Bollington | |
---|---|
![]() A view over Bollington from White Nancy, looking north | |
Location within Cheshire | |
Population | 8,310 (2017, estimate) |
OS grid reference | SJ9377 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | MACCLESFIELD |
Postcode district | SK10 |
Dialling code | 01625 |
Police | Cheshire |
Fire | Cheshire |
Ambulance | North West |
UK Parliament | |
Website | bollington-tc |
Bollington is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, to the east of Prestbury. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield and the ancient parish of Prestbury. In 2011, it had a population of 8,310. [1]
Bollington is on the River Dean and the Macclesfield Canal, on the south-western edge of the Peak District. Rising above the town on Kerridge Hill is White Nancy, a monument built to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo.
From the late 18th through to the mid-20th centuries, Bollington was a major centre for cotton-spinning. Waterhouse mill, now demolished, off Wellington Road, once spun the finest cotton in the world, and was sought after by lace makers in Nottingham and in Brussels, Belgium.
Clarence Mill still stands. The lower floors remain commercial but the upper floors have been converted into apartments. One of the oldest surviving mills in Bollington is the very small Defiance Mill, built in Queen Street about 1800 and now restored for residential occupation.
There is a large paper coating mill on the site of Lower Mills. The original mill was built by George Antrobus in 1792 but very little of those buildings remain. A stone-built traditional mill still survives amongst the 20thC brick and 21stC steel developments. In the 1830s and 1840s this mill was rented to Thomas Oliver and Martin Swindells for the production of fine cotton thread for the lace-making industry. Lowerhouse mill (Antrobus, 1819, later occupied by Samuel Greg Jnr) also remains as an industrial mill, also producing coated papers.
The other remaining mill is Adelphi mill (Swindells, 1856), which is today entirely commercial.
In 1801, the population was 1,231. In 1851, the population was 4,655. In 1901, it had grown to 5,245. Population growth slowed during the mid-20th century such that by 1951 the population was 5,644. By 2001 the population had reached 7,095, and in 2011 it was 8,310. [2]
The town falls within the Westminster constituency of Macclesfield, which is currently represented by the Conservative MP David Rutley. [3]
Bollington is represented by two councillors on the Cheshire East Borough Council (unitary). [4]
Bollington Town Council [5] has parish status. There are 12 councillors. From 2012 a number of responsibilities and buildings are being taken over from Cheshire East Council, including the Civic Hall and Town Hall.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service have a retained fire station in Bollington. The town has a medical practice on Wellington Road, and a dental surgery on Bollington Road. The town does not have its own police station; policing is provided by the Cheshire Constabulary. The town has a small yet thriving local retail community, with two bakers, two butchers, a delicatessen, a newsagent, a florist, a Co-op and a Tesco convenience stores. The town has several notable take-aways, restaurants, wine bars, and coffee shops, along with a around ten traditional public houses.
Bollington is served by four primary schools. The Roman Catholic school of St Gregory is on Albert Road, along with the secular Dean Valley Community Primary School. The Church of England has two schools in the town, St John the Baptist Church of England on Grimshaw Lane, and at Bollington Cross, St Oswald's Primary School. Secondary-aged students travel to Tytherington School, The Fallibroome Academy, The Kings School, All Hallows Catholic College, all in Macclesfield, and Poynton High School.
The Recreation Ground, across the road from the Civic Hall and Library, provides a football pitch, bowling green, tennis court and cricket pitch, all of which are in regular use by Bollington Town F.C., Bollington Cricket Club, [6] Bollington Athletics Club, and the Bollington Bowling Club. A further cricket pitch located along Clarke Lane, by the Lord Clyde pub, is home to Kerridge Cricket Club. Bollington has a hockey club, which plays on the King's School astroturf pitches. There are a number of other sporting activity groups including cycling, walking, and swimming.
Other activities are based at the Bollington Health and Leisure Centre at Heath Road, Bollington Cross and The Capelli Sports Ground, the home of Bollington United Football Club and Bollington Health and Leisure Football Club.
All Football clubs crest features White Nancy, a significant landmark within the Bollington area.
Perhaps because of its proximity to the home of British Cycling and its location between the flat Cheshire plains and the hillier Peak District, Bollington is home to a number of professional cyclists, notably Adam Blythe and Ethan Vernon.[ citation needed ]
Bollington is notable for White Nancy, a stone folly located on top of Kerridge Hill. At c.6m high and painted white, this 1817 monument to victory at the Battle of Waterloo is visible from as far away as Shropshire and the western hills of Cheshire. It originally had an entrance to the interior where the visitor would find a single room with stone benches and a round table. However, vandalism reportedly prompted the closure of the entrance sometime in the 20th century. [7]
The big mills, Clarence, Adelphi and Lowerhouse, are notable examples of 19th-century mill buildings in the northwest of England.
