Macclesfield
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- For other uses, see Macclesfield (disambiguation).Template:GBdot
Macclesfield is a market town in Cheshire, England with a population of around 69,000. It is the main settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Macclesfield.
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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.
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It is the home to famous furniture store Arighi Bianchi, local football club Macclesfield Town, King's School, Macclesfield which dates from the 16th Century and King's Girls School, Macclesfield, a much more recent development; both are prestigious and highly exclusive. 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, reseach 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.
History
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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 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. 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. The so-called 'Macclesfield Castle' was a fortified town house built by the dukes of Buckingham in the later Middle Ages.
Twin towns
- Eckernförde, Germany (since 1953)
Famous residents
- 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.
- 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.
- Stuart Wilson, (contestant on Big Brother reality TV show)
See also
External links
- Macclesfield Borough Council (http://www.macclesfield.gov.uk/)
- Macclesfield museums (http://www.macclesfield.silk.museum/Visitor/Section/Default.asp?idDepartment=0)