Books

There is a large range of books and booklets about Bollington or those produced for specific events in the town. The following list contains all that I know about but is certainly not complete. If you know of others please send me a message and tell me about them! Thanks.

	The Shrigley Abduction Abby Ashby & Audrey Jones, Sutton Publishing, 2003. Bollington's near neighbour, Pott Shrigley, and a superb tale of "anguish, deceit and violation of the domestic hearth" - a real life story about the daughter of the Turner family of Shrigley Hall. Available through the Discovery Centre. ISBN 0 7509 3280 5
	Copies of this old book are available through the Discovery Centre only! Cotton Town, Bollington & the Swindells family in the 19th Century Wilmslow Historical Society Industrial Archaeology Group, 1973.
	Copies of this old book are available through the Discovery Centre only! Bollington And Kerridge 1830 - 1980 William S. Broster, 1980. A collection of Historical Articles and Personal Memories. Thought to have been out of print, a number have been found among the late Dr John Coope's effects. We are most grateful to his family for allowing us to make them available through the Discovery Centre.
	Bollington through the Centuries, Revd. R. Norton Betts, 1934. This delightful book has been re-published in 2005. It is available newly typeset and with a new cover at the Discovery Centre. ISBN 0 9550033 0 X
	Looking Back at Bollington, George Longden & Molly Spink, Willow, 1986. This has been re-printed and is available through the Discovery Centre. ISBN 0 946361 16 9
	Voices from the Past, Jean Wright, 2005 This most enjoyable book is based on letters written by Martha Ann Wright, who lived to the age of 100 and worked as a maid at The Mount, then the home of Samuel Greg. This beautiful book is available through the Discovery Centre. ISBN 0 9549979 0 5
	200 Years of Bollington Methodism Jean M. Wright, 2007 Specially written to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the first Methodist church in Bollington in May 1808. Available through the Discovery Centre.
	Portrait of a Village:  The Happy Valley, Margaret Ingram Festival Committee, 1968. Reprinted for Festival 2000, available from many local shops and Post Offices, price £4.
	Bollington Parish Plan. Published January 2005 and available to download from this site or in hard copy free from the Town Hall or the Discovery Centre. Note: there are very few copies remaining. It is now being updated for the next period.
A Guide to Bollington, "The Happy Valley", Bollington Town Council, regular editions.     The most up to date content is published online on this web site under Organisations.
When Nancy was Young ..., Stan Braddock, Ed, Festival Committee, Revised 1980.
	Bollington in old picture postcards, George Longden & the Bollington Civic Society History Group, 1995.
Happy Valley Drink In(n)s, Festival Committee, 1974. All the up to date information on Bollington pubs is available elsewhere in this web site.
Walks Around Bollington (3 sheets), Festival Committee, 1980.
Reflections on Bollington, Edited by Pam Barfield & Ann Mayer, Spheresprint, 1993. Memories of local people supplemented by old photographs and other memorabilia.
Reflections on Bollington vol. II, Edited by Pam Barfield & Ann Mayer, Spheresprint, 1995.
Reflections on Bollington vol. III, Edited by Pam Barfield & Ann Mayer, Sphere UK Print & Design, 1997.
Bollington Festival, Souvenir Brochure 1964, Festival Committee, 1964. Programme and guide to the festival.
Bollington Festival, May 23 - June 4 1980, Festival Committee, 1980. Programme and guide to the festival.
Bollington Festival, May 24 - June 4 1986, Festival Committee, 1986. Programme and guide to the festival.
The Industrial Revolution in East Cheshire, George Longden, Groundwork Trust, 1988. Though not entirely about Bollington, this history based on six themed walks provides very interesting text and old photographs of the area as well as being an excellent guide to walking the town.
Cotton Town, Bollington and the Swindells family in the 19th century, Wilmslow Historical Society Industrial Archaeology Group. First printed 1973. Reprinted 1986. ISBN 0 9501384 6 0. Copies of the reprint edition are available - see above.
A Factory Community, Samuel Greg in Bollington, Cheshire Museums & Archives education project.
Bollington Parish Church 1834 - 1984, Nigel Watson, 1984. History of St. John's Church, important now that it is closed.
Bollington Town Conservation Area, Macclesfield Borough Council, 1977.

Many of the booklets were published for Bollington festivals. Consequently, they are not always available for very long afterwards. Some may still exist on the bottom shelves of local newsagents, shops, the Bridgend Centre or on eBay. Others have been published through the book trade and may be available from bookshops and newsagents. Many are available for reference at Bollington Library.

