Wilmslow, Cheshire

Description
Wilmslow, a town, township, and parish in Cheshire. The town stands on the river Bollin, 6 1/2 miles SSW of Stockport, 12 S of Manchester, and 176 by railway from London. It has a station on the Manchester and Orewe section of the L. & N.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Manchester. The railway crosses the vale of the Bollin here on a viaduct of eleven arches. The town is governed by an urban district council. It has a public hall and a police station. Fairs are held on the third Monday in April and the third Monday in October. The church of St Bartholomew is a large handsome edifice, portions of which date from the 12th century. It was enlarged and restored in 1863, and consists of chancel with N and S chapels, transepts, clerestoried nave of five bays, S and W porches, and an embattled western tower. It contains an ancient rood screen, and some ancient altar-tombs and brasses. The parish contains Bollin Fee and Chorley townships. Acreage, 8064; population of the civil parish, 9744; of the ecclesiastical, 6670. Hawthorn Hall, Pownall Hall, Norcliffe Hall, and Fulshaw Hall are chief residences. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chester; gross value, 1/2£1000 with residence. Chorley or Alderley Edge and Lindow form separate ecclesiastical parishes. There is a chapel of ease at Styal in Wilmslow township. There are Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, Unitarian, Wesleyan, and other dissenting chapels.