Wilmslow

Toponymy

Wilmslow derives its name from Anglo-Saxon Wīghelmes hlāw = "mound of a man called Wīghelm."

Lindow Man

Much about the local Iron Age history of Wilmslow was uncovered with the discovery of Lindow Man, in Lindow Moss. Preserved in the peat bogs for 2000 years, Lindow Man is one of the most important Iron Age finds in the country. Despite a campaign to keep Lindow Man in the area, he was transferred to the British Museum and is a central feature of the Iron Age exhibition. Lindow Man returned to Manchester Museum in April 2008 for a year-long exhibition.

Events

Wilmslow was in the international media in March 1997, when an IRA bomb exploded near the railway station damaging signalling equipment. The original IRA message was confusing and led to the evacuation of the Wilmslow Police Station to the local leisure centre not far from the explosion. Nobody was hurt.

In the general election of the same year, the parliamentary constituency of Tatton, in which Wilmslow falls, made headlines as part of the "sleaze" accusations levelled against the then Conservative Government. Tatton MP, Neil Hamilton, was accused of accepting cash for tabling Parliamentary questions, and subsequently defeated in the election by independent candidate Martin Bell. Bell was supported in his door to door canvasing for votes by David Soul and served a single term as MP.

Wilmslow held its first Scarecrow Festival in July 2010 with 85 local businesses taking part and 93 different scarecrows. Organised by the Rotary Club of Wilmslow Dean and the members of the Wilmslow Business Group, the week-long festival has transformed the town centre and received a tremendous response.

Administrative history

Wilmslow was one of the eight ancient parishes of the Macclesfield Hundred of Cheshire. It was subdivided into the townships of Bollinfee, Chorley, Fulshaw and Pownall Fee. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 the townships became civil parishes in their own right. Wilmslow was recreated as a civil parish on 30 September 1894 when Pownall Fee and Fulshaw were abolished. Wilmslow gained the whole of Fulshaw and part of Pownall Fee; the other 1,523 acres (6.16 km²) of Pownall Fee were used to create the new Styal civil parish. The Wilmslow Urban District Council came into being in 1895 consisting only of the previous civil parish of Wilmslow. On 21 June 1951 it was granted its own Coat of Arms. On 1 April 2009 it became part of the Cheshire East unitary authority.

Expansion

On 1 April 1936, Wilmslow lost 19 acres (77,000 m²) to Alderley Edge. However it gained 3 acres (12,000 m²) from Chorley and on the abolition of Bollinfee, Handforth and Styal civil parishes it gained 1, 1080 and 1,521 acres (6.16 km²) respectively.

Wilmslow along with other towns such as Whitworth, Poynton and Alderley Edge successfully objected to being part of the metropolitan county Greater Manchester when it was formed in 1974 although the town does form part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area.

Population and ethnicity

According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 the wards of Wilmslow North and Wilmslow South have a combined population of 25,498, of which 13,400 (52.5%) are females and 12,098 (47.5%) are males. In addition, 5197 (20.4%) are aged 16 and under while 4780 (18.8%) are aged 65 and over.

Ethnic white groups (British, Irish, other) account for 95.9% of the population, with ethnic minority groups accounting for 4.1% of the population.

Religion

A breakdown of religious groups and denominations:

Christian – 76.7% (19,567 people)

Muslim – 1.4% (363 people)

Jewish – 0.7% (182 people)

Hindu – 0.7% (168 people)

Buddhist – 0.4% (94 people)

Sikh – 0.2% (39 people)

Any Other Religion – 0.2% (58 people)

No Religion – 13.3% (3390 people)

Religion Not Stated – 6.1% (1555 people)

Places of worship

There are three Church of England churches in Wilmslow, St. Bartholomew's, St Anne's and St John's. St Bartholomew's is a 16th-century building, which was modified in the 19th century. It has a turreted bell tower.

The Sacred Heart & St Teresa's Church is the Roman Catholic church and dates from the late 19th century.

Dean Row Chapel, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the town centre, is a Grade II* listed building built around the end of the 17th century. Initially Presbyterian, it is now a Unitarian chapel.

Geography

Situated in the north of England, 11 miles (18 km) from Manchester city centre and 7 miles (11 km) from Macclesfield, Wilmslow town centre is focused upon Bank Square, Grove Street and Water Lane. Although Bank Square has traditionally provided the location for many of the town's banks, the name in fact originates from the bank, or slope, leading down to The Carrs recreational fields and up towards the railway station. The River Bollin flows through The Carrs and once provided the power source for nearby Quarry Bank Mill, now a National Trust site, and enjoyment for the local population.

Before the railway came in 1842, Wilmslow comprised only a few farms and a church.

For purposes of the Office for National Statistics, Wilmslow forms part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area.

Economy

The town is part of the Golden Triangle together with Alderley Edge and Prestbury. It grew in popularity in the Victorian era as a most desirable area for wealthy North West businessmen to move out to once the railways arrived and connected the towns.

Wilmslow is the founding location of clothing giant Umbro who have their headquarters in the area.

