Alderley Edge

Lead and copper mining on the Edge is documented from the late 17th century to the 20th century. After the destruction of the Old Hall in the late 18th century, the Stanley family moved to Park House on the south edge of Alderley Park, and house and park were afterwards much extended. Throughout the 19th century Nether Alderley remained under the control of the Stanleys 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; these were straggled 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 and 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 because of the possible confusion with

Following the construction of the railway, the local landowner,

This period also saw the appearance of buildings which are now landmarks. St Philip's Church, Alderley Edge, with its 175 ft (53 m) spire, was built in 1853 and the village primary school a year later known as Alderley Edge Community Primary School.^[7] Two all-girls schools were opened, St Hilary's in 1876 and Mount Carmel in 1945, which then merged in 1999 to form Alderley Edge School for Girls. A boys' school, The Ryleys School, was opened in 1877. 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

The growth of Alderley Edge is recorded in the census returns, with the population rising from 561 in 1841 to 2,856 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 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 to 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, such as Holybank, Ashfield (Alderley Edge villa) and The Larches. Also very evident on this map are the remains of the old mines towards and within Windmill Wood, immediately to the south-east.

In the 20th century, Alderley Edge continued to expand with much post-war housing around the north-eastern and western edges. Nether Alderley has remained relatively unchanged, apart from the sale of Alderley Park to

The civil parish was enlarged on 30 September by gaining a further part of Chorley. On 1 October 1910 it was enlarged by gaining part of Nether Alderley civil parish. It was further enlarged on 1 April 1936 by the transfer of a further 2 acres (0.81 ha) from Chorley and 19 acres (7.7 ha) from Wilmslow civil parish and by gaining 112 acres (0.45 km²) on the abolition of Bollinfee civil parish.^[10]

Economy

At the 2001 UK census, the ward had a possible workforce of approximately 2,157 people. The economic activity of residents in the Alderley Edge electoral ward was 36.9% in full-time employment, 10.2% in part-time employment, 29.3% self-employed, 1.7% unemployed, 1.4% students with jobs, 3.5% students without jobs, 19.3% retired, 7.5% looking after home or family, 2.8% permanently sick or disabled and 2.0% economically inactive for other reasons.

Alderley Edge has a very high rate of self-employment (29.3%) compared with rest of the Macclesfield borough (22.7%) and England (16.6%). It also has low rates of unemployment (1.7%) compared with the rest of the Macclesfield borough (2.0%) and England (3.3%).^[11] The Office for National Statistics estimated that, during the period of April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households in Alderley Edge was £720 (£37,440 per year).^[12]

Amenities

Landmarks

The Edge

The Edge is a wide red sandstone escarpment situated above the village of Alderley. An edge is used as a descriptive term for high land in Cheshire and adjacent counties, such as in Wenlock Edge and Blackstone Edge. The Edge at Alderley is a ridge of land separating a narrow and short valley from the higher ground of southeast 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 metres above the Cheshire Plain below it.

It was formed partly by the weathering of resistant sandstone lying on top of a softer sandstone, and partly by faulting of the rocks. The scarp or slope is repeated eight 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. The northern side of the Edge is shaped like a

From its highest point, the Edge affords panoramic views across Cheshire and the Peak District and walking paths through the property, as well as one to nearby National Trust property Hare Hill. From the Edge, the Cheshire Plain, can be seen extending from the area of Macclesfield Forest on the south east side with its undulating land and woods, towards the extreme easterly point of the Derbyshire peaks, and northerly to Manchester and Blackstone Edge in Yorkshire.

Until trees were planted at the Edge (1745–1755), visitors to the Edge could see a full 360° panorama of the country around; today the view from the Edge itself is limited to the northerly and easterly directions. Trees now obscure the views in other directions, including views of the

The Edge was described as a dreary common[15] till the year 1779, when it was enclosed together with all the other waste lands of Alderley. Some hundreds of

In 1882, George Ormerod in his book The History of Cheshire^[15] described the 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."

Alderley Edge mines

The escarpment in Alderley Edge has long been a site of copper mining. Archaeological evidence indicates that mining took place here during Roman times and the Bronze Age, and written records show that mining continued here from the 1690s up to the 1920s. Many of the mines are owned by the National Trust and have been leased from them by the Derbyshire Caving Club which maintains access and continues to explore and search for areas of mining that have been closed for centuries.

From the 1860s onwards, there have been many thousands of visitors to the mines. However, many other visitors, especially between 1940 and 1960, were ill-equipped and unprepared; this led to a series of accidents that gained the mines a notoriety which still haunts them today. The West and Wood Mines were finally blocked in the early 1960s (Jones, 1961). In 1969, the Derbyshire Caving Club obtained permission from the National Trust (the owners) to reopen Wood Mine and since then much has been found by excavation and exploration and thousands of people have visited the mines in supervised groups.

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 Stanleys.

Local legends

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There are several local legends, the most famous being that of the Wizard of the Edge.

The Wizard of the Edge

Legend has it that a farmer from Mobberley was taking a milk white mare to sell at the market in Macclesfield. Walking along the Edge, he reached a spot known locally as "Thieves Hole" where 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. So the farmer went to market; but having failed to sell the horse, returned in the evening and made his journey back along the Edge. At the same point, the old man appeared again, repeating his offer, which this time was 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 held out a wand and uttered a spell, opening the rock revealing a pair of huge iron gates, which the wizard – as he was – opened. Assuring no harm the wizard told the farmer to enter. The farmer did so, and was led through the gates into a large cavern. In the cavern, the farmer saw countless men and white horses, all asleep. In a recess there was a chest, from which the wizard took the payment for the horse, which he gave to the farmer. The astonished farmer asked what all this meant; the wizard explained that all these sleeping warriors were ready to awake and fight should England fall into danger. He then ordered the farmer to leave and return home.

