Bollington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bollington |
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 A view over Bollington from White Nancy, looking north |
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 Bollington
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| Population | 7,885 (2017, estimate)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SJ9377 |
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| Unitary authority |
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| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MACCLESFIELD |
| Postcode district | SK10 |
| Dialling code | 01625 |
| Police | Cheshire |
| Fire | Cheshire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament |
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Bollington is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, to the east of Prestbury. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield and the ancient parish of Prestbury. In 2011, it had a population of 8,310.
Bollington is on the River Dean and the Macclesfield Canal, on the south-western edge of the Peak District. Rising above the town on Kerridge Hill is White Nancy, a monument built to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo.
Contents
History
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Bollington was a major centre for cotton spinning. The Waterhouse Mill, now demolished, off Wellington Road, once spun the finest cotton in the world, and was sought after by lace makers in Nottingham and Brussels.
Clarence Mill still stands and has since been converted into luxury apartments. One of the oldest surviving mills in Bollington is the very small Defiance Mill, built in Queen Street about 1800 and also now restored for residential occupation.
There is a large paper coating mill on the site of Lower Mills. The original mill was built by George Antrobus in 1792 but very little of those buildings remain. A stone-built traditional mill still survives amongst the more recent brick developments. In the 1830s and 1840s this mill was rented to Thomas Oliver and Martin Swindells for the production of fine cotton thread for the lace-making industry.
Other remaining mills include Adelphi (Swindells, 1856) and Lowerhouse (Antrobus, 1819, later occupied by Samuel Greg Jnr).
Culture
The town has several churches. The parish Church of St John the Baptist closed several years ago, leaving St Oswald's Church in Bollington Cross as the only Anglican church. St Gregory's church on Wellington Road is the Roman Catholic place of worship in the town. The Grade-II listed Methodist church on Wellington Road has been closed to worship and has been sold.
Every five or six years since 1964, the town has played host to the Bollington Festival which runs for two and a half weeks and involves various community activities, from concerts, theatrical, opera, art exhibitions, to local history events, science events and competitions.
In 2005 Canalside Community Radio was launched to provide community news and entertainment for the duration of the festival. Cousins John and Terry Waite opened the Festival. In December 2008 Canalside Radio – The Thread – began broadcasting to northeast Cheshire on 102.8 FM having obtained a full-time licence after five years of trying.
Hiking, cycling and riding through the hills around Bollington and along the Macclesfield Canal towpath are popular activities. Boats can be hired for day-trips and holidays at Grimshaw Lane canal wharf.
The town has many traditional public houses, most of which have not been modernised.
Societies and organisations
Bollington has a branch of the Women's Institute, which meets regularly while retired professional gentlemen may meet at the weekly Probus.
The Guide and Scout movements are all represented. Bollington United Junior Football Club (JFC) has three clubs for children ranging from under-10s to under-17s. Bollington is home to 236 Squadron of the Royal Air Force's Air Training Corps, which has its headquarters on Shrigley Road. The Squadron had close links with 42(R) (formerly 236 OCU) of the Royal Air Force before the latter was disbanded in the government defence review in 2010. The Sea Cadet Corps is for 10‑ to 18‑year‑olds. The Bollington and Macclesfield Sea Cadets also have a unit website.
There are numerous artistic, musical and theatrical groups all providing popular exhibitions and performances. Many of these are held at the Bollington Arts Centre.
Transport
Road
Bollington is 2 miles (3.2 km) from the A523 road that runs from Hazel Grove, through Macclesfield to Leek in Staffordshire. The nearest motorway junctions are J17 and 19 (Congleton and Knutsford) on the M6, and J1 (Stockport) on the M60.
Bus
Regular bus services connect Bollington with Macclesfield, Hazel Grove and Stockport.
Railway
Bollington no longer has its own railway station; the nearest being in Macclesfield, for inter-city trains to London and Manchester, and Prestbury for local stopping trains.
Bollington used to be served by the Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple Railway, which operated between Rose Hill Marple and Macclesfield. The railway was built in 1869 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR), as a part of a quest to provide an alternative link between Manchester and the south that was independent of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). Cotton mill owner Thomas Oliver had suggested this route hoping to revive the cotton mills of Bollington, the Kerridge stone quarries and the coal fields at Poynton. The line was closed in January 1970 as part of the Beeching closures. The trackbed is today used for walking, cycling and horseriding; it is known as the Middlewood Way.
Water
The Macclesfield Canal passes through the centre of the town and is a picturesque and rural part of the Cheshire Ring. The stretch from Marple Junction on the Peak Forest Canal to Bosley is without locks and is carried on an embankment through Bollington. Kerridge was the scene of a spectacular breach on 29 February 1912, where the water from Bosley to Bugsworth basin emptied through the town. Today, the canal is used for leisure purposes.
Notable people
- Samuel Greg (Jnr) (1804–1876), English industrialist and philanthropist, took over management of Lowerhouse Mill in Bollington in 1832 and used it as a basis for social experimentation.
- John Ryle (1817–1887), manufacturer, was born and died in Bollington. He emigrated to the United States in 1839 and became known as the "father of the United States silk industry" and was the Mayor of Paterson, New Jersey from 1869 to 1870.
- William Collard Smith (1830 in Bollington – 1894), Australian politician, emigrated to Australia in 1852, became a politician in colonial Victoria (Australia), and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and Minister of Education from 1880 to 1881.
- Emma Brooke (1844–1926), British novelist and a campaigner for the rights of women, was brought up in Bollington.
- Jack Plant (born 1870 in Bollington), English international footballer, played professionally for Bury, and earned one cap for England in 1900.
- Sir James Chadwick CH, FRS (1891 in Bollington – 1974), Nobel Prize-winning physicist who proved the existence of neutrons, was educated at Bollington Cross School.
- Terry Waite CBE (born 1939 in Bollington), who was held hostage for four years in Lebanon and devoted his life to humanitarian causes, lived for a very short time in Bollington; his father was one of the town's policemen.
- David Dickinson (born 1941), antiques expert and television presenter, lives in Bollington.
- Angie Lewin (born 1963 in Bollington), designer of prints and screens, was brought up in Bollington.
- James Bailey (born 1988), professional footballer, was brought up in Bollington.
- Libby Clegg, MBE (born 1990), blind athlete, was born and lived in Bollington until moving to Scotland at age 11.
- Ben Amos (born 1990), English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Wigan Athletic, lived for some years in Bollington.
Images for kids
See also
In Spanish: Bollington para niños
