One
of the most important streets through Bollington, Palmerston Street
begins at the junction with Hamson
Drive, Shrigley Road, Ingersley
Road and Church Street - marked today
by a mini-roundabout. It continues through the shopping area, past
Bridgend, the Memorial Garden and Coronation Garden playground.
It then goes under the Macclesfield
Canal
aqueduct
to its end outside
the Dog & Partridge at the junction with Wellington Road, Adlington
Road and Round Gardens.
Approach off Wellington Road, Shrigley Road or Ingersley Road.
Leads to Queen Street (both ends), High
Street, Pool Bank car park, Beeston
Brow, Church Mews, Water
Street, Clarence Road, Hurst
Lane, Round Gardens (both ends).
Nearest shops - in the street and in High Street.
Nearest pubs - Spinners Arms, Holly
Bush,
Dog & Partridge all
in the street, New Con Club, Cotton
Tree and Church House nearby.
Council Ward - Central.
History
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The Bridgend Centre (previously known as the Drop-in Centre) is located in a very old farm house at Bridge End.
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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!
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Conservation and Listing
Conservation:
From the roundabout to the aqueduct this street is in the Bollington
Conservation Area. Numbers 3, 5-13, 15A, 19-27, 29A, 29B and 29C,
31-37, 32-36, 44 and 46, 53 and 53A, 55-79, 56-60, 64 and 66, 72,
98 and 100 are subject to Article 4 Direction.
Listed Buildings:
The links are all to the Images of England web site provided by English Heritage.
Macclesfield Canal aqueduct over Palmerston Street
; II, Built c.1830 by William Crosley.
Canal
quarter mile stone
;
II, small stone 20m north of aqueduct on towpath. Note that EH
page pictures the wrong stone.