The town has several churches. The parish Church of St John the Baptist closed in 2006, leaving St Oswald's Church in Bollington Cross as the only Anglican church. St Gregory's Church on Wellington Road is the Roman Catholic place of worship in the town. The Grade-II listed Methodist church on Wellington Road has been closed to worship and has been sold.
In 2005 Canalside Community Radio was launched to provide community news and entertainment for the duration of the festival. Cousins John and Terry Waite opened the 2005 Bollington Festival. [8] together with the Discovery Centre. In December 2008 Canalside Radio began broadcasting to northeast Cheshire on 102.8 FM having obtained a full-time licence after five years of trying.
Hiking, cycling and riding through the hills around Bollington and along the Macclesfield Canal towpath as well as the Middlewood Way (a disused railway) are popular activities. Boats and bikes can be hired for day-trips and holidays at Grimshaw Lane canal wharf. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs through the town., [9] as does the Gritstone Trail.
The town has many traditional public houses, most of which have not been modernised.
Every five or six years since 1964, the town hosts the Bollington Festival, which runs for two and a half weeks and involves a wide variety of community activities, from concerts, theatrical, opera, art exhibitions, to local history events, science events and competitions. [10] The last Festival was in 2019 and the next is scheduled for 2026 (delayed by Covid and the financial environment).
In September each year a ten-day Walking Festival promotes exercise and fresh air while taking in the beauty of the surrounding countryside, the western hills of the Peak District. [11]
Bollington hosts an annual 'Carols around the Christmas Tree' on Christmas Eve each year. [12]
At mid-day on Christmas Day each year a brass band play at White Nancy. [13]
Bollington has a branch of the Women's Institute, which meets regularly while retired gentlemen may meet at the weekly Probus, and likewise the ladies at their monthly Probus.
The Guide and Scout movements are all represented. Bollington United Junior Football Club (JFC) has three clubs for children ranging from under-10s to under-17s. [14] Bollington is home to 236 Squadron [15] of the Royal Air Force's Air Training Corps, which has its headquarters on Shrigley Road. The Squadron had close links with 42(R) (formerly 236 OCU) of the Royal Air Force before the latter was disbanded in the government defence review in 2010. The Sea Cadets is for 10‑ to 18‑year‑olds. The Bollington and Macclesfield Sea Cadets also have a unit website. [16]
There are numerous artistic, musical and theatrical groups [17] all providing popular exhibitions and performances. Many of these are held at the Bollington Arts Centre. [18]
Bollington is 2 miles (3.2 km) from the A523 road that runs from Hazel Grove, through Macclesfield to Leek in Staffordshire. The nearest motorway junctions are J17 and 19 (Congleton and Knutsford) on the M6, and J1 (Stockport) on the M60. [19]
Regular bus services connect Bollington with Macclesfield, Hazel Grove and Stockport, operated by D&G Bus.
Bollington no longer has its own railway station; the nearest being in Macclesfield, for inter-city trains to London and Manchester, and Prestbury for local stopping trains.
Bollington used to be served by the Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple Railway, which operated between Rose Hill Marple and Macclesfield. The railway was built in 1869 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR), as a part of a quest to provide an alternative link between Manchester and the south that was independent of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). Cotton mill owner Thomas Oliver had suggested this route hoping to revive the cotton mills of Bollington, the Kerridge stone quarries and the coal fields at Poynton. The line was closed in January 1970 as part of the Beeching closures. The trackbed is today used for walking, cycling and horseriding; it is known as the Middlewood Way. [20]
The Macclesfield Canal passes through the centre of the town and is a picturesque and rural part of the Cheshire Ring. The stretch from Marple Junction on the Peak Forest Canal to Bosley is without locks and is carried on an embankment through Bollington. Kerridge was the scene of a spectacular breach on 29 February 1912, where the water from Bosley to Bugsworth basin emptied through the town. [21] Today, the canal is used for leisure purposes.
Bollington Live! is a publication produced three times a year by a team of volunteer writers, editor and distributors. It is funded by local businesses who sponsor and advertise. It covers a wide range of issues of local interest, from historical articles, to matters of current concern. The magazine is delivered free to every household and business in Bollington, plus others in Pott Shrigley and Whiteley Green by almost fifty volunteers. The magazine was started in 1994 by a group of residents who felt that whilst Bollington was served by the neighbouring Macclesfield newspapers, it was in need of a Bollington-centred publication. All copies are available online [22] on the town's extensive Happy Valley web site. [23]
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. [24]
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Manchester, Heart North West, Smooth North West, XS Manchester, Capital Manchester and Lancashire, Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West, Silk Radio and Canalside Radio, a community-based station. [25] [26]
Congleton is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, 21 miles (34 km) south of Manchester and 13 miles (21 km) north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 30,015.
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England, on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east, 16 miles (26 km) south of Manchester and 38 miles (61 km) east of Chester.
