Bredbury is a town in the
Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, south-east of central Manchester. As well as the towns of Stockport, Bredbury and Marple, it includes the outlying areas of Hazel ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
, England, south-east of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, east of
Stockport and south-west of
Hyde. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 16,721.
It is on the lower southern slopes of
Werneth Low
Werneth Low (; ) is a hill in Greater Manchester, England, and a part of the Pennines. It is located on the borders of Stockport and Tameside, rising to a height of . The villages of Woodley, Greave, Gee Cross, Mottram and Romiley lie on the s ...
, an outlier of the
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...
between the valleys of the
River Tame and
River Goyt
The River Goyt is a tributary of the River Mersey in North West England.
Etymology
The name ''Goyt'' may be derived from the Middle English ''gote'', meaning "a watercourse, a stream". Derivation from the Welsh ''gwyth'' meaning "vein" has bee ...
, head-waters of the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...
.
History
Iron Age
The area must have been unattractive to the
Brigantes settlers in pre-Roman Britain, with its bleak hilltop, the heavy clay soil of the intermediate land probably covered by trees and becoming marshy where the slopes flattened out, and the swampy valley floors. The rivers flowed more fully before their waters were dammed in the 19th century to supply Manchester, Stockport and other towns. However, where the valley of the River Goyt narrows at New Bridge, passage was possible and here an ancient highway entered the village to proceed along the higher land to the north-east.
Roman occupation
The Romans surveyed and constructed a road between the forts of ''
Mamucium
Mamucium, also known as Mancunium, is a former Roman fort in the Castlefield area of Manchester in North West England. The ''castrum'', which was founded c. AD 79 within the Roman province of Roman Britain, was garrisoned by a cohort ...
'' (Manchester) and ''
Ardotalia
Ardotalia (also known as Melandra, or Melandra Castle) is a Roman fort in Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, England.
Ardotalia was constructed by Cohors Primae Frisiavonum—The First Cohort of Frisiavones. Evidence for the existence of ...
'' (Melandra Castle at
Gamesley
Gamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak
in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and close to the River Etherow which forms the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester. Gamesley is a ward of the High Peak Borough ...
) over this ancient track; this, in turn, became an 18th-century
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
road and the
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
to
Skegness
Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, ...
trunk road, the A560.
Some years ago, a Roman coin was dug up on the edge of the road between
Bredbury railway station
Bredbury railway station serves the town of Bredbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England.
It was built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee in 1875, on the line between New Mills Central a ...
and St Mark's Church. The coin long antedates any Roman occupation of this part of the country; this may either have been lost when held as a souvenir or have been brought over from the continent in the course of trade.
As with the majority of hills, rivers and other natural features in this area, the names of the River Tame and Werneth Low are of
Celtic origin. The name 'Bredbury' is
Anglo-Saxon and probably dates from the first permanent settlement, likely a fortification. Names found in nearby villages suggest that
Norse invaders found their way into the district, probably during the 10th century.
Middle Ages
Bredbury comprised farm land bought by Lord Danton in 1014. There is no mention of Lord Danton's
manor, but the 'lord' of Bredbury was the pre-conquest Anglo-Saxon
thane
Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...
, Wulfric. It is likely that
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
's army, on its march from
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
to subdue the rebellion at
Chester, followed the main highway. Virtually all the townships on the way were systematically looted, part of the
Harrying of the North. Bredbury seems to have been an exception, for reasons which are unclear, but the army apparently crossed the hill into
Romiley
Romiley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it borders Marple, Bredbury and Woodley. At the 2011 census, the Romiley ward, which includes Compstall, Bredbury Green ...
, which although not on the direct route, is duly described as "waste" in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
of 1086. Bredbury itself was mentioned briefly in the Domesday Book as being several hundred acres of land. The only occupants listed were a duck and a sheep. Its value was placed at three pounds.
Bredbury passed from the hands of Sir Richard de Vernon to the Mascis of
Dunham, under whom it was held by the Fitz-Waltheofs of Stockport. A
charter granted by the third
Hamon de Masci, lord of Dunham, who died about the end of the reign of
King John, confirms the ownership of lands in Bredbury to the Fitz-Waltheofs, and is of special interest because it affords an insight into the working of the
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...
of the period. A translation of the charter runs as follows:
The conditions laid down in this charter were usual under the feudal system, when military expeditions into Wales were no uncommon tasks for the Earl of Chester and his underlords.
By a general inquisition of tenures, taken 10 May 1288, to determine the services due to
Edward I in the
Welsh Wars
This is an incomplete list of the wars and battles between the Anglo-Saxons who later formed into the Kingdom of England and the Britons (the pre-existing Brythonic population of Britain south of the Antonine Wall who came to be known later by the ...
