Compstall …… the company town ....... in the heart of rural Cheshire

I am back in Compstall, which is just 5 miles from Stockport and even closer to Marple.*

Compstall, 1888

We found it by accident at the weekend, and it keeps drawing me back, not least because of Etherow Country Park.

My Wikipedia tells me that “Compstall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England; it is situated between Marple Bridge and Romiley and is historically part of Cheshire. 

Compstall, 1840

It was formerly a mill village built by George Andrew in the 1820s to house his 800 workers. Most of the original mill cottages and other structures remain unchanged”.**

Added to which Mr. Andrew in 1851 admitted to employing “472 Males and 598 Females” in his textile mills, while Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary recorded that the village contained “1600 inhabitants of whom 1200 are employed in spinning, power loom weaving, bleaching, and printing and the remainder at the extensive coal-works in the neigbourhood”***

Cottages on Montague Street, 2009

And as the Andrew’s family owned the mills, the printing works and leased the coal mine, it is fair to say that Compstall was a “company town”, a fact that extended to the streets, many of which were named after members of the family.  

The Andrew's estate also also built many of the cottages to house their workers as well as the local church and the community hall known as the Atheneaum.

This was not lost on Samuel Lewis who concluded his entry on the village with, “Thirty years ago, Compstall consisted of only a few straggling cottages, but since its establishment of the cotton manufacture, it has been gradually rising to its present thriving condition”.****

All of which is confirmed by the 1851 census which records, a  range of textile occupations, including power loom workers, factory hands, calico printers, and a few former hand loom weavers.

Added to these were several families who owed a living from working down the coal mine, and a handful of factory apprentices.

Like any study of a small community what fascinates me is the detail of people’s lives.

From the 1851 census

And in particular, where they came from, and Compstall was full of outsiders.  

So of the 136 householders recorded as living in the village and the surrounding area in the 1851 census, 68% were from Cheshire and the remaining 32% were from Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire with a few from as far away as Staffordshire, Sussex, Wales and Ireland.

Most of these new comers were working in the textile trade and some were coal miners, which suggests they had been attracted to the village by the mills and coal mine owned by the Andrew’s family.

And a closer look at the 90 Cheshire householders,  shows that 40% were not from Romiley or nearby Bredbury, but drawn from across the county, which is where we came in.

For whatever Compstall had been before the  development of the textile trade that trade had transformed it.

Location; Compstall

Pictures; Compstall in 1881, from the OS map of the area 1881,  Montague Street, built by George Andrew for his workers, 2009, by Skinsmoke,  licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

*A Country Park ……. a big bit of history …….. and the village of Compstall, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-country-park-big-bit-of-history-and.html

**Compstall, Wikipedia,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compstall

***Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary, Vol 1, 1840

****ibid, Lewis

A Country Park ……. a big bit of history …….. and the village of Compstall

The village of Compstall, between Marple and Romiley might well have once been called a one-man town.

Expanses of water ....... 2021

In the 1820s according to one source a chunk of the surrounding land was part of the Andrew’s estate incorporating a mine, a cotton mill and a lake.

“Mr. George Andrew originally built the mill and made the artificial lake, and built houses along with a church and school for the work force who were employed in his mill”*.

Compstall, 1900

And like so many one-man towns, many of the streets were named after the family, including Andrew Street, George Street, Montague Street and Thomas Street, and the pub the Andrew’s Arms, which I think was a late addition.  

To which can be added the Compstall Print Works, which was part of the family empire.  

In 1850, the Manchester Guardian reported that a division of the family assets had led to the dissolving of the partnership “between George Andrew, the elder Thomas Andrew, George Andrew the younger , and Charles Andrew, as calico printer, cotton spinners and manufacturers and carried on at Compstall, and at Manchester, under the firm of ‘George Andrew and Sons’ was dissolved by mutual consent.  The manufacturing establishment will in future be carried on by Messrs. George Andrew, senior, and Charles Andrew, and the printing establishment by Mr. Georg e Andrew, the younger.”**

Twisty walks

George Andrew had been born in 1799, and died in 1854 and was buried in Compstall Church.  

On the 1851 census he described himself as “Justice of the Peace, Cotton Manufacturer, employing 472 Males and 598 Females.”

His father had died in 1821, and George then began a major expansion of the textile business, which involved the construction of the North Mill between 1839 and 1847, and the enlargement of the mill office. The Albert Mill and a range of riverside buildings, including the mechanics shop were extended followed before the business was sold off in the 1890s.***

For those wanting more, there are a series of family and business documents which are listed by the Marple Local History Society.****

I don’t suppose I would have come across Mr. Andrew, ofr Compstall had we not taken ourselves off to Etherow Country Park, on Sunday, and as you do I became interested in the place.

The park was created in 1868, and was one of England’s first country parks, which now attracts over a quarter million visitors a year.

More water

It is situated in the Etherow-Goyt Valley, and is the start of The Goyt Way, which is a 10 mile walk to Whaley Bridge.

The River Etherow flows through the park which is the source for the lakes and was originally used as a reservoir to power the water wheels for the mill. 

Now, none of this will be a surprise to the residents of Stockport, or Compstall, but I am confident that there will be plenty for whom Mr. Andrew, his family business and the Park will be a revaltion.

Location; Compstall

Pictures; the Etherow Country Park, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Compstall in 1900, from the OS Map of Cheshire, 1900, courtesy of Digital Archives, Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*HISTORY OF ETHEROW COUNTRY PARK; https://www.etherowcountrypark.co.uk/

**Manchester Guardian, September 21st, 1850

***Compstall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compstall

***COMPSTALL MILL / ANDREW FAMILY, Marple Local History Society Archives,http://www.marplelocalhistorysociety.org.uk/archives/collections/show/104

****Compstall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compstall

Finding your way home ............... finger posts old and new and a challenge

Now here is another  of those stories focusing on what we may be losing.

Over the last few months I have wandered over a collection of old street furniture from water troughs, those red telephone kiosks to the humble pillar box.

And  now it’s the turn of the road sign or to be more accurate the finger post.

Once they cropped up everywhere and there must still be plenty around but I wonder for how much
longer.

Originally they would have been made of wood and later of metal but  many of the old traditional ones may be  almost redundant.

In an age of cars and fast travel those big day glow signs fit better with the way people travel offering up giant indications of destinations,

Added to which those posts dating back a century or more are in danger from a combination of rust and neglect.

That said they remain elegant reminders of how we used to find our way around and of course there are still plenty of new ones in new locations often painted black or green with the lettering picked out in gold or yellow.

Thesetraditional ones come from the collection of Graham Gill who posted some on his excellent facebook site, Hidden Cheadle/Gatley & Cheshire.

I remember there were some in Chorlton and I will go looking if they are still there.

And leaves me to ponder on how many more I must have known and whether any still exist in the places I grew up.

So here is the challenge for those who share my interest in street furniture to furnish their own pictures and for good measure the location and a description.

I will not be sniffy, any finger post can be inducted into the hall of fame although in the interests of history those that are clearly old and may even be in danger of disappearing are a must.

Which just leaves lamp posts , but that’s for later.

Location; Cheadle & Gatley, Cheshire, Eltham, London

Pictures; finger posts in Cheadle & Gatley, 2016, from the collection of Graham Gill & In Eltham, 2012, courtesy of Steve McDonald