I am looking for a Historian who would like to research and write a small book
about the Historic Houses of Bollington, preferably as a charitable exercise but not
necessarily so. This is one of the few subjects in historic Bollington that has never been
specifically written about and it is time to fill the gap.
The houses that immediately spring to mind as suitable candidates for inclusion
include:
Sowcar Farm, Ingersley Road, a very old building (I know it is in Rainow
parish, as are others, but it is really a part of Bollington!);
Adshead Barn Farm house
Ingersley Hall, Ingersley Road (now known as Savio House);
Waulkmill House and Farm, Ingersley Vale;
The Vicarage, off Shrigley Road;
Oak Bank House, off Shrigley Road (long ago demolished);
Newbridge House, 18 Shrigley Road, (Once owned by Bollington Printing Co. for the Manager)
Rock Bank House, Clarence Road (today known as Carter Bench House and converted into
apartments);
Limefields House, Clarence Road;
The Waterhouse, Wellington Road (now the doctors' surgery);
Bollington Old Hall, probably the oldest structure in the town, located on Wellington Road;
Sych House Farm, Ledley Street, off Henshall Road
An old farm house (known today as The Mews) in Albert Road, Lowerhouse;
Long Row, Lowerhouse (a row of mill cottages);
Ovenhouse Farm, Henshall Road (I have a history written by a member of the occupying
family);
Barley Grange, Bollington Road, Bollington Cross (once the Barley Mow pub);
Turner Heath House/Farm, Bollington Road, Bollington Cross;
(The) Mount, Flash Lane, Bollington Cross, now a care home;
Shatwell Fold Farm, Bollington Road, Bollington Cross;
The Rookery, Bollington Road, Bollington Cross (recently converted into multiple occupancy);
Foldarbour, Ball Lane (historically nationally important);
Stakehouse End Farm, Chancery Lane, Kerridge;
Hollin Old Hall, Grimshaw Lane, Kerridge;
Hollin Hall, Jackson Lane, Kerridge (now the Hollin Hall Hotel);
Endon Hall, Oak Lane, Kerridge (converted into multiple occupancy);
Endon House,
Oak Lane, Kerridge;
Moat Hall Farm, Clarke Lane, Kerridge.
I am sure this is not an exhaustive list. There must be many smaller houses that
have an interesting history. Many of these have been written about in short items mostly as a
result of research into the people who lived there or their industrial activities. But the
houses themselves have interesting histories that have never been the primary subject of any
publication.
What we need is a small book with a selling price of not more than £10 that
provides a concise history of the houses and their relationship to the development of
Bollington, who built and lived in them. You would have free access to the Civic Society picture
archive which contains historic pictures of most of the important houses in the town as well as
many of the people who have lived in them.
If you would be interested in researching and writing this book please send an
email to Tim Boddington, Chairman, Bollington
Civic Society, who will be very pleased to discuss the project with you.
Similar to the book on houses; a book providing a concise history of all the mills
in Bollington - and a few in Rainow too. A list of mills would include:
Hough Hole Mill, Rainow;
Cow Lane Mill, Rainow (disappearing fast);
Ingersley Waulk Mill (long gone);
Ingersley Vale or Clough Mill (derelict after 1999 fire);
Rainow Mill; previously the Paper Mill (on site of McNulty's glass works);
Higher Mill (two mills here, Dyers Close today);
Lower Mill (Tullis Russell today);
Whitaker's [(flour) Bag] Mill, Turner Street (apartments today);
Sowcar Mill (long gone);
Defiance Mill, Queen Street;
Oak Bank Mill (today Hamson Drive);
Bobbin Mill, Queen Street;
Clarence Mill;
Adelphi Mill;
Waterhouse Mill (today Kay Metzeler);
Bollington Mill (the first in Bollington, a flour mill);
Lowerhouse Mill (in continuous use since 1818);
Kerridge Windmill (at Five Ashes, demolished in WWII);
Fulling Mill.
Not all of these were cotton or silk mills of course. At least three were corn
mills at some or all of their time and the names of others indicate their purpose.
Many of the people who made Bollington what it is today have been
written about but in a wide diversity of books and booklets. It is time that we had these people
all together in one document so that they can be read about in proper context and in relation to
each other. A list of people would include:
Philip Antrobus -
first Oak Bank Mill, Lowerhouse Mill;
George Antrobus - Oak Bank Mill, first Higher Mill, Lower Mill;
Swindells - several generations of mill builders, owners and cotton spinners;
Brooke - several generations in partnership with the Swindells family;
King - mill operator, MP, benefactor;
Turner - benefactor (land for church building);
Lowther - ;
Oliver - several generations ownership of Waterhouse mill, cotton spinners;
Greg - mill operator (Lowerhouse), benefactor, humanist;
Lomas - ;
Briar - built Oak Bank cloth printing mill;
Alfred Gatley - sculptor;
Sir James Chadwick - 20thC discoverer of the neutron
... and many more lesser, but none the less important, names.
... and we should include some modern names such as the late Dr
John Coope MBE who did so much to develop the town's social and community life in the
past half century.
If you would be interested in researching and writing this book
please send an email to Tim Boddington,
Bollington Civic Society, who will be very pleased to discuss the project with you.