, it was found that "Richard de Stokeport holds Bredbury of Hamo de Masci" and "makes service to our Lord the King with one uncaparisoned horse".
[Earwaker, J.P (1877)]
"The Barons Of Stockport".
In ''East Cheshire: Past And Present: or A History Of The Hundred Of Macclesfield In The County Palatine Of Chester. From Original Records. Volume I.'' London: Wyman And Son. p.457. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
Some time during the 14th century the manor of Bredbury was sub-divided into two portions, the larger of which was held by the Bredburys, and passed from them, by marriage with an heiress, to the Ardernes. The remaining portion ultimately came into the possession of the Davenports of
Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...
.
It would appear, however, that the manor of Bredbury was still held by the Stokeports, for in the inquisition post mortem of Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Richard de Stokeport, taken in 1370, it was found that the manor of Bredbury, with its appurtenances, was held from Roger Lestrange, lord of Dunham Massey, by knight's service, and that it was worth 100 shillings per annum.
In the same year, another inquisition was taken on the death of Hugh de Davenport, which records that he died "seised of two parts of the manor of Bredbury, and of land in Romiley and Werneth" and that Thomas de Davenport was his son and heir, aged 12 years. These lands remained in the possession of the Davenports for several generations The manor house of the Davenports in Bredbury was Goyt Hall on the banks of the River Goyt.
During the Middle Ages the wealth of the Kingdom of England arose largely from the export of wool to the Netherlands, but the district had no share in this prosperity. By
Tudor times, however, conditions had changed. Continental trade had been ruined by the
Dutch War of Independence and home production of cloth was encouraged. By this time too, the
wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
of
Longdendale had been exterminated. Great flocks of sheep grazed on the moors and hillsides of the district, sheep farmers and
weavers
Weaver or Weavers may refer to:
Activities
* A person who engages in weaving fabric
Animals
* Various birds of the family Ploceidae
* Crevice weaver spider family
* Orb-weaver spider family
* Weever (or weever-fish)
Arts and entertainmen ...
prospered, and established families such as the Ardernes and, at nearby Marple, the Bradshaws became wealthy and influential. The local industries based on thesheep farming, in the absence of ready water power, remained domestic – mainly
handloom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but t ...
weaving and the making of
felt hats.
Modern era
A schedule of owners of lands in the township shows that two lords of the manor in 1661 were Sir Fulke Lucy of Henbury and John Arderne of Bredbury, and that in 1672 Sir John Arderne owned Arden Hall, whilst Sir Fulke Lucy owned Goyt Hall. Shortly after this date the Davenports' portion of the manor of Bredbury appears to have been purchased by Sir John Arderne of Arden Hall, who thus acquired the whole manor.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, a
Court Baron was held for the lordship under the title of the Court of the Manor of Bredbury-cum-Goyt.
The main road continued to be of importance, particularly for the transport of
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
from
Cheshire, throughout
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
times. In the 17th century there were as many as twelve
smithies in Bredbury. Since one blacksmith usually satisfied the needs of any one township, it would appear that so many craftsmen were needed to shoe the packhorses which moved in long processions through the village.
In 1754, the population of Bredbury is recorded as being 597.
The district was until quite late in the 19th century little more than a group of
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
s, including Barrack Hill, Harrytown and Hatherlow, but the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
brought a number of
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Although some were driven b ...
s, some of which depended on the water power provided by the head-streams of the River Mersey, and the
Peak Forest Canal
The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow ( gauge) locked artificial waterway in northern England. It is long and forms part of the connected English/Welsh inland waterway network.
Route and features
General description
The canal consists of two level ...
along which more mills were built.
![Bredbury - Otterspool Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Bredbury_-_Otterspool_Bridge.JPG)
The days of the great local landowners ended in the early 19th century. William Arden, 2nd Lord Alvanley, succeeded to the Arden estates on the death of his uncle, John Arden, in July 1823. He was a bachelor who had spent his life in the circle of the
Prince Regent
A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...
, building up heavy debts in expectation of his inheritance. Within a month of getting the estates he had sold Underbank Hall in Stockport, and in 1825 most of the Bredbury lands were sold in lots, realising in three days nearly GB£154,000. There was a final sale, including the mansion of Arden Hall in 1833. William Arden was succeeded by his brother Richard Arden, on whose death in 1857 the barony became extinct. The long connection of the Arden family had been broken, and for the next century most of the old manor lands were held by a small number of families, including the Horsfields, Hudsons and Vaudreys, until it became profitable to sell to building developers.