Macclesfield was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It included the towns of Bollington, Knutsford, Macclesfield and Wilmslow and within its wider area the villages and hamlets of Adlington, Disley, Gawsworth, Kerridge, Pott Shrigley, Poynton, Prestbury, Rainow, Styal, Sutton and Tytherington.
Kerridge is a village in the civil parish of Bollington, in the Cheshire East district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Kerridge borders the neighbouring parish of Rainow.
Marple is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the River Goyt, 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Manchester, 9 miles (14 km) north of Macclesfield and 4 miles (6 km) south-east of Stockport. In 2011, it had a population of 23,686.
High Lane is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, on the Macclesfield Canal, 5 miles (8 km) from Stockport.
Poynton is a town in the civil parish of Poynton-with-Worth, in the Cheshire East district and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England; from 1974 to 2009 it was in Macclesfield district. It is located on the easternmost fringe of the Cheshire Plain, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Manchester, 7 miles (11 km) north of Macclesfield and 5 miles (8 km) south of Stockport.
The Macclesfield Canal is a canal in east Cheshire, England. There were various proposals for a canal to connect the town of Macclesfield to the national network from 1765 onwards, but it was not until 1824 that a scheme came to fruition. There were already suggestions by that date that a railway would be better, but the committee that had been formed elected for a canal and the engineer Thomas Telford endorsed the decision. The canal as built was a typical Telford canal, constructed using cut and fill, with numerous cuttings and embankments to enable it to follow as straight a course as possible, although Telford had little to do with its construction, which was managed by William Crosley.
The Middlewood Way is an 11-mile (16 km) shared use path in north-west England, between Macclesfield and Rose Hill, Marple ; it was opened on 30 May 1985 by Dr David Bellamy. It serves the needs of walkers, dog walkers, cyclists, joggers and horse riders and plays host to a wide range of flora and fauna.
White Nancy is a structure at the top of Kerridge Hill, overlooking Bollington, Cheshire, England. Since 1966 it has been recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Its profile forms the logo for the town of Bollington.
The River Dean rises at Longclough in Macclesfield Forest on the western edge of the Peak District foothills above the village of Rainow in north east Cheshire, England.
Middlewood railway station serves the village of High Lane in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is a stop on the Buxton Line between Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport and Buxton. The station is managed and served by Northern Trains; it is the last station on the line within the Transport for Greater Manchester ticketing area.
Rainow is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, in the valley of the River Dean and next to the B5470 road between Macclesfield and Kettleshulme. It straddles the eastern side of the Peak District border of Derbyshire and Cheshire, and is surrounded by pasture farmland. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs past the village. The village's name comes from the Old English hræfn + hōh, meaning "hill-spur frequented by ravens". It is a former mill village and has a population of around 2,500.
Prestbury is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, about 2 miles (3 km) north of Macclesfield. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 3,324; it increased slightly to 3,471 at the 2011 census. The ecclesiastical parish is almost the same as the former Prestbury local government ward which consisted of the civil parishes of Prestbury, Adlington and Mottram St Andrew.
Rose Hill Marple is one of two railway stations that serve Marple in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, England; the other is Marple railway station. The station, which opened in 1869, is the last surviving stop on the former Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB&MR). It is connected via a short branch to the Hope Valley Line. The original line to Macclesfield was closed in January 1970, leaving Rose Hill Marple as the terminus of the route; the Middlewood Way, a shared-use path, now follows the preserved route of the disused MB&MR.
Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council, which is based in the town of Sandbach. Other towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Wilmslow, Nantwich, Poynton, Knutsford, Alsager, Bollington and Handforth.
The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB&MR) was a railway line between Macclesfield and Marple, England; it was 11 miles in length. The route was opened jointly by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1869. It was part of an alternative link between Manchester and destinations south of Macclesfield. The line was closed in 1970 and its route now forms the Middlewood Way, a trail used by walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
Bollington is a civil parish in Cheshire East, England. It contains 66 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England, all of which are at Grade II. This grade is the lowest of the three gradings given to listed buildings and is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest". In the parish is the town of Bollington, which is surrounded by countryside leading up to the foothills of the Pennines on the east. To the south of the town is the long Kerridge Hill, which has been a source of industry, with coal mining on its east side and quarrying on the west side. These quarries are the source of Kerridge stone-slate, which is used to roof many of the houses in the locality.
Bollington railway station was a railway station serving the town of Bollington in Cheshire, England. It was opened in 1869 by the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB&M) - a joint line constructed and operated by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&L) and North Staffordshire Railways (NSR). The passenger station was on the north side of Grimshaw Lane, with a goods yard on the south side.
Kerridge Hill is a hill in Cheshire, near the hamlet of Kerridge on the outskirts of Bollington. The summit is 313 metres (1,027 ft) above sea level. The River Dean runs along the eastern foot of the hill.