Alderley

"ALDERLEY, a parish in the hundred of Macclesfield, in the county palatine of Chester, 5 miles to the W. of Macclesfield, and 14 miles S. of Manchester. It is distant 1½ mile from Alderley and Chorley station, on the Manchester and Birmingham railway, and a branch of the small river Bollin flows through the parish. It comprises the townships of Over and Nether Alderley, with the chapelries of Great Warford and Birtles. The land is fertile and highly cultivated, and the surface pleasantly undulating. Rocks of the New Red sandstone appear at various points, and form a bold ridge, at Alderley Edge, rising steeply from the level pasture lands, on the north side, to the height of 360 feet. The view from the Edge is extensive and very picturesque, the fine ranges of hills on the border of Derbyshire, bounding it to the east. Rich woods cover a great part of this high ground, and slope down the hollows on its sides. Many handsome residences have been built, during the last few years, on the Edge, which are occupied by wealthy Manchester men, and the place has become a favourite and frequent resort of holiday and pleasure-seeking people. Cheap excursion trains run from. Manchester, weekly, through the summer. Alderley Park is the seat of Lord Stanley of Alderley. It is an extensive, rich, and well-wooded-demesne, containing a fine sheet of water called Radnor Mere, and woods with some of the noblest beech-trees in England. Lead, copper, and cobalt have been found, but in too small quantities to repay the cost of working been opened. The copper mines, however, have been recently re-opened, and are now paying well. They were visited in September, 1861, by the members of the British Association, on occasion of their meeting at Manchester. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Chester, value £750, in the patronage of Lord Stanley of Alderley, who is also lord of the manor. The church, dedicated to St.