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*[[Peter Crouch]] - [[Portsmouth F.C.|Portsmouth]] and [[England national football team|England]] international football player.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/4750849.stm World Cup Scouting - Peter Crouch.] ''www.bbc.co.uk''. Retrieval Date: [[December 9]], [[2008]].</ref>
*[[Peter Crouch]] - [[Portsmouth F.C.|Portsmouth]] and [[England national football team|England]] international football player.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/4750849.stm World Cup Scouting - Peter Crouch.] ''www.bbc.co.uk''. Retrieval Date: [[December 9]], [[2008]].</ref>
*[[Nick Robinson]] - Political editor for the [[BBC]] was born in Macclesfield and attended nearby [[Cheadle Hulme School]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2005/11/about_nick_robi.html About Nick Robinson.] ''www.bbc.co.uk''. Retrieval Date: [[January 09]], [[2009]].</ref>
*[[Nick Robinson]] - Political editor for the [[BBC]] was born in Macclesfield and attended nearby [[Cheadle Hulme School]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2005/11/about_nick_robi.html About Nick Robinson.] ''www.bbc.co.uk''. Retrieval Date: [[January 09]], [[2009]].</ref>
*[[Ian Curtis]] - Late lead singer of band [[Joy Division]].
*[[Ian Curtis]] - Late lead singer of band Joy Division


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 14:44, 18 January 2009

For the Borough of Macclesfield, see Macclesfield (borough).
For other uses, see Macclesfield (disambiguation).
Macclesfield
Macclesfield Town Hall
Population50,688 
OS grid referenceSJ9173
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMACCLESFIELD
Postcode districtSK10 SK11
Dialling code01625
PoliceCheshire
FireCheshire
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Cheshire

Macclesfield is a market town in Cheshire, England with a population of about 50,688 (2001 census for Macclesfield urban sub-area). It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Macclesfield. A person from Macclesfield is referred to as a "Maxonian".

History

St. Michael's Church, Macclesfield

Situated in the ancient Domesday Hundred of Hamestan,[1] the Domesday Book lists Macclesfield as "Maclesfeld", whilst in 1183 it was referred to as "Makeslesfeld".[2] It is thought that Macclesfield got its name from "Michael's field" - referring to St. Michael, as in St. Michael's church.[citation needed]

Later, Macclesfield was granted a borough charter by the Lord Edward, the future King Edward I, in 1261. There is evidence that the borough had originally been founded by Ranulf III, Earl of Chester, early in the thirteenth century. The parish church of St Michael was built in 1278, an extension of a chapel built in approximately 1220.[3]

The borough had a weekly market, and two annual fairs: the Barnaby fair, was on St Barnabas day (11 June), the other on the feast of All Saints (1 November).

Macclesfield was the administrative centre of the later Hundred of Macclesfield, which occupied most of east Cheshire.[1][4] The Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield was very large, and its boundary went as far as Disley. The manor house was situated on the edge of the deer-park, on the west of the town.

Churchill Way, going towards the town centre, Macclesfield

In addition, the Earls of Chester had established the forest of Macclesfield, which was much larger than its present-day namesake. It was used for hunting deer, as well as pasturing sheep and cattle. By the end of the thirteenth century, large areas of the forest had been ploughed up because of the pressure of population growth. In 1356, two trees from the forest were gifted to archer William Jauderell to repair his home.

The so-called 'Macclesfield Castle' was a fortified town house built by the dukes of Buckingham in the later Middle Ages.

In the uprising of 1745, Charles Stuart and his army marched through Macclesfield as they attempted to reach London. The Mayor was forced, reluctantly, to officially welcome the Prince, and this welcome is commemorated in one of the town's famous silk tapestries.[5] At one point, Macclesfield was the world's biggest producer of finished silk; now, the four Macclesfield Silk Museums display a huge range of information and products from that period. At one time the silk manufacture was home-based but as machinery was introduced large sheds were built to accommodate it and the workers were expected to move into them. Paradise Mill is a working mill museum which demonstrates the art of silk weaving to the public.[6]

Between 1826 and 1831 the Macclesfield Canal was constructed,[7] linking Macclesfield to Marple to the north and Kidsgrove to the south.

Waters Green was once home to a nationally known horse market which features in the legend of the Wizard of Alderley Edge.

Macclesfield railway station opened on 1 July 1873.

