The civil parish has an area 369 hectares (910 acres) and also includes the small settlement of The Dell and part of Corbrook,[1] with a total population of just over 260 in 2011.

Nearby villages include Aston, Broomhall Green, Sound, Hatherton and Buerton in Cheshire and Woore in Shropshire.

[2][3] Hankelow is first documented in the 13th century, and the village historically had a school, two chapels, two public houses, a water mill, post office, shop and other facilities.

The River Weaver runs in the west of the parish, and there is a small area of probable ancient woodland in the north east.

[4][5] It does not have a separate entry in the Domesday survey, and was owned by Richard de Vernon, who held Audlem and other local manors.

[12] From 1974 Hankelow was served by Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council, which was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the new unitary authority of Cheshire East.

The Shropshire Union Canal runs broadly north–south immediately to the west of the parish, with a very short section cutting through the western corner.

The lowest elevation of around 40–45 metres (131–148 ft) occurs in the valleys of the Weaver in the west and Birchall Brook in the north.

[17] The terrain is characterised by Cheshire Wildlife Trust as mainly "Lower Farms and Wood", with some "East Lowland Plain".

[2][3] Rookery, Blackthorn and Oak Woods are marked on tithe maps and probably represent ancient woodland.

[24] The 2011 census found that 64.9% of residents aged 16–74 years were in part- or full-time employment, while 25.3% were retired, 4.1% were students, 3.6% were carers or homemakers, 1.5% were unemployed, and 0.5% were sick or disabled.

[24] The main employment sectors were wholesale or retail trade (15.5%), education (11.6%), health and social work (10.9%), construction (10.1%), professional, scientific and technical activities (9.3%), other unspecified (9.3%), accommodation and food service (7.0%), manufacturing (6.2%), and agriculture, forestry and fishing (5.4%).

[28] Ball Farmhouse on Hall Lane was originally a timber-framed building dating from 1510, and was partly replaced by red brick during the 19th century.

It is a three-storey, ten-bay Georgian country house in red brick with stone dressings, with paired ashlar pilasters flanking the two central bays, a very high parapet decorated with ball finials, and a porch with Ionic columns.

[4][9][11][30] The building is described by Clare Hartwell and coauthors as "odd... with an idiosyncratic raised centre"[31] and Nikolaus Pevsner calls attention to its "startlingly high" parapet.