Manchester
& the Northwest Region of England
Papillon
Graphics'
Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester
Including
Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside,
Trafford & Wigan
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The
County of Cheshire
Cheshire
Townships, Cities & Major Villages - General
Please note
that these are the major Cheshire townships and villages as they
existed before Local Government reorganisation in 1974. Some of
these places are no longer in Cheshire but have existed within the
Greater Manchester Metropolitan County since that time, even though
many still hang on to the old connection - Stockport people still
tend to address their mail and identify with "Stockport,
Cheshire" and rarely "Stockport, Greater Manchester"
- old habits die hard.
Alphabetical
Listing:
Alderley
Edge
Located about
15 miles due south of Manchester, Alderley Edge is nowadays an
elegant and fairly affluent village, which has a long history
dating back some 4000 years to the Bronze Age. Copper and lead
mining has taken place at Alderley Edge since the Roman times.
The Edge itself, a hilly outcrop, is now a Site of Special Scientific
Interest largely owned by the National Trust. The mineral-rich
sandstone of the Edge has been the site of legends and myths for
many centuries. The actual village developed after 1842 when the
Birmingham and Manchester Railway Company opened a rail station,
then known as "Chorley for Alderley Edge". The village
developed very much along class lines, divided between the Edge
and the Village. The wealthier residents tended to live high up
the hill on the Edge, whilst the poor lived below in the Village,
where shopkeepers, tradesmen and lower working classes eked out
an existence in its now long-gone back streets A beacon topped
the Edge since Tudor times initially to warn of the coming invasion
of the Spanish Armada, and later the threat from Napoleon.
Aldford
An ancient
township in the old Broxton Hundred which includes part of the
villages of Churton by Aldford and Edgerley. The local church
registers date back to 1639. Aldford gets its name from the old
ford that crossed the River Dee (Aldford = "old ford").
It was located on Watling Street. It is believed that by the 12th
century, Robert de Aldford had most probably built the castle,
and later, Richard de Aldford, became the Earl of Chester during
the reign of King John in the late 12th or early 13th centuries.
The Manor of Aldford changed hands many times over the following
2 centuries until 1434, by which time it had come into the ownership
of the Stanley family where it remained for about 100 years. By
the 19th century it had come into the possession of the 2nd Marquis
of Westminster, on whose estates it still lies.
Altrincham
An old market
town, about ten miles south-west of Manchester, since 1974 falling
within the Trafford Metropolitan
Borough of Greater Manchester, though formerly in Cheshire.
Altrincham Market has been retailing since 1290. Although not
named in the Domesday Survey of 1086, a number of neighbouring
areas, then in the ownership of Alfward, included present day
Dunham, Ashley and Baguley. After the Norman invasion the lands
were given to Hamo of Masci, (from whom are descended the Masseys
- hence Dunham Massey) whose base was initially a wooden castle
at Dunham. By 1286, one of his descendants, another Hamo, had
been granted a Royal Charter making Altrincham into a borough.
By 1348 the Black Death had all but decimated the area. In 1750
the estate passed into the possession of the Stamford family.
By the end of the 18th century Altrincham had developed a thriving
cotton and worsted trade and with the arrival of the railway it
experienced an exponential growth in population and wealth. In
1937 Altrincham became a Municipal Borough. From the 1970s Altrincham's
industries went into severe and rapid decline and the area is
now predominantly residential in nature, as well as being a sought
after dormitory town for Manchester.
Ashton
Hayes
Ashton Hayes
is a village in rural Cheshire located about 5 miles from Chester
and close to the Delamere Forrest. Originally a township in Tarvin
Parish, in the Eddisbury Hundred, it recently changed its name
from 'Ashton', owing to the many other Ashtons in England and
the resident's annoyance at frequently misdirected mail.The parish
of Ashton Hayes includes the hamlets of Ashton Hayes, Brine's
Brow and Woodside, as well as Mouldsworth and Horton-cum-Peel,
and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The great survey of 1086
valued the parish at twenty shilling and described it as 'wasta'
(or wasteland, hardly worthy of mention or taxation). This state
of affairs can almost certainly be ascribed to the destruction
that William the Conqueror wrought on Chester and its surroundings
for their resisteance to the invasion, where it had hitherto been
a fertile and affluent region in the north-west. A small village
within the Eddisbury Parliamentary Constituency in the borough
of Chester, it has a general village store with post office, bakery,
pub, school and railway station.
