Altrincham and around

The historic market town of Altrincham provides the central focus to the south-eastern corner of the Borough. It includes the surrounding neighbourhoods of Timperley, Bowdon and Hale and is enclosed by the open landscape of Cheshire and Dunham to the south and west, giving its extremities a semi-rural characterCharacter includes all of the elements that go to make a place, how it looks and feels, its geography and landscape, its noises and smells, activity, people and businesses. This character should be understood as a starting point for all development. Character can be understood at three levels; the area type in which the site sits, its surroundings and the features of the site.. To the north it adjoins Sale via the principal route through the Borough (A56). A prominent feature in the modern landscape, the road, known as Watling Street, was established as the link from the legionary fortress at Chester to the fort at Manchester.

Altrincham Town Centre has a tight-knit core, and while there has been a loss of historic characterCharacter includes all of the elements that go to make a place, how it looks and feels, its geography and landscape, its noises and smells, activity, people and businesses. This character should be understood as a starting point for all development. Character can be understood at three levels; the area type in which the site sits, its surroundings and the features of the site. in some areas it is largely well preserved. Moving away from the town centre the urban characterCharacter includes all of the elements that go to make a place, how it looks and feels, its geography and landscape, its noises and smells, activity, people and businesses. This character should be understood as a starting point for all development. Character can be understood at three levels; the area type in which the site sits, its surroundings and the features of the site. quickly becomes suburban. Particularly notable are the neighbourhoods of Bowdon and Hale Barns with a proliferation of grand detached villa houses that is unique to this part of the Borough. The Broadheath area also contains a significant grouping of industrial buildings, breaking from the surrounding residential characterCharacter includes all of the elements that go to make a place, how it looks and feels, its geography and landscape, its noises and smells, activity, people and businesses. This character should be understood as a starting point for all development. Character can be understood at three levels; the area type in which the site sits, its surroundings and the features of the site..

With its attractive town centre, Altrincham has maintained a degree of economic autonomy and prosperity while also providing a place to live for those commuting to the city centre.

Opportunities exist to encourage sustainable movement through an attractive secondary street network and use of green corridors.

Within Altrincham and its surrounds there are many areas of older housing. These areas often contain Victorian and Edwardian residential properties, many of which are large detached and semi-detached properties set within spacious and mature landscaped gardens. Much of Altrincham, Bowdon and Hale has been designated as conservation areas with a number of buildings listed, thereby benefiting from legislative protection. This protection requires new development to take account of the architectural styles, massing and materials that characterise these areas. However, many older houses do not lie within conservation areas and are not listed. They may, however, have a significant role to play in characterising these established residential areas as their architectural style, form and layout help shape the identityThe identity or character of a place comes from the way that buildings, streets and spaces, landscape and infrastructure combine together and how people experience them. of these areas.

The name Altrincham first appears as ‘Aldringeham’, probably meaning ‘homestead of Aldhere’s people’.

The earliest documented reference to the town is from 1290, when it was granted its charter as a Free Borough. Subsequently Altrincham developed as a market town during the medieval period. The town plan at that time was characterised by rectangular burgage plots laid out perpendicular to the road. Houses, often of two or three storeys in height, were constructed by the street with farmland behind. Many medieval buildings in the town centre were rebuilt in with brick or their existing timber framed structures were re-fronted with a Georgian appearance. Evidence of this remains within and surrounding the Old Market Place, Market Street and Church Street. The existing layout of Church Street is shown on Burdett’s 1777 Map of Cheshire.

The extension of the Bridgewater Canal in 1776 led to development of Altrincham. It also stimulated the development of market gardening locally, Altrincham was noted for the Altrincham or Altringham Carrot, known also as the “Superb Carrot” and the Bowdon Downs potato.