At the sale of the Bredbury estate, an area lying along the River Goyt was purchased by a Mr Marsden, who built a weir at Otterspool and planned to use water power to develop the valley from there to New Bridge as an industrial estate. However, he failed to secure the water rights. and by the time the lengthy legal proceedings were completed water power had been superseded by steam power.
Industrial Revolution
The construction of the
Peak Forest Canal
The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow ( gauge) locked artificial waterway in northern England. It is long and forms part of the connected English/Welsh inland waterway network.
Route and features
General description
The canal consists of two level ...
by
Samuel Oldknow
Samuel Oldknow (1756–1828) was an English cotton manufacturer.
Samuel Oldknow Jnr, the eldest son of Samuel Oldknow Sr and Margery Foster, was born 5 October 1756 in Anderton, near Chorley, Lancashire, and died 18 September 1828 at Mellor ...
, under the direction of
Benjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram (1 April 1764 – 22 May 1805) was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways.
Life
Born at Alfreton in Derbyshire, he began his career assisting his father J ...
, opened in sections in the 1790s and first decade of the 19th century, had a striking effect on the village. On the one hand, it provided a water supply and the transport of raw materials, fuel and finished products for the new
mill
Mill may refer to:
Science and technology
*
* Mill (grinding)
* Milling (machining)
* Millwork
* Textile mill
* Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel
* List of types of mill
* Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
s. On the other hand, it made possible the importing of
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
from
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
for agricultural improvement. The green fields and rich crops of the local farms were remarked upon by visitors and, with easy transport to the growing markets of Manchester and Stockport, local agriculture was prosperous in the period following the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
when elsewhere in the country there was rural
depression.
![Bredbury railway station in 1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Bredbury_railway_station_in_1989.jpg)
The coming of the railways led to further industrial development, a steady growth of population and the fusing of the separate settlements into the village of Bredbury. The first line was the
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...
branch from
Hyde Junction, which was opened to
Hyde in 1858 and extended to
Marple Marple may refer to:
Places
* Marple, Greater Manchester, a town close to Stockport, in England
** Marple Bridge, a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester
** Marple railway station in Marple, Greater Manches ...
on 5 August 1862. The
Stockport and
Woodley Junction line, opened on 12 January 1863, was amalgamated into the
Cheshire Lines Committee
The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire a ...
on 5 July 1865. The lines from
Romiley Junction to Bredbury Junction and
Ashburys were opened on 1 April 1875 and 2 August 1875 respectively; on the latter date, the branch from
Brinnington
Brinnington is a north-eastern suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, on a bluff above a bend in the Tame Valley between the M60 motorway and Reddish Vale Country Park.
Description
Brinnington was open farm land before the local auth ...
to
Reddish Junction was opened. On 1 February 1867,
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
trains began to run through the village, as part of the
Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee
The Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1869 as a joint venture between the Midland Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.
Origins
For many years the Midland had b ...
, to
Manchester London Road
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...
, at first via
Hyde and later via
Reddish
Reddish is an area in Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. south-east of Manchester city centre. At the 2011 Census, the population was 28,052. Historically part of Lancashire, Reddish grew rapidly in the Industria ...
. The terminus was transferred to
Manchester Central in 1880, trains running via
Stockport Tiviot Dale.
There are now few traces of the coal mining that went back to the 17th century at least and in the 19th century was one of the bases of life in the village. The last
colliery
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
closed in 1926 and
spoil heap
A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quan ...
s were levelled at Ashton Road and Stockport Road East in the 1960s to make way for new industrial development. Brick-making too was carried on in the village, with Jacksons Brickworks at Ashton Road surviving into the 1970s, and there were several large hat works, the last of which closed in 1958.
Exors of James Mills were manufacturers of steel products for over 100 years, the company growing from a small building employing two men to the large Bredbury
Steelworks on Lower Bents Lane, which at its height employed over 2,000 people. In the early part of the 20th century, the company began to roll steel and to produce bright steel, at one point becoming the largest producer of bright steel outside the United States. Other products were added from time to time, including
cotters for locomotives and
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...
, engineers' keys,
taper pin
Taper may refer to:
* Part of an object in the shape of a cone (conical)
* Taper (transmission line), a transmission line gradually increasing or decreasing in size
* Fishing rod taper, a measure of the flexibility of a fishing rod
* Conically t ...
s, grooved fastenings for securing all kinds of assemblies, railway
permanent way fastenings, rail
lubricators and hot pressings of various types. In 1938, the company introduced lead-bearing steels to the United Kingdom and, in the 1960s, developed
free machining steel Free machining steel is steel that forms small chips when machined. This increases the machinability of the material by breaking the chips into small pieces, thus avoiding entanglement in the machinery. This enables automatic equipment to run witho ...
s containing
tellurium
Tellurium is a chemical element with the symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionall ...
and an
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...
replacement steel. The company was later acquired by
GKN
GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...
and closed down in 1985. The site has since been redeveloped for housing.
