Mellor, Greater Manchester
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Mellor is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. Mellor, situated between Marple Bridge and New Mills, is a relatively small village that runs along a tributary of the River Goyt. It extends from the start of the old turnpike road at the boundary of Marple Bridge to the current county boundary with Derbyshire. [1] Mellor no longer has any shops, so people now shop in Marple Bridge, Marple or further afield. It has a church, primary school, golf course, sports club and a riding school. There are three pubs in the village, The Royal Oak, The Devonshire Arms, and The Oddfellows Arms. There is also a fourth pub, the Hare and Hounds in the hamlet of Mill Brow, which is part of the parish of Mellor. An independent census from 1891 lists several of these pubs and a complex of shops and industries which no longer exist.[2]
As with virtually all towns and villages in Britain, there is a World War I memorial, situated in a small park at the very heart of the modern village. Farmland takes the bulk of the remaining space, although with the decline in the farming economy in recent years, much of it is now given over to non-agricultural uses: horses, golf, and a scout camp. A number of farm buildings and Mellor Hall date back to the late 17th century, and were built on ruins of earlier buildings, illustrating the long-standing importance of agriculture to Mellor. The village was in the county of Derbyshire until 1936 when it was added to the urban district of Marple (along with the neighbouring village of Ludworth), and therefore became part of Cheshire.
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[edit] History
[edit] Ancient history
The ancient past of Mellor is slowly being discovered as a result of a long-term archaeological survey of the area by means of excavations and geophysical surveys, including ground-penetrating radar. Although some history had survived by means of written records and local tradition, it has become clear that such knowledge only scratched the surface and that the extent of Mellor's past had passed from such memories.
[edit] Industrial history
Just across the River Goyt, there are the "Roman Lakes". [3] [4] [5] These are not Roman, but were water reservoirs for Samuel Oldknow's[6][7] Mellor Mill[8] [9] cotton mill, a major employer in the area in the Industrial Revolution. The other major figure in Mellor at this time was William Radcliffe, a mill owner who invented many devices for improving the textile industry. At the height of the Industrial Revolution coal-power supplanted water-power as the driving force, and minable coal seams were found in Mellor. Relatively recently, the British Coal Board strip-mined those seams that still had sufficient coal in them.
[edit] Governance
On the creation of Greater Manchester, Mellor became a part of Stockport metropolitan borough.
The voters of Mellor consist of, in almost equal numbers, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. Labour have never done well here. Mellor is not noted for being particularly active on the political front. Nonetheless, turnout for elections is often very high.
[edit] Geography
Mellor lies in the foothills of the Pennines, just outside the area of Derbyshire known as the High Peak. Nearby villages include Rowarth, Marple Bridge, Ludworth and Mill Brow. The town of Marple lies across the River Goyt. A little further away are the towns of Romiley and New Mills and the villages of Hayfield and Strines. Mellor Church and Mellor Hall are situated on the top of a ridge that is separated from the bulk of the village of Mellor by a gully and stream.
The oldest part of inhabited Mellor runs alongside the river Goyt, stretching from the oldest parts of Marple Bridge up the hill, spreading out where the slope becomes gentle. Newer parts of the village run down Longhurst Lane, the old turnpike road, and into former farmland released for building by Townscliffe Farm. At the very top of Mellor is the junction of Five Ways. One of these roads runs to Mellor, a second to Rowarth, a third to Strines and New Mills, the fourth to a water treatment plant and a fifth to many farms on the edge of Mellor. Spoil heaps indicate mining operations here and coal was mined in the general area during the Industrial Revolution.
Because of the topology, Mellor lies on one of the easier points for entering the Pennines from the Mersey Basin by road or foot. It is also on the flight path for air traffic into Manchester Airport, formerly known as Ringway.
[edit] Geology
Mellor is located on a gritstone area in an area of the Peak District referred to as the Dark Peak. (In contrast, the limestone region of the Peak District is referred to as the White Peak.) The underlying geology of the area belongs to the Carboniferous Millstone Grit series which are outcrop as the Middle Grit. Below this are shales and mudstones and older Gritstones such as the Kinder Scout Grit which forms the Kinder Plateau to the East. Small seams of coal have been located in Mellor, over the gritstone. Boulder clay, left from the Ice Age, can usually be found just below the surface-level soil. At one point, all of the Peak District - Mellor included - was submerged beneath relatively warm waters. Evidence for this is the limestone region, with the limestone containing fossils of coral and other shallow-depth warm-water creatures.
The gritstone comes from deposits laid down about 300 million years ago over the limestone. Shallow coal deposits lie on top of the gritstone, although most of these have long since been mined. Very deep coal deposits do exist further into the Pennines, but again many of these have been worked out. Although evidence exists for volcanos elsewhere in the Peak District,
The soil in Mellor is fairly rich in peat and can bog easily, but there are no permanent peat bogs within Mellor itself. The only other noteworthy detail on Mellor's geology is the almost complete absence of iodine, particularly in the water of the River Goyt. If no other source of iodine is in the diet, drinking the river water can lead to an enlarged thyroid gland, a condition is known as "Derbyshire Neck", or Goitre.
[edit] Economy
A few small businesses work out of the old mills that scatter the countryside, and there is a limited amount of farming, principally grazing livestock: sheep and beef cattle. A few farms have free-range chickens, but the majority of poultry are battery-farmed. Horses are also common, and horse-riding is a popular pursuit in the area, which benefits from many ancient bridleways.
