Welcome to the Marple Local History Society website

1940s snow,  Station-Road

Christmas Fact: Angels Singing? There is no reference to angels singing anywhere in the Bible.

History is a set of lies agreed upon 

       Napolean Bonaparte French Emperor 1769 – 1821

Snow in Marple - January / February 1940. Looking down Station Road from near the Park Cottage.

Christmas Fact: Banning Christmas: In 1647, after the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell banned festivities. The law wasn't lifted until 1660.

Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it

         Oscar Wilde – Irish writer – 1854 – 1900

Strines Road unknown date

Christmas Fact: Many theologians estimate that Jesus wasn't born on December 25 but sometime in September between 6BC and 30AD.

L’Histoire est un alliage de réel et de mensonge. (History is a combination of reality and lies.)
Jean Cocteau – French playwright - 1889 - 1963

Lane Ends, Marple Bridge

Christmas Fact: Carols: Carols weren't sung in churches until they were introduced by St Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history
Aldous Huxley – English writer – 1894 - 1963

Peak Forest Canal in the winter of 2009-10.

Christmas Fact: The bestselling Xmas single ever is Bing Crosby's White Christmas, shifting over 50million copies worldwide since 1942.

History teaches everything including the future
Alphonse de Lamartine – French writer – 1790 - 1869

Lock 10 in the winter of 2009/10.

Christmas Fact: Hanging stockings out comes from the Dutch custom of leaving shoes packed with food for St Nicholas's donkeys. He would leave small gifts in return.

History never looks like history when you are living through it

         John W Gardner - American statesman – 1912 - 2002

January/February 1940

Christmas Fact: Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
George Santayana – Spanish philosopher – 1863 - 1952

Lock 10 in the winter of 2009/10

Christmas Fact: Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.

History never looks like history when you are living through it
John W Gardner - American statesman – 1912 - 2002

Snow in January February 1940. Taken on the Ridge

Christmas Fact: Robins on cards were a joke 150 years ago when postmen wore red tunics and were named after them.

History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.
George Santayana – Spanish philosopher – 1863 - 1952

The Weir at Marple Bridge in winter, frozen over with people walking on the ice

Christmas Fact: James Pierpont's 1857 song Jingle Bells was first called One Horse Open Sleigh and was written for Thanksgiving.

History always has a few tricks up its frayed sleeve. It's been around a long time
Terry Pratchett – English author – 1948 - 2015

Church Street in winter

Christmas Fact: World's Biggest Snowman: In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.

The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them
            

Queen Victoria English monarch  1819 – 1901

Brabyns Brow 1960s

Christmas Fact: US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.

Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past

         George Orwell – English author – 1903 - 1950

Roman Lake horses in the winter of 2009-10

Workers clear the snow in the severe winter of 1947 at Rose Hill Station

Christmas Fact: Before turkey, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig's head and mustard.

History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true
Gore Vidal – American author – 1925 - 2012

Peak Forest Canal in the winter of 2009_10.

Christmas Fact: Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space when Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sang it on December 16, 1965.

History is a pattern of timeless moments
T.S.Eliot – Anglo-American poet – 1888 - 1965

January / February 1940

Christmas Fact: Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.

There is a history in all men’s lives

         William Shakespeare English dramatist 1564 - 1616

Church Lane in the winter of 2009-10

Christmas Fact: The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by civil servant Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843. Featuring a family drinking wine, one sold for £8,469 last year.

The only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today

         Henry Ford – American industrialist – 1863 – 1947

Brick Bridge in the winter of 2009/10

Christmas Fact: Tangerines: The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.

God cannot alter the past though historians can
Samuel Butler – English author – 1835 - 1902

January / February 1940

Christmas Fact: Hanging presents on trees may come from the Druids who believed the tree was the giver of all good things.

Human blunders, usually, do more to shape history than human wickedness.

         A.J.P.Taylor – English historian – 1906 - 1990

Iron Bridge in the winter of 2009/10

Christmas Fact: Santa Claus comes from a Dutch folk tale based on Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, who gave gifts on December 6.

History is interim reports issued periodically

           Annoymous

Marple Viaduct in the winter of 2009/10

Christmas Fact: Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.

History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember.
“1066 and All That” - Sellars and Yeatman - British writers

Rose Hill Station Feb 1940

Christmas Fact: US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.

History does not belong to us, we belong to it

         Hans-Georg Gadamer – German philosopher – 1900 - 2002

Dan Bank Toll House in the winter of 1901

Christmas Fact: Three Wise Men? Despite the tale of three wise men paying homage to baby Jesus, the Bible never gives a number. Matthew's Gospel refers to merely "wise men".

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice
Mark Twain American author 1835 - 1910

Etherow Park Winter 2009-10

Christmas Fact: The Greeks celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the old Julian calendar, while Xmas presents are opened on New Year's Day.

History just burps and we taste again that raw onion sandwich

         Julian Barnes – English novelist – 1946 -

Station Road January / February 1940

Christmas Fact: The word Noel derives from the French expression "les bonnes nouvelles" or "the good news"..

History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember.
“1066 and All That” - Sellars and Yeatman - British writers