Prestbury, Cheshire

Coordinates: 53°17′34″N 2°08′43″W / 53.292842°N 2.145181°W / 53.292842; -2.145181

Prestbury
Prestbury  Prestbury shown within Cheshire
Population	3,324 [1]
OS grid reference	SJ904773
Civil parish	Prestbury
Unitary authority	Cheshire East
Ceremonial county	Cheshire
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MACCLESFIELD
Postcode district	SK10
Dialling code	01625
Police	Cheshire
Fire	Cheshire
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Macclesfield
List of places UK England Cheshire

Prestbury is a village, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Prestbury is a long, narrow parish covering 1,165 hectares to the west of the Peak Park foothills and to the east of the sandstone ridge which is ‘the edge’. The village is about 1.5 miles (3 km) north of Macclesfield. At the time of the 2001 census, the civil parish had a population of 3,324.^[1] It is one of the most sought after and expensive places to live outside of London. The ecclesiastical parish^[2] is almost the same as the former Prestbury local government ward which consisted of the civil parishes of Prestbury, Adlington, and Mottram St. Andrew. The population in 2001 was 5,034.^[3]

Prestbury is a frequent winner of Best Kept Village/Community Pride Competitions^[4] and a popular destination for sightseers.^[5]

Toponym

As Prestbury was initially settled by priests its name derives from Preôsta burh, which is sometimes thought to mean priests' town, but more correctly means a priests' fortified enclosure.

History and geography

Prestbury lies between Macclesfield and Wilmslow, for the most part on elevated ground above the flood-prone River Bollin. The ancient Forest of Macclesfield is to the east.

There is no evidence of a settlement before Saxon times, although a cemetery nearby which had been excavated in 1808 contained pottery cremation urns and signs of sacrifice and was presumably pre-Christian.

As a result of being initially settled by priests they chose an enclosure with a defensible location on the River Bollin where there was relatively high ground close to the river on both sides so that crossing was easy. From there they could travel to all parts of a parish which was extensive, though thinly populated, in part because the countryside was wild and barren and in part because the forest was reserved for hunting.

The parish

At the time of the Norman conquest, the parish consisted of thirty-five townships:

Adlington Alderley Birtles Bollington Bosley Butley Capesthorne

Chelford Fallibroome Gawsworth Henbury Hurdsfield Kettleshulme Lower Withington

Lyme Handley Macclesfield Macclesfield Forest Marton Mottram St.Andrew Newton North Rode

Old Withington Pott Shrigley Poynton Prestbury Rainow Siddington Sutton

Taxal Tytherington Upton Wildboarclough Wincle Woodford Worth

Prestbury township was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, perhaps because information was not supplied or because Prestbury was only a church, not a manor.

Twelve of the other townships are mentioned. Butley was valued at 2 shillings at the time of the Domesday Survey, compared with 30 shillings at the time of Edward the Confessor, Adlington and Macclesfield were both worth 20 shillings and Siddington 5 shillings. The other eight townships were valued "Waste".

The church administered the civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs of the parish until the Local Government Act 1894 created rural districts and civil parishes. Three of the townships, Butley, Fallibroome and Prestbury, constitute fhe present civil parish of Prestbury.

The village

The school, smithies, the mill, inns and the stocks centre on a village street called "The Village", which is broad enough for cattle fairs and the like. Until the 19th century the village street was connected to Pearl Street, the main street of Butley, by a ford.

In about 1825, a bridge of two arches was built, linking the village street to a new road ("New Road") passing behind the cottages and the Admiral Rodney pub^[6] on the southeast side of Pearl Street. In 1855 the bridge was replaced by the present bridge with one arch.^[7]

During the 19th century Prestbury became involved in the silk industry. Swanwick's factory operated and cottages were built for the workers ("Factory Cottages" or "Irish Row"). Weavers' cottages were built on both New Road and the Village^[8] with upper storeys for weaving.

In the 20th century, improved communications made it possible for Prestbury to develop into a residential community.

Prestbury Mill^[9] was destroyed by fire in 1940.

Conservation Area

The Conservation Area includes areas neighbouring the village street, the east side of Macclesfield Road as far south as the Methodist Church,^[10] and New Road as far north as Butley Cottage^[11] and its garden. Many of the buildings and structures in the Conservation Area are listed by English Heritage, four of them, Bridge Hotel,^[12] Priest's House,^[13] Horner's^[14] and Prestbury Hall^[15] being regarded as "Focal Buildings". Other buildings are considered to be of townscape merit. Trees and even some hedges are important landscape features.

The Manor House^[16] was shown as the vicarage on the 1831 map.

Brooks Cottages,^[17] marked with a plaque reading "Rodger Brooks and Ellen his wife erected this house in the 24 years of his life Ano Dom 1686" are among the listed buildings on the Butley side of the Bollin.

Other areas

Smithy Cottage, built on the site of a former smithy, is just outside the conservation area.

Butley Hall^[18] is shown on the 1831 map but is outside the Conservation area, as are the Butley Ash Inn and Spittle House, which was probably built between 1300 and 1450 as a leper hospital.

New estates were built during the 20th century to accommodate commuters.

The defining characteristic of 21st century development has been the replacement of quite sizeable houses by large mansions, such as that built for Wayne Rooney.^[19]

Adlington Hall^[20] with strong connections with Prestbury is nearby.