[edit] Sports
Sport in Mellor is taken seriously and, despite its size, the village boasts a number of clubs that ensure physical activity all year round.
[edit] Lacrosse
Mellor is probably best known for being a hotbed of lacrosse. The club has enjoyed great success in its 80 year history, winning the North of England men's championship on many occasions, the most recent being 2006. The club has three men's senior teams and a thriving junior section and has recently created a ladies team. The club also regularly plays host to touring teams from the USA at junior and senior level. The success of the club can be gauged by the fact that many Mellor players have gone on to play at international level and indeed the current England Men's captain is Mellor 1st team goalkeeper Ben McAllister.
[edit] Football
Mellor Football Club was founded in 1923 by members of the Hambleton Family. Mellor FC's home ground is Wood Lane in Marple, and the club currently boasts five open-age teams and an U-17s team, due to an influx of new talent into the club. Mellor 1st XI are currently in the Premier Division of the Lancashire and Cheshire League and won the Stockport Senior Cup in the 2004/05 season. Peter Jamieson is the current first team manager.
[edit] Cricket
Mellor Cricket Club has two senior teams that play in the Derbyshire and Cheshire League having previously played in the Glossop and District League for many years and before that, in the High Peak League. There is also a junior section with three teams, members of which have gone on to represent Cheshire at U13,U15, and U19 level.
[edit] Tennis
The tennis club was formed around the end of the Second World War, between 1945 and 1950. It originally had only one grass court. This was later extended to include two shale courts and later to include two all-weather courts. These were then replaced with astroturf. It has three men's and three ladies' teams in the Slazenger North East Cheshire League.
[edit] Badminton
Mellor's badminton club has eight teams - two teams in the Tameside Badminton League, three in the Stockport Badminton League and three Junior teams in the Stockport Badminton League.
[edit] Golf
The Golf course runs through a sparsely-populated section of the oldest inhabited part of Mellor. The course offers a very clear view over Greater Manchester and on a clear day the Welsh Mountains can be seen. The 15th hole is regarded by some as the signature hole, a double dog leg par 5.
[edit] Societies
There are a number of additional societies within Mellor, ranging from church activities to painting to rambling.
There are a number of charitable events in the area. For example, Every four years the local residents open a number of private gardens during an event known as the Mellor Open Gardens day. The purpose of the event is to raise funds for Cancer Research UK and the support of the local Parish Centre. [10] Another event is the Mellor March, in which ramblers carry out a sponsored walk to traverse the boundary of Mellor. [11]
[edit] Mysteries
There are a few outstanding mysteries that texts on Mellor refer to.
[edit] Case of Oldknow's Mill
One of the local stories involves the fate of Samuel Oldknow's mill at the Roman Lakes, which was destroyed by fire. Accidents at such mills were common, but so were violent rivalries. There have been claims made for both cases.
[edit] Case of Thomas Brierley
Another local mystery involves Thomas Brierley, the treasurer of the freemasonry lodge in Mellor around 1785. He had his gravestone carved, using a masonic cipher called 'Pigpen', some years prior to his death. The text at the head of the stone says "Thomas Brierley made his ingress July 16th 1785". The cipher at the foot of the gravestone says "Holiness of the Lord". The Pigpen Cipher was used by Freemasons in the 18th Century to keep their records private and surprisingly the cipher on Thomas Brierley's grave seems have a non-standard symbol for the letter "S". It is possible the variation in the cipher is a clue to or a key to documents that he dealt with as the treasurer but more likely a simple error.
According to some, Thomas Brierley fell to his death from the church tower, but other sources disagree so this story may be an urban legend. To add to the mystery, a bronze plaque was added to the stone in recent times with more cipher upon it, the cipher used being similar but not identical.
[edit] Sources
[edit] Directly Included Sources
- Peak District View : Mellor
- Marple Pub Guide - The Royal Oak
- Marple Pub Guide - The Devonshire Arms
- Marple Pub Guide - the Oddfellows Arms
- Derbyshire transcripts of Kelly's Directory (May, 1891)
- A Virtual History Tour of Marple and District
- Oldknow's Mellor Mill
- Roman Lakes Homepage
- Background on Samuel Oldknow
- Summary of Samuel Oldknow
- Mellor Archaeological Trust study of Oldknow's mill
- Summary of collection of Oldknow's business papers
- [12] Mellor Open Gardens]
- Mellor March
[edit] General Information
[edit] Sports organizations
- Mellor Football Club
- Mellor Tennis Club
- Mellor Lacrosse Team
- Mellor Cricket Club
- Mellor Badminton Club
- Mellor and Townscliffe Golf Club
[edit] Other activities
- Mellor Art Society
- "University of the Third Age" - Senior Citizens Education
- "Mellor Charity Garden Opening" - Sunday 25th may 2008 private gardens open to the Public
[edit] Geography
[edit] Records of Mellor from the Church and Hall
- Defines the chapelry of Mellor - the scope of authority of the church at Mellor
- St. Thomas' (Mellor) Church and Mellor Hall
- St. Thomas' (Mellor) Church, contact information
- Mellor Church Activists Group
- Marriages in Mellor, 1678-1775
[edit] Historical information for Mellor
- Directory of Mellor and surrounds in 1835, showing nearby towns
- Census records for Mellor, 1841
- Range of historical records relating to the area
- Samuel Oldknow and the history of his activities
- The Cotton Industry, in Britain in the Industrial Revolution - Briefly covers William Radcliffe
- Thomas Brierley's Gravestone