The firm of
Lightbown Aspinall started making wallpaper in
Pendleton and, in 1899, became part of the newly formed Wall Paper Manufacturers. In 1929, the plant was transferred to Brookfield Avenue, where the company produced Crown and Scene wallpapers and Crown Vinyl wall covering, employing 450 people. The site has since been redeveloped for housing.
Pear New Mill was owned by Combined English Mills and were spinners of superfine white
hosiery
Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as ...
yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manu ...
, employing over 400 people. The building has since been subdivided into industrial units.
William Crosland, an engineer and
ironfounder, started business in 1855 in an upstairs room at Miller Street in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. He was later joined by his four sons and the company moved to Stockport Road West in 1894, manufacturing machines and
cutting tool
In the context of machining, a cutting tool or cutter is typically a hardened metal tool that is used to cut, shape, and remove material from a workpiece by means of machining tools as well as abrasive tools by way of shear deformation. The major ...
s for the packaging industry and specialised
tooling
Tooling may refer to:
* Machine tools and the tooling, such as cutting tools, fixtures, and accessories, that is used on them
** Cutting tool (machining), any of hundreds of kinds of cutters
** Fixture (tool), a fixed workholding or support devic ...
for the
sheet metal
Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes.
Thicknesses can vary significantly; ex ...
trade. The site has since been redeveloped as an industrial estate.
20th century
In the 1930s, and after the Second World War, the growth rate accelerated with the coming of new industries, including engineering,
chemicals
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...
, clothing and textiles, whilst the village became an important residential area on the periphery of the
Greater Manchester Urban Area
The Greater Manchester Built-up Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the urban element of the city of Manchester and the metropolitan area that forms ...
. A large bakery was erected on Ashton Road in 1951.
Comprehensive sewerage and sewage disposal services were completed and put into operation in 1938.
In 1948, the tramway along the A560 from Stockport to Hyde and beyond was abandoned after less than 50 years use. The section through Bredbury had been opened in August 1901.
After considerable pressure by the Government and the Mersey River Board, the
Urban District
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
Council agreed in 1966 to a joint scheme with the
County Borough of Stockport
Stockport County Borough was created by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 when the existing Borough of Stockport was reformed as a municipal borough. Until 1835 the town was governed by a charter dating from circa 1220 granted by Ranulph de B ...
, abandoning the
treatment works at Welkin Road and the sludge beds at Brinnington, to provide for the rapidly growing population and the additional industry.
Governance
Bredbury and Romiley Local Board was created in 1865, covering the
civil parishes
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...
of Bredbury and Romiley, and in 1880 the two parishes were amalgamated.
Bredbury and Romiley Urban District
Bredbury and Romiley was an urban district in the administrative county of Cheshire, England from 1894 to 1974, which covered the civil parishes of Bredbury, Compstall and Romiley.
It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 from Bredbury an ...
was created in 1894, and was extended to include the former
Compstall Urban District in 1936. In 1952,
Brinnington
Brinnington is a north-eastern suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, on a bluff above a bend in the Tame Valley between the M60 motorway and Reddish Vale Country Park.
Description
Brinnington was open farm land before the local auth ...
township was transferred to the
County Borough of Stockport
Stockport County Borough was created by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 when the existing Borough of Stockport was reformed as a municipal borough. Until 1835 the town was governed by a charter dating from circa 1220 granted by Ranulph de B ...
to enable a large residential
overspill estate
An overspill estate is a housing estate planned and built for the housing of excess population in urban areas, both from the natural increase of population and often in order to rehouse people from decaying inner city areas, usually as part of t ...
to be built.
Until 1953 Bredbury Ward returned twelve councillors to the urban district council, with Romiley Ward returning six and Compstall Ward returning a single member. In that year, Bredbury Ward was divided into Bredbury North and Bredbury South wards, and in 1959, there was a redivision of the urban District into seven wards, with Compstall continuing to return a single councillor, and each of the others electing three. Romiley received three wards and a new
Woodley ward was created out of Bredbury, the first time that the village of Woodley had been officially recognised. The remainder of Bredbury was divided into Bredbury North, Bredbury South and Bredbury West. There were further electoral changes in 1970 when the altered Bredbury North ward was renamed Bredbury Central.
Up to 1958, the Urban District formed one electoral division on
Cheshire County Council, but in that year it was divided into Bredbury Tame and Bredbury Goyt divisions.
The council offices were in Bredbury Old School on School Brow until 1919, when Bank House on George Lane was acquired. The site has since been redeveloped for housing.
