MOTTRAM-in-LONGDEN-DALE, a parish in the
hundred of MACCLESFIELD, county palatine of CHESTER,
comprising the townships of Godley, Hattersley,
Hollingworth, Matley, Mottram in Longden-Dale, Newton,
Stayley-Bridge, and Tintwisle, and containing
10,086 inhabitants, of which number, 1944 are in the
township of Mottram in Longden-Dale, 7 miles (B.N.E.)
from Stockport. The living comprises a rectory and
a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester,
rated in the king's books at £32. 3. 9., the. former an
impropriation belonging to the Bishop of Chester, the
latter endowed with & 200 private benefaction, and £200
royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop. The
church, dedicated to St. Michael, is in the later style of
English architecture, with a handsome tower; it stands
upon an eminence called War-hill; the vicarage-house,
near it, is surrounded by intrenchments similar to those
of a Roman station. In the churchyard lie the remains
of Lawrence Earnshaw, an eminent self-taught genius
in mechanics and the fine arts; he died in 1767.
There is a place of -worship for Independents, and another,
with a school attached, belonging to the Wesleyan
Methodists. A free grammar school was founded, in
1612, by Robert Garside, and is endowed with about
£53 per annum. There are also a parochial school, in
which about four hundred children are taught, and a
small subscription library. The river Mersey, rising at
the north-eastern extremity of the parish, separates it
from Derbyshire on the south; and the Tame, from Lancashire
on the north. At the village of Mottram, which
consists of one long and spacious street, the Mersey
expands into a broad stream, upon which are the extensive
mills of Messrs. Marshland, occupying a large
space excavated in the rock, and reaching to the middle of
the river, which, lower down, is crossed by a stone bridge
of one immense arch. Here are extensive manufactories
for cotton and woollen goods, paper, and machinery;
works for printing calico, and an establishment for smelting
iron-ore, which abounds in the south-west part of the
parish, and has the advantage of large collieries in the
neighbourhood. A court leet is held annually on Michaelmas-
day, at which a constable is elected. There
are fairs for cattle on April 27th and October 31 st. The
Car Tor, rising above the village, is a precipitous elevation,
eighty feet in perpendicular height, its face exhibiting
various strata of rock, coal, slate, and freestone,
disposed with great regularity; and the sideS being
partly clothed with foliage, it has a picturesque effect.
Mottram hill rises above this to the height of four hundred
and fifty feet, and even this, with the village, lies
far beneath the adjacent immense heights of Charleworth
Neck, Werncth-Loe, &cv the summits of which command
most extensive prospects of the surrounding country.
In this parish are the remains of Bucton castle,
supposed to be of British origin.