Wilmslow

Technically, Wilmslow was just the parish church and its immediate graveyard, however, the name is now given to the whole of the community. The original lords of the manor were the Fittons, then the Venables inherited the land and, in the 15th century, the two Venables heiresses each took their half of the estates to their husband’s family, the Booths of Dunham Massey and the Traffords of Trafford Park. Until the railway came in 1842 it was an isolated rural community, best known for its fustian and for its cottage industry making silk buttons for the Macclesfield silk industry. There was even a cotton mill in the middle of the town in the late 18th century, owned by the Bowen family. However, once the trains came, Wilmslow became a thriving commuter community; its development hastened when the Earls of Stamford sold their land outright in the 1850s. This led to far fewer restrictions on building than in the neighbouring Alderley Edge, where strict leasehold conditions limited the development to select up-market residences. One of the purchasers of the Stamford lands was J C Prescott, who bought up the old Bowen mill with its tall chimney and demolished it; he wanted to develop Wilmslow`s residential potential and forget its industrial past. So, Wilmslow became a thriv- ing mixed community and the shopping centre for the whole area; more of a town than a village. In the last few years, with the building of the bypass round the town and its attendant retail devel- opment in Handforth, Wilmslow`s shops have suffered, and the full extent of the impact of these changes has yet to be worked out.
An extract from from"Wilmslow and Alderley Edge Photographic Memories".

This photograph was taken before the clerestory was added to the chancel by Bodley in 1898. He was a well known Liverpool architect, responsible for building Sunlight Village on the other side of the county in the Arts and Crafts style, although the Morris and Co windows in the church, dating from 1920, are too late to be his responsibility.
An extract from from"Wilmslow and Alderley Edge Photographic Memories".

The original lower height of the chancel roof can easily be seen, but otherwise, the interior is very similar to today`s church. The chancel screen incorporates some 15th-century work, and the side chapels, as one might expect for a church at the centre of a large parish, used to belong to the prominent gentry families in the area, such as the Traffords and the Booths, both of whom married Venables heiresses in the 15th century and thus acquired large parts of Wilmslow. There is also a memorial to J C Prescott, one of Wilmslow`s most important 19th-century developers.
An extract from from"Wilmslow and Alderley Edge Photographic Memories".

Wilmslow`s main shopping street would contain all the shops needed by the community, including their links with the outside world, as the newspaper shop demonstrates in its adverts. The road dates from the 18th century; it is in fact the turnpike road. It only replaced Church Street as Wilmslow`s main shopping street in the 1880s, when most of the shops in the photograph were built.
An extract from from"Wilmslow and Alderley Edge Photographic Memories".

Lime Walk is part of the development of the Carrs, the old open pasture land that is still a great asset for the town. Many of the lines of old trees in the Carrs are the remnants of old field boundaries, but these trees were planted for their amenity value.
An extract from from"Wilmslow and Alderley Edge Photographic Memories".