Marple Local History Society Meetings
Meetings
The Society generally meets on the third Monday of the month from September to April, apart from December. the meeting is then held on the second Monday of the month.
Doors open 7:15pm ready for the meeting at 7:45. Access is via the main entrance on Church Lane (opposite Mount Drive) and the meetings will be held in the church itself on the ground floor.
The church includes a hearing aid loop system which is most effective for people sitting near the side walls and in the rear pews of the church.
Venue and Location
The meetings take place in Marple Methodist Church on Church Lane in Marple. Postcode: SK6 7AY
Visitors are welcome to attend at a cost of £3. But look below for details of our Membership bargains!
Subscriptions
The annual subscription for the Society is £10 for 8 meetings,so there's a bargain you can take up !
This also allows participation in the Society's trips.
Membership is available at all meetings.
Use the menus on the right to browse our past and present meeting topics.
To park near to Marple Methodist Church
There are double yellow lines immediately outside the church, but there is limited on street parking further up Church Lane on the right hand side, down Empress Avenue and on Mount Drive.
There is a large car park, Chadwick Street Car Park, (SK6 6BY) between Trinity Street and Chadwick Street, Marple. Access is from Stockport Road onto Trinity Street and from Church Lane onto Chadwick Street, exit is made via Trinity Street, in the direction of Church Lane. It is a pay and display car park, however, at the time of writing, October 2014, parking is free after 6pm.
The location of the Methodist Church on Church Lane (red marker) is shown on the map below and you can enter your postcode to get directions there, or to the car park Chadwick Street) nearby (blue marker):
The Society Meetings 2010 - 2011
September 2010: Railways of Marple & Rose Hill Revisited
Warwick Burton
October 2010: Manchester Airport
John Northwood
November 2010: Stockport Workhouse
Kevin Dranfield
December 2010: Christmas Party – Members only
A Year in Mellor – from the new DVD ‘Life on the Edge’
January 2011: Mary Queen of Scots - The Captive Queen
David Templeman
February 2011: More Memories of Marple Bridge and Ludworth
Peter Corcoran
March 2011: AVRO at Woodford
Kevin Whittaker
April 2011: AGM – followed by: The Roman Lakes, Marple
Ken Owen
July 2011: Cheese & Wine Evening
at the Old Vicarage, Mellor
September 16th 2013: More than a Shop
In February, on a bright and chilly day, a coach took three dozen or so members to Rochdale. Not only to view the magnificent Town Hall, but to tour the refurbished Co-Op museum on Toad Lane,where the Co-Operative was born. In September this year, as the curtain raiser for the season, we are to enjoy a talk 'More than a shop, the story of the Co-Op' by Gillian Lonergan , the Head Archivist of the Co-Op. In 1844 Rochdale Pioneers Society was established, starting a period of phenomenal co-operative growth. Based on their eight 'Rochdale rules', including distributing a share of profits according to purchases that came to be known as 'the divi'.
October 21st. 2013: The Kinder Trespass
In October Keith Warrender will bring us the story of the occasion when Bowden Bridge Quarry, Hayfield, saw the start of a mass trespass, that marked the start of the campaign for freer access to the countryside, that culminated in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. 400 people participated in the trespass onto Kinder Scout, the highest terrain in the Peak District. As the trespassers scrambled towards the Kinder Plateau, they came face to face with the Duke of Devonshire's gamekeepers. Scuffles ensued, resulting in five Manchester men being jailed including, leader Benny Rothman.
November 18th 2013: Mather & Platt, A History
Why an early photo of the Iron Bridge, Brabyns Park, to illustrate a talk on Mather & Platt? The Bridge, Grade II listed, is one of the very few cast iron bridges that survive from the period it was built, 1813,and the connection between this Bridge and Mather & Platt? The Bridge was built by Salford Ironworks, which later evolved into Mather & Platt. Ken Bishop will visit, to lecture on the history of the company. Which became international, but is best known, locally for its factory in Newton Heath, Manchester. The Park Works site,on a site measuring 50 acres alongside, and with direct access to, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was developed from 1900. Just over a century later, in 2005, Mather & Platt became part of Willow Pumps, Germany
December 9th 2013:St. Nicholas - The Origin of Santa Claus
December brings the Christmas party and a talk by Warwick Burton, on the seasonal subject, the story of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was born in Patara, at the time in Greek territory, now on Southern coast of Turkey, in the third century. This meeting is for members only, tickets £2,and must be bought prior to the evening. A ‘bring and share’ event, members bringing either a sweet or savoury course. Alcohol is not allowed in the hall. Warwick Burton is well known locally for his knowledge of the railways of Marple, an interest which his father, Monty shared. Warwick’s book ‘Railways of Marple & District from 1794, online at Marple Railways.
