Blacon is a large suburb near
ChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, in
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, containing a mixture of private homes and substantial public council-built properties. At one time it contained one of the largest council housing estates in Europe, but this is now owned, run and maintained by the Chester And District Housing Trust.
Blacon is situated adjacent to the
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
border and is located on a hill, one mile to the north-west of, and overlooking Chester.
Blacon is a large suburb near
ChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, in
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, containing a mixture of private homes and substantial public council-built properties. At one time it contained one of the largest council housing estates in Europe, but this is now owned, run and maintained by the Chester And District Housing Trust.
Geography
Blacon is situated adjacent to the
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
border and is located on a hill, one mile to the north-west of, and overlooking Chester. The village is built on what was previously farming land and is surrounded by open countryside. Blacon has views across to the city centre of Chester and to the Welsh hills some twenty miles to the west.
Other nearby places include
UptonUpton is a civil parish and a large suburb on the outskirts of Chester, om the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 7,800....
to the east and the villages of
MollingtonMollington is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, It is located two miles north of the city of Chester, with approximate boundaries formed by the A41 Liverpool-Chester trunk road and Shropshire Union...
and
SaughallSaughall is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated approximately north west of Chester and close to the Welsh border....
to the north.
North Blacon (Blacon Hall)
Blacon was originally known as
Blakon Hill and was owned by the
Marquess of CreweThe title Baron Houghton, of Great Houghton in the West Riding of the County of York, was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1863 for the noted Victorian literary person Richard Monckton Milnes. His son, Robert, was created Earl of Crewe, of Crewe in the County Palatine of Chester,...
.
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.
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.
Blacon Camp (Blacon Lodge)
The British army had maintained an army camp in south Blacon, from just before, to just after, the second world war. A mixture of wooden and '
NissenThe Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel, a variant of which was used extensively during the World War II by the Commonwealth and U.S...
' 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. This part of Blacon is often referred to as 'The Camp'.
Community initiatives
The Blacon community is taking part in initiatives, led by the government's
Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder ProgrammeThe Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme is a co-operative programme in the United Kingdom between residents and stakeholders such as the local authority, businesses etc aimed at improving specific deprived neighbourhoods....
, and a number of projects have been established by, and for, Blacon residents.
Progress to improve the estate continues apace, with work done by the Blacon Community Trust and Blacon-Together already giving results. Discussions continue (June 2008) about further regeneration initiatives, both for north and south Blacon, with a timescale of three to seven years.
Policing
Blacon is home to the new headquarters of the Western Division of the
Cheshire ConstabularyCheshire Constabulary is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the English unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington....
Primary
- St. Theresa’s Catholic Primary School
- J H Godwin Primary School
- Dee Point Primary School
- Highfield Community Primary School
- The Arches Community Primary School
Secondary
- Blacon High School, a specialist school
The specialist schools programme is a UK government initiative which encourages secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is responsible for the delivery of the programme...
(sports)
- Blacon Young Peoples Project
Places of worship
There are several
places of worshipA place of worship or house of worship is an establishment or other location where a group of people comes to perform acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion. The form and function of religious architecture has evolved over thousands of years for both changing beliefs and architectural style...
in Blacon to cater for Christian and Muslim faiths.
Blacon railway station
The station was closed to passengers on 9 September 1968 as part of the
Beeching AxeThe Beeching Axe is an informal name for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard Beeching...
for the economic modernisation of the British railway network in the mid-1960s. Freight trains ran through Blacon until 20 April 1984, resuming as a single track line on 31 August 1986 before closing again in the early 1990s.
Although the old station and railway line have gone, they have been replaced with a
tarmacTarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...
road surface, which now provides a cycle path, jogging track and a countryside walkway.
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.
Local Government Changes, April 2009
Local Government Structural changes to local government in England were effected on 1 April 2009, whereby a number of new unitary authorities were created in parts of the country which previously operated a 'two-tier' system of counties and districts...
Chester City Council became defunct on April 1st. 2009 due to the structural changes above.
Cheshire West and ChesterCheshire West and Chester is a 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...
(CWAC) is the newly established 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.
(For Information Only)
Blacon formerly consisted of two Chester City Council wards, each of which elected three Councillors.
Blacon Hall ward
Population 7,977 (2001 Census)
- John Price, Deputy Leader of the Council
The pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom, because England does not have a devolved...
, LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
- Judith Stainthorp, Labour
- Norman Stainthorp, Labour
Blacon Lodge ward
Population 5,518 (2001 Census)
- Reggie Jones, Labour
- Marie Nelson, Labour
- Ethel Price, Labour
Cheshire County Council
Blacon had Labour representation on the former Cheshire County Council.
UK Parliament
Blacon, as part of the City of Chester constituency, is represented in the UK Parliament by
Christine RussellChristine Margaret Russell, née Carr is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.-Early life:...
,
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
.
European Parliament
North West EnglandNorth West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For the 2009 elections it elects 8 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
External links