Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire

Description
Mottram-in-Longdendale, a small town, a township, and a parish in Cheshire. The town stands on an eminence in Longdendale, half a mile W of the river Etherow, at the boundary with Derbyshire, 3 miles E of Hyde, and 4 1/4 SE of Ashton-under-Lyne; has environs of great picturesqueness and much grandeur, consists chiefly of one long well-paved street, and has a station, called Mottram and Broadbottom, on the M.S. & L.R., and a post and money order office, Mottram, under Manchester; telegraph office, Hollingworth. It has fairs on 27 April and 31 Oct. The township, which is divided into two wards-Mottram and Broadbottom-comprises 1084 acres ; population, 3270. The manor belonged anciently to the Hollands, passed to the Lovells, the Stanleys, the Wilbrahams, and the Tollemaches, and belongs now to Lord Tollemacher Hill End House and Harewood Lodge are the chief residences. The parish contains also the townships of Hattersley, Hollingworth, Tintwistle, Stayley, Mat-ley, Godley, and Newton. Acreage, 20,501; population of the civil parish, 25,156 ; of the ecclesiastical, 4003. There are several manors held by several proprietors, and there are numerous good residences. The surface is very diversified and contains a large aggregate of beautiful and romantic scenery. Some portions are included in the towns of Mossley and Staleybridge, and both these and others are seats of manufacture. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester; gross value, £283 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Chester. The church, dedicated to St Michael, is a fine old Perpendicular edifice, with a remarkably fine marble pulpit, and comprises nave, aisles, chancel, two chapels, and a tower. The south chapel formerly belonged to the manor of Staley, and is now the property of the Chapman family, by whom it has been restored; it contains an altar-tomb, with recumbent figures of Sir Ralph Staleigh and his wife, of the time of Henry IV. The north chapel originally belonged to Holliugworth Hall. It was purchased by Canon Miller, who conveyed it to the church for use as an organ chamber. In the chancel is an altar-tomb, with the recumbent figure of Reginald Bretland who died in 1703. The ecclesiastical parishes of Godley, Newton Moor, Flowery Field, Millbrook, Stayley, Tintwistle, and Woodhead, form separate benefices. There are Wesleyan, Congregational, and Unitarian chapels, and a cemetery.