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 It
is a town borne of its rural origins with the industrialisation
of the area beginning in the mid 18th century and rapidly
developing in the 19th when several large cotton mills were
built, coal mines were opened and stone quarried. The opening
of the Macclesfield Canal in
1831 provided important industrial development incentive
as did the railway that followed in the 1860's. In modern
times the mills have been replaced by, usually, smaller businesses
although there remain two large paper coating mills, our
biggest industry today.
Tourism is increasingly important,
the town providing an easy base for those interested in
walking the hills (we hold an annual Walking
Festival in
October), walking or boating the canal or walking or riding
(bikes and horses) on the converted railway track, now known
as the Middlewood
Way.
 Known
to its residents as the Happy
Valley, this town is a village is a town! What do I mean? Well,
it's a town of 7,300 population strung out over a distance
of about two miles, never very wide, giving the feeling of
one long village. Present day Bollington is really based
around three villages that became merged together - Bollington
Cross, West Bollington and Bollington,
and on the edges you will find Kerridge on
the high ground and Lowerhouse in
the river Dean valley.
 There
was a significant increase in the population during
the 1970's, 80's and 90's turning the town into a dormitory
for Macclesfield and Manchester. Bollington is regarded as a very
desirable place to live and work. This has to do with the advantages
of its beautiful location amongst the hills and the fact that the
main street is, for all practical purposes, a no through road; the
road does go through but leads mainly to places that can be reached
more directly by other routes.
This page provides a range of links to other pages giving an in-depth
view of the town and the interests of its population. Have
fun! Note that Wednesday is traditionally half day (or early)
closing day for shops in Bollington and many still follow
this tradition by closing at lunch time - usually 1.00pm
- but not the Post Office, pharmacy or the Co-op, all at
West Bollington.
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2012
Christmas lights event, a film by James Nicholas
