Our Local Heritage
A fascinating collection of stories and articles covering the diverse local heritage of Marple and District.
Alphabetical List
In the early 2000s, SMBC made efforts to promote out-of-town centre ‘District Shopping Centres’. Initiatives included smartening up the centres in a variety of ways, for example, the remodelling of Market Street, Marple, improved street lighting and the provision of an emblem to celebrate the unique character of each place. These were made of punched metal and designed to fit on the new lamp posts at the entrance to each District Centre, making a sort of ‘gateway’. There are eight district centres: Bramhall, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Edgeley, Hazel Grove, Marple, Reddish and Romiley.
Added to these a little later were 5 smaller shopping areas dubbed ‘Local Centres’. They were given similar emblems, but of a different shape to distinguish them from the District Centres. The Local Centres are: Great Moor, Heaton Mersey, High Lane, Offerton and Woodley.
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Weirs have played a key role in the history of Marple and Mellor, providing a reliable source of power to the early mills and a steady flow of of water for washing to the mills engaged in bleaching and printing. We have already looked at the more modern weir built in Brabyns Park by the Environment Agency LINK; now we should look at the rather more historic weirs which have played an important role in our heritage.
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Anyone travelling to Strines station will pass an exotic structure on the left hand side - a dovecote planted firmly in the middle of the mill pond. It is a Grade II listed building but that immediately raises two questions. Why is it there and when was it constructed? The short answer to both these questions is the same - “We don’t know” but we can make some informed guesses.
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Many pubs like to give themselves a name that associates them with the community. It all helps to build the business. The Hatters, The Midland, The Navigation, - all refer to a local activity or feature. So what about The Strines Nightingale? What connection does that have with the locality? Strines is a long way from Berkeley Square so that isn’t the link. No, the link turns out to be our old friend, Joel Wainwright.
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High Lane is the most southerly part of the township of Marple, and its very name tells us precisely why it developed. It straddles the A6, one of the busiest main roads in the country, but the route has been busy for a very long time, for it was part of the Roman main road from London to Carlisle, our local section running from Aquae Arnemetiae (Buxton) to ‘Mamucium’, with a fort in modern day Castlefield......
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2020 - the year the world had the rug pulled from under its feet. Marple endured two lockdowns between March and December, drastically reducing all cultural, social and entertainment facilities. All the cafés were closed together with the other virus casualties, Carver Theatre and the Regent Cinema.
It might seem that thereis a plethora of cafés and tearooms to satisfy the local need to meet friends or to “just drop in” for an Americano or a latte or a simple cup of tea. Do we really need so many establishments to minister this need? A quick count comes to at least a round dozen - All Things Nice, Asda, Cloudberry, Costa, Dutsons, Golden Plate, Libbys, Roc Community Café, Portabello, Red Pepper, Roman Lakes and The Locks are all needed. There may well be more.
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There is much in Mellor that is ‘special’ - the views, the church, Mellor Mill - but very little that is genuinely ‘unique’. One feature that is truly unique is the Masonic grave of Thomas Brierley, the eccentric printer from Brookbottom, near Strines. A very enthusiastic, though somewhat eccentric, mason, he arranged for a gravestone to be prepared for him in anticipation of his death. Parts of the inscription were written in cipher and other parts left blank because information of the date of his death were not known when the memorial was made.
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The recently completed ‘Revealing Oldknow’s Legacy Project’ had three parts: restoration of the Peak Forest Canal Aqueduct, investigation of the industrial archaeology and landscaping of the lime kiln complex off Strines Road, and furtherance of the industrial archaeological excavations of the Mellor Mill site, which had started in 2011 prior to granting of Heritage Lottery money in 2014.
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As a community we lost Marple Hall in the late 1950s. It was sad but inevitable as the fabric of the house had been deteriorating for years and many other country houses had met the same fate. However, on the bright side, we have been locating and, in some cases, reclaiming, a number of items from the house. There were two main periods which saw the wholesale distribution of artefacts across the country and, in some cases, worldwide.
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Marple Union Rooms/Regent Cinema: a tale of temperance, coffee at penny a cup, a church army, a falling chimney, not to mention the ‘flicks’.
Dominating the centre of Marple for over 120 years, Hollins Mill and its owners lead us into the history of the Union Rooms. In 1863 the mill was sold, by Charles Walmsley to the Carver and Hodgkinson families.
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This building, on the east side of Upper Hibbert Lane near the junction with Hawk Green Road, is one of the oldest in Hawk Green.
Built as a single structure, it is now two cottages, though originally it was probably three. As to its age, the initials and date on the door lintel - IBK 1686 - gives us a clue.
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On December 4th, Marple’s new Co-operative Store opened on Church Lane, directly opposite Market Street; 146 years after the Compstall Industrial Co-operative Society opened its first Marple store in 1874. The first store was in Market Street, near the junction with Stockport Road. In 1898 a drapery store was built opposite the original store in the same architectural style. Today the drapery building is home to Helen Winterson Ltd.
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