Astbury
A small picturesque
village in Cheshire located on the main A34 trunk road just a
few miles south of Congleton. Astbury was probably an important
place before the Norman Invasion - it's very name meaning 'eastern
borough or defence'. Thus, the village was probably part of
an outer defence network for the nearby town of Sandbach. This
ancient parish originally comprised the townships of Buglawton,
Congleton, Davenport, Eaton, Hulme Walfield, Moreton cum Alcumlow,
Newbold Astbury, Odd Rode, Smallwood, Somerford and Somerford
Booths. Its church registers date back to around 1572. Lime is
known to have been quarried around Astbury since Roman times.
The Romans and ensuing generations have used its limestone for
making quicklime mortar and plaster. The land was now owned by
Grey Egerton of Oulton Park near Tarporley.
Audlem
A small traditional
Cheshire village, once in the old Nantwich Hundred. Audlem has
been unequivocally a canal town since the late 18th century when
the Shropshire Union Canal and its celebrated flight of 15 locks
was constructed. The old Market House with its eight stone pillars
is a distinctive landmark, in front of the fine Decorated and
Perpendicular church with its noble tower which dominates the
village centre.
Beeston
Beeston is,
nowadays, best known as a major surviving castle township, standing,
as it does on a sheer rocky outcrop overlooking the Cheshire plain.
It has a long history dating back over 4,000 years to its days
as a Bronze Age hill fort. The present castle was built around
1226 by Earl Ranulf of Chester, who intended it to be an impregnable
fortress; it remained so until it was severely damaged during
the English Civil Wars. Beeston itself is a township in Bunbury
Parish, part of the old Eddisbury Hundred. During the reign of
King Henry III in the mid-thirteenth century, Beeston, together
with the earldom of Chester passed to the Crown whence it was
used as a base to assemble troops and store supplies for his Welsh
campaigns. Beeston Castle is thought by many to offer the most
magnificent views of any castle in England.
Birkenhead
An ancient
township in Bidston Parish, in the old Wirral Hundred. Sometime
around the year 1150 its Priory was established on the west bank
of the River Mersey. By 1330, King Edward III had given permission
for monks at Birkenhead Priory to operate a ferry across the river
at the marshy banks overlooked by the villages of Oxton and Claughton.
At the time of the Reformation, the township had been sacked by
Henry VIII as part of his dissolution of the monasteries.
Birkenhead became a most popular place to live in Victorian times,
and with the draining of the marshes, wealthy Liverpudlians chose
to live over the river on the Wirral side of the Mersey. Its population
expanded rapidly and appropriate amenities soon followed. Birkenhead
claims to have established the world's first municipal park -
Birkenhead Park created in 1843-7 with none other than Joseph
Paxton (architect-engineer of the Crystal Palace for the Great
Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park) doing most of its landscaping,
with artificial lakes, cricket and football pitches and driveways.
Bollington
A township
in Prestbury Parish, in the Macclesfield Hundred. Bollington is
a stone-built mill town of great character, lying south-east of
Wilmslow near Macclesfield and was once a major centre for cotton
manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, though nowadays
it is a rather lazy valley township, much sought after as a place
to live. Three of its main features are the massive railway viaduct,
the overlooking 'White Nancy' monument on the nearby Kerridge
Hill and the Macclesfield Canal. The White Nancy stone tower,
almost 1,000 feet above sea level, is a rather curious dome-shaped
monument in stone towering above Kerridge, and offering magnificent
views over the surrounding countryside. The monument is generally
believed to have been built by the Gaskell family of Ingersley
to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo, and was named Nancy after
a member of the family. The Macclesfield Canal, originally part
of the silk trade and a direct route from the flint of Bugsworth
in the High Peak to the Potteries of Staffordshire, was reopened
to recreational navigation in the 1980s. Bollington still proudly
sports several mills which still survive as witnesses to its former
industrialism. Mills include the Defiance Mill, Higher Mill and
Lower Mill, Oak Bank Mill, and Clarence Mill. Although a one-time
industrial town there is still very much of a village atmosphere.
