Gatley
Gatley is a suburb of the town of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre, west-south-west of Stockport, east of Altrincham and north-east of Manchester Airport.
History
Toponymy
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, Gatley was known as Gateclyve in 1290, which in Middle English means "a place where goats are kept".Early history
Until the 20th century, most Gatley residents either worked in the material trades or were farmers. An open field system existed around Gatley in the late 17th century, but the practice of common farming seems to have fallen into disuse when William Tatton allowed tenants to buy their own land.Gatley Carrs was the lower, marshy ground running down to the River Mersey and west to Northenden. Before 1700, it was a place for osier beds which local people had used for basket making or for wattles for cottages or fencing.
In 1800, Mr Worthington of Sharston Hall planted 1,000 poplars in Gatley Carrs. In the mid 19th century, Gatley Carrs was described as "a scene of such singular and romantic beauty, and so thoroughly unique in its composition, that we know nothing in the neighbourhood to liken it to".
Over the years, Gatley Carrs has shrunk to a small part of its former size. In the second half of the 18th century, the Carrs was largely enclosed and partially drained to form farmed meadows. The Stockport-Altrincham railway line cut across it in 1864, running east–west. In 1934, house building began on High Terrace of the Mersey and also about that time Cheadle and Gatley UDC purchased to use as a refuse tip. Tree planting commenced due to complaints of smells and rats. There was loss of original field pattern because of extensive refuse tipping.
Carr Woodland was developed on what had been Carr Meadows. There was a major system of land drains identified on the 1934 map, including a sluice and non-return outfall gate to protect Gatley Carr from flooding when the river Mersey burst its banks.
In the mid-1960s, land restoration took place, although the Carr was only covered with soil to a depth varying between and. Gatley Carrs then fell to the management of the Mersey Valley Countryside wardens, until it was handed to Stockport MBC in the late 1990s.
Industrial history
Button making appears to have been a significant local trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. A "button man" is recorded in Gatley in the 1660s. This continued in the 18th century, with three button men being mentioned in Gatley between 1735 and 1779.People living around Gatley Green were mostly hand loom weavers and became more dependent on textile manufacture. Their cottages had cellars for storage and well-lit upper rooms for the looms.
About 1750, William Roscoe from Bolton built a factory near Gatley Hall. Up to at least 1841, John Alcock was a textile manufacturer in Gatley, using the Roscoe factory for at least part of the period.
The spread of machinery in industrial manufacturers during the 19th century appears to have killed off industry in Gatley, before which it was a "very busy and important place, as a centre for weaving, spinning, shoemaking and fustian cutting." Handloom weaving may have survived in the area to as late as the 1880s
Halls and houses
In 1714, Stone Pale Hall was reconstructed in Gatley.Gatley Hall and Gatley Hill House may both have been built in the mid-18th century by local cotton manufacturers; the latter is now council-owned by Stockport MBC and is used by various community groups. The mansion High Grove House was built for a member of a wealthy hatting family of Yorkshire and Manchester.
Conflict
In the English Civil War, the Tatton family, along with the local rectors and most tenants, were Royalists. Wythenshawe Hall was kept in a state of defence from 1642, with Parliamentary forces nearby in Handforth and Duckinfield; it was taken by the Parliamentarian forces on 25 February 1644. Three Gatley men were in the garrison defending the hall: Ralphe Savage, Robert Torkinton and John Blomiley.On 30 November 1745, about 55 Jacobite troops from Bonnie Prince Charlie's army crossed Gatley Ford and Gatley Carrs on their way to Cheadle and Stockport; the bulk of the army crossed the Mersey at Cheadle and Stockport that night and the following day. Having reached Derby but no further, the Jacobite troops were back in Stockport in the second week of December on their way back north.
Gatley residents joined the Luddite riots in 1818, but without any great distinction. They drilled in Gatley Carrs before marching to Stockport to take arms from the soldiers, but returned without actually attempting to do so. In the summer of 1819, soldiers formed square in front of the Horse and Farrier public house in Gatley with the aim of arresting the Luddite ringleaders. Several ran away and hid; one, Isaac Legh, in the chimney of Stone Pale House, two others in the Carrs.
