Old is in quotes because it is
not formally used in the name. But it is used locally to differentiate
this part of the town. This is the largest part of the town and was developed
in the 18th and 19thC with the coming of the mills and quarries. As a
result most of the buildings are built of stone - hence another local
term; the stone end of Bollington. Indeed, this is the only stone built
village in Cheshire. The mills in 'Old' Bollington include Defiance Mill
and the Bobbin Mill (Queen
Street), Higher Mill and Lower Mill (both at the end
of Church Street), Oak Bank Mill (now Hamson
Drive), Clarence Mill (top of Clarence
Road), Whitaker's or Bannister's Mill (Turner
Street off Church
Street), and the long lost Sowcar Mill in Sowcar meadow (off Ingerlsey
Road). I am not mentioning the mills in Ingersley
Vale because they are technically in Rainow even though they can be
accessed only from this part of Bollington!
Other notable locations include St.
John's Church;
the main shopping areas of High Street (pictured
above) and Palmerston Street; Water
Street, its
fantastic hanging baskets and window boxes in the summer, the old school
building (Water Street Centre), the
river tunnel (really!), these latter three streets forming the Historic
Triangle; Pool Bank - more interesting in the past, when it was really
a mill pool serving Defiance Mill, rather than the unattractive looking
carpark it is today; Beeston quarry with the old Oak Bank Mill chimney
and the Lookout on top of its cliffs; Bridge End and its historic buildings
(Bridgend Centre
);
Queen Street, probably the oldest and most
quaint street in the town; the war memorial gardens; Rock
Bank House; Limefield House; Beeston
Brow.
The Macclesfield
Canal aqueduct across Palmerston Street divides 'Old' Bollington from West
Bollington.
