White Nancy
| White Nancy | |
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 White Nancy in 2005 |
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| Location: | Kerridge, Bollington, Cheshire, England |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: 53°17′27″N 2°05′32″W / 53.290958°N 2.092348°W |
| OS grid reference: | SJ 939 771 |
| Elevation: | 813.6 feet (248 m) |
| Built: | 1817 |
| Built for: | Gaskell family |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: White Nancy | |
| Designated: | 17 March 1966 |
| Reference #: | 1138973 |
 Location in Cheshire
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- This article is about the Cheshire landmark. For the variety of flowering plant named "White Nancy" see Lamium maculatum
White Nancy is a structure at the top of the northern extremity of The Saddle of Kerridge, overlooking the village of Kerridge and the town of Bollington, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building,[1] and is on the National Monuments Record.[2] Its profile forms the logo for the town of Bollington. The origin of its name is unknown.[3]
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[edit] History
White Nancy was built in 1817 by John Gaskell junior of North End Farm to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Waterloo.[2] John Gaskell was a member of the Gaskell family who lived nearby at Ingersley Hall.[3] It originally had an entrance to a single room which was furnished with stone benches and a central round stone table, but the entrance is now blocked. It has been described as a summer house or a folly.[2]
In the mid-1940s, the Royal Signal Corps Trials Unit based at Catterick would drive a truck-mounted dish-shaped transmitter/receiver up to White Nancy. Here they tested cathode-ray tube transmission and reception (data-based, not images), to a mobile receiving station on another truck. The receiver would be driven further and further south over time, until eventually the lads at White Nancy were sending a signal to the south coast of the country. Locals told the signallers that the landmark was named after the lead horse that had transported all the materials for the building of White Nancy.[4]
[edit] Description
The structure is circular in plan with its shape described as that of a sugar loaf, and is surmounted with a ball finial. It is built in sandstone rubble which has been rendered and painted.[2] It is about 18 feet (5 m) high. Stone paving has been laid around its base which is inscribed with the points of the compass.[3]
Until at least 1925 the structure was unpainted.[5] It has been painted in a number of different colours over the years, most commonly in white.[3] In 2005 vandals painted it partly in pink.[6] In March 2009 it was repainted in white with the ball finial in black.[3]
[edit] Visitor attraction
White Nancy provides a focus on the ridge of the Saddle of Kerridge and from it there are extensive views across the Cheshire Plain towards the mountains of North Wales to the west, the hills of Shropshire to the south and the Pennines to the north and east. The Gritstone Trail passes close to it.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ "White Nancy", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1138973, retrieved 7 May 2011
- ^ a b c d Pastscape: White Nancy, English Heritage, http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1314829, retrieved 10 September 2009
- ^ a b c d e White Nancy, Tim Boddington, http://www.happy-valley.org.uk/whtnan.htm, retrieved 10 September 2009
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- ^ White Nancy, The Kerridge Ridge and Ingersley Vale Countryside and Heritage Project, http://www.kriv.org.uk/gallery/archive/whitenancycol.html, retrieved 10 September 2009
- ^ Hird, Gavin (7 September 2005), "Nancy’s in the pink!", Macclesfield Express (M.E.N. Media), http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/s/503/503707_nancys_in_the_pink.html, retrieved 10 September 2009
- ^ The Gritstone Trail: Disley to Tegg's Nose Country Park, Cheshire West and Chester Council, http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/countryside/Walking/linear_trails/gritstone/disley_teggs_nose.htm, retrieved 10 September 2009
