Bollington

Clarence Mill, and the Macclesfield Canal

From the late 18th through to the mid-20th centuries, Bollington was a major centre for cotton spinning. Waterhouse mill, now demolished, off Wellington Road, once spun the finest cotton in the world, and was sought after by lace makers in Nottingham and Brussels.

Clarence Mill still stands. The lower floors remain commercial but the upper floors have been converted into apartments. One of the oldest surviving mills in Bollington is the very small Defiance Mill, built in Queen Street about 1800 and now restored for residential occupation.

There is a large paper coating mill on the site of Lower Mills. The original mill was built by George Antrobus in 1792 but very little of those buildings remain. A stone-built traditional mill still survives amongst the more recent brick developments. In the 1830s and 1840s this mill was rented to Thomas Oliver and Martin Swindells for the production of fine cotton thread for the lace-making industry. Lowerhouse mill (Antrobus, 1819, later occupied by Samuel Greg Jnr) also remains as an industrial mill, also producing coated papers.

The other remaining mill is Adelphi mill (Swindells, 1856), which is today entirely commercial. A full list of Bollington's mills with some histories can be found on the Happy Valley website.

In 1801, the population was 1,231. In 1851, the population was 4,655. In 1901, it had grown to 5,245. Population growth slowed during the mid-20th century such that by 1951 the population was 5,644. By 2001 the population had reached 7,095.[2]

The town falls within the Westminster constituency of Macclesfield, which is currently represented by the Conservative MP David Rutley.[3]

Bollington is represented by two councillors on the Cheshire East Borough Council (unitary).[4]

Bollington Town Council[5] has parish status. There are 12 councillors. From 2012 a number of responsibilities and buildings are being taken over from Cheshire East Council, including the Civic Hall and Town Hall.

St Oswald's Church

The town has several churches. The parish Church of St John the Baptist closed several years ago, leaving St Oswald's Church in Bollington Cross as the only Anglican church. St Gregory's Church on Wellington Road is the Roman Catholic place of worship in the town. The Grade-II listed Methodist church on Wellington Road has been closed to worship and has been sold.

In 2005 Canalside Community Radio was launched to provide community news and entertainment for the duration of the festival. Cousins John and Terry Waite opened the 2005 Bollington Festival.[7] together with the Discovery Centre. In December 2008 Canalside Radio – The Thread – began broadcasting to northeast Cheshire on 102.8 FM having obtained a full-time licence after five years of trying.

Hiking, cycling and riding through the hills around Bollington and along the Macclesfield Canal towpath as well as the Middlewood Way (a disused railway) are popular activities. Boats and bikes can be hired for day-trips and holidays at Grimshaw Lane canal wharf.

The town has many traditional public houses, most of which have not been modernised.

Events

Bollington Festival 2005

Every five or six years since 1964, the town hosts the Bollington Festival, which runs for two and a half weeks and involves a wide variety of community activities, from concerts, theatrical, opera, art exhibitions, to local history events, science events and competitions.[8] The next Festival will be held in May 2019.

In late September each year a ten-day Walking Festival promotes exercise and fresh air while taking in the beauty of the surrounding countryside, the western hills of the Peak District.[9]

Bollington hosts an annual 'Carols around the Christmas Tree' on Christmas Eve each year.[10]

At mid-day on Christmas Day each year a brass band play at White Nancy.[11]

Bollington is 2 miles (3.2 km) from the A523 road that runs from Hazel Grove, through Macclesfield to Leek in Staffordshire. The nearest motorway junctions are Junctions 17 and 19 (Congleton and Knutsford) on the M6, and junction 1 and 27 (Cheadle and Wilmslow) on the M60.[17]

Bollington no longer has its own railway station, the nearest one being in Prestbury or Macclesfield for InterCity trains to London and Manchester. Regular bus services connect Bollington with Macclesfield, Hazel Grove and Stockport.

Bollington Station in 1960

Bollington used to be served by the Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple Railway, a former railway between Marple Rose Hill and Macclesfield. The railway was built in 1869 by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR), as a part of a quest to provide an alternative link between Manchester and the south, that was independent of the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR). Cotton mill owner Thomas Oliver had suggested this route hoping to revive the cotton mills of Bollington, the Kerridge stone quarries as well as the coal fields at Poynton. The line was closed in 1970 as part of the Beeching closures. The trackbed is today used for walking, cycling and horseriding; it is known as the Middlewood Way.[18]

The Macclesfield Canal passes through the centre of the town and is a picturesque and rural part of the Cheshire Ring. The stretch from Marple Junction on the Peak Forest Canal to Bosley is without locks and is carried on an embankment through Bollington. Kerridge was the scene of a spectacular breach on 29 February 1912, where the water from Bosley to Bugsworth basin emptied through the town.[19] Today the canal is used for leisure purposes.

Bollington Live! is a publication produced three times a year by a team of volunteer writers, editor and distributors. It is funded by local businesses who sponsor and advertise. It covers a wide range of issues of local interest, from historical articles, to matters of current concern. The magazine is delivered free to every household and business in Bollington, plus others in Pott Shrigley and Whiteley Green by almost fifty volunteers. The magazine was started in 1994 by a group of residents who felt that whilst Bollington was served by the neighbouring Macclesfield newspapers, it was in need of a Bollington-centred publication. All copies are available online[20] on the town's extensive Happy Valley web site.[21]

Sir James Chadwick, 1945

Libby Clegg, 2016

• Samuel Greg (Jnr) (1804–1876) an English industrialist and philanthropist, in 1832 he took over management of Lowerhouse Mill in Bollington and used it as a basis for social experimentation.
• John Ryle (1817–1887) born and died in Bollington. Emigrated to the United States in 1839 and became known as the Father of the United States silk industry.
• William Collard Smith (1830 in Bollington – 1894) emigrated to Australia 1852, became a politician in colonial Victoria
• Emma Brooke (1844–1926) a British novelist and a campaigner for the rights of women, brought up in Bollington
• John Plant (born 1870 in Bollington) an English international footballer, played professionally for Bury, and earned one cap for England in 1900
• Sir James Chadwick CH, FRS (1891 in Bollington – 1974) Nobel prize-winning scientist who proved the existence of neutrons, educated at Bollington Cross School.
• Terry Waite CBE (born 1939 in Bollington) was held hostage for four years in Lebanon, and who has devoted his life to humanitarian causes, lived for a very short time in Bollington; his father was one of the town's policemen.
• David Dickinson (born 1941) the antiques expert and television presenter, lives in Bollington.
• Angie Lewin (born 1963 in Bollington) designer of prints and screens, brought up in Bollington.
• James Bailey (born 1988) professional footballer,[22] brought up in Bollington.
• Libby Clegg, MBE (born 1990) blind athlete, born and lived in Bollington until moving to Scotland at age 11.
• Ben Amos (born 1990) an English professional footballer [23] who plays as a goalkeeper for Bolton Wanderers, lived for some years in Bollington [24]

• Listed buildings in Bollington
• Hollin Old Hall
• Clarence Mill