- Reddish Vale
Reddish Vale is a loosely defined area in the Tame valley close to
Reddish in theMetropolitan Borough of Stockport ,Greater Manchester ,England . The generally-accepted centre of the vale (as indicated on maps) is around the bottom of Reddish Vale Road. Reddish Vale Country Park is acountry park managed by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council.cite web | url = http://www.stockport.gov.uk/atozindex/countryparksreddishvale?a=5441 | title=Country Parks: Reddish Vale | accessdate = 2006-10-29 | work = Stockport MBC ] cite web | url = http://www.stockport.gov.uk/content/leisureculture/parksrecreation/parks/reddishvalecountrypark/?a=5441| title = Reddish Vale Country Park | accessdate = 2006-10-29 | work = Stockport MBC ] It covers 161 hectares in all and comprises some of the traditional Reddish Vale area, Reddish Vale Farm and the grazing land and Woodhall Fields, about half a mile south.Description
Reddish Vale is mainly green space, comprising woodland, flat riverside meadows, sloping fields used to graze horses, and a golf course. At the end of Reddish Vale Road near gbmapping|SJ905935 is a small car park and a visitor centre housed in portable cabins. A number of footpaths lead in all directions, with the more popular ones following the line of the river, both up- and downstream.
Highly visible from the visitor centre is the sixteen-arch brick viaduct built in 1875 to carry the
Hope Valley Line over the Tame valley.cite book | last = Cronin | first = Jill | title = Images of England: Reddish | year = 2000 | publisher = Tempus Publishing | location = Stroud | id = ISBN 0-7524-1878-5] There is a legend that during construction a local witch cursed the viaduct and anyone who counted the number of arches.Poster in the visitors' centre] A railway line once led to Stockport from Reddish Junction at theBrinnington (east) side of the viaduct. This line has been turned into a public bridleway joining the two parts of the country park and forms a section of theTrans Pennine Trail . TheStockport to Stalybridge Line forms part of the western boundary of the vale. A spur once ran to the colliery at Denton. Its position is still visible in places marked by a hedgerow that runs alongside Ross Lave Lane. Where the line had to span Denton Brook an embankment was built using slag and other waste from the mine. At the turn of the century the embankment caught fire and continued to smoulder well into the 1960s until it was bulldozed. Train drivers called the place 'smokey ridge', along the bottom of Denton Brook you can still see the bricks used for the tunnel. Some locals refer to Ross Lave Lane as 'piggy's alley' as there was once a pig farm on the Denton side of the viaduct on the embankment above where Denton Brook joins the Tame. There was a plan at the end of the 18th Century for theBeat Bank Branch Canal to run across the vale, and some sections were dug, but it was abandoned before completion.cite book | author = Ordnance Survey | coauthors = Jill Cronin | title = Old Ordnance Survey Maps: North Reddish and S W Denton | origdate = 1904 | year = 1994 | publisher = Alan Godfrey Maps | location = Gateshead | id = ISBN 0-85054-654-0 ]Nearby are two mill ponds left over from industrial activity in the vale. The ponds were fed from the river above a weir (destroyed in floods in the 1960s,Dubious|date=September 2008 all that remains is the sluice gate) on the upstream side of the viaduct, and provided both power and processing water to Reddish Vale Print Works, a calico printing works dating from before 1800.cite book | last = Holden | first = Roger N | title = Stott and Sons: architects of the Lancashire cotton mills | edition = | year = 1977 | publisher = Carnegie Publishing | location = | id = ISBN 1-85936-047-5 | pages = pp11-12] cite book | last = Ashmore | first = Owen | title = The Industrial Archaeology of Stockport | year = 1975 | publisher = University of Manchester | location = Manchester | id = ISBN 0-902637-17-7 | pages = | chapter = ] The works had ceased printing by 1975, and have now been demolished and the land turned into a butterfly park. The ponds are now used for angling, and attract herons and a variety of ducks. Most of the race has been filled in, but a short length carries Denton Brook down to the river. Denton Brook (and a small tributary) marks the traditional boundary between Reddish and Denton. The manorial corn mill (one of several to be known as Reddish Mill) was sited over the brook and was demolished in about 1860 when the ponds were extended. [cite book | last = Downham | first = W A | editor = Astle, William (ed.) | title = Stockport Advertiser Centenary History of Stockport | origyear = 1922 | url = | accessdate = | publisher = The Stockport Advertiser | location = Stockport | chapter = Chapter XIII ]
2006 | accessdate = 2006-10-28]
Whilst not really in the vale, at the northern end the late 16th Century Arden Hall [cite book |last = Pevsner |first = Nikolaus |authorlink = Nikolaus Pevsner |title = The Buildings of England: Cheshire |year = 1971 |publisher = Penguin |location = | id = ISBN 0-14-071042-6] or 'Cromwell's Castle' (where Oliver Cromwell allegedly spent the nightFact|date=September 2008) and the 17th Century Hyde Hall [cite book |last = Pevsner | first = Nikolaus | authorlink = Nikolaus Pevsner |coauthors = Edward Hubbard | title = The Buildings of England: South Lancashire|year = 1969 | publisher = Penguin | location = | id = ISBN 0-14-071036-1 ] overlook it and form part of the overall landscape. Both are in private hands and not open to the public.
Other activities
[http://www.reddishvalegolfclub.co.uk/ Reddish Vale Golf Club] takes up a substantial area on both sides of the river, but does not form part of the country park. The club house was once a substantial private house in its own grounds.
Just above the visitor centre, on Reddish Vale Road, is [http://www.cgdomestics.com/horse/index.html Reddish Vale Farm] , with riding stables and a children's farm. The buildings and associated grazing were Stockton's Dairy Farm until 1996. [cite news | title = RIDING CENTRE BID FOR FARM | work = Manchester Evening News | publisher = | date =
6 July 1995 ]The
Trans Pennine Trail and the Tame Valley Walk pass through the park.Housing
There is now very little housing in the vale. There are 12 terraced houses opposite the farm on the road leading down to the vale. At the bottom of the road opposite the visitors centre is a large dwelling known as Tame House. Tame House was once the offices for the Calico print works. At the back of Tame House is a dirt track called Riverview; there is a kennels for racing greyhounds halfway down the track. This was once the canteen for the workers at the print works. Adjacent to the canteen was a large Victorian house but this was demolished in the 1960s. Further along Riverview, where the track meets the river, once stood two rows of terraced houses identical to the ones opposite the farm. These were also demolished in the 1960s after being declared 'slum dwellings'. The same fate may have befallen the terraces opposite the farm if it was not for the intervention of twin brothers who had Compulsory Purchase Orders put on them, and organised the installation of a septic tank.
There were nine houses situated between the viaduct and the mill ponds, built to house the workers constructing the viaduct. They were later demolished for expansion of the reservoirs. On the opposite side of the river near to where Strines weir once was there were two houses known as Strines Cottages. These were built for the weir keepers who would control the sluice gates feeding the reservoirs. A recent archaeological dig found the foundations of these structures. It appears that there has never been a church in the vale.
Recent threats
Recent proposals to change the nature of the vale have been met with robust opposition.
In 1988, the government of the day asked the Greater Manchester Residuary Body to sell off its holdings in the area; 3000 people, worried that it would be sold to developers, gathered in the vale to protest. [cite news | title = The Greater Manchester Residuary Body has got problems - at the last count about 3,000 of them | work = Estates Gazette | publisher = Estates Gazette Ltd | date =
9 April 1988 ] The land was acquired by Stockport Council in 1995.
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