Thornton Square

Thornton Square is situated in a mainly residential area of Macclesfield. In 2002, the square came to national media prominence in the UK as a result of ‘The Thornton Square Affair’ – an eighteen month police operation leading to the issuing of some of the earliest multiple ASBO (anti-social behaviour orders) in respect of five youths accused of being verbally abusive and threatening, stealing from shops, behaving drunkenly and public micturition. The case was subsequently used by a number of UK police forces, including Cumbria and London Metropolitan, as a training case-study and an example of how to run similar operations.[8]

Governance

See also: Macclesfield (UK Parliament constituency), Macclesfield (borough)

Macclesfield gives its name to a parliamentary constituency which covers the town and the surrounding area. The current MP is Sir Nicholas Winterton, who was first elected in 1971. On a local government level, Macclesfield town hall is the headquarters of Macclesfield Borough Council, which administers the Macclesfield parliamentary constituency and the neighbouring constituency of Tatton. Both the parliamentary seat and the council are held by the Conservatives, who have held the parliamentary seat since the 1918 general election[9] and have held overall control of the council since 1976.[10]

Twin town

The entire borough of Macclesfield is twinned with Germany Eckernförde, Germany.[11]

Geography

Macclesfield is located in the east of Cheshire, on the River Bollin, a tributary of the River Mersey. It is close to the county borders of Greater Manchester, (to the north), Derbyshire, (to the east) and Staffordshire, (to the south). It is near to the towns of Stockport, (to the north), Buxton, (to the east), which is on the western edge of the Peak District and to Congleton, (to the south). It is 30miles, (45km), to the east of Chester, the county town of Cheshire. To the west of the town lies the Cheshire Plain. The town is most famous for its once thriving silk textile industry, commemorated in the local Silk Museum. Although "Silk Town" seems to be the preferred nickname these days, Macclesfield's traditional local nickname is "Treacle Town"—supposedly from an incident where a merchant spilt a load of treacle on Hibel Road, and the poor rushed out to scoop it off the cobbles. Another, less picturesque, reason has it that the mill-owners used to provide barrels of treacle to the unemployed weavers.[citation needed]

Landmarks and Tourist Attractions

It is the home to furniture store Arighi Bianchi, local football club Macclesfield Town,AstraZeneca, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, The King's School, Macclesfield which dates from the 16th century. The fine Georgian Town Hall was designed by Francis Goodwin in 1823. Present day industries include: pharmaceuticals, textiles, light engineering, paper and plastics.

Culture and sport

The Macclesfield Amateur Dramatic Society was founded in 1947. MADS performed their first play at the Little Theatre on Lord Street in 1954

Macclesfield has few cultural amenities; in 2004, research was published in The Times naming Macclesfield and its borough the most uncultured town in Britain, based on its lack of theatres, cinemas and other cultural facilities.[12] However, Macclesfield does have a museum which concentrates on the history of the silk industry in the town.[13]

Local newspapers include the Macclesfield Express[14] and the Community News.[15] Macclesfield residents have access to Macclesfield Forum, an online message board, for informal discussion of local news and issues.[16] The town is also served by two locally-based radio stations: Canalside Community Radio based at the Clarence Mill in Bollington[17], just north of Macclesfield, and Silk FM, a commercial independent radio station with studios in the town.[18]

The last remaining commercial cinema in Macclesfield closed in 1997. Discussions have taken place regarding the possibility of building a multiplex cinema,[19] but similar attempts to build a cinema have thus far been unsuccessful. In 2005 a small scale temporary cinema was set up in the Heritage Centre, and Cinemac[20] has since become well established; also based in the Heritage Centre is the Silk Screen arts cinema,[21] which gives fortnightly screenings of art house films. Amateur dramatics is well represented in the town by Macclesfield Amateur Dramatic Society which has run since 1947 and has its own theatre in town; there are three art galleries in Macclesfield;[22] Gawsworth Hall hosts an annual Shakespeare festival as well as many arts and music events throughout the year.However, during the recent outlining of plans for the new Macclesfield town centre, a large cinema has been given the go-ahead after many years of pressure from the residents.

Macclesfield has appeared in film: it was used as the location for Sir John Mills' film "So Well Remembered" in 1947.[23] Some of the locations are still recognisable, such as Hibel Road. A fictionalised version of Macclesfield's railway station appeared in the 2005 football hooliganism film "Green Street".[24]

Musically, Macclesfield is best known as the home town of bluesman John Mayall as well as Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris of Joy Division; a memorial to Curtis is located in Macclesfield Crematorium.[25] Other Macclesfield acts to have gained recognition include The Macc Lads and Marion. The Macclesfield band Silk Brass have also gone on to receive a National Champion title in the brass band movement in 2003.

In literature, Macclesfield is the second principal location of the fantasy novels The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner.