An ongoing chronicle of Bollington life can be found in Bollington Live! which is published three times each year and has been so since 1994. It is delivered free to every household throughout the town. Reference copies are available at the Library.

Then there are publications that are really about other subjects than Bollington but which contain significant references to the town.

The Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple Railway, Basil Jeuda, Cheshire County Council, 1983.

Guide to the Macclesfield & Upper Peak Forest Canals, Tim Boddington and The Macclesfield Canal Society. 3rd edition published May 2002. (No longer available)

Seventeenth Century Rainow, Jane Laughton, 1990.

The Letters of Mrs. Gaskell, editors Arthur Pollard, J. A. V. Chapple. Please note - The Mrs Gaskell of letters fame is not one of the Mrs Gaskells that lived in Bollington! However, Elizabeth Gaskell did regularly visit her friends the Gregs in Bollington and at least one of her books, North & South,is modeled on her observations of industrial power between Samuel and other Gregs and the workers at Lowerhouse Mill, Bollington.

The Shrigley Abduction, Abby Ashby & Audrey Jones, 2003. A true story about the daughter of the Turner family who lived at Shrigley Hall in the early 19thC. Not quite Bollington but an excellent local social history recording a remarkable and infamous incident.

These histories contain some reference to the town or its immediate area. Several of these are taken from the references in Bollington Through the Centuries:

A Description of the Country Round Manchester, Dr. Aikin.

Articles on Local History, Mr. Walter Smith.

Contributions to the History of the Ancient Parish of Prestbury, Dr. Reynaud.

History of Cheshire, Samuel Bagshaw.

History of Cheshire, Dr. Ormerod.

History of East Cheshire, Dr. Earwaker.

Old Cheshire Families, Butterworth, rpt 1971.

Local newspapers contain many references - Cheshire Sheaf, Macclesfield Courier, Macclesfield Times, and in modern times the Macclesfield Express and Community News.

There are also regular items about the town in Cheshire Life including:

"Goodbye to the Flicks", Roy Arnold, September 1980, page 70 which refers to the Bollington Empire in Palmerston Street (Hailwood House now stands on the site of this).

The following publications are both very old and no longer in publication. The items are taken from the 'Books consulted' list in Portrait of a Village: The Happy Valley.

A Layman's Legacy, Samuel Greg.

Distaff; Jubilee Distaff, Fine Spinners & Doublers Limited. An incomplete set of these has been generously donated to the Civic Society collection and are available for reference. Each copy, there are 32 in the set, contains up to two pages of Bollington stories.

There is one item that has, so far as is known, never been published.

Thomas Oliver & Sons (Bollington) Ltd. Notes on the History of the Firm during 150 years, Revd. A. C. Oliver, February 1940. Olivers occupied Waterhouse Mill. Only one copy of this hand-written history is known to exist and that is now in the Civic Society collection. It is very hard to read and is very slowly being deciphered and typed up by willing volunteers. Once complete it is likely to be published on this web site (c.February 2008).

Finally, there are the historical references, items that will interest the serious historian. These may not always contain reference to Bollington but may give information about the area in which the town is situated, or perhaps something about a particular time in this part of the country, giving background as to why the town has developed the way it has. I am indebted to George Longden for this masterful list. A very few items have subsequently been added to his list.

1,000 TONS OF COAL WEEKLY AT KERRIDGE WAS THE TARGET, Clifford Rathbone, article in Macclesfield Express, 12 June 1969

A CENTENARY HISTORY OF THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH OF BOLLINGTON IN THE MACCLESFIELD CIRCUIT, Hazell, Watson and Viney Ltd., 1908

A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY FROM 30 TO 40 MILES AROUND MANCHESTER, J. Aikin, 1795

A HISTORY OF CHESHIRE, Alan Crosby, 1996

A HISTORY OF MACCLESFIELD, C. Stella Davies, 1961

A HISTORY OF THE CHESHIRE COUNTY UNION OF CONGRGATIONAL CHURCHES, Thomas Griffiths & Co, Manchester, 1907. Congregationalism in Bollington is covered on pages 173-177

A SHINING LIGHT, THE STORY OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, KERRIDGE, 1897-1997, Emily White, 1997

A SHORT HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE BOLLINGTON WATERWORKS, S. Knight, 1923

