Престбери: История и современность английской деревни.

Village and civil parish in Cheshire, England

Prestbury is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, about 2 miles (3 km) north of Macclesfield. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 3,324; it increased slightly to 3,471 at the 2011 census. The ecclesiastical parish is almost the same as the former Prestbury local government ward which consisted of the civil parishes of Prestbury, Adlington and Mottram St Andrew.

As Prestbury was initially settled by priests its name derives from Preôsta burh, which is sometimes thought to mean "priests' town", but more correctly means a priest's fortified enclosure.

Prestbury lies between Macclesfield and Wilmslow, for the most part on elevated ground above the flood prone River Bollin. The ancient Forest of Macclesfield is to the east. There is no evidence of a settlement before Saxon times, although a cemetery nearby which had been excavated in 1808 contained pottery cremation urns and signs of sacrifice and was presumably pre Christian. As a result of being initially settled by priests they chose an enclosure with a defensible location on the River Bollin where there was relatively high ground close to the river on both sides so that crossing was easy. From there they could travel to all parts of a parish which was extensive, though thinly populated, in part because the countryside was wild and barren and in part because the forest was reserved for hunting.

The school, smithies, the mill, inns and the stocks centre on a village street called "The Village", which is broad enough for cattle fairs and the like. Until the 19th century the village street was connected to Pearl Street, the main street of Butley, by a ford. In about 1825, a bridge of two arches was built, linking the village street to a new road ("New Road") passing behind the cottages and the Admiral Rodney pub on the southeast side of Pearl Street. In 1855 the bridge was replaced by the present bridge with one arch. During the 19th century Prestbury became an important center of the silk industry. The parish accounted for around a third of the total number of males employed in that branch of textile manufacturing in England and Wales in the early 19th century. Swanwick's factory operated and cottages were built for the workers ("Factory Cottages" or "Irish Row"). Weavers' cottages were built on both New Road and the village, with upper storeys for weaving. In the 20th century, improved communications made it possible for Prestbury to develop into a residential community. Prestbury Mill was destroyed by fire in 1940.

The conservation area includes areas neighbouring the village street, the east side of Macclesfield Road as far south as the Methodist church, and New Road as far north as Butley Cottage and its garden. Many of the buildings and structures in the Conservation Area are listed by English Heritage, four of them, The Bridge Hotel, Priest's House, Horner's and Prestbury Hall being regarded as "Focal Buildings". Other buildings are considered to be of townscape merit. Trees and even some hedges are important landscape features. The Manor House was shown as the vicarage on the 1831 map. Brooks Cottages, marked with a plaque reading "Rodger Brooks and Ellen his wife erected this house in the 24 years of his life Ano Dom 1686" are among the listed buildings on the Butley side of the Bollin.

Smithy Cottage, built on the site of a former smithy, is just outside the conservation area. Butley Hall is shown on the 1831 map but is outside the conservation area, as are the Butley Ash Inn and Spittle House, which was probably built between 1300 and 1450 as a leper hospital. New estates were built during the 20th century to accommodate commuters. The defining characteristic of 21st century development has been the replacement of quite sizeable houses by large mansions, such as that built for footballer Wayne Rooney. Adlington Hall with strong connections with Prestbury is nearby.

Since the 1970s, there has been quite a lot of new build development in the village. Packsaddle Park is a good example of this. It is a suburban development built on the grounds of Packsaddle House. In addition to this, there has been a lot of redevelopment of existing houses in the village.

Prestbury is situated in Cheshire East, a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. Prestbury falls within the UK parliament constituency of Macclesfield, a strongly Conservative constituency represented by MP David Rutley, who gained office in the 2010 United Kingdom general election. Locally Prestbury is governed by the Prestbury Parish Council which has 10 Councillors and meets once per month.

In February 1977, the village made national headlines when two employees at the local branch of Williams & Glyn's Bank were murdered during a robbery. Whilst the sub branch was closed for lunch 22 year old senior cashier Ian Jebb was repeatedly stabbed and his assistant 19 year old Susan Hockenhull kidnapped. As the branch was staffed only by these two, the alarm was only raised when customers were unable to enter the bank after the lunchtime closing period. Miss Hockenhull's body was later discovered on moorland, where she had died from hypothermia. In October 1977, David Walsh, 30, who was employed as a contractor to service adding machines at the bank and who was known to the victims, was found guilty at Chester Crown Court of their murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He also received 15 years' imprisonment for the robbery, which had netted £2,445.