White Nancy

Nancy voted most loved local landmark! Macclesfield Borough Council ran an internet Pride of Place vote to find out which was the most loved local landmark and, no surprise to Bollingtonians, our very own White Nancy won by a mile with almost 25% of the votes cast. Macclesfield Forest came second with Tatton Hall third. See full report.

This c.18 foot high Grade II listed landmark standing on the top of Kerridge Hill overlooking Bollington is visible for miles around. Its image provides the logo (top left) for the town of Bollington. The small rectangle represents the door that used to provide entry.

White Nancy was actually built as a summer house by the Gaskell family, who lived below the hill at Ingersley Hall, in about 1815. It is stone built with external rendering and regularly painted white in order to maintain its visibility. It is thought that it may have been built at that time to commemorate the battle of Waterloo. Internally there is a seat all round the wall with a large table in the centre. The table is circular, cut from a single piece of stone.

It is believed to have been constructed by a man named Dod who is supposed to have celebrated his work by enjoying a tot of brandy and then reciting a jingle:

Here's to the mountain of Nancy
That's built upon Ingersley Hill
Here's good health, wealth and fancy
And give Dod another gill!

In the 1980s, at Christmas, Nancy was painted in artistic form such as a Father Christmas or Plum Pudding! In more recent years it has suffered at the hands of vandals with graffiti and on one occasion it was painted overall in pink! In May 2009 it has been repainted in time for the Festival with a fresh coat of white and, for the first time in many years, with a black top. This colour certainly aids ones view of the whole monument on cloudy days.

In 1919 James Shepley Chatterton wrote a delightful poem about White Nancy.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee

White Nancy was beautifully decorated in the appropriate insignia for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012. The artwork was carefully painted by volunteers Carol & Philip Barnes with the assistance of their daughter Shona and her boyfriend Ben Taylor on the commission of Bollington Town Council. Carol was a member of the BTC Jubilee Committee who organised the events held over that memorably wet Jubilee Weekend!

Pictured (right) in soft evening sunlight.

Picture by Peter Etherington*

See the historic picture from the Bollington Civic Society archive.

As to the origin of the name 'White Nancy', there are several theories but none has any firm evidence to support it. It may have been named after one of the Gaskell daughters, Nancy. Then again, maybe after the horse that is said to have hauled the table top up the hill. Take your pick!

The Gaskell family are said to have left an endowment for the annual maintenance of our Nancy - the princely sum of 2/6 per annum; that's 2 shillings and 6 pence or half a crown in old money and 12½p in decimal currency!

* Peter Etherington is one of many prolific and skilful artists who live in and around Bollington. See his page which shows several of his delightful pictures.

Gift to the town!

		During 1999 Nancy was completely repaired, re-plastered and repainted by local contractor Allen Stringer. He also gave her a coat of anti-graffiti wax but unfortunately this was damaged by vandals who later painted the monument with house paint.
		Stone paving has been laid around the base of Nancy in the form of a compass. N, E, W and S have been inscribed in the appropriate points.

Millennium project

The Kerridge Ridge and Ingersley Vale Countryside & Heritage Project was carried out over five years to 2010. The objective was to preserve and develop those aspects of the area that are most enjoyed by the local population. A major item was the construction of the new woodland path to the top of the hill, see next item ...

The KRIV work party continue to meet each Friday to maintain the hill in the condition it was raised to by the project.

Woodland path up Kerridge Hill!

The volunteers working on the KRIV project have built a new path up Kerridge Hill. It begins on the middle road about 10m downhill from the cattle grid at the bottom of the stone steps. This new path finds its way up the hill through the woods with short lengths of steps and intervening paths. There are a couple of places to rest on stone benches, both providing excellent views out through the trees.

Interpretation boards are provided to give walkers information on the trees to be seen along the path.

Kerridge Steps

The path up the north face of Kerridge Hill has always been steep and is often difficult especially in wet or frozen weather. In order to improve accessibility the Town Council decided that a proper path should be constructed from the private roadway that crosses the north face of the hill to the top. This project became known as the Kerridge Steps.

Experts were sought from Cumbria where they have considerable experience in building paths and steps on hillsides. The type of construction recommended was a pitched stone path. This is where blocks of stone are settled into the ground edge on. The idea is to reduce to a minimum the possibility of the stones tilting and becoming dislodged. With careful construction this technique provides a high level of grip to the feet with very little opportunity to slip and a progression of steps at alternate angles across the path so making it reasonably easy for walkers with different stride lengths to progress up or down the hill in a comfortable manner.

Some walkers have found the path difficult but it should be appreciated that the climb and descent is about 300 feet of continuous steps - human legs are not immediately capable of surmounting this many steps in one go! Especially coming down them! Take it carefully. You might find it easier to take the woodland path (described above) where the steps are wider spaced and interspersed with lengths of near level path.

Mosaic Nancy!

This beautiful mosaic has been created by Luis Laso Casas - http://www.mosaicoslapasera.com, Asturias, Spain who has never been to Bollington to look at the real Nancy! It was inspired by a black & white winter photograph taken by Bollington photographer Katherine Lewis and the mosaic was commissioned by a Bollington resident. The story of the mosaic can be found here. Email the artist.

Picture by kind permission of Luis Laso Casas

What a fantastic view!

Kerridge Hill is renowned for its fabulous views. Whether it be the nearby hills to the east, the Cheshire plain to the west or Bollington laid out beneath you, there is so much to see from up here. We have two beautiful pictures taken by local photographer Roger Fielding. These panoramic views are in separate pages because they are on the large side, around 200k each.

300° view from White Nancy (wider angle)

150° view of the town from White Nancy (narrower angle)

300° view from The Saddle (in the middle of Kerridge Hill)

The following pictures were taken by local photographer Peter Neville using a camera suspended from a kite!

Mobile 360 aerial view of and around Nancy (brilliant!)
After clicking this link, for a full screen image click on 'Full screen' in the left hand menu then click 'White Nancy'. Click on the picture and move the mouse to change the viewing direction.

Cross of St George Taken during the World Cup 2010

Time lapse mist video from Big Low 3.5 hours in 1 minute on a misty morn

Views of White Nancy are available on the Wallpaper page.