Alderley Edge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. It takes its name from the wooded escarpment towering above the Cheshire plain, with fine views and walks. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,409. It was an urban district from 1894 to 1974, when it became a civil parish in the larger borough of Macclesfield.
Alderley Edge lies some eight kilometres to the northwest of Macclesfield and 20 kilometres south of Manchester. It is situated on a steep sandstone ridge with rolling fields and woodland surrounding it. Here people can enjoy the leafy lanes and open fields and the magnificent views from the Edge itself. On a clear day one can pick out landmarks some 50 kilometres away over an area of some 500 square kilometres.
Contents |
[edit] History
This part of north-eastern Cheshire provides proof of occupation since the Mesolithic period with flint implements being found along the line of the sandstone outcrop. Evidence for copper mining in the Bronze Age has also been discovered to the south of the area, where a hoard of 4th century Roman coins were found in 1995. There are to date thirteen recorded sites on the County Sites and Monuments Record (CSMR) in the settled area of Alderley Edge and 28 in Nether Alderley, with a further 44 along the Edge itself. Early medieval settlements are recorded at Nether Alderley (to the south of Alderley Edge). The first written evidence of Alderley Edge, then it was known as 'Chorlegh' (later spelt as Chorley) appeared in the 13th century, with the likely derivation coming from ceorl and leah, meaning a peasants' clearing, and although it is not mentioned in the Doomesday Book, it is included in a charter of c.1280.. The name "Alderley" first appears in 1086 as Aldredelie. Several versions of the origin are known, one says it originated from Aldred and leah meaning Aldred's Clearing. Another says it is most likely that the name Alderley came from Anglo-Saxon Alðrȳðelēah = "the meadow or woodland clearing of a woman called Alðrȳð".
In the 13th century and during the middle ages,the area comprised estates that had many different owners, since the 15th century, most of them have belonged to the 'de Trafford' family. The principal manors being based on the 14th century Chorley Hall, which lies to the south-west of Alderley Edge, and the Old Hall, at Nether Alderley, a 16th century building which was burnt down in 1779. The economies of both Chorley and Nether Alderley were dominated by agriculture with a market charter being granted at Nether Alderley in c.1253. The Nether Alderley corn mill dates back to 1391, although the present timber structure is only 16th century. The millpond was adapted to form the moat, which surrounded the Old Hall, the home of the Stanley family (Baron Stanley of Alderley). The corn mill continued to be worked until 1939 when Lord Stanley was forced to sell it, along with the rest of his estate, to meet the cost of death duties. In the 1950s the National Trust bought the site and have since restored the building and opened it to the public
Cheshire had its own system of taxes in the medieval period, the Mize, and in the records for 1405 Chorley was assessed at 20s 0d (£1.00p in post decimal money) and Nether Alderley at 27s 0d (£1.35p).
Lead and copper mining on the Edge is documented in the late 17th and 18th centuries. After the destruction of the Old Hall in the late 18th century, the Stanley family relocated to Park House on the southern edge of Alderley Park, and both house and park were subsequently much extended. Throughout the 19th century Nether Alderley remained under the control of the Stanley's and the lack of development pressure meant that the dispersed medieval settlement pattern was retained. In 1830 Chorley consisted of only a few cottages, the De Trafford Arms Inn, a toll bar, and a smithy, straggling along the Congleton to Manchester road.
The coming of the railway in 1842 with the construction of the Stockport to Crewe section of the main Manchester to Birmingham Railway changed all this. The Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company built the line through Chorley, offering free season tickets for 20 years to Manchester businessmen who built houses with a rateable value of more than £50 within a mile of the station. This 'season ticket' was in the form of a small silver oval which could be worn on a watch chain.
The railway also gave Alderley Edge its current name. As the railway network expanded and travel became easier, the railway company did not want its station called Chorley any more because of the possible confusion with Chorley in Lancashire. So, in 1880 they renamed it Alderley Edge against much opposition, taking the old name for the village and the name of the sandstone escarpment already known as The Edge. Following the construction of the railway, the local landowner, Sir Humphrey de Trafford, of Chorley Hall, laid out an extensive estate of new roads and new houses were incrementally added, filling-in most of the available sites by 1910. Of these, nine are now listed grade II. The area boundary largely reflects de Trafford's original estate boundaries. Also because of the railway, Alderley became a popular place to visit and the railway company popularised day trips and cheap excursions to the village.
