View towards St Luke’s Church, from the north
Wikimedia Commons
Holmes Chapel is a built-up areaCategorisation of UK census data that corresponds more closely to the traditional towns, villages and cities that people associate with where they live than do the administrative boundaries. and civil parishSmallest administrative unit in England. in the unitary authorityLocal government administrative unit in England and Wales. of Cheshire East in North West England. In its early days the settlement was known as Church Hulme, and it has also been known as Hulmes Chapel; the name Church Hulme now refers to the ecclesiastical parish, consisting of the townships of Holmes Chapel, Cranage and Cotton.[1]
Holmes Chapel is about one mile (1.6 km) from junction 18 on the M6, and 25 miles (40 km) south-west of Manchester. Its railway station sits on the Manchester to Crewe line.[1]
Geography
Holmes Chapel sits on the Cheshire PlainRelatively flat expanse of lowland in North West England, the surface expression of the Cheshire Basin, an area of sedimentary rocks overlain by Mercia Mudstones laid down about 250 million years ago., on the mid-reaches of the River Dane as it meanders its way around the north end of the town. A privately built hydro-electric plant built in 2015 harnesses the flow of the Dane to the west of the parish, capable of generating up to 92KWhr, or 500MWatts/year, all of which is fed into the National Grid.[1]
Demographics
Census data: Holmes Chapel
As at the 2011 Census, the built-up areaCategorisation of UK census data that corresponds more closely to the traditional towns, villages and cities that people associate with where they live than do the administrative boundaries. of Holmes Chapel has a population of 5,605, with a median age of 44.9 years. The area occupies 199 hectares (492 acres), giving a population density of 28.2 persons per hectare.[2]
Landmarks and listed buildings
St Luke’s Church
Main article: St Luke’s Church, Holmes ChapelGrade 1 listed building and an active Anglican parish church in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire East, dating from about 1430.
St Luke’s is a designated Grade 1 listed building, and an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester. The present church originated in about 1430 as a timber-framed building with a Perpendicular sandstone west tower. The naveCentral part of a church, used by the laiety. and chancel were encased in brick in the early 18th century.