A SKETCH OF THE PARISH OF PRESTBURY, G. Y. Osborne, 1840

A WIZARD WALK, George Longden, Living Edge Magazine, Vol 1, no.2, 1998

AGREEMENT BETWEEN GEORGE ANTROBUS & JOSEPH WAGSTAFF, fragments, n.d., Bollington Civic Society archive, Antrobus collection, no. 9

ALFRED GATLEY, KERRIDGE BOY WHO BECAME A SCULPTER (sic), Bollington Festival Brochure, 1964

ALFRED GATLEY'S DIARY AND LETTERBOOKS, from a transcript formerly in the possession of Mrs. Rathbone, Bollington Cross

AN OXFORD UNIVERSITY STUDENT 19TH CENTURY STYLE, Margaret Hughes, Macclesfield Advertiser, April 1979

ANTROBUS PEDIGREES, Reginald L. Antrobus, 1929

BAGSHAW'S CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1850

BOLLINGTON LAND TAX RETURNS, Cheshire Record Office

BOLLINGTON RATE BOOK, 1854 (copy in Bollington Town Hall archive)

BOLLINGTON TITHE MAP AND APPORTIONMENT, 1848, Cheshire Record Office (photocopies Macclesfield Public Library)

BRYANT'S CHESHIRE MAP, 1831, Cheshire Record Office

BUILDINGS OF ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORICAL INTEREST, Dept of Environment, HMSO 1983

BURDETT'S CHESHIRE MAP 1777, Cheshire Record Office

CHESHIRE COUNTRY HOUSES, P. de Figueiredo & J. Treuherz, 1988

CHESHIRE MAP, P.P. Burdett, 1777

CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF PLACE NAMES, 4th Ed, E. Ekwall, 1960

DEPOSITION BY WILLIAM RICHARDSON OF RAINOW, MILLWRIGHT, 8 Aug 1806, Adlington Hall archive (copy of transcript in hands of writer)

DICTIONARY OF BRITISH SCULPTORS 1660-1851, Rupert Gunnis, revised ed (nd)

DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, 1993 ed., vol 7

DRAFT SURRENDER, MANOR AND FOREST OF MACCLESFIELD, 1792, Cheshire Record Office D 5075/12 no.10

DRAFT SURRENDERS, MANOR AND FOREST OF MACCLESFIELD, 1792, Cheshire Record Office D 5075/113, nos 24, 45

EAST CHESHIRE TEXTILE MILL SURVEY FILES, 1980s, Macclesfield Museums

EAST CHESHIRE TEXTILE MILLS, Anthony Calladine & Jean Fricker, 1993

ENGLISH PLACE NAMES, Kenneth Cameron, 1961

GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURE OF CHESHIRE, Henry Holland, 1808

GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY AROUND MACCLESFIELD, CONGLETON, CREWE, AND MIDDLEWICH, T. I. Pocock, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1906

GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY AROUND MACCLESFIELD, CONGLETON, CREWE AND MIDDLEWICH, W. B. Evans. A. A. Wilson, B. J. Taylor, & D. Price, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1968

GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY AROUND STOCKPORT, MACCLESFIELD, CONGLETON AND LEEK, E. Hull & A. H. Green, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1866

GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY AROUND STOCKPORT AND KNUTSFORD, B. J. Taylor, R. H. Price, & F. M. Trotter, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1963

GREENWOOD'S CHESHIRE MAP, 1819, Cheshire Record Office

HISTORY OF OLD MACCLESFIELD, John Earles, one of series of articles in Macclesfield Courier, 31 March 1917

KELLY’S CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1878

KELLY’S CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1892

KELLY’S CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1896

KELLY’S CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1902

LIFE AND LABOUR IN VICTORIAN MACCLESFIELD, George Longden, 1986

LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS, Samuel Smiles, 1904 edition

MACCLESFIELD CHRONICLE

MACCLESFIELD COURIER (microfilm in Macclesfield Public Library)