This period also saw the appearance of buildings which are now landmarks. St Philip's Church with its 175ft spire was built in 1853 and the village school a year later whilst Alderley Edge High School (now St Hilary's) opened in 1876. The Mission Hall (later known as The Institute) was built as a temperance hall for the recreation of the 'lower classes' by the wealthier residents in 1878. The Methodist Church in Chapel Road was built ten years after St Philip's.
The area is notable for its heavily wooded streets and substantial Victorian villas set in spacious, well-planted gardens. The first villa was constructed in the early 1840s and by 1850 thirty "handsome residences" had been erected, some of them in what is now the Alderley Edge Conservation Area. The cotton barons from Manchester built their mansions here and now they are changing hands for several million pounds. The village itself winds up a high street bristling with chic restaurants, designer shops and speciality food shops. Around the village, winding lanes are covered in their original sandstone setts and front boundary walls are usually built from the same local sandstone. The buildings are very varied in style with examples of Tudor, Italian, neo-Georgian and Arts and Crafts Movement designs. The wide range of materials used reflects this somewhat eclectic mix of styles, and include stone, brick (several colours) smooth render or roughcast for the walls, and Welsh slate or clay tiles for the roofs.
The growth of Alderley Edge is recorded in the census returns; with the population rising from 561 in 1841 to 2856 in 1902 (the return for Nether Alderley shows a drop from 679 to 522 within the same period). There was no church in Chorley until 1852, when the larger expansion of the town in the demanded enlarged accommodation, but St Mary's Church in Nether Alderley retains some 14th century work including a font.
The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1871 therefore shows "Chorley" (as it still was) with the new Queen's Hotel next to the station, new shops and terraced houses along London Road, and a Post Office at the town centre, where Macclesfield Road meets Alderley Road. To the north are wooded areas with detached villas, but to the east is a much larger area, roughly approximating with the modern conservation area, where curving roads divide generous wooded plots, usually with its own house, although some plots remained undeveloped until much later. Of interest is the use of the names "Brickfield" and "Brick kiln" on a site to the north-east of Alderley Edge, suggesting a source for the local bricks.
The 1899 map shows a similar footprint but it is much easier to make out the individual villas and their names – Holybank, Ashfield, The Larches etc. Also very evident on this map are the remains of the old mines towards and within Windmill Wood, immediately to the southeast. In the 20th century, Alderley Edge continued to expand with much Post-War housing around the northeastern and western edges. Nether Alderley has remained relatively unchanged, apart from the sale of Alderley Park to Astra Zeneca (previously ICI, Imperial Chemical Industries), which now has a large research establishment based on Alderley Hall.
[edit] Famous Residents
Famous residents include the code breaker and computer pioneer, Alan Turing. It is a sad irony that the man who did a great deal to defeat the Nazi tyranny by breaking the Enigma code was persecuted in Britain for his homosexuality, and committed suicide. It is a welcome sign of a more understanding age that a statue of Turing has just been unveiled in Manchester. Also the author Alan Garner who wrote the books The The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1958) and The Moon of Gomrath (1963). Garner was born, in 1934, lived and wrote in East Cheshire. This background gave Garner themes to his work - a powerful sense of place, of historical and mythical geography. The area is now famous across Britain as the home of many famous people many of whom are millionaires, football players, pop stars and business people. Those rich residents include most recently the Manchester United star David Beckham with his wife the ex-Spice Girls pop star Victoria (Posh Spice), "Coronation Street" (a British soap opera) stars and Mr Paul Sorensen, a member of the family who owned the Soreen Malt Loaf Empire before it was sold. (Paul Sorensen lived at Whitebarn Farm, but has since left the area). However, the town's most famous celebrity is known simply as Pete. He was an unfortunate man who was found garrotted, beaten and stabbed on Lindow common between Alderley and Mobberley. The area is not a violent place, so that discovery came as a bit of a shock. The local police launched a murder investigation. Inquiries were made and suspects were interviewed, but even the excellent detective work of the Cheshire police could not solve this murder, for it turned out that Pete (also known as Lindow Man) had been dead for 2,000 years, preserved in the peat bog that gave him his name. He now lives in the much safer surroundings of the British museum.
