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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 .
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 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!
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 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. |
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Picture by Peter Etherington*
See the historic picture from the Bollington Civic Society archive.
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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.
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The Kerridge
Ridge and Ingersley Vale Countryside & Heritage Project
is
presently underway. The objective is to preserve and develop
those aspects of the area that are most enjoyed by the
local population. A major item has been the consrtuction
of the new woodland path to the top of the hill, see next
item ...
A
new woodland path up Kerridge Hill!
The volunteers working on the KRIV project have completed 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.
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.
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.
* Britain's Favourite View
Showing on ITV1 during summer 2007, Britain's Favourite View selected sixteen views out of 43 locations. One of the 43 was White Nancy!