MACCLESFIELD EXPRESS

MACCLESFIELD IN THE LATER FOURTEENTH CENTURY, A. M. Tonkinson, 1999

MACCLESFIELD TIMES

MANCHESTER MERCURY, Manchester Central Library, microfilm

MANOR OF GAWSWORTH, Raymond Richards, 1974 edition

MAP, 1611, Public Record Office MR 354

MELLOR'S GARDENS, 2nd ed., R.C. Turner, 1989

MELLOR'S GARDENS, R.C. Turner, Garden History, vol 15, no.2, autumn 1987

MEMOIR OF THE LATE JAMES MELLOR, 1891

METHODISM IN MACCLESFIELD, Benjamin Smith, 1875

MORRIS CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1874

NOTES ON THE WORKS OF ALFRED GATLEY, handwritten ms in hands of Dr John Coope

NOTES ON WHITE NANCY, Walter Smith, Macclesfield Courier, 25 Mar & 1 April 1948

OLD CHESHIRE CHURCHES, Raymond Richards, 1947

OLD ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS, The Godfrey Edition sheet 98, STOCKPORT, ALTRINCHAM & NE CHESHIRE 1912

ORDNANCE SURVEY 1 INCH TO THE MILE OLD SERIES MAP, Sheet 81 (Buxton) 1840-1842, reprinted as sheet 27 of the David and Charles edition, 1970

ORDNANCE SURVEY 25 INCH MAP, 1ST ED, sheets XXIX.13 and XXXVII.1, surveyed 1871, published 1875, Cheshire Record Office (photocopies in Macclesfield Public Library)

ORDNANCE SURVEY 25 INCH MAP, 2ND ED (1ST REVISION), sheets XXIX.13 and XXXVII.1, revised 1896, published 1898, Cheshire Record Office

ORDNANCE SURVEY 25 INCH MAP, 3RD ED (2ND REVISION), sheets XXIX.13 and XXXVII.1, revised 1907, published 1909, Cheshire Record Office (photocopies in Macclesfield Public Library)

ORDNANCE SURVEY DRAWINGS, 2 INCHES TO THE MILE, map 351, surveyed 1837, British Library, copies in Cheshire Record Office

ORDNANCE SURVEY DRAWINGS, 2 INCHES TO THE MILE, sheet 81, surveyed 1839, British Library, copies in Cheshire Record Office

PALATINATE STUDIES, W. H. Chaloner, 1992

PEAKLAND ROADS AND TRACKWAYS, A. E. Dodd & E. M. Dodd, 3rd ed, 2000

PICTURESQUE CHESHIRE, T. A. Coward, Esq.

PIGOT & SLATER CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1841

PIGOTS CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1834

PLAN OF MACCLESFIELD CANAL, 40 INCHES TO THE MILE, 1890s, copy with the Macclesfield Canal Society

POYNTON, A COALMINING VILLAGE; SOCIAL HISTORY, TRANSPORT AND INDUSTRY 1700-1939, W. H. Shercliff, D. A. Kitching & J. M. Ryan, 1983

PRESTBURY PARISH REGISTERS (microfilm, Macclesfield Public Library)

PROPOSED NEW ROAD FROM BOLLINGTON TO RAINOW, copy of part of a plan, nd, in the hands of the writer

PROVINCIAL POETRY 1789-1839, C.R. Johnson, 1992

PUBLIC ENQUIRY INTO REFUSAL OF PERMISSION TO ERECT A FACTORY, JACKSON LANE, KERRIDGE, 10 February 1954, transcript of proceedings, and submissions, in the archive of Bollington Town Council

RAINOW IN THE OLDEN TIME, no. 4, Cheshire Sheaf, vol XVIII, quoted in Walter Smith, Macclesfield Courier, 15 April 1932

RAINOW IN THE OLDEN TIME, Walter Smith, 61 articles in the Macclesfield Courier, from March 1932

RAINOW LAND TAX RETURNS, Cheshire Record Office

RAINOW TITHE MAP & APPORTIONMENT, 1848/50

RAINOW TITHE MAP, 1850, AND APPORTIONMENT, 1848, Cheshire Record Office (photocopies in Macclesfield Public Library)

REGISTER OF THE BLACK PRINCE, Public Record Office.

ROCKS OF AGES, article in Bollington Live!, March 1977

SALE OF TITHES (Bollington and other townships), Prospectus, Macclesfield Arms Hotel, 9-10 Jan 1844

SALTWAYS FROM THE CHESHIRE WICHES, W. B. Crump, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol 54, 1940

SCRAPBOOK, Slater, Harrison & Co.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY RAINOW, Jane Laughton, 1990

SITES AND MONUMENTS RECORD, Cheshire County Council

SLATERS CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1848

SLATERS CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1883

SLATERS CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1888

SLATERS CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1890

SLATERS LIVERPOOL DIRECTORY, 1844

SOME EVIDENCE OF EARLY ROMAN MILITARY ACTIVITY ON THE SOUTH-WEST PENNINE FLANK, Alan Richardson, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol CXL, 1987

