Historically, agriculture was the major employer, but it has now been overtaken by the service industries, with many residents commuting significant distances outside the parish to work.

The parish contains many historic buildings, including two listed at grade I: Dorfold Hall was considered by Nikolaus Pevsner to be one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire,[3] while St Mary's Church has a tower dating from the 13th century, one of the earliest in the county.

[5] An area north of Acton village was enclosed in the 8th and 9th centuries, and ancient field systems can be discerned elsewhere in this and the adjacent modern civil parishes.

[4] As deforestation continued throughout the Middle Ages, animal husbandry and cereal production grew in importance,[5] and by the end of the sixteenth century, the forest had largely been cleared.

[16] Landowners of Acton and Dorfold during this period include the Vernon, Littlebury, Wettenhall, Arderne, Davenport and Bromley families.

[17] In 1602, the Dorfold Estate was purchased by Sir Roger Wilbraham, a prominent lawyer who served as Solicitor-general for Ireland under Elizabeth I and held positions at court under James I. Dorfold Hall was constructed in 1616–21 for his younger brother and heir, Ralph Wilbraham, on the site of the earlier hall.

[4] In the year 1641 Edward Burghall, the vicar Acton for some of the Civil War, first notices political events, and afterwards gives a very detailed account of the military operations in Cheshire.

[4] The Tomkinson family objected to the route of the latter, leading to the construction of a half-mile embankment including an aqueduct to avoid the Dorfold Park.

[4] With the availability of canal and railway transport during the 18th and 19th centuries, the main produce of the area changed from cheese to milk, and dairy became the major industry.

[9][21] A parish hall was built in 1909 by local subscription, and served as an auxiliary military hospital for twenty convalescents during the First World War.

[31] Since its establishment in 1983, the Eddisbury constituency has been held by the Conservative party, with the previous Members of Parliament being Alastair Goodlad (1983–99), Stephen O'Brien (1999–2015) and Antoinette Sandbach (2015–19).

[4] The Dorfold Estate (125.5 hectares; 310.1 acres) comprises around a third of the civil parish,[36] and includes farmhouses, farmland, gardens, woodland and historic parkland.

[9][18] A two-storey building on a double-pile plan in red brick with stone dressings, the main façade features a recessed centre with two small wings and large windows.

The wrought-iron gate features a sun motif with scrolls; it stands in a moulded stone opening flanked by niches containing busts and surmounted by lions.

[51] A large iron statue of a mastiff with puppies oversetting a food bowl stands in the forecourt of the hall; it is attributed to Pierre Louis Rouillard and came from the Paris Exhibition of 1855.

[58] Of an unusual construction, with a long octagonal shaft capped with a ball finial, the sundial is believed to have originated as a medieval cross, perhaps destroyed under the Puritan government.

[8][59][60] It was originally decorated, with the ball being painted as a globe and the shaft having gold and black banding, and bore the twin inscriptions "Tempus Fugit: Mors Venit (Time flies, death comes)" and "Ut Hora: Sic Vita (As the hour, so life)".

[60][61] Cricketer and rugby player A. N. Hornby is buried in the churchyard; his grave features a carving of a wicket, bat and ball in marble.

[67] The Glebe House on Monks Lane, once the vicarage, is a handsome three-storey, five-bay building in red brick with massive chimney stacks, built in 1723–27; it is listed at grade II*.

[59][68][69] Other grade-II-listed buildings include Church Farm House and Star Cottages; both are in red brick and date from the early 19th century.

Constructed in around 1826 by Thomas Telford, the aqueduct has a single five-panelled arch and water trough with a balustrade, all in cast iron, carried by stone supports with pilasters.

[75] Madam's Farm (SJ625526) off Raven's Lane was the former dower house of the Hall; a three-storey, three-bay, T-shaped building in red brick dating from the late 18th century, it is listed at grade II.

[61] Believed to represent the site of a medieval vicarage, it consists of a square moat surrounding a raised island, and is the only local example to be filled with water.

[82] The Bluestone is a granite boulder glacial deposit situated near the Burford crossroads, which was unearthed during road building and is believed to originate from Cumbria.

[83] The A534 (Chester Road) runs along the eastern boundary of the parish, cutting inwards at Acton village; it connects with the A51 at the Burford crossroads.

[84] The most frequently used are the Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk and the towpath of the Shropshire Union Canal, both broadly north–south, and an east–west path that connects Acton village with Swanley.

[4][85][86] A Church of England controlled school, it serves Acton as well as the nearby areas of Baddiley North, Brindley, Burland, Edleston, Faddiley, Henhull, Ravensmoor, Swanley and Woodhey.

[4] Acton civil parish falls within the catchment area of Malbank School and Sixth Form College in Nantwich.

[91] As of 2005, there were no general stores, post offices, police stations or health centres within the civil parish; the nearest facilities are in Nantwich.

[95] Edward Burghall (1600–1665), vicar of St Mary's (1646–1662), was the author of Providence Improved, a diary of 1628–1663, an important document in the history of Puritanism.