Alsager

Alsager (/ˈɔːlseɪdʒər/ AWL-say-jər) is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north-west of Stoke-on-Trent and east of Crewe. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 13,389 and the built up area population was 15,505. The civil parish is bordered by the parishes of Betchton to the north, Church Lawton to the north-east and east, Kidsgrove to the south-east, Audley Rural to the south, Barthomley to the south-west, Haslington to the west, and Hassall to the north-west. Alsager has hosted an annual summer carnival since 1998; it was located in Milton Park until June 2009 and moved temporarily to the Alsager School playing fields to increase capacity, before returning in 2017. In 2008, Alsager was awarded Fairtrade Town status by the Fairtrade Foundation. In the village of Church Lawton are the Church Lawton Barrows, which form part of a significant Bronze Age site near the town. The town's name means 'the arable land of a person named Ælle (Old English: Ælles æċer). Alsager was recorded as 'Eleacier' in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was a small farming village until the 19th century when, due to its rail connections and rural character, it became a home of choice for pottery works managers from the nearby Federation of Six Towns which later became the city of Stoke-on-Trent. During the Second World War, a large armaments factory was built outside Alsager at Radway Green, and the town expanded dramatically to house the influx of factory workers.