Read more: December 9th 2013:St. Nicholas - The Origin of Santa Claus
January 20th 2014: St Kilda-Islands at the End of The World
St. Kilda, an enigmatic name. An archipelago of five islands, lying 40 miles west of Benbecuala, outer Hebrides, whose remaining population were evacuated, on an August day in 1930. Even in late 19th century the islanders could communicate with the rest of the world only by lighting a bonfire on the summit of Conachair, ('the beacon') the highest point, and hoping a passing ship might see it, or by using the "St Kilda mailboat". A daily ‘Parliament’ meeting, was held every day after prayers, attended by all the adult men. The population survived by catching seabirds for food, feathers and oil, farming crops and raising livestock.St Kilda became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Donald Reid, President of the Society, will give us an insight into the history of this iconic island.
Read more: January 20th 2014: St Kilda-Islands at the End of The World
February 17th 2014: Mill Brow - A Hamlet in Ludworth
In February we shall escape the wilds the Atlantic Ocean and St. Kilda, and travel to the green fields and streams, of Mill Brow, where, by the nineteenth century, four cotton mills graced the valley The area which had been part of the royal hunting grounds of the Peak Forest in medieval times, developed with agricultural activity, served by Ludworth Corn Mill, in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The local farms, Hollywood End and Pear Tree Farm date at least from the seventeenth century. In February Ann Hearle & Anne O’Mara will give us an insight into the history of the valley, a valley filled with Primrose, Clough, Hollywood Head and Holly Vale Mills located on Mill Brook.
March 17th 2014: Peak Forest Canal
March will see the Society take to water, as we learn of the history and development of Peak Forest Canal from Grahame Boyes. For much of its length, the canal runs alongside the River Goyt. Both the canal and the river are havens for plants and wildlife The Peak Forest Canal boasts two Scheduled Ancient Monuments in its 15-mile length – the grand, three-arch Marple Aqueduct and the historic Bugsworth Basin. Bugsworth Basin is the end of the canal, where it once connected with a horse-drawn tramway that carried gritstone, limestone and burnt lime to be loaded at Bugsworth for onward carriage to Manchester, the North West and Midlands.
April 14th 2014 : AGM & Farming in Hazel Grove
Bill Mellor is the latest member of a long established local farming family to run Higher Farm on Threaphurst Lane in Hazel Grove. After reading animal husbandry at university he began working with his father and subsequently took over the farm which he now runs single handed. He has a herd of pedigree Simmental beef cattle and a flock of pedigree sheep. Bill sells all his meat direct from the farm to local clients, or to selected local butchers. He is a prominent member of the National Farmers Union and promotes their 'Back British Farming Campaign'.
Bill will review the way in which British farming has changed during the time his family has run the farm, and about how things are done today on a local farm.
The Society Meetings 2007 - 2008
September 2007 Girl Power – Manchester Style
Jean Bailo
October 2007 Ellen Turner – Local Girl in National Scandal
Kate Atkinson
November 2007 Life in Longdendale
David Frith
December 2007 Christmas Party The lighter side of Local History
Jack Turnbull
January 2008 Underground Stockport
Kevin Dranfield
February 2008 The John Rylands Library and its collections
Dawn Yates
March 2008 10,000 years in Mellor
Ann Hearle
April 2008 AGM – followed by: Fire in the Summit Tunnel
Donald Reid
July 2008 Cheese & Wine Evening
at the Old Vicarage, Mellor
The Society Meetings 2008 - 2009
September 2008 Modern Day Adventures of Joseph Watson
In the footsteps of Lyme Park’s gamekeeper - Emily Orford
October 2008 Millennium Walkway in the Torrs
Derek Brumhead
November 2008 Marple 300 Million Years Ago
Dr Fred Broadhurst
December 2008 Christmas Party – Members only
“What and Where in Marple” - Photo Quiz - David Burridge
January 2009 Styal Country Park
John Hill-Watson
February 2009 Who’s Been Living in my house?
Ruth Hargreaves
March 2009 History of Railways in Marple
Warwick Burton
April 2009 AGM – followed by: A Present from Marple
Ann Hearle
July 2009 Cheese & Wine Evening
at the Old Vicarage, Mellor
The Society Meetings 2009 - 2010
September 2009 Joseph Paxton – the busiest man in England
Danny Wells
October 2009 Victorian Railway Architecture
Robin Bluhm
November 2009 The Carver Theatre
Trevor Jones
December 2009 Christmas Party – (Members only)
Marple Photo Quiz, Part II - David Burridge
January 2010 Political Violence in New Mills in the 1830s
Ron Weston
February 2010 Canals of Marple
Ian Moss
March Memories of Marple Bridge
Peter Corcoran
April 2010 AGM – followed by:Excavations in Mellor
Peter Noble
July 2010 Cheese & Wine Evening
at the Old Vicarage, Mellor