Nether Alderley

"ALDERLEY, a parish in the hundred of MACCLESFIELD, county palatine of CHESTER, comprising the townships of Upper Alderley, Lower Alderley, and Great Warford, and containing 1477 inhabitants, of which number, 473 are in the township of Upper Alderley, and 668 in that of Lower Alderley, 4 miles (W. N. W.) from Macclesfield. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books at £14. 10. 10., and in the patronage of Sir J. T. Stanley, Bart. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of worship for Baptists at Great Warford. Mines of lead, copper, and cobalt, have been worked in the neighbourhood, but the produce of ore has not been sufficient to encourage perseverance. A few of the inhabitants are engaged in weaving for the manufacturers of the neighbouring towns. A school-house, originally built in 1628 by the Rev. Hugh Shaw, curate of the parish, and since endowed with benefactions to the amount of £300, was rebuilt near the church a few years ago: there is also a small endowed free school in Lower Alderley. In Alderley park there is a large sheet of water, called Radnor mere, a wood near which contains some of the finest beech trees in England; and on the high ground of Aldersey Edge is a fine spring, called the Holy Well." [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England  (1831) ©Mel Lockie]