Олдерли-Эдж: История и современность английской деревни

Village and civil parish in England

Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 4,780. Alderley Edge is 6 mile (10 km) northwest of Macclesfield and 12 mile (19 km) south of Manchester, at the base of a steep and thickly wooded sandstone escarpment, Alderley Edge, which is the area's chief topographical feature and overlooks the Cheshire Plain. Alderley Edge is known for its affluence and expensive houses, falling inside Cheshire's Golden Triangle. Alderley Edge has a selection of cafes and designer shops and has attracted numerous Premier League footballers, actors and multi millionaire businesspeople. It is one of the most expensive and sought after places to live in the UK outside London. and lēah, meaning a "peasants' clearing". Although not mentioned in the Domesday Book, it is included in a charter of c.1280. The name Alderley first appears in 1086 as Aldredelie. Several versions of the origin are known: one says it originated from Aldred and leah meaning "Aldred's clearing". Another says it is most likely that the name Alderley came from Old English language Alðrȳðelēah meaning "the meadow or woodland clearing of a woman called Alðrȳð". In the 13th century and during the Middle Ages, the area comprised estates that had many owners. Since the 15th century, most of them have belonged to the De Trafford baronets. The principal manors were based on the 14th century Chorley Old Hall, which is south west of Alderley Edge, and the Old Hall, at Nether Alderley, a 16th century building burnt down in 1779. The economies of Chorley and Nether Alderley were dominated by agriculture with a market charter granted at Nether Alderley in c.1253. Nether Alderley Mill dates back to 1391, although the present timber structure is 16th century. The millpond was adapted to form the moat, which surrounded the Old Hall, the home of the Stanley family. The corn mill continued to be worked until 1939 when Edward Stanley, 6th Baron Stanley of Alderley, was compelled to sell it, along with the rest of the Alderley Park estate, to meet the cost of death duties. In the 1950s the National Trust bought the site and has since restored the building and opened it to the public. Cheshire had its own system of taxes in the mediaeval period, the Mize; in the records for 1405, Chorley was assessed at 20s 0d and Nether Alderley at 27s 0d. Lead and copper mining on the Edge is documented from the late 17th century to the 20th century. After the destruction of the Old Hall in the late 18th century, the Stanley family moved to Park House on the south edge of Alderley Park, and house and park were afterwards much extended. Throughout the 19th century Nether Alderley remained under the control of the Stanleys and the lack of development pressure meant that the dispersed medieval settlement pattern was retained. In 1830, Chorley consisted of only a few cottages, the De Trafford Arms Inn, a toll bar and a smithy; these were straggled along the Congleton to Manchester Road. The coming of the railway in 1842, with the construction of the Stockport to Crewe section of the main Manchester and Birmingham Railway, changed all this. The Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company built the line through Chorley, offering free season tickets for 20 years to Manchester businessmen who built houses with a rateable value of more than £50 within a mile of the station. This 'season ticket' was in the form of a small silver oval which could be worn on a watch chain. The railway also gave Alderley Edge its current name. As the railway network expanded and travel became easier, the railway company did not want its station called Chorley because of the possible confusion with Chorley in Lancashire. So, in 1880 they renamed it Alderley Edge railway station, against much opposition, taking the old name for the village and the name of the sandstone escarpment already known as The Edge. The name Chorley, Macclesfield is retained by the civil parish to the northwest of Alderley Edge. Following the construction of the railway, the local landowner, Sir Humphrey de Trafford, of Chorley Hall, laid out an extensive estate of new roads and new houses were incrementally added, filling in most of the available sites by 1910. Of these, nine are now listed grade II. The area boundary largely reflects de Trafford's original estate boundaries. Also because of the railway, Alderley became a popular place to visit and the railway company popularised day trips and cheap excursions to the village. This period also saw the appearance of buildings which are now landmarks. St Philip's Church, Alderley Edge, with its 175 feet (53 m) spire, was built in 1853 and the village primary school a year later known as Alderley Edge Community Primary School. Two all girls schools were opened, St Hilary's in 1876 and Mount Carmel in 1945, which then merged in 1999 to form Alderley Edge School for Girls. A boys' school, The Ryleys School, was opened in 1877. The Mission Hall (later known as The Institute) was built as a temperance hall for the recreation of the 'lower classes' by the wealthier residents in 1878. The Methodist Church in Chapel Road was built ten years after St Philip's. The area is notable for its heavily wooded streets and substantial Victorian villas set in spacious gardens. The first villa was constructed in the early 1840s and by 1850 thirty "handsome residences" had been erected, some of them in what is now the Alderley Edge Conservation Area. Cotton barons from Manchester built their mansions here and now (as at around 2010) they are changing hands for several million pounds. The village winds up a high street with many restaurants, designer shops and speciality food shops. Around the village, winding lanes are covered in their original sandstone setts and front boundary walls are usually built from the same local sandstone. The buildings are varied in style with examples of mock Tudor, Italian, neo Georgian and Arts and Crafts Movement designs. The wide range of materials used reflects this somewhat eclectic mix of styles, and includes stone, brick (several colours), smooth render or roughcast for the walls, and Welsh slate or clay tiles for the roofs. The growth of Alderley Edge is recorded in the census returns, with the population rising from 561 in 1841 to 2,856 in 1902 (the return for Nether Alderley shows a drop from 679 to 522 within the same period). There was no church in Chorley until 1852, when the larger expansion of the town in the demanded enlarged accommodation, but St Mary's Church retains some 14th century work including a font. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1871 therefore shows Chorley (as it still was), with the new Queen's Hotel next to the station, new shops and terraced houses along London Road, and a Post Office at the town centre, where Macclesfield Road meets Alderley Road. To the north are wooded areas with detached villas, but to the east is a much larger area, roughly approximating to the modern conservation area, where curving roads divide generous wooded plots, usually with its own house, although some plots remained undeveloped until much later. Of interest is the use of the names Brickfield and Brick kiln on a site to the north east of Alderley Edge, suggesting a source for the local bricks. The 1899 map shows a similar footprint but it is much easier to make out the individual villas and their names, such as Holybank, Ashfield (Alderley Edge villa) and The Larches. Also very evident on this map are the remains of the old mines towards and within Windmill Wood, immediately to the south east. In the 20th century, Alderley Edge continued to expand with much post war housing around the north eastern and western edges. Nether Alderley has remained relatively unchanged, apart from the sale of Alderley Park to Astra Zeneca (previously ICI, Imperial Chemical Industries). Astra Zeneca has since sold Alderley Park to Manchester based, family owned property company Bruntwood. The park is now home to 150 science companies and is the UK's largest single site life science facility, along with commercial workspace, residential and retail spaces.

