Cheadle Hulme

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Cheadle Hulme
Cheshire
Cheadle Hulme Arches.jpg
Part of the seven arches railway viaduct on Ladybridge Road
Location
Grid reference: SJ872870
Location: 53°22’34"N, 2°11’23"W
Data
Population: 26,479
Post town: Cheadle
Postcode: SK8
Dialling code: 0161
Local Government
Council: Stockport
Parliamentary
constituency:
Cheadle

Cheadle Hulme is a village in Cheshire which has become a suburb of Stockport in that county. It is two miles southwest of Stockport and 7½ miles south-east of the city of Manchester.

The village lies in the Ladybrook Valley on the Cheshire Plain. In 2001, it had a population of 29,000.

Evidence of Bronze Age, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon activity, including coins, jewellery and axes, has been discovered locally. The area was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was a large estate which included neighbouring Cheadle. In the early 14th century it was split into southern and northern parts at about the future locations of Cheadle Hulme and Cheadle, respectively. The area was acquired by the Moseley family in the 17th century and became known as Cheadle Moseley, formed from several hamlets, many of which retain their names as neighbourhoods within Cheadle Hulme.

Cheadle Hulme is an affluent area with open parkland; it has a railway station and is close to both Manchester Airport and the A34.

Name

The name of Cheadle first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, as Cedde. It is though to come from the British language word for "wood", which in modern Welsh is coed, possibly with the addition of the Old English leag, meaning "meadow". Another suggestion has it that Cheadle was Ceadan leag or Ceadd Hyll: 'Chad's meadow' or 'Chad hill', based on the finding of an Anglo-Saxon cross dedicated to St Chad nearby, ast a place which retained the name of 'Chad Hill'.[1]

The "Hulme" suffix was once "Holme" and arises from the division between heresses of the old manor or Cheadle. "Holme" may have been derived from the Danish word for "water meadow" or "island in the fen".[2][3]

History

Early history

Local archaeological finds include Bronze Age axes discovered in Cheadle. Evidence of Roman occupation includes coins and jewellery, which were discovered in 1972.[4] The modern-day Cheadle Road, once known as Street Lane, may be of Roman origin.

An Anglo-Saxon stone cross dedicated to the St Chad was discovered in 1873, in an area called "Chad Hill", on the banks of the Micker Brook near its meeting with the River Mersey. The name may be the origin of "Cheadle".[5][4]

According to the Domesday Book of 1086, the modern-day Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme were a single large estate. Valued at £20,[6] it was described as "large and important" and "a wood three leagues [about 9 miles] long and half as broad".[7] One of the earliest owners of the property was the Earl of Chester. It was held by a Gamel, a free Saxon, under Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, and later became the property of the de Chedle family, who took their name from the land they owned.[8] By June 1294 Geoffrey de Chedle was Lord of the Manor.[7] 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.[7]

As there were no male heirs the manor, which was now worth £30 a year,[9] was divided between her daughters, Clemence and Agnes.[10] Clemence inherited the southern half (which would later become the modern-day Cheadle Hulme), and Agnes inherited the northern half, (latterly Cheadle).[6] The two areas became known as "Chedle Holme" and "Chedle Bulkeley" respectively.[11] Shortly afterwards the Chedle Holme estate was divided and the part where Hulme Hall is now situated became known as "Holme", and held by the Vernons. The estates were reunitied on the death of the last of the Vernons in 1476.[10]

The Hesketh Tavern

By Stuart times, the estate had been inherited by Thomas Savage for whom in 1626 King Charles I created the title of Viscount Savage.[12] On his death the estate passed to his daughter Joan, whose husband, the 5th Marquess of Winchester, lost the estate as a result of his Papist practices, which in the Civil War years were deemed intolerable.[6]

The estate was acquired by the Moseley family of Manchester and became known as Cheadle Moseley. Anne Moseley was the last of this family to hold the manor, as her husband could not afford to keep it following her death and it was purchased by John Davenport, who bequeathed it to the Bamford family when he died childless in 1760. After the last Bamford died without male issue in 1806, the estate passed to Robert Hesketh who took the name Bamford-Hesketh;[6] it is from this family that the Hesketh Tavern public house in Cheadle Hulme got its name. The last person to hold the manor was Winifred, Countess of Dundonald, one of Bamford-Hesketh's descendants.[6]

Modern history

In 1801 the population was 971 and had risen to 2,319 by 1851.[13] In 1868 the area became a parish,[14] but it was merged with Cheadle Bulkeley in 1879 and soon was cast into the consolidation of the industrial boroughs which continued through the late nineteenth century and the twentieth.

During the Second World War, Cheadle Hulme was a refuge for evacuees from places such as Manchester and the Channel Islands. Large parts of RAF Handforth were in the parish, a maintenance unit, classed as a 'Universal stores' depot and had the official Royal Air Force name, "RAF Handforth No 61 M.U. (Maintenance unit)". The depot opened in 1939 and closed in 1958–59 and covered large areas of land in both Cheadle Hulme and neighbouring Handforth.

The depot stored and dispatched every conceivable item that the RAF would use in wartime. Everything from knives and forks to aircraft engines were stored and dispatched from RAF Handforth. The site was served by a large, internal railway system which left the Manchester to Crewe mainline prior to Handforth railway station. The site of the exchange sidings and junction is at the rear of the 'Pets at home' offices on Epsom Avenue. The depot had its own shunting locomotives, which were stored in an engine shed. Only the government pay offices remain of the depot today.

