The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB&MR) was an railway line between

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

and

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The route was opened jointly by 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 ...

(MS&LR) and the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

(NSR) in 1869. It was part of an alternative link between

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 ...

and destinations south of Macclesfield. The line closed in 1970 and its route now forms the

Middlewood Way 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, jogg ...

, a trail used by walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

History

In 1840s and 1850s NSR was trying to find a route from Macclesfield to Manchester independent of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

(L&NWR), which insisted on any NSR traffic going via

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, thus ensuring a higher L&NWR mileage and charges. In 1863 a Macclesfield businessman, Thomas Oliver, promoted a scheme for a local line from Macclesfield via

Bollington 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. B ...

to Marple where it would connect with the MS&LR. It was hoped the line would revive Bollington's

cotton industry Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

, carry the stone from quarries in

Kerridge Kerridge is a village in Cheshire, England, part of the parish of Bollington. Kerridge borders the neighbouring parish of Rainow. It gives its name to Kerridge Ridge – one of the western foothills of the Pennines – by which it stan ...

, and serve the collieries around

Poynton Poynton is a town in Cheshire, England, on the easternmost fringe of the Cheshire Plain, south-east of Manchester, north of Macclesfield and south of Stockport. Poynton has formed part of the Cheshire East unitary authority since the abolit ...

Summer 1961 Hayfield-Manchester timetable

The MS&LR seized on this scheme because the company needed another line from which to start a possible independent extension line to London. In 1864, Parliament authorised the creation of the railway. Both the MS&LR and NSR were empowered to subscribe £80,000 each for its construction, and for its operation and maintenance once open. In response to such competition the L&NWR, which surprised by the success of the MB&MR's proposal, quickly came to an amicable traffic agreement with the NSR. This deal negated the original purpose and urgency of the line because the NSR now no longer needed an independent route to Manchester as it could use L&NWR lines. Under these conditions, and with a general trade depression of the mid-1860s, construction of the new line was very slow. On 2 August 1869 a single-track line opened for passengers only. Goods traffic started on 1 March 1870. In 1871 the line was double-tracked along its entire length. Initially there were five stations on the line: Marple (Rose Hill), High Lane, Higher Poynton,

and

. In 1879 a new station was opened at Middlewood (later renamed Middlewood Higher). In 1948, the line became part of the

London Midland Region The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

). In 1960 Middlewood Higher closed. By the 1960s the line, like many others, it was considered to be a loss maker and was earmarked for closure under the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. On 5 January 1970, the section between Rose Hill (Marple) and Macclesfield closed to all traffic. The track was lifted in early 1971. Only Rose Hill remained in operation due to the high number of passengers commuting to

Manchester Piccadilly 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 ...

. It is now a terminus for a spur off the Hope Valley Line. The stations at Higher Poynton and Bollington were demolished at around the same time. High Lane station remained derelict for seven years after closure until being demolished in 1977. Bollington station goods yard is now the site of the Clough Bank industrial estate.

Middlewood Way

Since closure, the trackbed has been turned into a "

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear p ...

" between Macclesfield and Rose Hill, Marple. The

long distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

was officially opened on 30 May 1985 by Dr

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English botanist, television presenter, author and environmental campaigner. Early and personal life Bellamy was born in London to parents Winifred May (née Green) and Thoma ...

. The platforms of Higher Poynton station are still extant and have been turned into a picnic sites on the trail. The trail crosses over a small valley of the

River Dean 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. Together with a number of tributary streams it is impounded by the dam at L ...

at Bollington via a curved 23-arch stone viaduct. The viaduct was originally slated to be demolished but after protests it was saved to form part of the trail.

References

Railways of Marple and District From 1794

History

Middlewood Way

References

Further reading