Bridges, Highways and Turnpikes around Marple, by Anthony Jones
Booklet published by the Marple Local History Society in 2004, 52 pages. A5 size booklet (N5443)
This booklet provides a fascinating short history of the bridges, highways and turnpike roads in and around the Lancashire town of Marple, which now lies in the Borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester.
From the introduction: We travel daily along the road of Marple without giving a thought to their origins, to the history that we pass by, unnoticed. We never give a thought for the travellers of bygone days, when the road was little more than a track, or to the people who toiled to build and maintain the parish highways...
Places have changed greatly in the last 200 - 300 years. Mellor was a large area consisting of hamlets and farms with a moor but no village centre. Moor End was built mainly about 1780 when mills began to appear. The centre of what is now Marple was Norbury Smithy, at the junction of Stockport Road, Station Road and Church lane.
The roads today do not always follow the course of the old road. The original route may have gone from farm to farm, or to other important places such as river crossings, but over the years new routes have been created. A person on foot or horseback can manage a steep hill but when people began to use carts and wagons new, less steep routes had to be found.
With the introduction of Turnpikes around 1800 toll bars were set up and the location of these can indicate where the new Turnpike road met an existing road. Some are obvious such as Rose Brow (by the Windsor Castle public house) and Dan Bank, whilst those at Hague Bar on Strines Road and 'Old Slurry' at the junction of Knowle Road and Longhurst lane are less so...
Condition of the booklet is generally good. The cover has some minor scuffs and blemishes, and some light wear along the edges and corners, but the staple spine is tight and intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound. Has a small price sticker on the rear side.
| Condition | New |