Palmerston Street including Pool Bank

There used to be a post office in Palmerston Street, at v in two different locations.

Palmerston Street, named after Lord Palmerston who was a minister of the Crown for 45 years before becoming Prime Minister in 1855, had been heavily developed in the early 19thC. The stimulant was, no doubt, the building of the Macclesfield Canal in the late 1820s which involved much change to the river Dean valley around the point where the street passes under the canal. It is probable that the original road connecting West Bollington with 'old' Bollington went through what we today call Round Gardens - they cut off that loop with a straightened road that went all alongside what is now the Recreation Ground, then under the aqueduct and across some marshy ground, where the river had run before it was routed to Water Street and the tunnel, to the foot of Beeston Brow and into Queen Street.

The original through road continued along what is today the lower part of Queen Street (see Queen Street and the Old Route). So the section of Palmerston Street from Beeston Brow to, say, High Street was built from about 1830 on. It is possible that there was a street along some of this prior to that date. For instance, I suspect that the section from the junction with Church Street to The Plaice is a very old road; it may even have gone as far as High Street.

The bridge over the Harrop Brook at Bridge End is relatively recent, there being report of a ford here in the mid to late 19thC. At this time the street was named Great High Street.

In 1920, after WWI, a Memorial Garden was built between Palmerston Street and Water Street. This contains a sandstone cross which now records the names of all those Bollington men who fell in both WWI and WWII.

A Service of Remembrance is held here each year in November.

On the opposite side of Palmerston Street is Coronation Gardens, established in 1953 for the Queen's coronation, which is devoted to a young children's play area with all kinds of fun equipment to keep them happy for hours! Older children will find their play area in Adlington Road.

The many varieties of house type and structure suggests that they were built over a period of time by many different builders. This pair (left) of two up two down cottages were refurbished around 2000. One was used for many years by the Kirk family as their coal order office.

The Bridgend Centre (previously known as the Drop-in Centre) is located in a very old farm house at Bridge End.

Pleasuregate / Pledgegate

These names refer to the track beside the Macclesfield Canal by the aqueduct, between the canal embankment and the Recreation Ground. This is said to be where the young men of the town took their young ladies to make their pledge and take their pleasure!