Editing Alsager (section)

==History==
[[File:Christ Church Alsager, Sep 2023.jpg|left|thumb|[[Christ Church, Alsager]]]]
In the village of [[Church Lawton]] are the Church Lawton Barrows, which form part of a significant [[Bronze Age]] site near the town.<ref>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=5522 Church Lawton Barrows.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041115085655/http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=5522 |date=15 November 2004 }} Retrieval Date: 10 August 2007.</ref>

The town's name means 'the arable land of a person named Ælle ([[Old English]]: ''Ælles æċer'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Cheshire/Alsager|title=Key to English Place-names|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=14 July 2021|archive-date=14 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714063426/https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js|url-status=live}}</ref>

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]].<ref>Scholes, R. (2000) ''Towns and villages of Britain: Cheshire.'' Sigma Press: Wilmslow, Cheshire. {{ISBN|1-85058-637-3}}.</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], a large [[Munitions|armaments]] factory was built outside Alsager at [[ROF Radway Green|Radway Green]], and the town expanded dramatically to house the influx of factory workers. Also during the war a camp was constructed for the training of [[Royal Marines]]. This bore the name of HMS ''Excalibur'' and was situated at the top of Fields Road by the side of the Stoke to Crewe railway line. In 1948 it became a [[Displaced persons camps in post-World War II Europe|displaced persons camp]] for refugees from [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]] and the former [[Poland|Polish]] [[Ukraine]], countries which had been forcibly incorporated into the [[Soviet Union]]. Many men from these countries had fought on the side of the Germans to try to regain independence, and they were afraid to return to their countries of origin, as many who had returned were executed by the Russians. A school was set up for the education of their children whose only common language when they arrived was German. The school continued to exist for many years in the same set of wooden huts under the name "Excalibur School". The first Roman Catholic church in Alsager was one of the wooden huts and was attended mainly by the Lithuanians, most of whom were Roman Catholic. The Anglican churches are [[Christ Church, Alsager|Christ Church]] (1789),<ref>[http://www.christchurch-alsager.org.uk/ Christ Church.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051218094457/http://www.christchurch-alsager.org.uk/ |date=18 December 2005 }} Retrieval Date: 10 August 2007.</ref> and [[St Mary Magdalene's Church, Alsager|St Mary Magdalene]] (1898).<ref>[http://www.achurchnearyou.com/alsager-st-mary-magdalene/ St Mary Magdalene – A Church Near You – website.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823231356/http://www.achurchnearyou.com/alsager-st-mary-magdalene/ |date=23 August 2010 }} Retrieval Date: 19 January 2009.</ref>

Alsager previously had three Methodist churches at Hassall Road (Wesleyan), Wesley Place (Wesleyan) and Crewe Road (Primitive Methodist). By December 2009 two Methodist churches remained, but today there is just one.<ref>[http://www.wesley-place.org.uk/ Wesley Place Methodist Church Alsager website.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627045150/http://www.wesley-place.org.uk/ |date=27 June 2007 }} Retrieval Date: 10 August 2007.</ref>

The Roman Catholic community is served from St Gabriel's Church. The parish is located in the [[Diocese of Shrewsbury]] (Central Cheshire Region&nbsp;– Local Pastoral Area 9).{{-}}