Hattersley

Construction of the estate

Between 1894 and 1936 Hattersley was a largely rural civil parish in the Tintwistle Rural District in the historical county of Cheshire. In 1936 it was annexed to the municipal borough of Hyde but remained undeveloped. At the beginning of the 1960s, most of the area was purchased by Manchester City Council to build a large overspill estate, which became home to many families rehoused from inner-city slum areas like Gorton. Another similar estate was built in Gamesley. Both these estates consist primarily of council-owned houses.

Renewal and privatisation

Regeneration in Hattersley is coordinated by Hattersley Neighbourhood Partnership.

The city council transferred control of most of Hattersley's housing stock to Peak Valley Housing Association in 2006 after an attempt to transfer it to the Harvest Housing Group which collapsed when a £20 million gap in funding to refurbish the homes to new housing standards was identified. The transfer brought a £40 million, seven-year improvement plan for existing housing tied to a £140m investment from a private developer.

Selective demolition has begun to remove some obsolete housing leaving space for redevelopment and investment in education and public services. Seven tower blocks were demolished in 2001. Demolition of some of the 1960s low-rise houses on the estate took place in 2007 and 2008, these houses having deteriorated to a condition where refurbishment was not viable, in spite of these houses being just over 40 years old.

In 2012 a Tesco supermarket was opened, despite residents' concern about extra traffic.

Moors Murders

Moors murderer Myra Hindley and her grandmother Ellen Maybury were rehoused in Hattersley from Gorton in 1964 and lived at a new house in the area – 16 Wardle Brook Avenue – for approximately 12 months until they were arrested in October 1965. Ian Brady spent much of his time at the house with Hindley and together they carried out the killings of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and 17-year-old Edward Evans at the property. The body of Lesley Ann Downey was buried on nearby Saddleworth Moor the day after her murder on Boxing Day 1964, but the body of Edward Evans was found at the house in October 1965 before the couple could dispose of it.

In October 1987, Manchester City Council demolished the house as they could not find tenants willing to live there. The site of the house remains vacant, although the surrounding houses remain standing. Sightseers, including groups of people travelling on coaches, frequently pass the site of the house and have even been known to approach the occupants of neighbouring houses to answer queries regarding it, much to their dismay.

Football hooliganism

According to self-confessed football hooligan Colin Blaney in his book The Undesirables, Hattersley was also home to members of a network of football hooligans known as the Wide Awake Firm, who travelled the world, also stealing jewellery and committing other acquisitive forms of crime as well as football-related violence. A member of the Hattersley contingent of this group was interviewed for Vice magazine in 2013 and stated that they specialized in a form of crime called 'twining' that involved performing confidence tricks on shop keepers to con them out of their money. They travelled as far afield as Thailand and Australia committing this trick.

Culture and community

Hattersley has a monthly community newspaper, the Hattersley & Mottram Community News, produced by local people. It is home to No 468 (Hyde and Hatterley) Squadron Air Cadets.

Notable people