Suburban Development

Since the 1970s, there has been quite a lot of new build development in the village. Packsaddle Park is a good example of this. It is a suburban development built on the grounds of Packsaddle House. In addition to this, there has been a lot of redevelopment of existing houses in the village.

Governance

Prestbury is situated in Cheshire East, a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. Prestbury falls within the UK parliament constituency of Macclesfield, a strongly Conservative constituency represented by David Rutley, who gained office in the United Kingdom general election, 2010. The area is also represented in the European Parliament, the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union, by being part of North West England (European Parliament constituency).

Churches

St Peter's Church^[21] which is one of the oldest parish churches in the country and houses a Saxon cross in its churchyard.^[22] The parish's memorial to the dead of the two world wars is in the west porch.

St John's, Adlington, a daughter church of St Peter's^[23]

Prestbury Methodist Church^[10]

Prestbury falls within the Catholic parish of St Gregory's, Bollington.

Education

Prestbury Church of England Primary School^[24]

Sporting facilities

Badminton club

Bowling club

Cricket club

Football clubs

Golf club^[25]

Macclesfield Rugby Club^[26]

Riding school

Squash rackets club

Tennis club^[27]

Transport

Because of the lie of the land, the village is a natural traffic hub.^[28]

The road from Macclesfield to Altrincham (A538) carries traffic between Macclesfield and Wilmslow through the centre of the village. The Macclesfield to Hazel Grove road (A523), built in 1810, goes through the parish in a north–south direction, passing to the east of the village.

Buses 19 and 19X, Prestbury to Macclesfield

Prestbury is served by the Manchester to Macclesfield to Stoke-on-Trent railway line. Prestbury railway station was opened on 24 November 1845 and refurbished in 1986. The south entrance arch to Prestbury Railway Tunnel is grade II listed.^[29] The village centre is a few minutes walk from the railway station.

Famous residents

Numerous stars of sport and entertainment have lived in Prestbury for various lengths of time, including:

• Noddy Holder, professional musician and actor, best known as the vocalist, guitarist and occasional bass guitarist with rock music group Slade, moved to the area from Walsall in the West Midlands after rising to fame during the 1970s.^[30]
• Stan Pearson, professional footballer who was part of the Manchester United team of the immediate post Second World War years, ran a newsagent's shop and post office in Prestbury for some 20 years until his retirement during the 1980s.^[31]
• Wayne Rooney, professional footballer, moved to Prestbury after signing for Manchester United from Everton in 2004.^[32]
• Alan Green, BBC Radio's senior football commentator.
• Carlos Tevez, professional footballer, who signed for Manchester United in 2007. But later moved to Manchester City in 2009.^[32]
• Wes Brown, professional footballer.^[33]
• Owen Hargreaves, professional footballer who has played for Manchester United and Manchester City.^[34]
• Andrew Flintoff, professional cricketer and former Vice-Captain of England.^[35]
• Robbie Savage, professional footballer who has played for clubs including Manchester United (as a youth and reserve player), Leicester City and Birmingham City, as well as representing Wales at international level.^[34]
• Brian Houghton Hodgson, early naturalist and ethnologist, was born at Prestbury at the beginning of the 19th century.^[36]
• Mike Yarwood, comedian ^[37]
• Peter Mellor, footballer,played 224 times for Fulham, also played for Burnley & Portsmouth, was born in Prestbury in 1947.
• Ashley Young, professional football player, plays for Manchester Utd.^[38]

1977 bank robbery

In February, 1977 the village made national headlines when two employees at the local branch of Williams & Glyn's Bank were murdered during a robbery. Whilst the sub-branch was closed for lunch 22-year old senior cashier Ian Jebb was repeatedly stabbed and his assistant (and fiancee) 19-year old Susan Hockenhull kidnapped. As the branch was only manned by the two staff the alarm was only raised when customers were unable to enter the bank after the lunchtime closing period .^[39] Miss Hockenhull was later discovered on moorland, where she had died from hypothermia.^[40]

In October 1977 David Walsh, 30, who was employed as a contractor to service adding machines at the bank and who was known to the victims, was found guilty at Chester Crown Court of their murders and sentenced to life imprisonment. He also received 15 years' imprisonment for the robbery which netted £2,445.^[41][42]

Notes

References

• A. J. S. Cartmell "The History of Prestbury", St.Peter's Church, Prestbury, 2006
• Gordon B. Hindle "St. Peter's Prestbury: a personal response", Church of St. Peter, Prestbury, Cheshire, 2001
• Hunter, W.W. (1896). Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson. London: John Murray. 
• Prestbury Community Directory, Prestbury Parish Council, 2008
• Prestbury Conservation Area Appraisal: Draft for Public Consultation: Macclesfield Borough Council, January 2006, accessed 28 October 2007
• Prestbury Village Design Statement: Supplementary Planning Document, Borough of Macclesfield, June 2007, accessed 28 October 2007
• Frank Renaud "Contributions towards a history of the ancient Parish of Prestbury in Cheshire", the Chetham Society, 1876
• Village Design Statement for Prestbury Parish, accessed 15 April 2008

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prestbury, Cheshire.

• prestbury.com Local news and information
• Prestbury Parish Council Official website
• Plan for Prestbury
• All about Prestbury, past, present and future
• Oliver Wood's photos A collection of photos of Prestbury and the surrounding area.
• Travel article "The Wilmslow Boys" by A.A.Gill. Prestbury slated as "Smug Central"

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