In the 15th century the village had a watermill, the Bate Mill.[3] In the late 1780s, Chelford was one of the larger villages in Cheshire, and had several shops.[4]
A large cattle market was held at Chelford every Monday for over a century, but closed in 2017, the last day of sales being 30 March; business has been transferred to the market at Beeston, and the site is now to be used for housing. As at 17 November 2019 a current Google Earth air view shows the Chelford Market buildings demolished, leaving only foundations.
Chelford is near the Capesthorne Estate and surrounded by farmland. Almost all inhabitants of the village live on one estate where the only way in or out is via the main road. Local amenities include St John's church, the burial place of former world champion racing cyclistReg Harris and the venue for an annual cyclists' Christmas Carol service, a post office, a pub/restaurant called The Egerton Arms, and an agricultural supplies business, Chelford Farm Supplies.
^J. T. Driver. Cheshire in the Later Middle Ages, A History of Cheshire Vol. 6 (Series Editor: J. J. Bagley), p. 109 (Cheshire Community Council; 1971)
^J. Howard Hodson. Cheshire, 1660–1780: Restoration to Industrial Revolution, A History of Cheshire Vol. 9 (Series Editor: J. J. Bagley), p. 116 (Cheshire Community Council; 1978) (ISBN0 903119 11 0)
