Cheshire
Abbey Mill, Prestbury
Prestbury, on the Cheshire/Lancashire borders, lies 2 miles north of Macclesfield and 14 miles south of the centre of Manchester. Here commuters travel to work, whilst others long to retire to this attractive, thriving village community, close to the industry and leisure activities around it, yet in the centre of a large dairy farming country. The Jacobean and Tudor estates of Aldington Manor, Gowerworth Hall, Capesthorne Hall and Prestbury Hall are there - and remind us of the wealth of the architectural and historical past surrounding the village. Prestbury takes it name from early Saxon times, meaning a fortified priests town. St. Peters Church, one of the oldest Parish Churches in the country, restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the late 19th century, has its religious roots dating back to 653 AD. A Norman chapel, its predecessor, can be found in the churchyard.
Prestbury Mill served the locality with corn over 700 years ago – a water mill fed by a mill stream branched from the River Bollin. By the end of the 18th century the mill had become a cotton factory - before changing once more to meet the more fashionable requirements of the silk trade. It closed at the end of the 19th century, before being finally demolished in 1964.
Flacca Court, Tattenhall, Chester
Tattenhall is a pretty rural farming village 8 miles south east of the beautiful Roman town and cultural centre of Chester. Although it is thought that a church existed on the site at the time of the Norman conquest, St. Alban’s church in the centre of the village dates from the early 16th Century. But it was the building of the Chester Canal in 1770 (now the Shropshire Union Canal) that ultimately began to bring prosperity to the area, firstly by providing work on canal construction and then with the use of the canal to transport cheese and dairy products to other parts of the country. The railway lines between Chester and Crewe (and later to Whitchurch) followed, which provided Tattenhall with a station of local importance (now closed) and with it the creation of a number of substantial Victorian buildings in the area. The M53 to Liverpool and M55 Manchester are within easy reach, whilst the gateway to Wales and the Snowdonia National Park is at Wrexham (8 miles). There is also an excellent rail network at Crewe.