Wilmslow

Wilmslow is a town in Cheshire, England, situated to the south of Manchester between Alderley Edge and Handforth. Most housing is large and expensive in nature. Wilmslow is part of the Borough of Macclesfield .

It is well known, like Alderley Edge, for having many famous residents, notably footballers, stars of Coronation Street and rich Manchester businessmen. It is an affluent area. The local Aston Martin dealer's sales account for more than one-fifth of the UK sales of £100,000-plus Astons. Wilmslow is a desirable area in which to live, and is part of the so-called Golden Triangle in the north west together with Hale and Bowdon. It grew in popularity in the Victorian era as a most desirable area for wealthy Manchester businessmen to move out to once the railways arrived and connected the towns.

Wilmslow is a railway junction where the electrified line from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly bifurcates. One line continues to Manchester via Handforth and Stockport, the other continues via Styal and Heald Green. The latter route is commonly known as the Styal Line. There are frequent services to Manchester, Stockport and Crewe plus an hourly service to Shrewsbury and Cardiff. There are a few trains to London Euston . The A34 Manchester to Newcastle-under-Lyme road bypasses the town centre to the east. Manchester Airport is a few miles to the northwest.

Wilmslow is home to the clothing giant Umbro who have their headquarters in the area, the food technologists of Sainsbury's, and also the centre of operations of the life insurance and pensions firm, Royal London Mutual Insurance. The Information Commissioner's Office, one of the government's executive agencies is also based in Wilmslow.

Wilmslow has a municipal leisure centre located near the train station. It offers a range of indoor facilities including courts, gym equipment and two indoor pools, one of which is a heated children's pool.

Wilmslow High School is the only secondary school in Wilmslow and is a large comprehensive school that also includes a 6th form for A-level studies. The town has many primary schools, both comprehensive and private (including single sex schools).

Wilmslow also contains a public library, fire station and police station.

Two, free, weekly local papers are distributed to the residents of Wilmslow, they are the Wilmslow Express and the Manchester Metro News.

Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Wīghelmes hlāw = "mound of a man called Wīghelm".

1 Geography
2 Notable Events
3 People from Wilmslow
4 Places of interest
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Geography

The town centre is focussed upon Bank Square, Grove Street and Water Lane. Although Bank Square has traditionally provided the location for many of the town's banks, the name in fact originates from the bank, or slope, leading down to the Carrs recreational fields and up towards the train station. The River Bollin flows through the Carrs and once provided the power source for nearby Quarry Bank Mill, now a National Trust site, as well as enjoyment for the local population.

Before the railway came, Wilmslow comprised only a few farms and a church.

[edit] Notable Events

Wilmslow was in the international media in March 1997, when an IRA bomb exploded at the train station. Nobody was hurt.

In the general election of the same year, the parliamentary constituency of Tatton, in which Wilmslow falls, made headlines as part of the "sleaze" accusations levelled against the then Conservative Government. Tatton MP, Neil Hamilton, was accused of accepting cash for tabling Parliamentary questions, and subsequently defeated in the election by independent candidate Martin Bell.

[edit] People from Wilmslow

Alan Turing, the driving force behind the Colossus machine for cracking the German Enigma cypher, is perhaps Wilmslow's most notable resident. Turing committed suicide in his Wilmslow home in June 1954 by eating a cyanide-laced apple.

Wilmslow has featured in the novels of the writer Alan Garner, with the Black Lake (Lindow) apparently housing a witch. Garner is perhaps best known for his books The Owl Service and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath which are set in nearby Alderley Edge.

The British indie rock band Doves met at Wilmslow High School in the 1980s.

Simon Gregson, who plays taxi boss Steve McDonald in Coronation Street, lives on Gravel Lane.

William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street, lives on Meadow Way.

[edit] Places of interest

Romany's vardo (located near the public library)

[edit] See also

Wilmslow Hockey Club

[edit] External links

Ceremonial county of Cheshire [[Image:\|40px]]
Unitary authorities:	Halton • Warrington
Boroughs/Districts:	City of Chester • Congleton • Crewe and Nantwich • Ellesmere Port and Neston • Macclesfield • Vale Royal
Cities/Towns:	Alderley Edge • Alsager • Bollington • Chester • Congleton • Crewe • Ellesmere Port • Frodsham • Knutsford • Lymm • Macclesfield • Middlewich • Nantwich • Neston • Northwich • Poynton • Runcorn • Sandbach • Warrington • Widnes • Wilmslow • Winsford See also: List of civil parishes in Cheshire