page_title: Bradwall
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Bradwall / Geology
caption_attribution_description: English: Springbank Farm from the rear. See a comment on the farm's name with the other view 1102294.
context_page_description: Bradwall is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, about 2 mi northwest of Sandbach in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, and about 20 mi 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.
  The village is not mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday survey, but from the 13th century gained notability as the manorial estate of Richard de Bradwall and his successors, including the families of Venables, Berington and Oldfield. From the early 19th century, it became the seat of the Latham family of Bradwall who resided at Bradwall Hall until its demolition in the early 20th century.
  Bradwall hosts social events at the Village Hall, horse trial competitions at Manor farm, and coarse fishing at Field Farm Fisheries. The Wesleyan Chapel Methodist Church has been the only place of worship since 1882 and closed in September 2013. The manufacturer of Foden Trucks and their award-winning Fodens Motor Works Band, were based in Bradwall until a boundary change in 1936 placed them in the adjacent parish of Sandbach.
context_section_description: Bradwall sits mainly on fine-grained mudstone, over a bedrock of Wilkesley Halite member with Halite-stone. The halite is responsible for rock salt deposits in the surrounding area (see "Salt in Cheshire"), and there is evidence of there having been "wich fields" along the western side of Wards Lane that may indicate small scale brine extraction. The thickness of the bedrock is estimated at around 400 m, and was formed around 221 to 227 million years ago in the Late Triassic Carnian period, in a hot dry environment. It is surrounded by Devensian glacial till from the last glacial period from between approximately 110,000 and 10,000 years ago. A small pocket of undifferentiated river terrace deposits of sand and gravel, dating from the Quaternary about 2.5 million years old, is located southeast of the intersection of Pillar Box Lane with Bradwall Road. (See illustration at The British Geological Survey). The topsoil reveals many trace elements, and an acidity that has been decreasing since 1978. Several boreholes in the area reveal glacial sand and clays with a couple of layers of ground water.
caption: Bradwall topsoil at Springbank Farm
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