The town is a key location for Royal London, the mutual financial services company. The Information Commissioner's Office, one of the government's executive agencies, is also based in Wilmslow.

The town's Aston Martin dealership sells the highest number of Aston Martins in the UK; a high demand stimulated largely by the high level of affluence in the town.

Transport

Wilmslow railway station is situated where the electrified line from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly divides. One line continues to Manchester via Handforth and Stockport, the other continues via Styal, Manchester Airport and Heald Green. The latter route is commonly known as the Styal Line. There are frequent services to Manchester, Stockport, Crewe and Manchester Airport, plus an hourly service to Shrewsbury and Cardiff. Since December 2008 there is an hourly service to London Euston.

The town is served by a number of bus services:

Connect 88 Knutsford - Alrincham via Wilmslow (Monday - Saturday hourly with additional peak services) 130 Manchester - Macclesfield (Monday - Saturday half hourly & Sunday hourly) 200 Manchester Airport - Wilmslow (Monday - Sunday hourly) 378 Stockport - Wilmslow (Monday - Saturday daytime hourly)

Evening and Sunday journeys on the 378 were curtailed to operate between Stockport - Grove Lane from 7 April 2013, following the removal of Cheshire East Council's subsidy for the service. It is now a wholly commercial venture operated by Stagecoach, save for the Monday-Sunday Grove Lane - Stockport evening service. The last journey Monday-Saturday will be 1925 from Bank Square.

From 13 January 2014 the 130 Sunday service becomes largely two hourly following the removal of subsidy by Cheshire East, after GHA Coaches decision to register the service as a commercial offering.

The A34 Manchester to Newcastle-under-Lyme and Winchester road now bypasses the town centre to the east. Manchester Airport lies just four miles (6 km) along the A538 to the north west, but Wilmslow lies away from the approach and departure routes and therefore suffers only slightly from aircraft noise.

The A34 bypass is the main road network that serves the town of Wilmslow. This was extended beyond neighbouring Alderley Edge in Winter 2010/11. The A34 Bypass joins the A555 at Handforth Dean and this road is currently being extended to Manchester Airport, due for completion in 2018.

Wilmslow and its close surroundings are served by several car showrooms of notable marque. These include Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati, Land Rover, Bentley, McLaren, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and others.

Notable residents

Alan Turing, the computer science pioneer and driving force behind the Bombe machine for cracking the German Enigma cypher, is perhaps Wilmslow's most notable resident. Turing allegedly committed suicide in his Wilmslow home on 7 June 1954 by eating an apple laced with potassium cyanide. In 2004, a blue plaque was placed on the house in his honour. In 1999 Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century.

Antony Grey, pioneer gay rights activist, was born there in 1927.

William Ewart Gladstone, 19th-century politician and statesman who would serve as Prime Minister four separate times, lived at the Wilmslow Rectory between January and April 1828 to study under the supervision of Reverend John Turner.

Acting

Stuart Hall, television presenter convicted of indecent assault.

William Roache, Coronation Street actor since its inception in 1960. Roache has lived in Wilmslow for most of his adult life, though he was born in Derbyshire at Ilkeston in 1932.

Simon Gregson, who plays taxi boss Steve McDonald in Coronation Street.

Football

Alex Ferguson

Nemanja Vidić

Nani

Antonio Valencia

Phil Jones

Federico Macheda

Patrice Evra

Ashley Young

Sivesh Sukumar

Park Ji-Sung

Yaya Touré

Joleon Lescott

David Silva

Fabrice Muamba

Owen Hargreaves

Joe Hart

Gareth Barry

Literature

Wilmslow has featured in the novels of the writer Alan Garner, (whose wife once taught at Wilmslow Grammar School), with the Black Lake on Lindow Common apparently housing a witch. Garner is perhaps best known for his books The Owl Service, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath the last two of which are set in nearby Alderley Edge.

Music

Michael Rother, founder of Krautrock legends Neu, lived in Wilmslow for 11 months as a 9-year-old. Rother has mentioned fond memories of his time in Wilmslow during interviews and mentioned the town and the River Bollin during a 2009 BBC Four documentary 'Krautrock:the Rebirth of Germany'.

Indie rock band Doves met at Wilmslow High School in the 1980s. Their song "Black and White Town" was inspired by Wilmslow and its contradicting 'rich-poor' divide.

Indie rock band The 1975 met at Wilmslow High School.

Business and commerce

Ian Powell, chairman and senior partner of PwC UK lives in a London flat during the week but returns to his main family home in Wilmslow at weekends.

Peter Jones, the owner of the Emerson Group (a property business, whose 2012 letting of Sandfield House to law firm Roberts Jackson was reportedly Wilmslow's biggest office deal in five years) lives in Wilmslow.

Iqbal Ahmed (OBE), the owner of the Seamark group's Asian food business is based in Manchester but he lives in Wilmslow with his family.

Media

Chris Hawkins and his wife Clare Nasir, both presenters and journalists, live in Wilmslow.

Journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer and her brother, actor Toby grew up in the suburb.