The Altrincham to Manchester railway line opened in 1849 and Altrincham and the surrounding areas became desirable places for the middle classes and commuters to live, leading to a renewed period of expansion and growth, which is greatly reflected in the town’s historic built environment and attractive suburban villas. The line was converted to be part of Manchester Metrolink in 1992 and remains in operation today.

Broadheath Industrial Park was founded by the Earl of Stamford in 1885. This was the world’s first industrial park, pre-dating Trafford Park by a decade. Covering 101 hectares, it was an important site for engineering companies, particularly machinery and tooling workshops.

The Linotype & Machinery Company Ltd, was established in Broadheath in 1889. The Company developed the Linotype Estate between 1897 and 1901 to accommodate workers. The houses have a rich architectural quality, with seven principal styles evident in their detailingThe details of a building are the individual components and how they are put together. Some are a deliberate part of the appearance of a building, including doors, windows and their surrounds, porches, decorative features and ironmongery. Others are functional, although they can also contribute to the appearance of a building. These include lighting, flues and ventilation, gutters, pipes and other rainwater details. Detailing affects the appearance of a building or space and how it is experienced. It also affects how well it weathers and lasts over time.. This includes varying gable sizes, different window styles, some being set behind front gardens and others fronting almost directly onto the pavement, conveying a sense of layered development.

The historic settlement of Bowdon is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086-87. Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, a timber castle at Watch Hill on theborder of Bowdon and Dunham Massey was erected. The site is designated as a Scheduled Monument and one of the most important archaeological sites in the Borough.

At the heart of Bowdon is a medieval village with many buildings re-faced, extended or rebuilt. There are a number of houses with evidence of timber framing which date back to the 17th century or earlier and roads which overlay earlier historic routes.

The opening of Bowdon Railway Station in 1849 provided a commuter route to the centre of Manchester, making the clean air and rural setting of the Bowdon Downs more attractive to developers. Initially, terraces and semi-detached houses were built, but by the 1860s and 1870s, the ‘merchant princes’ had built elegant townhouses and mansions, which persist as notable elements of the modern streetscapeStreetscape is a term used to describe the natural and built fabric of the street, and defined as the design quality of the street and its visual effect, particularly how the paved area is laid out and treated. It includes buildings, the street surface, and also the fixtures and fittings that facilitate its use – from bus shelters and signage to planting schemes..

In Victorian times the area was home to a lively and vigorous social, sporting (including cricket, tennis and croquet), intellectual and artistic community. There are many fine individual residences built in the area, in a variety of architectural styles and a number constructed from the distinctive Bowdon ‘white brick’. Some of these houses are the work of renowned architects.

The earliest record of Hale is in the Domesday Survey of 1086. Hale was mainly an agricultural area until the 19th century. By 1838-40 Hale Township consisted of a small village at Halebarns. The village at Halebarns had its own chapel and a school.

It was the arrival of the railway in Hale that prompted the change from an agricultural village to a commuter area for middle-class merchants working in the city.

The Township of Hale greatly expanded during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, much of it on land that had been reclaimed from Hale Moss.

Ashley Heath was formerly an agricultural settlement until around 1876 when substantial residential development increased the number of residential properties in the area.

The village of Timperley is sited on solid sandstone and the area subsequently developed with a number of large stone quarries, all now disused. Large blocks of sandstone were known as “tymps” and there is still evidence of the stones today in distinctive gate posts and garden walls within the borough. The former industry is reflected in place names in the area such as Quarrybank Terrace and The Stonemasons Arms.

Timperley became well known for its association with market gardening and certain areas were regarded for particular types of crops, such as ‘Timperley Early’ rhubarb. The Clay Lane and Wood Lane areas of Timperley feature greenhouse-type buildings set in a landscape of irregularly enclosed fields, many of which were apportioned in the early 19th century for small residential plots, with further infill occurring during the later 19th century.

The arrival of the Railway in 1849 triggered Timperley’s growth as an important village and place for commuters, leading to an influx of middle-class residents during the mid and late 19th century.