WHALEY BRIDGE

Historical Notes

Whaley Bridge Parish

The River Goyt is the historical boundary between Derbyshire and Cheshire. What is now Whaley bridge was divided into smaller townships in both counties. In 1316 it is recorded that on the Cheshire side there were three townships, 'Taxal', 'Yeardsley' and 'Whaley' with the last two being combined into one district of 'Yeardsley-cum-Whaley'. The Derbyshire side consisted of only the one township of 'Fernilee' which included 'Shallcross' and 'Horwich'. This side was in the Parish of Hope (with its church 30 miles away) and was part of the Forest of High Peak. The Cheshire side was part of the Forest of Macclesfield.

From 1796 Taxal and Yeardsley were effectively joined in that the Jodrell family was the main landowner in both townships, the administration of these however remained separate.

Soon after the local government act of 1894 the situation was that there was a single Urban District of Yeardsley-cum-Whaley which was in Cheshire, Taxal was part of the Rural District of Macclesfield also in Cheshire whilst east of the river was in Chapel-en-le-Frith Rural District and was in Derbyshire.

In 1936 Whaley Bridge Urban District was formed creating the town as we now know it from Yeardsley-cum-Whaley and from parts of the parishes of Disley, Chapel, Taxal and Fernilee. The whole of this new town was now in Derbyshire.

Ecclesiastically, Taxal was originally a sub church of Prestbury, Fernilee remained in Hope parish until 1936, Yeardsley-cum-Whaley probably went along with Taxal and the area around the Bings, where Christchurch stands, appears to have been in Chapel-en-le-Frith parish. The ecclesiastical parish is still split today as Kettleshulme is still part of it and is still in Cheshire. The parish, although it is now almost all in Derbyshire, is in the Diocese of Chester.

The present parish of Whaley Bridge extends all the way from the Dog and Partridge at Bridgemont in the north to the Cat and Fiddle in the south. To the west the boundary passes through Shining Tor and Cat's Tor and then down Todd Brook including Kettleshulme before going past the dipping stone and down Ringstone Clough into Bridgemont. To the east it passes over the top of Ladder Hill and on down the Roman road to White Hall. From here the boundary descends to to join the Goyt around Errwood dam and then continues with the river up to the Cat & Fiddle.

For the last few years members of the church have "beaten the bounds" of the parish on a route that closely follows this boundary whilst remaining on public footpaths. The length of this walk is 20.2miles.

Whaley Bridge - The name

The name of Whaley Bridge comes from the ancient crossing place of the River Goyt which was used by the Romans for their road from Buxton to Manchester. It was later a key point on the major route south from Manchester to London and was a main crossing from Cheshire to Derbyshire. The road ran from Stockport over Jacksons Edge from High Lane, through Disley by the Rams Head and straight up the hill through Higher Disley, Longside and Stoneheads, where the old posting house can still be seen. It then came down Whaley Lane passing directly in front of the Jodrell Arms and straight on down Bridge Street. Going over the Goyt on the original Whaley Bridge the road then turned right and ran next to the river passing in front of the White Hart, which is now the back, and then up Old Road to Horwich End. The route then continued along Elnor Lane south to Wythen Lache and along the Roman road past White Hall to Coldsprings and Buxton. The local road from Chapel over Eccles Pike joined this road on Old Road near the Drill Hall.

William Jodrell, who was an archer under the Black Prince, settled in the Macclesfield forest and is recorded as having lands there in 1351. His son was called Roger and he fought at Agincourt. Roger asked in his will to be buried in Taxal Church and there is now a slate slab in the floor of the chancel recording the names of the Jodrells from William onwards.

The Memorial Park

Unseen by the casual visitor to Whaley is the Memorial Park. Running almost the complete length of the town it lies parallel to the main road on the other side of the river and below the reservoir dam. The park was donated to the town by Col.Ramsden-Jodrell in 1921 as a war memorial in memory of those from Whaley who died in the first world war. It was run by a trust consisting of four people and was maintained by public donation until the newly formed Whaley Bridge U.D.C. took over its management in 1936. It is now run by the Borough of the High Peak.

Whaley Bridge Reservoir

The reservoir overlooking the middle of Whaley Bridge is called Toddbrook reservoir. It is one of two reservoirs supplying water to the Peak Forest canal, the other being Combs reservoir on the rad to Chapel-en-le-Frith. The small stream down the side of the A6 that flows under the grass in front of Trinity Church Hall (now Trinity Mews) is the feeder from Combs to the canal basin.