From medieval times the area was part of the Chorley township of the ancient parish of Wilmslow in the Macclesfield Hundred of Cheshire. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 Chorley became a civil parish in its own right. Alderley Edge civil parish was created on 31 December 1894 from part of Chorley civil parish. Along with Bollinfee civil parish it formed Alderley Edge Urban District. In 1974 it became a civil parish in the new non metropolitan district of Macclesfield. Since 1 April 2009 it has been part of the unitary authority of Cheshire East.

The civil parish was enlarged on 30 September by gaining a further part of Chorley. On 1 October 1910 it was enlarged by gaining part of Nether Alderley civil parish. It was further enlarged on 1 April 1936 by the transfer of a further from Chorley and from Wilmslow civil parish and by gaining on the abolition of Bollinfee civil parish.

At the 2001 UK census, the ward had a possible workforce of approximately 2,157 people. The economic activity of residents in the Alderley Edge electoral ward was 36.9% in full time employment, 10.2% in part time employment, 29.3% self employed, 1.7% unemployed, 1.4% students with jobs, 3.5% students without jobs, 19.3% retired, 7.5% looking after home or family, 2.8% permanently sick or disabled and 2.0% economically inactive for other reasons. Alderley Edge has a very high rate of self employment (29.3%) compared with rest of the Macclesfield borough (22.7%) and England (16.6%). It also has low rates of unemployment (1.7%) compared with the rest of the Macclesfield borough (2.0%) and England (3.3%). The Office for National Statistics estimated that, during the period of April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households in Alderley Edge was £720 (£37,440 per year).

The Edge is a wide red sandstone escarpment situated above the village of Alderley. An edge is used as a descriptive term for high land in Cheshire and adjacent counties, such as in Wenlock Edge and Blackstone Edge. The Edge at Alderley is a ridge of land separating a narrow and short valley from the higher ground of southeast Cheshire and Derbyshire. It rises gradually from the town of Macclesfield, until, at a distance of 7 or 8 kilometres, it terminates abruptly, having reached a height of nearly 215 metres above sea level, and 110 metres above the Cheshire Plain below it. It was formed partly by the weathering of resistant sandstone lying on top of a softer sandstone, and partly by faulting of the rocks. The scarp or slope is repeated eight times by faults of up to 200 metres, which has thrown down blocks of sandstone west to Alderley and east to the village of Kirkleyditch. The northern side of the Edge is shaped like a horse shoe or hough (pronounced huff), as this type of ridge is called in Cheshire. The Edge also marks the line of a hamlet of scattered houses called The Hough, which descend towards Alderley village. The Edge is owned by the National Trust. It is maintained as a public access wooded area and is a popular destination for day trippers from Manchester and the nearby towns of Wilmslow and Macclesfield, attracting 300,000 visitors a year. Its woodland area is riddled with the old Alderley Edge Mines.