There are several versions of the legend. It first appeared in print when a letter, sent by someone using the pseudonym "A Perambulator", was published in the Manchester Mail in 1805.

Alan Garner used the legend of The Wizard of the Edge, and other local legends, in his novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner, born in Congleton, was raised in Alderley Edge.

Gold and coins

Several ancient gold bars have been found at Alderley Edge, the first on Artists Lane. It was declared treasure trove, and an inquest was held in Congleton on 26 February 1993. John Cherry from the British Museum along with Adrian Tindall, the Principal Conservation Officer (Archaeology) for Cheshire County Council, reported that the gold bar weighed 97.01 grams and was determined to be 73% gold. The publicity caused the public to search for more, and indeed five more gold bars were found.^{[citation needed]}

Members of the Derbyshire Caving Club found a Roman coin hoard in 1995; the hoard contained 564 coins from AD 317–36.^[22]

Transport

Roads

After several decades of discussion, a 5 km, north-to-south

The bypass was constructed to relieve the congestion caused by the 26,000 vehicles that previously passed through Alderley Edge daily. The project cost £56 million and the main civil engineering works were contracted to

The station is managed by Northern, who also operate all services that stop here.^[25]

Buses

Alderley Edge is served by the 130 bus route, which is operated by D&G Bus; it runs hourly during the daytime (except Sundays) between Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Manchester Airport. ^[26][27]

In popular culture

Alderley Edge has been used as a major setting in various books and television shows:

• It was the main setting of the Channel 4 show Goldplated
• The location inspired Peter Graham to compose "On Alderley Edge", a commission for the Black Dyke Band.
• It was the main setting of the MTV show Living on the Edge^[28]
• The Edge and the country south of it was the setting for Alan Garner's novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath.
• The village has been featured in the ITVBe show The Real Housewives of Cheshire.^[29]

Notable residents

After the death of their father in 1870, George Gissing and his two younger brothers were sent to Lindow Grove, a Quaker boarding school in Alderley Edge, whose headmaster James Wood was often parodied by the novelist.^[30]

The Pilkington family (of Pilkington's Glass) owned all of the woodland now known as The Edge until 1948, when their daughters donated the land to the National Trust. The Pilkington company developed the toughened safety glass necessary when motor cars and very tall buildings became popular. They became hugely wealthy. On Woodbrook Road they built The Cedars as the family home, which has a distinctive large tower and is built from white stone. The house is now sub-divided into four luxury dwellings.^{[citation needed]}

The author Alan Garner, who wrote the children's fantasy novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which is set on Alderley Edge, lived on Trafford Road at the corner with Stevens Street and Moss Lane.^[31]

Former footballers who live in Alderley Edge include

The singer-songwriter Matty Healy spent his formative years in Alderley Edge together with actor parents Denise Welch and Tim Healy.^[36]

See also

• Listed buildings in Alderley Edge
• Geology of Alderley Edge
• Macclesfield group power stations

Notes

References

• Anon, 1696. Concerning Rioting at Copper Mines in Over Alderley. Abstracts of Knutsford Quarter Session Records. pp. 195–197
• Anon, 1808. Indenture between (1) Ashton, (2) Bury and Dodge and (3) Jarrold. AELP Archive
• Anon, 1911. Alderley Edge Copper Mines – work commenced. Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, 17 February 1911
• Bakewell, R., 1811. Account of a Cobalt Mine in Cheshire. Monthly Magazine No. 209 Vol. 31. pp. 7–9
• Bentley Smith, D., 2005. A Georgian Gent & Co. – The Life and Times of Charles Roe. Ashbourne: Landmark Publishing
  ISBN 1-84306-175-9
• Boyd Dawkins, W., 1876. On the Stone Mining Tools from Alderley Edge. Jour. Anthro. Inst. GB and Ireland. 5, pp. 3–5
• Broadhurst, F.M. et al., 1970. The Area Around Manchester: Geologists Association Guide No 7
• Carlon, Chris J., 1979. The Alderley Edge Mines, Altrincham: John Sherratt and Son Ltd.
  ISBN 0-85427-053-1
• Carlon, Chris J. and Dibben, Nigel J., 2012. The Alderley Edge Mines, Nantwich: Nigel Dibben
  ISBN 978-1-78280-015-6
• Cheshire County Council Records Office
• Garner, A., Prag, J., Housley, R., 1994. The Alderley Edge Shovel, An Epic in three Acts. Current Archaeology. (137) pp. 172–175
• Jones, W.F., 1961. "The Copper Mines of Alderley Edge". Privately Published (copy in Manchester Central Library)
• Rail in Cheshire: Documents in the National Railway Museum York, United Kingdom
• Roeder C., 1902. Prehistoric and Subsequent Mining at Alderley Edge etc.. Trans. Lancs. and Ches. Antiqn. Soc. Vol. 19, pp. 77–136
• Roeder, C. and Graves, F.S., 1905. Recent Archaeological Discoveries at Alderley Edge. Trans. Lancs. and Ches. Antiqn. Soc. Vol. 23, pp. 17–29
• Stanley, Louisa D., 1843. Alderley Edge and its Neighbourhood. Originally published by Swinnerton, reprinted by E J Morten, 2nd Ed., 1969. Manchester, United Kingdom: E.J. Morten
• Timberlake, S. & Prag, A.J.N.W., 2005. The Archaeology of Alderley Edge, Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd
  doi:10.30861/9781841717159
• Warrington, G., 1981. The Copper Mines of Alderley Edge and Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire. Jour. Chester Arch. Soc. 64, pp. 47–73

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alderley Edge.

• Alderley Edge Parish Council
• alderleyedge.com
• Alderley Edge information at the National Trust