The council's first acquisition of houses was a terrace at Vernon View in 1922. Construction of the houses had been delayed by the First World War. In the same year the first council estate was commenced at George Lane.
The council subsequently owned more than 2,000 homes, including several schemes for old people's accommodation incorporating welfare features.
In 1959, the urban district council intervened over an application by
Manchester City Council for a
compulsory purchase order
A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...
to build an overspill estate on of land at Bredbury Green, offering two other sites instead. The confirmed area was reduced to . The City Council subsequently completed several relatively small overspill estates, which resulted in more successful integration than in some nearby areas.
The council was for many years in the forefront of a campaign for the preservation and restoration of the Lower
Peak Forest Canal
The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow ( gauge) locked artificial waterway in northern England. It is long and forms part of the connected English/Welsh inland waterway network.
Route and features
General description
The canal consists of two level ...
and the connecting waterways of the
Cheshire Ring
The Cheshire Ring is a canal cruising circuit or canal ring, which includes sections of six canals in and around Cheshire and Greater Manchester in North West England: the Ashton Canal, Peak Forest Canal, Macclesfield Canal, Trent and Mersey Ca ...
. The canal reopened in 1974.
In 1974, the urban district was abolished. Its former area was transferred to
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
and combined with neighbouring districts to form the
Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, south-east of central Manchester. As well as the towns of Stockport, Bredbury and Marple, it includes the outlying areas of Hazel ...
. It formed part of two wards, Bredbury and Romiley, each returning three members. The ward boundaries were subsequently adjusted, and in 2005 the wards were renamed ''Bredbury and Woodley'' and ''Bredbury Green and Romiley''.
Although the area had traditionally elected
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
politicians, with occasional victories for the
Labour Party, by 2006 all elected positions were held by the
Liberal Democrats. From 2015 onwards though, the local MP is
Willy Wragg of the Conservative Party.
Landmarks
The village has extensive areas of attractive countryside, both in the river valleys and on the slopes of Werneth Low.
Arden Hall
![Arden Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Arden_Hall.jpg)
The most famous of the halls of Bredbury, Arden Hall, erected in 1597, is now a ruin standing in a commanding position above the valley of the River Tame. For over two centuries it was owned by the Ardernes, who had other possessions in Cheshire and were a junior branch of the
Arden family of
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
, of whom
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's mother was a member.
The building was at one time "a tall building, narrow in proportion to its height and length, built of flat stones or parpoints, and having a sturdy watchtower at the back, looking over the valley of the River Tame. It was surrounded by a wide and deep moat. On the front were three gables, two of them projecting from the face of the hall, the third being flush with it. The entrance doorway was in the side of the central gable, and was approached from the courtyard by a flight of steps. Passing through the doorway a heavy oak door on the right side opened at once into the Great Hall, and in the tower exactly opposite was a wide oak staircase, which led to the upper part of the house. The Great Hall occupied the whole of the ground floor of this portion of the building, and was about long by wide. At the end was a raised platform where the high table was situated, lighted by two loft bay windows, one at each end. The year in which some portion of the hall, if indeed not the whole of it, was erected, is fixed from the date 1597 on the spout above the entrance, and the initials and date R A 1597 on the right hand gable."
In the particulars of sale of 1825, it states that "the ancient mansion house of Arden Hall has been in part converted into a commodious farm house, with every requisite convenience", and it had already been let as such.
There is a tradition that
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
stayed at the hall and that there was a skirmish nearby between
Cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...
s and
Roundheads
Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...
, but there is no firm evidence, although the access to the hall is called Battle Lane. However, Ralph Arderne, like most other local gentry, espoused the Parliamentarian cause, and saw action in several engagements.
Bredbury Hall
Bredbury Hall, approached from Dark Lane, has been so altered as to have lost every vestige of its former appearance. it was probably built upon the site of a former homestead, as some branch of the Bredburys is supposed to have settled here in early times.
![Bredbury - Bredbury Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Bredbury_-_Bredbury_Hall.JPG)
In 1638, the hall was occupied by a branch of the Davenports, a connection of the Bredburys. In later times, the venerable building degenerated into an ordinary farmstead.
In the 19th century, it was rebuilt, and converted into a family residence in the
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
style.
For some years prior to the erection of St Barnabas Church, services were held here. The hall, outbuildings and grounds are now used as a hotel and country club, and the buildings have been much modified to suit that purpose.
The great barn, long of cruck framed construction, is medieval in origin although the original framing timbers have been overlaid by brick.
The hotel was owned for several years by the Flood family and has been owned and operated by Vine Hotels since May 2021 and after some bedroom renovations will rebrand as a Mercure property.
