Disley is a village and

civil parish 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 authorit ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, England. It is located on the edge of the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, 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, whe ...

in the Goyt valley, south of

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

and close to the county boundary with

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 ...

New Mills New Mills is a town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, south-east of Stockport and from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a deep gorge cut t ...

. The population at the 2011 Census was 4,294. To the north, the River Goyt and the Peak Forest Canal, which opened in 1800, pass along the edge of the village. Today, it is a

dormitory village A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

retaining a semi-rural character. The parish includes part of the neighbouring village of Newtown, the bulk of which is in Derbyshire.

History

Its Anglo-Saxon name was ''Dystiglegh'', meaning "wood or clearing by a mound" or possibly "windy settlement". In the 13th century, in the time of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

, there are references to confirmatory grants of land made to Jordan de Dystelegh of Disley Hall and Roger de Stanley-de-Dystelegh of Stanley Hall in the district, pointing to even older local settlements. It later had the name ''Dystelegh''. Disley was the home of several farmsteads, including one at Stanley, where the golf club is now located. The barn, erected sometime around the 15th or 16th century, still stands. Sir Piers Legh of Lyme founded St Mary the Virgin Church, completed in 1524 and consecrated as

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in 1558. The earliest parish register is from 1591. In 1724, the road from Manchester to Buxton became a turnpike road and in the early 1800s the road was rerouted from its original route along Jackson's Edge road to the current line of the A6. At the time of the first census, Disley had a population of 995 residents. By 1881 this had increased to 3312, and as of 2019 the population is now in the region of 4600. The fountain in Fountain Square was donated by the Orfords in 1837 to provide the village with clean water, the stone coming from the Jacksons Edge Road Quarry. It was used until the 1920s. The village had at least one

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 ...

by the mid-19th century. As the cotton industry declined, more varied employment became the norm. As of 2005, there is a paper mill and some light engineering works, but most people travel out to work.

Governance

The parish of Disley was included in the 19th century as one of three parishes in Hayfield

rural sanitary district Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

, alongside Hayfield and

Mellor Mellor is a surname. Notable people with this surname * Alan Mellor (born 1959), English cricketer * Anne K. Mellor (born 1942), feminist scholar of Romantic literature * Chip Mellor (born 1950), President and General Counsel of the Institute for J ...

in Derbyshire. In 1894, under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, rural sanitary districts became

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...

s, but were required to be entirely within one county or another – this led to Disley, the only

parish of the sanitary district, to form the Disley Rural District on its own – one of only a few single-parish rural districts to exist. This remained in existence until 1974, when it was merged into the new Borough of Macclesfield, whilst retaining a parish council. In April 2008 a referendum was announced for Disley residents because the Borough of Macclesfield was to become part of the new

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Sandbach, Wilmslow, H ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

as a result of major local government changes in Cheshire in April 2009. Some residents believed that the village would be better served if it were part of the neighbouring boroughs of

in Greater Manchester or High Peak in Derbyshire. On 8 May 2008 this referendum was held, with an overwhelming result in favour of staying within Cheshire; less than a third of electors wished to become part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and an even lower proportion of the population wished the village to become part of High Peak Borough. Macclesfield Borough Council was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the new unitary authority of Cheshire East.

People

Past

Nearby

Wyberslegh Hall Wyberslegh Hall (sometimes spelled Wybersley Hall) is a large house dating from the 16th century, on the edge of the village of High Lane in Greater Manchester, England. Now in private ownership, Wyberslegh Hall was formerly the home of eldest ...

(sometimes spelled Wybersley Hall), which stands between Disley and High Lane, was the birthplace of the Anglo-American novelist

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

. British historian A.J.P. Taylor bought a house in Higher Disley in 1935, for £525, so he could be close to

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

when he was lecturing. The playwright, critic, essayist and novelist

Allan Monkhouse Allan Noble Monkhouse (7 May 1858 – 10 January 1936) was an English playwright, critic, essayist and novelist. He was born in Barnard Castle, County Durham. He worked in the cotton trade, in Manchester, and settled in Disley, Cheshire. From ...

lived at the Grey Cottage on Jackson's Edge Road from 1893 to 1902, and then at Meadow Bank on the same road until his death in 1936. Lord John Hunt, who led the first successful

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow hei ...

expedition in 1953, also lived in Disley. The director and writer Ian Clark was brought up in Disley and attended Disley Primary School.

Present

Disley is also the home of: *'' Big Brother'' contestant

Anouska Golebiewski ''Big Brother 2003'', also known as ''Big Brother 4'', was the fourth series of the British reality television series '' Big Brother''. The show followed thirteen contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an ...

. *Presenter of the BBC '' Bargain Hunt'' TV programme David Dickinson, who had his first antique shop there. *2008

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

cycling gold medal-winning couple

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pio ...

and Barney Storey. *2008

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

cycling gold medal winner

Jamie Staff Jamie Alan Staff MBE (born 30 April 1973) is an English racing cyclist and coach, formerly on BMX and later on the track. A World and Olympic champion, he has also won numerous other medals at World Championships, World Cups and at the Commonw ...

, who moved to Disley for access to

Manchester Velodrome Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise t ...

Transport

Railway

Disley railway station is on the Manchester to Buxton line. There is generally an hourly service each day 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 ...

northbound and to

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.A6, which connects Carlisle with Luton, passes through Disley; it connects the village with Stockport to the north-west and the Peak District to the south-east.

Points of interest

The Rams Head Inn in the centre of the village was built by the Legh family in c.1640, though the current exterior was built around 1840. It was formerly a lodge belonging to the

Lyme Park Lyme Park is a large estate south of Disley, Cheshire, England, managed by the National Trust and consisting of a mansion house surrounded by formal gardens and a deer park in the Peak District National Park. The house is the largest in Ches ...

estate. It became a main coaching stop on the

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 ...

to London route. In 1790, after three visits, Viscount Torrington voted it the best inn in England. The Rams Head is now a restaurant and pub, and only part of what once was its extensive stabling block still remains.

is in the civil parish of Lyme Handley, rather than in Disley parish, but it is sufficiently close to be associated with Disley. The hall was used by the BBC as a setting in its 1995 adaptation of ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...

''. The Bowstones are two upright crosses on moorland above Lyme Park on the route of the

Gritstone Trail The Gritstone Trail, or Cheshire Gritstone Trail, is a long-distance footpath in England which follows the most westerly hills of the Peak District from Disley Station to Mow Cop, and on via the Macclesfield Canal to Kidsgrove Station. Man ...

. Their origins are unknown but they are believed to be religious. From here it is possible to see seven counties: Derbyshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Clwyd. Disley is home to Disley Cricket Club, a member of the TACS Cheshire Cricket League, playing their home games at Disley Amalgamated Sports Club (DASC). The 1st XI play in Division 1 having won the Division 2 championship in 2014 and Division 3 in 2013. Moorside Golf Club, Higher Disley, first appeared in the 1930s. The club continued until the late 1950s but is now defunct. Stanley Hall Farmhouse is a Grade-II-listed building from the 16th century. Stanley Hall was given to the Stanleys by the

Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...

in 1388 and bought by the Leghs in 1488. Part of the barn, also Grade II listed, was used as the first clubhouse of the Disley golf club.

Education

Disley has a primary school, Disley Primary School, which in 2020 became an academy as part of The TRUE Learning Partnership, and two nurseries, Blue Grass Purple Cow and Disley Under Fives.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire Towns and villages of the Peak District