Early Beginnings

Cheadle is entered in the Domesday Book (1086) as "Celle" held by the lord of the manor, Robert of Stafford, at the time the area covered 6 miles by 3 miles and listed 9 families.

In 1176 the Basset family aquired the manor of "Chedle" and in 1250 Ralph Basset was granted a market charter and annual fair by King Henry III (750 years this year 2000).

In 1309, 75 families are recorded as using a corn-grinding mill sited near Mill Road.

In 1350 a new church was built replacing a 12^th Century structure and this church remained in use until 1837.

In 1606 a school was founded by the church, and in 1685 the then curate of the parish (Rev, Henry Stubbs) left an endowment to "found" a grammar school in Cheadle. The school was built at Monkhouse and was active until 1917. The endowment continues to this day.

In 1676 Cheadle’s population is recorded as just over one thousand, and a hundred years later (1772) as one thousand eight hundred. At this time the main source of employment was agriculture and farming.

1775 : A new workhouse was built and opened. It was extended under the Cheadle Union an 1837. Part of the original building was demolished in 1909, renamed an Infirmary. The whole complex was demolished in 1987 and a new hospital was built on the site, which was opened on the 26^th June 1989 by The Princess Royal.

In 1798, 10 weavers houses were built. The weavers lived downstairs and the looms for the manufacture of tape were upstairs. By the 1820’s the looms were transferred into a factory in Tape Street. This tape factory closed in 1972, and now forms a part of the "Kwik Save" store.

In 1851 silk and narrow fabric mills were built in Cheadle (by Arnolds) and these employed hundreds of operatives in their day, to be closed down in 1981.

In the Brookhouses area of Cheadle in 1725, the Cheadle Brass and Copper Company started production, transferring to the Oakamoor area 100 years later under the then company Thomas Patten, to be purchased in 1851 by Thomas Bolton of Birmingham. In 1890 Bolton’s opened a factory at Froghall and the Oakamoor works were eventually closed in 1963.

Churches

The first independent chapel (Calvinist) was built in 1799 in Hobbs Row (now Well Street) and during the 19^th Century other churches and chapels were built; Weslyan in 1812, Zionist in 1820, Primitive Methodist in 1848. These three merged in 1933 and a new Methodist church was built and opened in 1967. The Roman Catholic Church of St.Giles (Pugins Gem) was built in 1840-46, and the present CofE church also dedicated to St.Giles was built in 1839.

Education

First Roman Catholic school built in 1831 to be replaced in 1848 by the present RC Primary School. The Cheadle National Boys School was built in 1839 and a Girls National School erected in 1845. Both National schools were merged in 1931 and the combined school is now known as the Bishop Rawle CofE(A) school. Senior school education started in Cheadle with the building if "The Senior School" in 1931, now used as part of the County Primary / Junior School.

The Roman Catholic education authorities and the County Council built the Painsley Secondary School for their catchment area in Station Road Cheadle, which opened for students on 8^th September 1964. The Cheadle Grammar School was built and opened for students in September 1962, with Mr R.S.Baker as headmaster, a position he held throughout the life of the school, as it was merged with the then Senior School (Mackenzie) to form the Cheadle High School on 1^st September 1975. The Moorlands VI th Form College was opened on 2^nd September 1997 using the building originally built as the Grammar School.

Other Significant Dates

The first recorded steam vehicle in Cheadle was purchased by the Cheadle Carrying Company in 1873, to assist the movement of coal from the recently discovered coal mine in the area. Further coal seams were opened up around the area making mining in the community a main source of employment. The last in the area closed in 1965.

The Cheadle Rural District Council was formed by the election of councillors on 15^th December 1894, as was the Cheadle Parish Council. With the local government act of 1974, the Cheadle RDC was merged with the Leek and Biddulph RDC’s, to form the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (SMDC), and the Cheadle Parish Council became the Cheadle Town Council.

At the turn of the century the first open air swimming baths were constructed at Brookhouses, and telephone installation began in 1904. In 1901 Cheadle was linked to the North Staffordshire Railway Company by the building of a railway station at Majors Barn, this giving access to further industries and movement of passengers. At a later period sand, gravel and aggregates used for building purposes were transported from the station as well as coal.

The first motor car arrived in Cheadle in 1903, and the first licensed omnibus service – Cheadle to Longton –commenced in January 1914.

After the First World War (1914-18) changes in employment was made available/ possible by access out of Cheadle by means of transport use either by train or bus services.

After the Second World War (1939-45) Cheadle developed by building and extending factories for employment which in turn created a need for more employees, which needed the building of more houses, both council and private for the families.

In the late 1950’s an industrial site was developed in the Brookhouses area and in the mid 1980’s part of the JCB complex took over what had been "The Silk Mill", and converted it to manufacturing products. In the 1990’s two new JCB factories were built on the Leek Road.

We look forward to the 21^st Century.