Porsche-noir: June 2018

Bickerton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, about eight miles (13 km) north of Whitchurch in Shropshire. The parish also includes the small settlement of Gallantry Bank, with a total population of over 200. The two Bickerton Hills also lie partly within the civil parish.

Anglo-Saxon and Norman

The name "Bickerton" is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and relates to bees. A township was recorded in the Domesday survey, which was found "waste", or devastated, at the time of the survey, in common with many nearby townships. This is usually considered to be a consequence of William I's suppression in 1069–70 of uprisings in north-west Mercia. The township included half a league (about ¾ mile) of woodland, perhaps located on the hills.

Copper mine chimney

17th–19th century

Quarrying also took place at various sites on the hills, including Maiden Castle from the 17th century. Sandstone was extracted for building, and sand for use as a scouring agent. An iron rock-splitting wedge dating from the 17th century was found during excavations of Maiden Castle.
Mad Allen's Hole

Mad Allen's Hole, a cave on the southerly Bickerton Hill, is believed by some to be the location of "Allenscomb's Cave" in which John Harris, "the English Hermit", lived for 46 years in the 18th century. According to a pamphlet of 1809, Harris was a man of property from Handley, who embraced a hermit's life when his parents refused him permission to marry the woman of his choice. He first inhabited a cave in nearby Carden Park, moving to Allenscomb's Cave in the 1760s. Recent research has, however, cast doubt on the identification of Mad Allen's Hole with Allenscomb's Cave. Unlike the cave in Carden Park, no material dating to the 18th century has been discovered at Bickerton, and the name "Mad Allen's Hole" originated in the late 19th century, when the cave was occupied by an eccentric known as Mad Allen. In the early 19th century, the Bloody Bones caves on the northerly hill were occupied by brigands, who terrorised the surrounding countryside, stealing cheese from local farms and plundering graves, as well as selling sand for cleaning. Seven were captured and executed in around 1834.
Droppingstone Well

The Droppingstone Well, immediately north of the Raw Head summit, bears a plaque dated 1861. A photograph of 1910 shows the well in use by locals.
20th–21st century

The area around Maiden Castle was used for military training exercises during the 20th century, which included digging numerous two-man slit trenches.The heathland of the southerly hill went unmanaged from the 1940s until 1983, when 66 hectares (160 acres) of land were acquired by the National Trust; the trust's holding was extended by 51 hectares (130 acres) in 1991.] Much of the southerly hill and the western escarpment of the northerly hill were notified as two separate Sites of Special Scientific Interest in 1979.

The Sandstone Trail long-distance footpath opened in 1974; it then started in Duckington, immediately south of the southerly hill. The Sandstone Trail Race was launched three years later. A 2008 proposal to construct a 60-metre wind-monitoring mast adjacent to Bickerton Hill met with local protest, and was rejected by Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council.
Geography, geology and climate
Sketch map of the two Bickerton Hills

The two Bickerton Hills lie south-west of the Peckforton Hills. They form the southern end and high point of the Mid Cheshire Ridge, which runs broadly north–south through Cheshire from Beacon Hill near Frodsham. The southern part of the ridge, including both Bickerton Hills, has been designated an Area of Special County Value. The ridge line continues north–south over the northerly Bickerton Hill, turning approximately 30° to the west over the southerly hill. The two hills are separated by a valley through which the A534 runs. The nearest settlements are (anti-clockwise from the south) Duckington, Brown Knowl, Fuller's Moor, Harthill, Bulkeley, Gallantry Bank and Bickerton.

The summit of the northerly hill, Raw Head (SJ508548), has an elevation of 227 metres and is the highest point on the Mid Cheshire Ridge. Raw Head was believed to be a Marilyn but was demoted in 2009 following a re-survey; the re-estimate of Raw Head's prominence is 148.5 metres. The high point bears a trig point. The summit plateau of the southerly hill has two high points, at Maiden Castle (212 metres, SJ501534) and the Kitty Stone (193 metres, SJ497527). The southern (Maiden Castle) high point is sometimes referred to as Larkton Hill; this name is also sometimes used to refer to the southeast of the hill, which partly falls within the Larkton civil parish.

Southern Bickerton Hill from Cuckoo Rock. The southmost high point is in the foreground, with the northmost high point behind (left)

The ridge is formed from a sandstone outcrop of the Sherwood Sandstone Group, dating from the Early Triassic period around 250 million years ago. The sandstones are exposed forming extensive crags on the west flank of the northerly hill, as well as in smaller areas of the southerly hill. There are several natural caves. The two-storey cave known as Mad Allen's Hole (on the southerly hill at SJ503536) has an entrance partially blocked by boulders and is accessible via a circular hole at the rear. The Queen's Parlour, a large triple-chambered cave directly under the Raw Head trig point, might be partially quarried.

The steeply sloping west flank of the northerly hill is clothed with conifer plantation and mixed woodland, which is managed for pheasant shooting. The summit plateau and gently sloping east flank have a mixture of pasture, arable land and plantation. The soils of the southerly hill are acidic and predominantly nutrient poor, with brown sands on the ridge, and leached podzolic soils as well as brown earths at lower elevations. It supports a mixture of heath and largely deciduous woodland, with some pasture fields.

Like much of the Mid Cheshire Ridge, the Bickerton Hills are rather cooler than the surrounding Cheshire Plain, with an accumulated temperature of 1375–1649 day °C compared with 1650–1924 day °C. The soil is slightly moist, with a similar moisture level to that of the surrounding area.

Formerly a dairy farm, Manor Farm is set in the gently rolling Cheshire countryside with views to the Bickerton Hills, is ideally located close to Cholmondeley Castle and the Sandstone Trail and is convenient for Nantwich, Chester and North Wales.

The 2 cottages are recently converted farm stables, and are available for holidays and short term lets. They offer luxury accommodation in the heart of Cheshire's countryside. South facing with French windows, with spectacular views over the open countryside, the cottages are fully equipped and spacious.

They are spacious and furnished to a high standard, with fully equipped kitchens, central heating and double glazing. Both cottages have 2 bedrooms.

One cottage is ground floor and suitable for wheelchairs