Religion and churches
A nonconformist meeting house, registered in Etchells in 1722, may have been a house in Gatley. This house may have been in weavers' cottages on Styal Road. In 1777, the Gatley Congregational Church was founded and an independent chapel was built in Old Hall Road, following the spread of evangelicalism to nonconformist groups. A full-time minister was employed by the non-conformists for the first time. The present church is on Elm Road.The first non-conformist minister was the Rev. Jeremiah Pendlebury, succeeded by his assistant, the Rev. Samuel Turner, in 1788. By 1860, the church congregation had fallen to eight people; improvements made with help from the North Cheshire Rural Mission increased the congregation to 60.
Prior to 1875, Gatley's parish church was the Church of St. Thomas, away in Stockport. The people of Gatley rarely saw their parish priest, though they still had to pay their tithes.
The new church, St. James', was built of local handmade bricks and consecrated on 6 December 1881. The Rev. Percy M. Herford was the first vicar of St. James' Church. In 1888, the Rev. P.M. Herford left and was replaced by the Rev. John Bruster, who remained in position for 40 years and retired in 1928.
The vicarage was completed in 1894, following a donation of £100 from Mr W. Heald of Parrswood in 1889. The building is located a short walk away from the church on Northenden Road. The building was sold in 2007 and is now a private nursery.
Yeshurun Hebrew Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue, opened in 1968.
Today, the suburb is home to three churches: St. James', Bethany Elim Pentecostal and Gatley United Reformed Church.
Geography
Gatley is the most westerly vicinity of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport; it runs along the border of Stockport and Manchester. Until 1974, it was within Cheshire as a suburban township of Cheadle; it is separated from its slightly larger neighbour by the A34 and from Didsbury by the M60 motorway and the River Mersey.To the south, Gatley borders onto Heald Green, with Grasmere Road and Yew Tree Grove marking the southern boundary. To the west and north-west, it meets Wythenshawe, with roads bordering onto Hollyhedge Park being the last in Gatley; Longley Lane and the M56 motorway marking the north-western boundary.
Gatley lies 130–200 feet above sea level.
Governance
There is one main tier of local government covering Gatley, at metropolitan borough level: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. The council is a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which is led by the directly-elected Mayor of Greater Manchester.Administrative history
Prior to 1086, Gatley was probably unpopulated and was part of an area known as Etchells. After 1086, the area was split between two landowners and, for a period, Gatley Brook formed the boundary. The halves were, at various times, held by the Stokeports and the Ardernes, then later by the Stanleys until, in 1508, the heir John Stanley was killed by a tennis ball. With no rightful claimants, the land went to the crown and, in 1556, Etchells was sold to William Tatton. By the 1560s, the Tattons, who also owned Northenden and other local land, became full lords of the manor and held court over the area.The Etchells area was then administratively split between two townships: Stockport Etchells in the parish of Stockport and Northen Etchells in the parish of Northenden, with Gatley Brook serving as the boundary. The township of Stockport Etchells covered Gatley and much of the area now in Heald Green. From the late 16th century, the local court leets and manorial courts were held at a building that later became known as the Old Court House in Gatley, although it was probably primarily an inn at the time.
In 1886, a local government district called Cheadle and Gatley was created, administered by an elected local board. The district covered the Stockport Etchells township plus the parts of the township of Cheadle that were outside the municipal borough boundaries of Stockport. Local government districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894.
In 1933–34, both Manchester and Stockport wanted to annex the Cheadle and Gatley Urban District. An opinion poll of nearly 10,000 residents recorded near-unanimous support for continuing independence.
In 1936, the boundaries of the Cheadle and Gatley Urban District saw minor changes, taking in a small area from the abolished Handforth Urban District, the majority of which went to Wilmslow. Cheadle and Gatley Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The area became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester. Some roads in the western side of Gatley were a part of the City of Manchester until the early 1990s when residents launched a successful application to the Boundaries Commission to enable Gatley in its entirety to become a part of Stockport.