Acton, Cheshire East, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 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 (3.08 km2) and also includes the small settlement of Dorfold and part of Burford. 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. The name means "oak town", referring to the pedunculate oaks that predominated in the adjacent Forest of Mondrem. During the Civil War, the village was taken by siege several times. The Shropshire Union Canal reached the parish in 1835, using a long embankment to avoid Dorfold Park. The parish contains many historic buildings, including two listed at grade I: Dorfold Hall was considered by Nikolaus Pevsner to be one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire, while St Mary's Church has a tower dating from the 13th century, one of the earliest in the county.

The village of Acton (SJ632530) lies on the A534 (Chester Road) 2¼ km (1½ miles) north west of the centre of Nantwich and 7¾ km (4¾ miles) south west of Crewe. The civil parish of Acton has a total area of 762 acres (3.08 km2), and also includes the small settlement of Dorfold, focused around Dorfold Hall (SJ635525), as well as part of Burford, located around the A51–A534 crossroads (SJ629539); Burford also falls partly in Henhull civil parish. Nearby villages include Burland (to the west), Ravensmoor (south west) and Rease Heath (north east).

The majority of buildings throughout the civil parish are in red brick with slate roofs, with occasional "black and white" half-timbered buildings, as well as the sandstone parish church. Much of Acton village dates from the 17th–19th centuries, centering on the church which dates originally from the 13th century. Fourteen council houses were built after the Second World War in Acton village to the east of the A534, and this development was subsequently expanded with a mix of semi-detached houses and terraced bungalows, the total now numbering some fifty dwellings. In the 2001 census, 65% of dwellings in the civil parish were described as semi-detached or terraced.

The area is relatively flat, with an average elevation of around 50–60 metres. The high point is 61 metres at Acton village; the low point is 43 metres at Nantwich Aqueduct. The geology is Keuper marl, with glacial sand deposit underlying Acton village; glacial boulders originating in Cumbria, such as the Bluestone, are occasionally uncovered. Outside Acton village settlement is sparse, and over 90% of the Acton, Henhull and Edleston combined area of 765 hectares (1890 acres) is open land. The predominant land usage is agricultural, mainly dairy with some arable, predominantly fodder crops and cereals. The Dorfold Estate (125.5 hectares; 310.1 acres) comprises around a third of the civil parish, and includes farmhouses, farmland, gardens, woodland and historic parkland. Around 3 hectares (7.4 acres) of semi-natural woodland within the park are believed to be ancient; other woodland includes Bull's Wood (SJ635519) and several immature plantations. Dorfold Park has a lake, and many smaller meres and ponds are scattered across the farmland. The main line of the Shropshire Union Canal runs broadly north–south to the east of the parish, with a short embanked section (around 300 metres) south of Nantwich Aqueduct falling within the parish boundary. Ravensmoor Brook runs north–south along the western boundary of the parish, and an unnamed brook runs north–south from Burford to just south of Monks Lane.

Economy Historically, agriculture was the major employment sector; in 1831, for example, 63.9% of men over 20 were farmers or agricultural labourers. By the 2001 census, however, agriculture had been replaced by the service industries. The relatively high average distance travelled to work (17.5 km; 10.9 miles) reported in 2001 suggests that few residents were employed locally and many commuted significant distances to work.