SURVEY OF SOME OF THE LANDS IN BOLINGTON BELONGING TO EDWARD DOUNES, 1686, Downes Papers, Cheshire Record Office

SWIRE & HUTCHINGS' CHESHIRE MAP, 1829

THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY OF CHESHIRE 1750 - 1850, C. Stella Davies, 1961

THE ANCIENT PARISH OF PRESTBURY, F. Renaud, 1876

THE BOLLINGTON HOUSING SCHEME 1920-1922, commemorative booklet, 1922

THE BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND: CHESHIRE, Pevsner, Nikolaus & Hubbard, Edward, Penguin Books, 1971

THE COMMERCIAL DIRECTORY, 1814-15

THE COMMERCIAL DIRECTORY, 1816-17

THE DARK SATANIC MILLS. CHILD APPRENTICES IN DERBYSHIRE SPINNING FACTORIES, Edmund & Ruth Frow, 1980

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TURNPIKE SYSTEM IN LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE, William Harrison, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol 4, 1886

THE MACCLESFIELD EYRE ROLLS, translated by Mr. R. Stewart-Browne, Chetham's Society.

THE GREGS OF QUARRY BANK MILL, Mary B. Rose, 1986

THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY PALATINE AND CITY OF CHESTER, George Ormerod, 1819, reprinted with additions by Thomas Helsby, 1882

THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY PALATINE AND DUCHY OF LANCASTER, Edward Baines, new edition revised by James Croston, 1888-1893, vol 3

THE LOST MILLS OF ROWARTH, Eileen Miller, 1984

THE LOST ROUTES OF BOLLINGTON, George Longden, Bollington Live! nos. 13, 15, 17

THE MILLS OF NEW MILLS, 2nd ed, John V. Symonds, 1991

THE MINISTRY OF YOUTH. THE WORK OF SAVIO HOUSE, Bollington Live! March 2001

THE ORIGINS OF CHESHIRE, N.J. Higham, 1993

THE ORIGINS OF THE BOLLINGTON COTTON INDUSTRY, George Longden, Bollington Magazine 2, August 1990

THE PEAK DISTRICT, R. Millward & A. Robinson, 1975

THE PEOPLE OF KERRIDGE, 1851, article in Macclesfield Express, 16 March 1972

THE PLACE NAMES OF CHESHIRE, Part 1, J McN. Dodgson, 1970

THE PLACE NAMES OF RAINOW, Jane Laughton, articles in Contact, the Parish Magazine of Rainow with Saltersford and Forest, Jan 2000 - May 2001

THE QUARRIES OF THE MACCLESFIELD AREA, D. A. Kitching, 1977, unpublished article, Macclesfield Public Library

THE REGISTER BOOK OF CHRISTENINGS, WEDDINGS, AND BURIALS WITHIN THE PARISH OF PRESTBURY ... 1560-1636, James Croston (ed.), Record Society, 1881

THE STORY OF RAINOW, Rainow Women’s' Institute, 1974

THE STORY OF THE CHURCH IN RAINOW, Mary Meacham, 1996

THE TOWNSHIP OF RAINOW IN THE 17TH CENTURY, Jane Laughton, unpublished thesis, Cert in Local History, Manchester University, 1986

THE TURNPIKE ROADS OF THE PEAK DISTRICT, J. Radley & S. R. Penny, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, Vol XCII, 1972

TOWNSHIP PACK NO. 20 BOLLINGTON, prepared an published by Cheshire Libraries, Arts & Archives, undated but after 1986

VAREY'S HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF MACCLESFIELD AND VICINITY, 1825

WHITES CHESHIRE DIRECTORY, 1860

WORRALLS STOCKPORT DIRECTORY, 1872

There are, no doubt, a number of books by Bollington authors (other than those about Bollington noted above). I am aware of the following:

History of Good Dog Fanny and Tuft, the Canary. With other Stories, all True, published with a coloured frontispiece in London, Edinburgh and New York by T. Nelson and Sons in 1881, by Mrs Margaret E. Gaskell, aged 67. This is NOT the Mrs Gaskell of letters fame (that was Elizabeth C. Gaskell), but the lady of Ingersley Hall, now Savio House. I am grateful to John A. V. Chapple, Editor of noted books about Mrs Gaskell's letters, for bringing this to my notice.