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Bollington Cross

Bollington Cross Conservation Area has been extended down Moss Brow and now includes a substantial part of Lowerhouse. The primary object is to provide protection to the buildings and allotment landscape that was developed by Samuel Greg Jnr (1804-1876) into a model industrial village.

Boll CrossBuildings along Henshall Road and Bollington Road, through Turner Heath, mark the old stone part of this end of town. However, the majority of houses are relatively modern – 20thC – arranged in two large estates, based on South West Avenue and Ovenhouse Lane, which are actually adjacent to each other. There was very little industry other than agriculture in Bollington Cross – no quarries but there was a tannery and small mill at or near Turner Heath House. Little is known of this and its location has never been established.

The cross is marked today by the new stone cross erected for the millennium (left). The stone was quarried from Bridge Quarry, Kerridge, on the side of Kerridge Hill. Mrs. Doreen Earl fashioned it on her computer controlled stone dressing machine into the beautiful monument you see today. The embellishments are not carved but sand blasted.

Notable sites include Bollington Cross School; St. Oswald’s Church; the Cock & Pheasant inn (the only one at this end of the town); Turner Heath House, the new cross (pictured left) and The Mount (care home in Flash Lane).

There is a very strong desire locally to maintain a green strip between Bollington Cross and Tytherington – Bollington is very certain that it does not want it`s individuality and identity to be subsumed by the urban sprawl that is Macclesfield.

For more information about the individual streets that make up Bollington Cross see the Streets pages.

The article (left) is from Bollington Live!.

History

There has been speculation for many years as to where The Cross actually stood. This article (left) provides one possibility.

Below that is a map showing another.

 

Map of Bollington Cross, 1871.
Click on it to enlarge.

The site of the Cross shown on the 1871 map is not as described in the article, but is sited about 50 metres to the east. But really close inspection of the map shows a dot marked ‘Stone’ almost exactly where described in the top article – right in the middle of the road at the junction! If that is where is was then it’s no surprise that the above-ground part was dismantled and removed. No doubt the traffic of the day simply travelled over the base.