Economy

Pimlott's butcher shop

For many years Cheadle Hulme was rural countryside,[15] made up of woods, open land, and farms. The local population was made up of farmers and peasants, living in small cottages and working the land under the tenancy of the Lord of the Manor.[16] Most families kept animals for food, grew their own crops,[15] and probably bought and sold produce at Stockport market.[16] Water was obtained from local wells and ponds, and sometimes the Micker Brook.

Local silk weaving became a large part of everyday life. The work took place in domestic cottages in a room known as a "loomshop",[15] and the woven silk was transported to firms in Macclesfield 8 miles away.[17] Silk-weaving remained commonplace in the area until the early 20th century, when the process became industrialised.[15] Other industries in the area included a corn mill, which collapsed some time during the First World War, located next to the Micker Brook; cotton weaving; and brickworks, one located where the fire station is and one near the railway station.[18] A coal wharf was situated opposite the railway station and supplied the area with coal.[19]

Cheadle Hulme Fire Station

The building of the railways in the early 1840s brough factories and people, and with them a new commercial life to the village. New roads replaced old farms relentlessly and by 2009 the only farm remaining was Leather's Farm on Ladybridge Road.

Landmarks

Bramall Hall

Bramall Hall, a Grade I listed building, is a 14th-century black and white timber framed Tudor manor house, located between Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall.[20] It is situated in the middle of 70 acres of landscaped parkland featuring lakes, woodland and gardens. Both house and grounds are open to the public and are in one of the 19 conservation areas in the borough.[20]

The Swann Lane, Hulme Hall Road, and Hill Top Avenue conservation area contains 16th and 17th century timber-framed buildings, Victorian villas, churches, and some former farmsteads.[21]

Churches

All Saints' Church on Church Road

The oldest reference to Methodist meetings in the area dates to 1786[22] and regular services took place from the early 19th century when they established their own meeting places[23] with a Methodist church and Sunday school built in 1824.[24] Grove Lane Baptist Church was built in 1840.

Anglican worshippers used the Jonathan Robinson School from 1861 for services and in 1863 All Saints Church was built on Church Road.[25] Seven years later the Congregational Church opened on Swann Lane, after services were held in the school room which was built a year earlier.[26]

Grove Lane Baptist Church was rebuilt in the late 1990s[27] and Emmanuel Church was moved to a new building in the early 2000s.

References

  1. Mills, A. D. (2003). "Cheadle Hulme". A Dictionary of British Place Names. Oxford Reference Online, Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t40.e3087. Retrieved 27 May 2009. 
  2. Holden, Desmond (1 July 2002). "What's in a Name?". The Peak Advertiser. GENUKI. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100808234354/http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/NamesPersonal/Holmes.html. Retrieved 10 February 2009. 
  3. Mills, p.78
  4. 4.0 4.1 Clarke, p.1
  5. Clarke, p.3
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lee, p.3
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Squire, p.1
  8. Bowden, p.5
  9. Squire, p.2
  10. 10.0 10.1 Arrowsmith, p.36
  11. Clarke, p.4
  12. Clarke, p.7
  13. "Cheshire Parishes: Cheadle Moseley". GENUKI. http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/chs/cheadlemoseley.html. Retrieved 5 February 2009. 
  14. "Cheshire Parishes: Cheadle". GENUKI. http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/chs/cheadle.html. Retrieved 5 February 2009. 
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Lee, p.6
  16. 16.0 16.1 Squire, p.3
  17. Squire, p.5
  18. Squire, p.6
  19. Squire, p.16
  20. 20.0 20.1 "Bramall Hall". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council via archive.org. Archived from the original on 20 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080420163823/http://www.stockport.gov.uk/content/leisureculture/tourism/placestovisit/bramallhall/?a=5441. Retrieved 1 November 2009. 
  21. "Swann Lane/Hulme Hall Road/Hill Top Avenue (1984, extended 2005)". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. http://www.stockport.gov.uk/services/environment/planningbuilding/conservationheritage/conservationareas/conservationareaappraisalsmanagementplans/swannlane. Retrieved 22 April 2013. 
  22. Makepeace, p.106
  23. Garratt, p.12
  24. Squire, p.7
  25. Makepeace, p.105
  26. Makepeace, p.107
  27. Garratt, p.58
  • Arrowsmith, Peter (1997). Stockport: a History. Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. ISBN 0-905164-99-7. 
  • Bowden, Tom (3 January 1974). Community and Change: a History of Local Government in Cheadle and Gatley. Cheadle and Gatley Urban District Council. ISBN 0-85972-009-8. 
  • Clarke, Heather (1972). Cheadle Through The Ages. Manchester: 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. 
  • Garratt, Morris (1999). Pictures and Postcards from the Past: Cheadle Hulme. Sigma Leisure. ISBN 1-85058-674-8. 
  • Hudson, John (1996). Britain in Old Photographs: Cheadle. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-0641-3. 
  • Lee, Ben (December 1967). A History of Cheadle Hulme and its Methodism. Trustees, Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church. 
  • Makepeace, Chris E. (1988). Cheadle and Gatley in Old Picture Postcards. European Library. ISBN 90-288-4674-3. 
  • Mills, A. D. (1998). Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280074-4. 
  • Squire, Carol (January 1976). Cheadle Hulme: a Brief History. Recreation and Culture Division, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport. ISBN 0-905164-72-5. 
  • Wyke, Terry; Harry Cocks (2005). Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-567-8.