Macclesfield's professional football club, Macclesfield Town, first gained league status in 1997, and currently play in League Two. The club play their home games at the Moss Rose in the south of the town. Macclesfield RUFC, the town's rugby union club, play in National Division Three (North), the fourth tier of rugby union in England.

Macclesfield's cycling club Macclesfield Wheelers [26] is a local club specialising in all forms of cycling activities - from pleasure riding to racing. World famous cyclist Reg Harris produced "Reg Harris" bikes in Macclesfield for 3 years during the 1960s. The local cycling campaign group is known as MaccBUG (Macclesfield Borough Bicycle Users Group).[27] Formed in 1999 they campaign for better cycling provision for leisure and utility cyclists.

Macclesfield Chess Club is one of the oldest chess clubs in the country having been founded in 1886.[28]

In December 2006, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of Macclesfield were the 3rd most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 29.3% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes.[29]

In 2008, the borough was named as the fifth happiest of 273 districts in Britain by researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, who used information on self-reported personal well-being from the British Household Panel Survey.[30][31]

Education

Macclesfield is served by four state high schools; Macclesfield High School, Fallibroome High School, Tytherington High School and All Hallows Catholic College.

There are also two independent schools, The King's School and Beech Hall School.

The school 'Henbury High School' has now been re-located and re-named to 'Macclesfield High School'.

Notable People

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ a b Finney, Isaac. "Macklesfelde in ye olden time". Retrieved 2007-01-12.
  2. ^ Scholes (2000). page 104.
  3. ^ "A History of the Church". St. Michael's Macclesfield. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Clayton, D. J. (1990). pages 32, 33.
  5. ^ Silk Tapestries of Macclesfield. Retrieval Date: October 15, 2007.
  6. ^ Paradise Mill website. Retrieval Date: October 15, 2007.
  7. ^ Tim Boddington. "The Macclesfield Canal". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Thornton Square News Report. Macclesfield Express. Retrieval Date: March 19, 2008.
  9. ^ "Safe seats". Electoral Reform Society. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Local elections: Macclesfield". BBC News. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Details of twinning arrangements. Macclesfield Borough Official Website. Retrieval Date: 25 September, 2007.
  12. ^ "Is charming Macclesfield really such a cultural cul-de-sac?". The Times. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Macclesfield Silk Museums. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008.
  14. ^ Macclesfield Express. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008
  15. ^ Community News Group. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008
  16. ^ Macclesfield Forum. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008
  17. ^ Canalside Community Radio. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008
  18. ^ Silk FM. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008
  19. ^ "Cinema may replace Tesco and Hughes stores as new star in town". Macclesfield Express. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Cinemac. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008.
  21. ^ Silk Screen Cinema. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008.
  22. ^ Art galleries of Macclesfield. Cheshire County Website. Retrieval Date: October 15, 2007.
  23. ^ So Well Remembered. International Movie database website. Retrieval Date: October 15, 2007.
  24. ^ Green Street (US title: Hooligans) International Movie Database website. Retrieval Date: October 15, 2007.
  25. ^ "Getting to know Dad". Macclesfield Express. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Macclesfield Wheelers Cycling Club. Official website. Retrieval Date: December 16, 2007
  27. ^ Macclesfield Borough Bicycle Users Group (MaccBUG). Official website. Retrieval Date: October 1, 2007.
  28. ^ Furness (1988). page 126.
  29. ^ Active People Survey. Sport England website. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008.
  30. ^ "Britain's happiest places mapped". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  31. ^ "A step-by-step ESDS Longitudinal guide: Guide to British Household Panel Survey". www.esds.ac.uk. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  32. ^ Biography about David Shrigley. www.davidshrigley.com. Retrieval Date: February 18, 2008.
  33. ^ Peter Moores. Cricket England website. Retrieval Date: February 16, 2008.
  34. ^ (Olympic) Brits to Watch: Ben Ainslie. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieval Date: December 9, 2008.
  35. ^ World Cup Scouting - Peter Crouch. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieval Date: December 9, 2008.
  36. ^ About Nick Robinson. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieval Date: January 09, 2009.

Bibliography

  • Clayton, D. J. (1990). The administration of the county palatine of Chester, 1442—85. Manchester, United Kingdom: The Chetham Society. ISBN 0719013437.
  • Furness, R. A. (1988). The Cheshire Hundred (1888-1988): The centenary history of the Cheshire & North Wales Chess Association. Cheshire and North Wales Chess Association.
  • Scholes, R (2000). Towns and villages of Britain: Cheshire. Wilmslow, Cheshire: Sigma Press. ISBN 1850586373.
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