[edit] The Edge
The Edge itself sits above the village of Alderley and is a popular destination for day trippers from Manchester and the nearby towns of Wilmslow and Macclesfield; it is now owned by the National Trust and maintained as a public access wooded area. The whole woodland is riddled with old mine workings and relics of by-gone times. The Edge is an escarpment formed partly by the weathering of resistant sandstone which lies on top of a softer sandstone and partly by faulting of the rocks. The scarp or slope is repeated 8 times by faults of up to 200 metres which has thrown down blocks of sandstone west to Alderley and east to the village of Kirkleyditch (OS Reference SJ8778).
In 1882, Ormerod in his book The History of Cheshire described Alderley Edge as "an abrupt and elevated ridge, formerly the site of a Beacon, which bears the appearance of having been detached by some great convulsion of nature from the range of the Macclesfield hills, as Helsby and Beeston seem to have been from those of Delamere and Peckforton. Near the summit, "cobalt ore, lead, and copper have been got in small quantities. The sides are varied with cultivated "land, wood, and rock; and the entire mass presents a striking object to all the surrounding district, over which it commands a most extensive prospect."
The Edge was described as a dreary Common till the year 1779, when it was enclosed together with all the other waste lands of Alderley. Some hundreds of Scotch firs were planted on the highest points by Sir James and Sir Edward Stanley (Baron Stanley of Alderley), between the years 1745 and 1755, before that time, it does not appear that a single tree grew on it. An edge was a name used as a descriptive term for high land in Cheshire and adjacent counties, such as in Wenlock Edge and Blackstone Edge. Here it describes a ridge of land which separates a narrow and short valley from the higher ground of south east Cheshire and Derbyshire. It rises gradually from the town of Macclesfield, until, at a distance of 7 or 8 kilometres, it terminates abruptly, having reached a height of nearly 215 metres above sea level, and 110 above the Cheshire Plain below it. The form assumed by the Edge towards the north, in its steepest descent from the Beacon, is that of an inverted horse-shoe or hough (pronounced huff), as this type of ridge is called in Cheshire.
From the Edge, The Cheshire Plain, can be seen extending from the area of Macclesfield Forest on the south east side with its with undulating land and woods, towards the extreme easterly point of the Derbyshire peaks, and northerly to Manchester and Blackstone Edge in Yorkshire, On its southern side, it extends from a richer and more varied foreground, south to the Wrekin in Shropshire, and west to the mountains of North Wales. To the south west, the Plain is interrupted by similar high ground at Cloud End and Mow Cop as it reaches its extremities at Peckforton Hills, Beeston Castle, and the Forest of Delamere. These views unite into one when you reach the highest point of the Edge, where before the trees were planted, now concealing part of the view, one could have seen the full 360° panorama of the country around to a great distance. Today the view from the Edge itself is limited to the northerly and easterly directions. The Edge also marks the line of a hamlet of scattered houses called "The Hough" which descend towards Alderley village.
[edit] Historic buildings
There are many historic buildings including Chorley Old Hall, which is the oldest surviving manor house in Cheshire.
To the south of the village is the Alderley Park estate, former ancestral home of the Stanley(s).
[edit] Local legends
There are several local legends the most famous being that of the Iron Gates.
The location of the Iron Gates is unknown but they are supposed to lie between Stormy Point and the Holy Well. The Restaurant on the Edge is called "The Wizard Inn". Tradition says that a farmer from Mobberely was taking a milk white horse to sell at the market in Macclesfield. Whilst walking along the Edge, he reached a spot known locally as 'Thieves Hole' and suddenly an old man clad in a grey and flowing garment stopped him. The old man offered the farmer a sum of money for his horse but the farmer refused saying he could get a better price at the market. The old man told the farmer that he would be at this spot again that evening when the farmer returned not having found a purchaser for the horse. The farmer failed to sell the horse and cursing his luck made the journey back home along the Edge. At the same point, the old man appeared again offering the farmer the money, which this time is accepted. The old man told the farmer to follow him with the horse. As they approached an area just past Stormy Point, the old man banged on the ground with his stick and to the farmer’s shock, the rock opened up to reveal a set of Iron Gates. The old man beckoned the farmer to follow him through the gates into a large cavern. In the cavern, the farmer saw countless men and white horses all asleep. The old man explained that all these sleeping warriors were ready to awake and fight should England fall into danger. The farmer was shown back to the gates and stepped outside back onto the path. Immediately the gates slammed shut and the rock face returned to its previous state. There are several versions of the same legend from different places. A letter published in the Manchester Mail in 1805 signed by a gentleman know as 'A Perambulator', supposes that this gentleman has knowledge of the location of the Iron Gates near to Stormy Point, but no other person has claimed to have found them. Further variations say that the Wizard was Merlin and the sleeping men were King Arthur and his army. Yet another version sees the old man saying to the farmer "There will come a day when these men awake from their enchanted slumber and will descend the plain, decide the fate of a great battle and save their country. This shall happen when George the son of George shall reign".
