlets of Lawton Gate, Lawton Heath and Lawton Heath End, and the Lawton Hall estate. According to the 2001 census, the population of the entire parish was 2,201.
Bradwall is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, about 2 mi (3.2 km) northwest of Sandbach in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, and about 20 mi (32 km) south of Manchester. According to the 2011 census, the population of the entire parish was 182. The area is predominantly agricultural, with no manufacturing or retail outlets.
Warmingham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Wheelock, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) north of Crewe, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) south of Middlewich and 3.25 miles (5.23 km) miles west of Sandbach. The parish also includes the small settlement of Lane Ends, with a total population of just under 250. Nearby villages include Minshull Vernon, Moston and Wimboldsley.
The ancient parishes of Cheshire were the group of parishes that existed in the English county of Cheshire, roughly within the period of 1200–1800. Initially, the ancient parishes had only an ecclesiastical function, but reforms initiated by King Henry VIII, developed by Queen Elizabeth I and expanded by later legislation led them to acquire various secular functions that eventually led to a split between the ecclesiastical parishes and the purely civil parishes that exist today.
Ettiley Heath is a village in the civil parish of Sandbach which is in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The Sandbach ward is called Ettiley Heath and Wheelock. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 4,409. It is west of Sandbach.
The ceremonial county of Cheshire, which comprises the unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington, returned 11 MPs to the UK Parliament from 1997 to 2024. Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, coming into effect for the 2024 general election, the boundary commission proposed 12 constituencies, including two which crossed the border into the county of Merseyside.
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