page_title: Acton, Cheshire
section_title: Elsewhere in the civil parish
hierarchical_section_title: Acton, Cheshire / Other landmarks / Elsewhere in the civil parish
caption_attribution_description: Nantwich Aqueduct, Chester Road, Nantwich, Cheshire (cropped version of Image:Nantwich Aqueduct Chester Rd.jpg)
context_page_description: Acton is a small village and civil parish lying immediately west of the town of Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish covers 762 acres and also includes the small settlement of Dorfold and part of Burford, with an estimated population of 340 in 2006. It is administered jointly with the adjacent civil parishes of Henhull and Edleston. Historically, Acton refers to a township and also to an ancient parish in the Nantwich Hundred covering a wide area to the west of Nantwich. The area is agricultural, with dairy farming the main industry. Around a third of the area falls within the Dorfold Estate. Historically, agriculture was the major employer, but it has now been overtaken by the service industries, with many residents commuting significant distances outside the parish to work.
  The civil parish is believed to have been inhabited since the 8th or 9th century. Acton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it was one of the wealthiest townships in the Nantwich Hundred, being valued for the same sum as Nantwich.
context_section_description: The Nantwich Aqueduct (SJ642545) carries the Shropshire Union Canal over the Chester to Nantwich road (A534) near the eastern boundary of the civil parish. Constructed in around 1826 by Thomas Telford, the aqueduct has a single five-panelled arch and water trough with a balustrade, all in cast iron, carried by stone supports with pilasters. It is listed at grade II*.
  Dorfold Dairy House (SJ631518) was formerly the Dorfold Estate's home farm; a three-storey, three-bay, U-shaped building in red brick dating from the late 17th century, it is listed at grade II*. The adjacent red-brick farm building is grade II listed. Madam's Farm (SJ625526) off Raven's Lane was the former dower house of the Hall; a three-storey, three-bay, T-shaped building in red brick dating from the late 18th century, it is listed at grade II. Other grade-II-listed buildings within the parish include the black-and-white Cuckoo Cottage (SJ625535) on Cuckoo Lane just north of Acton Grange, dating from the late 17th century, an unnamed red-brick cottage (SJ628539) by the Burford crossroads, dating from the early 19th century, and the Old Farmhouse, Village Farm. The unlisted Dorfold Cottage (SJ625530) is a Victorian house featuring a castellated tower and Gothic stucco-work on the interior.
  A moated enclosure (SJ62925315) is located just outside Acton village, to the west of St Mary's Church; it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Believed to represent the site of a medieval vicarage, it consists of a square moat  surrounding a raised island, and is the only local example to be filled with water. The Bluestone is a granite boulder glacial deposit situated near the Burford crossroads, which was unearthed during road building and is believed to originate from Cumbria. The name is thought to derive from blue porphyritic crystals, which are no longer visible. A local legend suggests that the boulder was thrown at Acton church from Bickerton Hill by the Devil. The stone gives its name to the small settlement of Bluestone in Henhull civil parish.
caption: Nantwich Aqueduct
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