Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, with their leafy lanes and newly built railway
stations, attracted wealthy merchants and mill-owners to move away from the
grime and poverty of 19th century Manchester. The businessmen of today are
attracted by the ease of flying to all parts of the world from Manchester
International Airport, which lies on their doorstep. As a result, the area
retains an aura of residential respectability and wealth, although in reality it
has a long industrial history.
Since prehistoric times copper and lead are believed to have been mined on
the Edge and burial urns from the early Bronze Age have been found in the area.
In 1984 excitement was created internationally, by the discovery of a body
preserved for 2,500 years by acidic peat on Lindow Common ... 'Pete Marsh' as he
became known, had apparently been garotted in a ritual rite.
Less than a mile from the airport stands Quarry Bank Mill and the
timber-framed buildings of Styal village. In 1784 Samuel Greg commenced the
building of the mill, now a working museum and heritage centre. Thousands of
school children who visit the mill each year discover that life was no a bed of
roses for the hundreds of orphaned children employed there in the 18th and 19th
centuries.
Both Wilmslow and Alderley Edge have interesting histories in the more recent
past and their affluence ensured good coverage by early photographers, so that
their rapid development since the railway came, is well recorded in surviving
visual images.
In this book the author has made skilful use of a splendid selection of
carefully captioned old photograph to illuminate his easy-to-read narrative
account of Wilmslow and Alderley Edge in the past.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Wilmslow
- Introduction
- Wilmslow Parish Church
- Highways
- Romany of the B.B.C.
- Trade and Industry
- Punishment
- The Racecouse and Lindow Moss
- Wilmslow Life
Styal Village
- Samuel Greg and Quarry Bank Mill
- Greg's Estate
- The Village Shop
- Religion
- Mill Workers and Child Labour
- The Apprentices' House
- Oak School
- Work and Play
Ringway and Manchester International Airport
Alderley Edge Village
- St Philip's Church
- Chorley Hall
- The Edge
- The Beacon
- Wizard's Well
- Stormy Point
- Alderley Cross
- Old Alderley
- Alderley Hall
- Nether Alderley Mill
- Alderley Church
Bibliography