The great barn is now renovated into an events space and hosts regular club nights. It has several bars and a large dance floor.
Bredbury Hall is now known as a popular hotel, and many of its stories are now lost or just unknown. It is however said that the ghosts of the old manor that stood here previously still roam the hallways at night, and there have been many sightings and hearings of this. Later on further investigation no proof of such sighting was found and now considered a hoax.
Bredbury Library
The original library on George Lane opened in 1937, and the capacity was doubled by extensions in 1962, comprising a children's room and reference room. The latter, now used as a community meeting room, is a
dodecahedral
In geometry, a dodecahedron (Greek , from ''dōdeka'' "twelve" + ''hédra'' "base", "seat" or "face") or duodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron with regular pentagon ...
annexe, erected mainly out of funds collected locally, as a
War Memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
for the Second World War, and contains memorial windows designed by Anne Goodrich, a local artist, and a Book of Remembrance for the dead in both World Wars. Further substantial extensions and alterations, including the conversion of the War Memorial room into an exhibition and lecture room, were completed in 1970.
In 1950, the Centenary Year of the Public Library Movement, plaques were unveiled at the library in honour of
Sir Ernest Barker, the Woodley-born writer on political and historic subjects, and Thomas Greenwood, the Woodley-born writer and advocate of free public libraries.
Bredbury Old School
Erected at School Brow in 1780 by John Arden, Lord of the Manor, and the freeholders of the township of Bredbury, on land enclosed from the Common of Barrack Hill, Bredbury Old School was vested in trustees who were to "appoint a proper and sufficient person to be Schoolmaster". The appointee was to enter into a bond with the trustees "in the penal sum of £200 at the least conditioned for the due observance of the several rules and conditions" set out in the trust deed, including that he "shall duly and properly teach and instruct children to read, write and cast accompts and that his wife or some sufficient person to be by him provided shall teach girls to knit and sew".
The building of larger schools and the passing of the Education Acts rendered the building obsolete, and by an order of the
Charity Commissioners in 1889 the trustees were instructed to "apply the trust income either in making payments by way of rewards or prizes to children attending public elementary schools in the townships of Bredbury and Romiley for good conduct, regularity in attendance and proficiency during a period of three years next preceding the award, or in the payment of exhibitions tenable at places of higher education." Later changes to the grant system made the second power ineffectual but awards of cash continue to be made to local schoolchildren a few days before Christmas, together with a traditional form of certificate.
The building has, since its closing as a school, been used for a variety of purposes, including use as offices of
Bredbury and Romiley Urban District Council. By the 1950s, it had fallen into serious disrepair. Its re-roofing with asbestos cement sheets and the rendering of the walls modified the external appearance very seriously, but inside the original floors and timbers were still visible. After the repairs it was leased to Romiley Little Theatre as their club house, and the surrounding land was let as allotments.
Goyt Hall
![Bredbury - Goyt Hall 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Bredbury_-_Goyt_Hall_02.JPG)
Goyt Hall, which stands in the valley of the River Goyt, midway between Otterspool Bridge and New Bridge, is a half-timbered building erected by Randal Davenport about the year 1570, although William Davenport of Goyt Hall, who appears as witnessing a mortgage, died in 1542.
The marriage of the last of the Davenports in 1664 brought the hall into the possession of Sir Fulke Lucy, a kinsman of Sir Thomas Lucy who features in the story of William Shakespeare's youth. This rather tenuous association was marked by the naming of the streets on the nearby Shakespeare Estate, an overspill development built by Manchester City Council.
Harrytown Hall
Formerly occupied by the Convent of the Nativity of the
Sisters of Charity
Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, but others are unrelated. The ...
of Notre Dame d'
Évron
Évron () is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, the former communes Châtres-la-Forêt and Saint-Christophe-du-Luat were merged into Évron. Évron (pop. 8,700) is noted for the Basilica of Notre-Dame ...
, who maintained Harrytown High School, Harrytown Hall dates from 1671, and is well preserved in spite of being
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
ised during the
Romantic Revival. The building was converted into apartments in the early 1980s.
Transport
Railway
Bredbury is served by
Bredbury railway station
Bredbury railway station serves the town of Bredbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England.
It was built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee in 1875, on the line between New Mills Central a ...
on the
Hope Valley Line between
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
,
New Mills Central
New Mills Central railway station serves the town of New Mills in Derbyshire, England. It is on the Hope Valley Line between Manchester Piccadilly railway station, Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield railway station, Sheffield, east of the form ...
and
Manchester Piccadilly. Services are generally half-hourly on Mondays to Saturdays, hourly on Sundays.