Toddbrook was emptied in 1978 when the reservoir was discovered to be leaking. Combs was also found to be faulty but the level was only lowered in this case as it is does not have such a high category of risk as Toddbrook, which has the highest category due to all the houses and the school that would be affected by a possible breach. It took about 6 years to repair both dams by a process that included injecting cement into the clay cores at the centre of the main earth mound of the dam wall.

Actually there are two more reservoirs that can supply water to the canal. These are Bosley and Sutton reservoirs on the Macclesfield canal. When this canal was built it was only allowed to be connected to the Peak Forest canal provided there was a small drop from the level of the new canal to the existing level to prevent the new canal from taking water from the old canal. This difference in level was eliminated once both canals had the same owner but the small lock that provided this change in level can still be seen at Marple. Since the canals have no other locks between Whaley Bridge and Bosley it is the same level all the way through Disley, Marple, Higher Poyton and Bollington to the top of Bosley locks.

The Railway

This was built in 1857 but it stopped here and was not extended to Buxton until 1863. Until then you had to go by coach. Originally there was a level crossing so that Whaley Lane continued straight down in front of the Jodrell Arms to join the main road opposite Bridge Street. This was replaced by the present bridge in 1894.

The Peak Forest Canal

This was sanctioned by an act of parliament in 1794 and was built to take limestone from Dove Holes to the Ashton canal. Its main terminus was at Bugsworth with the Peak Forest Tramway continuing to Dove Holes. The arm to Whaley Bridge was mainly to supply the water for this canal although it was later made navigable. The canal was intended to be extended via Whaley Bridge to join the Cromford canal near Matlock. This proved to be very difficult due to the lack of water in this limestone country so a tramway, the Cromford High Peak Railway, was built to carry the traffic instead. This tramway was built on very similar lines to that of the intended canal in that it tended to follow the contours with inclined planes at the places where flights of locks would have been. Three of these inclines were in or near the Parish of Whaley Bridge and together they raised the line to its highest point near Grin Low quarry in Buxton. The first and smallest was Whaley Incline that ran from Bridge street uphill for about 180 yards. This was worked throughout its life by a horse driven capstan and was last used in 1952. It is now part of a linear park. The Shallcross incline ran from Shallcross Yard, which is near Cromford court and the Scout Hall, up to a point on Elnor Lane a bit short of the Shady Oak at Fernilee. The final gradient was Bunsal incline which is very evident as the steep straight hill on the new road down to Errwood dam and the Goyt valley.

The Roosdyche

The Roosdyche is a large arena shaped formation in the ground on the side of the hill overlooking Whaley Bridge near the cricket ground. It has been rumoured to be many things including a Roman chariot racetrack but it is almost definitely only a product of the last ice age.

The Mechanics institute

In the middle of Whaley Bridge is a large building with a clock on the front and the count library underneath. It was built in 1876 for the purpose of providing education to Mechanics. ie it was an adult education centre. Nowadays it is more like a town hall.

Whaley Schools

The oldest recorded school in Whaley was formed after Thomas Ouffe of Claytonfold died in 1628. In his will he instructed his executors to collect money that was owed him and to use any residue from his estate "as they thought fittest". What they did was to set up a charitable trust and founded a school which became known as Elnor Lane Grammar School. The first mention of this having been carried out is when, in 1731, John Shallcross surrendered Ouffe's farm to charitable purposes and the title deed mentions the provision of

A school was built in 1730 at numbers 5/7 Whaley Lane next to the footpath onto Jodrell Meadow. It opened in 1731 with six pupils and was still going in 1780. Later it was converted into two cottages and it has more recently been modernised into one house.

In 1807 the Wesleyans began a Sunday and day school in the old corn mill. This led to the starting of a mixed school of 62 pupils on the upper floor of the Wesleyan Building (now the Uniting Church) which grew to 180 children in 1883. This school was transferred to the newly built Whaley Bridge School buildings on October 2nd 1911.

Taxal and Fernilee C of E school opened soon after 1847 at Horwich End as "A school for poor persons of the parishes of Taxal & Yeardsley-cum-Whaley in the parish of Taxal and the townships of Fernilee and Bradshaw Edge". The new school on Park Road was opened in 1981 and the old school closed in 1987.

Fernilee Infants School opened 1908 and closed 1987.

There was a private infant school at the Larches on Whaley Lane from 1935 to 1944.

A private boarding school was run at Horwich Bank, 36 Chapel Road, from and the 1871 census records 11 pupils between the ages of 12 and 18.

There was a school at Errwood Hall of around 30 pupils up to 14 years old which ran from before 1889 until 1930.

