Alderley Edge is a small village situated in Cheshire, in the north-west of England. It is home to around 5000 inhabitants, as well as a number of small businesses, picturesque scenery, a rich history and a unique legend.
The first evidence of the existence of Alderley Edge can be found in a manuscript dating back to the thirteenth century. Then named Chorlegh, in the middle ages it consisted of estates belonging to many different landowners. From the fifteenth century, however, most of these were owned by the de Trafford family. Although the land of another family, the Stanleys, is now home to Zeneca Research Laboratories, the area remained quiet until the mid nineteenth century. Mainly utilised for agricultural purposes, it contained a few cottages, a blacksmith's and the De Trafford Arms, which still exists today.
In the middle ages the quieter, raised area of the village now known as the Edge was covered in heather and gorse. In 1588, its prominent location was thought to be an ideal place to build a beacon as a warning to those in Helsby, Frodsham and Runcorn that the Spanish Armada was approaching.
The mines found on the Edge were first mined from the Bronze Age (c. 4000 years ago). In 1995 a Roman coin from the fourth century was found in an abandoned shaft at Engine Vein. However, evidence suggests that it was in the 1690s that copper and lead mining first began. It was from the 1860s that visitors began to visit the mines. Even then, lighting was good and leaders experienced.
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