Cheadle, Cheshire
- Not to be confused with Cheadle, Staffordshire
| Cheadle | |
| Cheshire | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church, Cheadle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SJ859885 |
| Location: | 53°23’36"N, 2°12’41"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 14,698 |
| Post town: | Cheadle |
| Postcode: | SK8 |
| Dialling code: | 0161 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Stockport |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Cheadle |
Cheadle is a suburban village in Cheshire, with unbroken townscape reaching to Cheadle Hulme and Cheadle Heath to the south and east respectively and to Gatley to the west. Its northern spread is curbed by the railway line and beyond it the M60 motorway, Manchester’s orbital route. The River Mersey, which marks the border of Lancashire, is half a mile to the north.
The village sits on the Cheshire Plain in the final meander of the Ladybrook (Micklebrook) before its waters enter the River Mersey to the north.
In 2011, Cheadle had a recorded population of 14,698.
Contents
History
The earliest evidence of the hand of man is of burial mounds dating from the Iron Age. Later whose activity is shown in Iron Age axe fragments. Roman coins have been discovered in the area.
During the 7th century, St Chad preached in the area,[1] and a stone cross dedicated to him was found close to the confluence of the River Mersey and Micker Brook in 1873.[2] This area became known as Chedle, a corruption of Chad' Hill.
The village is first recorded in the Domesday Book under the name "Cedde",[3] which comes from the British language word for "wood",[4] The Welsh coed. The manor was held at the Domesday survey by Gamel, a tenant of Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester; it was about three miles long and half as wide, containing both wooded and open land, with areas enclosed for hunting purposes.[3] This early manor occupied the approximate areas of both modern day Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme.
By June 1294, Geoffrey de Chedle was lord of the manor, and it was valued at about £20 per annum. Geoffrey's descendant Robert (or Roger) died in the early 1320s, leaving the estate to his wife Matilda who held it until her death in 1326.[2] As there were no male heirs the manor, which was now worth £30 per annum,[5] was divided between her daughters, Clemence and Agnes. Agnes inherited the northern half (which would later become the modern-day Cheadle), and Clemence inherited the southern half (latterly Cheadle Hulme). The two areas became known as "Chedle Bulkeley" and "Chedle Holme" respectively.
William de Bulkeley succeeded his mother, and was a participant in several wars in France for Edward, the Black Prince. His son, Richard, was sent to live at the court of King Richard II, and later to a baron whose daughter Margery married Richard. Richard died at the age of 21, but Margery lived until she was around 90 years old. She was succeeded by her grandson and great-grandson, both named William. Shortly after the Battle of Bosworth, the latter William was succeeded by his brother Richard.[6]
During the reign of King Henry VIII, the current St Mary's Church on High Street was built.[7] There has been a church on the site since the 12th century, the original being constructed of wood,[3] but it was rebuilt in stone between 1520 and 1550.[8] The church contains an effigy of John Stanley who, along with many other men from the area, fought in the Battle of Flodden.[7] Later he claimed the manor for himself, but was imprisoned by Thomas Wolsey who ensured the land went to its rightful owner.[9]
The Bulkeleys continued to hold the lands as lords of the manor until the 18th century, when the manor was purchased by Thomas Egerton.
In the 1745 Jacobite rising, the army of "Bonnie Prince Charlie", the Young Pretender, marched through Cheadle. Some remains have been found.
About the village
Moseley Old Hall, an early Stuart mansion dating from 1666 is still standing and is owned privately. It is situated at the end of a blocked-off public road, making hard to find and therefore overlooked.
Abney Hall is a late Victorian hall from 1847 and is the old Cheadle town hall, though is now used for offices. It is surrounded by parkland which is open to the public all year round and features some of the only wetlands left in the area.
Cheadle grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution when it was used as a stopping point for travellers and merchants on their way to Manchester.
Transport links
From 1866 until 1964, the locality was served by a Cheshire Lines Committee railway station (initially called Cheadle, and from 1950 Cheadle North), 600 yards north of the village on the west side of Manchester Road, and from 1866 until 1917 by Cheadle LNWR a London & North Western Railway station located next to the railway overbridge near the centre of the village. Both stations were on lines leading from Altrincham to Stockport.
Cheadle no longer has its own railway station, though there are stations in several neighbouring vicinities. Gatley railway station is approximately one mile west of Cheadle village, and the neighbouring areas of East Didsbury, Cheadle Hulme and Heald Green all have stations themselves.
Cheadle is accessed by junctions 2 and 3 of the M60 Manchester orbital motorway. It is approximately four miles from Manchester Airport.
Housing
A number of houses in Cheadle that were built in the 1800s still stand today, in a conservation area in the centre of the village.
There is also a Manchester overspill council estate that was constructed shortly after the Second World War to rehouse families from the Victorian slums of inner-city Manchester. In April 2008, these homes were transferred to a housing association, Mossbank Homes.
Sport
- Football: Cheadle Town F.C.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Cheadle, Cheshire) |
- Cheadle Online – Cheadle Community
- Moseley Hall Grammar School
References
- ↑ Clarke, p.1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Squire, p.1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Clarke, p.3
- ↑ Mills, A. D. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names.. Oxford University Press.
- ↑ Squire, p.2
- ↑ Clarke, p.4
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Clarke, p.5
- ↑ "Basic History". St Mary's Church, Cheadle. http://www.cheadle.org/histintro.htm. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
- ↑ Clarke, p.6
- Bowden, Tom (3 January 1974). Community and Change: A History of Local Government in Cheadle and Gatley. Cheadle and Gatley Urban District Council.
- Clarke, Heather (1972). Cheadle Through The Ages. E.J. Morten. ISBN 0-901598-44-5.
- Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885–1972. Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.
- Squire, Carol (January 1976). Cheadle Hulme: A Brief History. Recreation and Culture Division, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport.