[edit] The Cheshire Enchanter
A tale told by Parson Shrigley, former Clerk and Curate of Alderley (Shrigley was in the post from 1753 until his death in 1776 and he is buried in Alderley Church), is similar to the Iron Gates legend. In this tale, the old man is named as a Thomas of Erceldoune and the horses are black. Once in the cave, the old man asks the farmer to choose between a sword and a horn. The farmer chooses the horn, immediately the horses all jump up and start to stamp their hooves on the ground. The terrified farmer is expelled from the cave by a whirlwind and hears the words "Woe is the coward that ever was born, that did not draw the sword but blew the horn". This tale is actually very similar including the sword and horn words, to a tale told by Sir Walter Scott where the action takes place not at Alderley but in the Eildon Hills in Scotland.
An alternative reading of this and other local legends can be found in Alan Garner's novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner, born in Congleton, was raised in Alderley Edge.
[edit] Alderley Gold
Several ancient gold bars have been found at Alderley Edge. The first was found at the side of Artists Lane. Due to the fact that this bar was obviously old and consisted of gold, it was declared Treasure Trove. A Treasure Trove inquest was held in Congleton on the 26th February 1993.
The John Cherry from British Museum along with Adrian Tindall, the Principal Conservation Officer (Archaeology) for Cheshire County Council made reports on the bar, and determined the gold bar weighed 97.01 grams and was determined to be 73% gold,
Following this inquest the media interest increased and numerous people descended on the Edge hoping to find their own gold bars. The result of all the searching was that 5 more gold bars were found. These bars were also analysed by the British Museum. Their weight and gold content has been given as:
3 Bars were found on 23rd June 1993 - 101.2 grams bar determined to be 76% gold / 97 grams bar determined to be 76% gold / 100.06 grams bar determined to be 75% gold
1 bar was found on 9th October 1997 -81.9 grams bar determined to be 60% gold
1 bar was in the 1960's but not declared to the authorities until 1997 - 100.7 grams bar determined to be 74% gold
[edit] National Trust
The red sandstone escarpment over the village of Alderley Edge is in the custodianship of the National Trust. Alderley Edge has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its geological interest.
The escarpment has long been a site of copper mining, going back to prehistoric and Roman times. The mines are accessible to the public twice a year, during events organised by the Derbyshire Caving Club. The property affords views across Cheshire and the Peak District and walking paths through the property, as well as one to nearby National Trust property Hare Hill.
[edit] References
- Cheshire County Council Records Office
- Morten, E.J. (Pub). Alderley Edge and its Neighbourhood. 2nd Ed. Manchester, UK: E.J. Morten, 1969.
- Broadhurst et al, The Area Around Manchester: Geologists Association Guide No 7, 1970
- Rail in Cheshire: Documents in the National Railway Museum York, UK
- Ormerod, G., The History of Cheshire, Routledge and Sons, Ludgate Hill, London 1882
- [1] Letter to the Manchester Mail, May 19 1805
[edit] External links
- Alderley Edge information at the National Trust
- Information about the Alderley Edge Mines
- Walter Scott and the Eildon Hills Legends
- Archaeological History of Alderley Edge
- Alderley Edge Gold Bars
| Ceremonial county of Cheshire [[Image:|40px]] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unitary authorities: | Halton • Warrington | |
| Boroughs/Districts: | City of Chester • Congleton • Crewe and Nantwich • Ellesmere Port and Neston • Macclesfield • Vale Royal | |
| Cities/Towns: | Alderley Edge • Alsager • Bollington • Chester • Congleton • Crewe • Ellesmere Port • Frodsham • Knutsford • Lymm • Macclesfield • Middlewich • Nantwich • Neston • Northwich • Poynton • Runcorn • Sandbach • Warrington • Widnes • Wilmslow • Winsford See also: List of civil parishes in Cheshire |
|