Bramhall
Bramhall lies
within the present day Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in Greater
Manchester, but until 1974 it was in the county of Cheshire.
The Romans had a settlement in the area, as evidenced by the remains
of the old Roman Road from Manchester to Buxton, which was uncovered
in the locality. The old village of Bramhall grew up around the
junction of three early roads. The Domesday Survey of 1086 describes
the manor 'Bramale', a name which comes from the Old English
'brom' meaning broom, and 'halh' meaning secret
place, generally near water.
Before the Norman Conquest in 1066, Bramall had been two separate
manors, each owned by a Saxon freemen, Brun and Hacun. By 1070
William the Conqueror subdued the North of England and given both
manor lands to Hamon de Masci, the first Norman Baron of Dunham
Massey. The land at that time was probably wasteland, having been
ruthlessly devastated by the Norman's harsh subjugation of the
region.
The following 800 years saw three powerful Cheshire families owning
the estate -the Masseys, the de Bromales and the Davenports. Their
seat was at Bramhall Hall, which is regarded as being probably
Cheshire's best black and white timber framed manor house, with
origins dating back to Medieval England. The Hall is now owned
and operated as museum by Stockport Borough Council.
During the Industrial Revolution, prior to the arrival of the
railway in the 1840's, Bramhall was comprised of a hamlet at Bramhall
Green and a small group of cottages. During this time, the principle
industry was silk weaving. By Victorian times ownership of Bramhall
Hall, and much of the local land, had fallen to Charles Nevill,
on whose death in 1935 it was taken over by Hazel Grove and Bramhall
Urban District Council.Contemporary Bramhall is an affluent
and lively township much sought after as a fine place to live
by people who work in Manchester.
A fairly large
town, formerly a County Borough located in central Cheshire on
the main A34 trunk road. The origins of Congleton date back to
the Stone Age with remains of a stone chambered tomb, known locally
as the 'Bridestones', was unearthed on the road to Leek. Bronze
Age artefacts have also been found suggesting that there was a
settlement in the area. The River Dane which runs through the
town, was almost certainly named in the 9th century by Scandinavian
settlers, when Danes ruled much of the surrounding lands. Reliable
Congleton history dates back to the Romans.
During the 16th century the town was an important centre for the
manufacture of leather gloves and purses. During the Plagues of
1603 and 1641 Congleton was decimated along with much of he country.
The ancient custom of Rush Bearing was held annually in the town
until the 17th century - usually held on major feast days.
Congleton's industrial heritage began around 1752 with the building
of its first silk mill which employed around 500 local people.
By 1755 ribbon weaving had begun and in 1785 a cotton spinning
mill was opened in the town. Bu 1830, the construction of the
Macclesfield Canal, which runs through the borough, had increased
the profitability of silk and ribbon manufacture and Congleton
had emerged as a prosperous industrial and county town.
By the latter part of the 19th century the silk trade was in depression
and was largely replaced by the introduction of velvet cutting.
Many of Congleton's mills still survive, no longer operative of
course, but converted to the needs of modern light industries
and businesses. The outskirts of the town are spreading as Congleton
is perceived as a pleasant place to live within easy reach of
the Staffordshire potteries as well as the Greater Manchester
Conurbation.
Crewe
The township
of Crewe, in the former Borough or Crewe and Nantwich, played
an important role in the development of Cheshire's industrial
revolution. The town as it now exists, virtually grew up with
the arrival of the Grand Junction Railway Company in the mid-nineteenth
century which thrust the former small village into a thriving
industrialised community. Crewe lies at the very centre of Britain's
railway network, and has thus benefitted from its pivotal location
- it became a railway town, and is still reputed to be the largest
railway junction in Britain. The railway was also once the town's
largest employer, the railway works producing most of the nation's
steam locomotives and rolling stock. Crewe's railway heritage
can be seen at the 'The Railway Age,' exhibition and museum in
the town. Crewe is nowadays also known as the home of the Rolls
Royce motor car. Despite its industry, Crewe held on to its traditional
market, still held three days every week, and servicing much of
the countryside surrounding the township.