Buses
Buses link the town with the neighbouring communities of
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
, Brinnington,
Compstall
Compstall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England; it is situated between Marple Bridge and Romiley and is historically part of Cheshire. It was formerly a mill village, built by George Andrew in the 18 ...
,
Denton,
Dukinfield, Hyde, Marple,
Marple Bridge
Marple Bridge is a district of Marple in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England; it is sited on the River Goyt, which runs through the centre of the village.
Historically part of the civil parish of Glossop, Derbysh ...
, Romiley, Woodley and Stockport.
Bus route 330 runs between Stockport and Ashton, via Bredbury, Woodley, Hyde and Dukinfield.
Bus route 382 runs between Stockport and Woodley, via Bredbury and Romiley.
There are regular services on a circular route to and from Stockport town centre: the 383 travels anticlockwise to Lower Bredbury and Portwood; and the 384 clockwise to Harrytown, Romiley, Compstall, Marple and Offerton.
Roads
Bredbury is situated close to J25 of the M60 Manchester orbital motorway. The
A560 passes through the suburb, which runs between Altrincham, Stockport, Gee Cross and Hattersley.
Education
Bredbury has a public library and two secondary schools:
Harrytown Catholic High School and
Werneth School; the latter was formerly known as ''Bredbury Comprehensive''.
Bredbury was formerly home to the
National Library for the Blind
The National Library for the Blind (NLB) was a public library in the United Kingdom, founded 1882, which aimed to ensure that people with sight problems have the same access to library services as sighted people. NLB was taken over by the Royal Na ...
. In November 2012, NLB's Bredbury site was closed and its braille, giant print, Moon books and braille sheet music collections were relocated to the RNIB's Peterborough site.
Religious sites
![St Mark's Church, Bredbury](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/St_Mark%27s_Church%2C_Bredbury.jpg)
St Mark (
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
)
The parish church of Bredbury is dedicated to
St Mark.
Although the town is mentioned in the Domesday Book, Bredbury was without a church until the middle of the 19th century. The first move towards the establishment of a local church and parish, as distinct from that of St Mary's in Stockport, was made in 1846, when an
Order in Council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...
marked out the boundaries of the "District of St Mark, Bredbury".
It was not long before a site for the church was secured through the generosity of John Sidebotham of Kingston in Hyde and, in 1847, the foundation stone of the new church was laid by the donor of the site. The church was consecrated on 17 January 1849 and the church school was opened in 1850.
Built of
freestone in the
Early English style, the church consists of a square tower having four pinnacles, a nave and aisles, and a chancel with a vestry on the north side. The tower is high, occupying a commanding position, a contains a clock and a peal of bells. The windows consist of two lights each, the chancel window of three lights being filled with painted glass illustrating the
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...
, erected by William Collier Vaudrey in 1875, to the memory of his wife and her sister.
The Church School, now rebuilt, is on the opposite side of Redhouse Lane.
St Barnabas (Church of England)
In 1942, Bredbury Hall, with its of land, was purchased by the
Diocese of Chester
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside.
History
Ancient diocese
Before the si ...
to be used as a mission church and social centre for Lower Bredbury. On 16 May 1943, the Lord Bishop of Chester dedicated an altar in one of the rooms of the hall.
Later, the new church was erected nearby and was dedicated to
St Barnabas
Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...
by the
Bishop of Chester
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.
The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...
on 27 March 1954.
Bredbury Hall was then sold off.
Our Lady and St Christopher (
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
)
The
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
faith is ministered to by the Church of Our Lady and
St Christopher at Barrack Hill, which was erected in 1932. A
presbytery was added in 1952; the church was subsequently enlarged and a parish hall added. Roman Catholic services were previously held in the chapel at Harrytown Hall.
Hatherlow (
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
)
![Bredbury - Hatherlow Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Bredbury_-_Hatherlow_Church.JPG)
Hatherlow Church traces its history back to 1645, services then being held in
Chadkirk Chapel, and it was the oldest
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
body in Cheshire. The first independent minister at Chadkirk was Gamallel Jones, who settled there in 1688 or 1689. In the latter year, the "Meeting Place" at Chadkirk was certified as a licensed place for religious worship shortly after the passing of the
Toleration Act. When they were finally ejected in the reign of
Queen Anne, a new building was erected in 1706 on the site now occupied by Hatherlow Sunday School.
It is recorded in a statistical table of the dissenting chapels in Cheshire, begun about 1715, that the congregation at Hatherlow numbered about 300 hearers, including 10 gentlemen, 39 tradesmen, 26 yeomen and 8 labourers. These would be drawn from a very wide area.
