Miss Hobson's History of Furness Vale.

Miss Hobson, who taught at Furness Vale School was an early researcher of our local history. She mounted an exhibition at the school and the boards displaying her village timeline are among the History Society archives. We also have Miss Hobson's notebooks in which she recorded much of her research. As these are scanned to the computer and transcribed, we will publish some of these items.

 Change of address.   The village bank moved in 1914 from the premises opposite the school, to Jackson's shop.  It had perhaps been sited at no 116 Buxton Road which was later to become the doctor's surgery. It moved to the corner of Station Road and again in 1933 to 99 Buxton Road. The bank finally closed in 1974.

Furness Vale Co-operative Society was formed in 1860 following a meeting at the National School in Whaley Bridge and opened the following year with a capital of £80.  Their first premises was the same shop at the corner of Station Road which they occupied until moving to a purpose built store opposite.

First Buses.  1901  Rhodes mineral water manufacturers in Whaley, ran buses between Whaley and New Mills (3d all the way).
                       1921 The first buses ran through to Buxton.

Chapel-en-le-Frith Through Time

We have received a review copy of Mike Smith's book Chapel-en-le-Frith Through Time.  Nearly 100 pages of photographs make comparison between the present day and scenes from the past. The 180 pictures in colour and monochrome are fully captioned.

"Chapel-en-le-Frith was founded in 1225 when foresters of the Royal Forest of the Peak were allowed to build a chapel in the forest. Buildings which have survivedd to the present time tell of a market town that developed into an important stopping place on trans-Pennine routes and played a major role in the history of transport. In the gritstone hills that surround the town, there is a remarkable concentration of ancient halls, as well as a wealth of unspoilt hamlets.

As well as highlighting how changes in lifestyle have impacted on the appearance of Chapel, the photographs show that the older parts of the town and the surrounding hamlets have change surprisingly little. Customs and traditions have also continued into the present century, thanks to the determination of the townspeople to preserve long established clubs and societies. The story of Chapel-en-le-Frith is about continuity, as well as change. This edition of Chapel-en-le-Frith is fully updated."

The book is available from local outlets, price £14.99 or from the publishers Amberley Publishing, The Hill, Merrywalks, Stroud GL5 4EP.   www.amberley-books.com
An e-book version is also available for Kindle and other electronic book readers.

Bugsworth past.

From the Manchester Guardian February 1928

Sale of the Jodrell Estate 1919

Local Government

Local News - September 1986

Furness Vale 1972

A painting by John Burke

Furness Vale Burial Society Minute Book

This is from one of the scrapbooks of Sam Plant which have been donated to the History Society. It consists of 43 pages which mostly record people's deaths. The book does also include many snippets of local events which make it fasccinating to read.

Mapping The Past

Oldmapsonline is an internet resource that allows the user to search library collections for period maps that may be viewed online. http://www.oldmapsonline.org Search options allow for a range of dates as well as a location search. Searching for Furness Vale returned a wide selection including "Cary's New Map of England And Wales, With Part Of Scotland" This was published in 1794 at a scale of 1:360,000.  The road between Disley and Whaley Bridge still followed the route of the old Roman Road. The turnpike through Furness Vale was not opened until 1804. The Peak Forest Canal is shown although it was still under construction when the map was surveyed. This is a small scale map and our village is not shown.  Some of the place names were spelt quite differently.

Sam Plant's Scrapbooks.

These notebooks have been donated to Furness Vale History Society by James Plant, grandson of the compiler. Some of the entries are in the form of a diary and a few are reproduced below. I shall post more snippets as more of the books are transcribed.

On the 15th January 1891 Albert Swares got his leg broken in Whaley Wood by Shirt of Newtown.
He was locked up at Disley by Whaley police. They fought together at Furness.

May 13th 1891 Wednesday. Joseph Carter of Furness Vale was put on as treasurer for the Co-operative store Whaley Bridge.

May 10th 1891 Sunday. Richard Fox boatbuilder Bridgemont died age 76 years. Buried at Mount Pleasant New Mills May 14th 1891.

Whaley Bridge Village Reunion

 Whaley Bridge Village Reunion - All Day 18th July from 2pm
Whaley Bridge Bowling Club

Dear Friends and fellow villagers. You are cordially invited to a unique event, which has only been made possible through the power of the internet, Facebook and Keith Hadfield who created the group Growing Up in Whaley Bridge.

My fellow host, John Hallows, and I, have secured an all day and evening reservation at the Bowling Club, which is managed by Whaleyites too.... John & Tracey Golpin.

We planned on making a small door charge to cover any small expenditures, and every penny over that, will be divided 50/50 between the 2 village schools. We can't charge though, so it was suggested we have a donations bucket when you arrive, & the same applies: all donations will be given to the 2 schools which is where most of us spent some time over the decades. :)

We are not putting on any food - you are at liberty to pop back home, or bring a picnic ( eat in the park or outside the club on the verandha) go to the chippy, the pubs that do food, or one of the local restaurants. Support our local businesses!

Please feel free to invite family members, or locals who don't have a computer, or Facebook, and come along for an hour or 2 or stay all day long.

I shall be making some posters to put up round the village too. We will have some stick on tags ( from Stampiton, of course) so you can have your name proudly on display. for those of us who may have changed since we were 11 years old, it might be a good idea! :)

Lou, the ex-landlady of the Cock, has very kindly offered to be our photographer for the day. she will be taking as many group, family, school type photos as we wish. Afterwards, she will create a photo album which will be shared on the Group page for everyone to see.. She will be happy to give you her email address so you can send any of your own photos too.

Let's make this event a first.... but hopefully, not the last!

Chris Wilman and John Hallows.