From its highest point, the Edge affords panoramic views across Cheshire and the Peak District and walking paths through the property, as well as one to nearby National Trust property Hare Hill. From the Edge, the Cheshire Plain, can be seen extending from the area of Macclesfield Forest on the south east side with its undulating land and woods, towards the extreme easterly point of the Derbyshire peaks, and northerly to Manchester and Blackstone Edge in Yorkshire. Until trees were planted at the Edge (1745–1755), visitors to the Edge could see a full 360° panorama of the country around; today the view from the Edge itself is limited to the northerly and easterly directions. Trees now obscure the views in other directions, including views of the Wrekin in Shropshire to the south; The Cloud near Bosley and Mow Cop (where the Cheshire Plain meets the Peckforton Hills, Beeston Castle, and the Delamere Forest) to the southwest; and west to the mountains of North Wales.

There are a number of similar British legends which closely resemble the Alderley one, though since they are all founded in oral tradition it is not possible to know which came first. In one, set in the Eildon Hills in Scotland and narrated by Sir Walter Scott, the old man is named as Thomas of Erceldoune and the horses are black. Once in the cave, the old man asks the farmer to choose between a sword and a horn. The farmer chooses the horn, and immediately the horses all jump up and start to stamp their hooves on the ground. The terrified farmer is expelled from the cave by a whirlwind and hears the words "Woe is the coward that ever was born, that did not draw the sword but blew the horn". Another very similar one was made into a ballad called Sir Guy the Seeker by Matthew 'Monk' Lewis, and is based on a legend of Dunstanburgh Castle. In his preface to Sir Guy the Seeker Lewis pointed out the similarity to the Alderley legend. Alan Garner used the legend of The Wizard of the Edge, and other local legends, in his novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner, born in Congleton, was raised in Alderley Edge.

Several ancient gold bars have been found at Alderley Edge, the first on Artists Lane. It was declared treasure trove, and an inquest was held in Congleton on 26 February 1993. John Cherry from the British Museum along with Adrian Tindall, the Principal Conservation Officer (Archaeology) for Cheshire County Council, reported that the gold bar weighed 97.01 grams and was determined to be 73% gold. The publicity caused the public to search for more, and indeed five more gold bars were found. Members of the Derbyshire Caving Club found a Roman coin hoard in 1995; the hoard contained 564 coins from AD 317–36.

After several decades of discussion, a 5 km, north to south A34 Alderley Edge bypass was constructed (officially named Melrose Way) to the west of Alderley Edge to reduce traffic flow through the centre of village. It starts at the Harden roundabout at the south end of the existing Wilmslow bypass and goes west of Alderley Edge and rejoins the A34 at the bend about 400 yards north of the south gate of Astra Zeneca's laboratory grounds. The bypass was constructed to relieve the congestion caused by the 26,000 vehicles that previously passed through Alderley Edge daily. The project cost £56 million and the main civil engineering works were contracted to Birse Civils. The bypass was officially opened by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and MP for Alderley Edge, George Osborne, on Friday 19 November 2010, "over 6 months before schedule" according to a notice that contractors put up at its south end.

Alderley Edge railway station is situated on the Crewe to Manchester line, which is a spur of the West Coast Main Line. There are generally two trains per hour to Crewe, two to Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport and one to Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport; on Sundays, there is an hourly service each way between Crewe and Manchester Piccadilly, via Stockport. The station is managed by Northern, who also operate all services that stop here.

Alderley Edge is served by the 130 bus route, which is operated by D&G Bus; it runs hourly during the daytime (except Sundays) between Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Manchester Airport.

After the death of their father in 1870, George Gissing and his two younger brothers were sent to Lindow Grove, a Quaker boarding school in Alderley Edge, whose headmaster James Wood was often parodied by the novelist. The Pilkington family (of Pilkington's Glass) owned all of the woodland now known as The Edge until 1948, when their daughters donated the land to the National Trust. The Pilkington company developed the toughened safety glass necessary when motor cars and very tall buildings became popular. They became hugely wealthy. On Woodbrook Road they built The Cedars as the family home, which has a distinctive large tower and is built from white stone. The house is now sub divided into four luxury dwellings. The author Alan Garner, who wrote the children's fantasy novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which is set on Alderley Edge, lived on Trafford Road at the corner with Stevens Street and Moss Lane. Former footballers who live in Alderley Edge include Joleon Lescott and Manchester United players Dwight Yorke, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, and Andy Cole. David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham previously resided in Alderley Edge. A number of Coronation Street actors, including Helen Flanagan and Richard Fleeshman, live in the village, as do musicians Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook. The singer songwriter Matty Healy spent his formative years in Alderley Edge together with actor parents Denise Welch and Tim Healy.