The present church was opened as Hatherlow Congregational Church in 1845, although the burial ground surrounding it goes back to 1793. A
day school
A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compa ...
was established in 1780 at Bredbury Old School on School Brow and the building known as Top School on Gorsey Brow, now partially demolished, was built in 1830 as an overflow. The day school continued until it was succeeded by the Council school at Barrack Hill in 1909.
Hatherlow Sunday School was established in May 1817; it was first held at School Brow and then at the Top School. The present Sunday School was built in 1911.
The church has always been the centre of cultural activity in the district; it was the home of the former Bredbury Amicable Subscription Library, founded in 1822, and later of Hatherlow Botanical Society.
Notable people
*
Danny Miller (born 1991), award-winning actor, currently working on
Emmerdale
''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ...
as Aaron (Dingle) Livesy
*
Will Mellor
William Mellor (born 3 April 1976) is an English actor, singer and model. He is known for his roles as Jambo Bolton in ''Hollyoaks'', Gaz Wilkinson in '' Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps'', Warren Stamp in EastEnders, DC Spike Tanne ...
(born 1976), actor and amateur pop star
*
Richard Pepper Arden, 1st Baron Alvanley
Richard Pepper Arden, 1st Baron Alvanley (20 May 1744 – 19 March 1804) was a British barrister and Whig politician, who served as the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a Member of Parliament from 1783 to 1801.
Biography
He ...
(1744–1804),
Solicitor General,
Attorney General and politician
*
Charles Clay (1801–1893), surgeon
*
Robert Robinson (1726–1791), clergyman
*
Peter Charles Snape (born 1942), politician
*
Mike Yarwood
Michael Edward Yarwood, (born 14 June 1941) is an English impressionist, comedian and actor. He was one of Britain's top-rated entertainers, regularly appearing on television from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Early life
Michael Edward Yarwood was ...
(born 1941), impressionist
John Agecroft
John Agecroft (1716–1804) lived in a cottage at Barrack Hill where, until the end of the 19th century, a crude bust stood in a niche on the outer wall. A canvass weaver, bookbinder and well-known local eccentric, he is said to have conceived the idea of the bust from that of William Shakespeare at
Stratford upon Avon, and to have made the matrix by pushing his face into the hardening mud of a ditch. The bust, or part of it, in the form of a death mask, was on display in the Council Chamber when Agecroft Road was named.
Edward McLellan
Born in Redhouse Lane, the son of the village clogger, Edward McLellan (1870–1967) attended St Mark's School. It speaks much for the quality of education there, under the headmaster Silas Whipp, that without further formal education he was able to enter
Hartley College
Hartley College ( ta, ஹாட்லிக் கல்லூரி ''Hāṭlik Kallūri'') is a provincial school in Point Pedro, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1838 by British Methodist missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. The school i ...
, the
Primitive Methodist Ministers' Training college, from which he embarked on 47 years of active ministry. In 1931 he reached the highest point he could attain in his vocation when he was elected President of the Primitive Methodist Conference.
He published many articles and stories in magazines and wrote a number of books on religious subjects. He continued to preach to an advanced age, and conducted services after his 90th year at both Woodley and Greave.
Thomas Platt
Thomas Platt (1745–1824) of Dark Lane House was claimed to have established a
Sunday school some years before
Robert Raikes
Robert Raikes ("the Younger") (14 September 1736 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman. He was educated at The Crypt School Gloucester. He was noted for his promotion of Sunday schools.
Family
Raikes was born at ...
, the usually accredited founder of the system. In recruiting for Stockport Parish Church choir, he found that many of the boys and girls he gathered could not read, and so instructed them on Sunday evenings. When Raikes's system spread to Greater Manchester, Platt became the paid headmaster of one of the
Stockport Sunday School
The Stockport Sunday School is a Sunday school in Stockport, Cheshire, England. Founded in 1784, it had become the largest Sunday school in the world by 1859. The original school was situated on London Square, Wellington Street, Stockport, behind ...
s.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Bredbury and Romiley
Bredbury and Romiley are towns in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The towns, together with the area of Woodley and the village of Compstall and the surrounding countryside, contain 43 listed buildings that are ...
References
Further reading
*Aiken, John (1795). ''A Description of the County from 30 – 40 Miles Round Manchester''
*Cocks, James (1895). ''Memorials of Hatherlow''
*Cocks, James (1924). ''Annals of Bredbury'' Part 1
*
Earwaker, J. P. (1880). ''East Cheshire''
*''Bredbury and Romiley Urban District : The Official Guide'' (1970)
*''Biographical Notes on Sir Ernest Barker and Thomas Greenwood'' (1950)
*''St Mark's Centenary Booklet'' (1949)
External links
{{authority control
Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
Towns in Greater Manchester