There was a private kindergarten and preparatory school which used the Gospel Hall on Old Road from before 1917 until it moved to Hazel Grove in 1934.

Parish Churches - St.James

The church of St.James', Taxal was originally dedicated to St.Leonard, the change probably taking place during the Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. There is known to have been a church at Taxal since the 13th century as there is an entry in the Episcopal Register of Lichfield showing that William de Dounis was Rector of Taxal in 1287. The nave of the present church dates from 1825 when it was completely rebuilt, with a major restoration started in 1887 to "rid the church of the many ugly and objectionable features left by the architectural spoliators of 1825". The upper part of the tower was rebuilt in the reign of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603, and restored again in the reign of Charles II, 1660-1685, when the battlements were added. The lower part of the tower has much more ancient stonework and may be part of a much earlier building. In 1888 the church had 3 bells but the Rev. S.Evans reported that two were cracked and only one, which bore the date 1506, "still calls the present generation to prayer". Eventually in 1904 the two cracked bells were re-cast and four new bells were supplied by Taylors, Bell Founders of Loughborough. The remaining original bell dated 1506 still hangs in the belfry but is now never rung. It is reputed to be the second oldest bell in the Diocese of Chester. In 1987, following an appeal, the present bells were re-hung on modern roller bearings by the bellringers themselves under expert supervision and they are now in good ringing order.

William Jodrell, who was an archer under the Black Prince, settled in the Macclesfield forest and is recorded as having lands there in 1351. His son was called Roger and he fought at Agincourt. Roger asked in his will to be buried in Taxal Church and there is now a slate slab in the floor of the chancel recording the names of the Jodrells from William onwards.

Parish Churches - Holy Trinity

At the turn of the last century a group of people used to worship in a corrugated iron roofed building in the area of Schools Garage on Buxton Road. This group was a bit out on a limb and their big problem, being on the east of the river and therefore in Derbyshire, was a lack of pastoral care from their parish of Hope, or from the Diocese of Lichfield. Around this time Edward Hall of Botany Works had a major disagreement with the rector of Taxal Church and decided to support this group with the aim of building an alternative church. With his drive and committment and much work on the part of the congregation, Trinity Church was started and the foundation stone was laid in 1904. During the first fifteen or twenty years not only was the major part of a church built but so was a church hall and a vicarage.

Incidentally although the church started in the Diocese of Lichfield it soon moved to that of Southwell when that was created, then to Derby and it is now in the Diocese of Chester.

Holy Trinity church acquired several things from Nottingham. The first was a vicar, Rev. Howard Perkins. He in turn aquired on loan from his old church which had become redundant an oak credance table, an altar book and a silver chalice and paten. This loan was later converted to a gift by the Bishop. When the new chancel was built the east window, a gift from the Aspel family, also came from a redundant Nottingham church. It is of high quality and is thought to have been designed by Burne-Jones, an architect and designer from the mid 1800's.

Fernilee & Errwood

Shallcross Gunpowder Mill and several farms were covered by water in 1933 when the Fernilee reservoir was built. The licence for the erection of the mill was granted in 1801 and the mill was closed in 1920. During this period it supplied powder for quarrying and mining locally and it also supplied much for the 1914-18 war. There is some evidence that it may also have been used as a paint mill at least around 1846. There is on record a belief that this mill supplied powder for battle with the Spanish Armada in 1588. This is either wishful thinking or there is a slight possibility that there was a powder mill here much earlier. There was another mill further up the valley at Goyts Clough the last recorded use of which was as a paint mill.

Around 1968 a small humped back stone bridge called Goyt Bridge was taken apart stone by stone and rebuilt further up the valley where it can still be seen today. This was after a certain amount of public outcry at the the prospect of it being submerged under the new Errwood reservoir.

Utilities

In 1866 the vestry meeting of Yeardsley-cum-Whaley, which met in the Jodrell Arms as there was no church, decided to erect nine gas lamps to light the streets. Whaley Bridge Gas Company charged the town 34 shillings for each lamp and £2-12-0 per year for the gas and for lighting, cleaning and extinguishing them.

Whaley Bridge's first telephone exchange was installed in a house in Canal Street in 1906 but the first telephone was not installed in a private house until after 1945. Piped water first arrived in Whaley bridge in 1912 at the same time as the first sewage works was built at Bridgemont.

Bibliography

Whaley Bridge in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, Whaley Bridge Amenity Society

Schools in and around Whaley Bridge, Whaley Bridge Amenity Society

The Whaley Bridge District Guide, Parish Council, 1983

A Short History of the Church of St.James, Rev. J.A.Davies, 1972