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Macclesfield is a market town in Cheshire, England with a population of around 50,688 (2001 census for Macclesfield urban sub-area). It is the main settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Macclesfield, and is considered to be one of the 30 wealthiest towns in Britain.
Description
Macclesfield is located on the edge of the Peak District, on the River Bollin and the Macclesfield Canal. It 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 un-employed weavers.
It is the home to famous furniture store Arighi Bianchi, local football club Macclesfield Town, The King's School, Macclesfield which dates from the 16th Century and the King's Girls School, Macclesfield, a much more recent development; both are low-to-middle ranking public (i.e. private, fee-paying) schools (regional GCE league table). Other local High schools include Henbury High School, All Hallows, and Fallibroome high school . The fine Georgian Town Hall was designed by Francis Goodwin in 1823.
The town was the birthplace of Hovis bread. Present day industries include: pharmaceuticals, textiles, light engineering, paper and plastics.
In 2004, research was published in The Times naming Macclesfield and its borough the most boring or uncultured town in Britain. This was based on its lack of theatres, cinemas and other cultural facilities. The last remaining cinema in Macclesfield closed in 1997 . Discussions have taken place regarding the possibility of building a multiplex cinema (1), however, similar attempts to build a cinema have thus far been unsuccessful. In 2005 a cinema was set up in the Heritage Centre. Called Cinemac, its first showing was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2002 the town also featured in the national media, focussing on the work of Cheshire Constabulary pioneering the use of ASBOs to control anti-social behaviour at Thornton Square.
Etymology
It is thought that Macclesfield got its name from "Michael's field" - referring to St. Michael, as in St. Michael's church.
History
Macclesfield, known as Hamestan in the Domesday Book, 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.
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 Hundred of Macclesfield, which occupied most of east Cheshire. 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.
In addition, the Earls of Chester had established the forest of Macclesfield, which was much larger than its present-day namesake, and once merged with Nottingham's Sherwood Forest (Will Scarlet is said to have been from Macclesfield). 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. 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. Macclesfield is perhaps the first place to have factory working. 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.
Waters Green was once home to a nationally known horse market which features in the legend of the Wizard of Alderley Edge.
Macclesfield has appeared in film: it was used as the location for Sir John Mills' film So Well Remembered in 1947. Some of the locations are still recognisable, such as Hibel Road.
Twin towns
- Eckernförde, Germany (since 1953)
Famous residents and natives
- Marshall Lancaster, star of BBC's Life on Mars (TV series), The Lakes, The Street and Clocking Off, was born and still lives in the town.
- The wildlife painter Charles Tunnicliffe was born and raised in Langley, a nearby village. He studied at the Macclesfield College of Art, now the Silk Museum.
- Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, was brought up in Macclesfield, and his ashes are buried in the local crematorium.
- Stephen Morris of New Order was born here and still lives nearby.
- Twice Olympic gold medal winning sailor Ben Ainslie was born in Macclesfield.
- The Macc Lads – a band notorious for bad language in their lyrics – came from the town.
- Brian Redhead, who hosted the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 for many years, lived in nearby Rainow and called Macclesfield "the centre of the universe".
- John Mayall, most well known for John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, lesser known for the discovery of Peter Green and Eric Clapton. Often called 'Godfather of British Blues' was born in Macclesfield and raised nearby.
- Greg Scott, British Television Presenter of Quizmania and formerly of Price-Drop tv was born in Macclesfield and now lives in Sandhurst, Berkshire.
- Stuart Wilson, (contestant on Big Brother reality TV show)
- John Charles Ryle, the first Bishop of Liverpool was born in the town.
- Mr. Methane, Macc born and bred.
- Television presenter Heather Stott was born in Macclesfield.
- Peter Crouch, footballer who currently plays for Liverpool FC.
- Geoff Lloyd, radio presenter on Virgin Radio
- David Dickinson the former host of Bargain Hunt lives near the town.
- Tim Wonnacott, host of BBC One's Bargain Hunt used to live in the town.
- Douglas Burton, great-grandson of Montague Burton who founded the 'Burton' menswear company.
- Nick Robinson, Political Editor of the BBC
See also
- Bollington
- Prestbury
- Poynton
- 106.9 Silk FM , local radio station
External links
"Macclesfield"