Bagshaw`s 1850 Directory: Lyme Handley
LYME HANDLEY, township and small village, 7 miles N.E. from Macclesfield, contains 2,474 acres of land, exclusive of wood and waste, the whole of which is the property of Thomas LEGH, Esq., of Lyme Hall; in 1841 here were 53 houses and 268 inhabitants: population in 1801, 222. Rateable value £2,525. The tithes are commuted for £245. The township is mostly high ground, bleak and mountainous, and the soil is in general poor; some of the hills command prospects of great diversity and pleasing beauty. The north-west verge of the township is intersected by the Macclesfield Canal. Lyme was granted by Richard II to Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas DANYERS, as a reward for his bravery at the battle of Crecy, when he rescued the standard of the Black Prince, Earl of Chester; she was Sir Thomas`s third daughter, and married Piers LEGH, who was her third husband, since which the township has continued in the uninterrupted possession of the LEGH family.
LYME HALL, the seat of the LEGHS, is a magnificent quadrangular mansion of white gritstone ........................... .
LYME PARK, which contains upwards of a thousand Cheshire acres, has a bold, undulating surface, beautifully wooded, and presents some fine views of sylvan beauty ..................................................................... . The Middle Cale Colliery in this township produces a considerable quantity of good coal; it is now worked by Mr Thos. BROCKLEHURST.
CHARITIES - The poor of this township have 5s. yearly from the bequest of Roger HOLLAND. Edward LOWE gave a rent-charge of 20s. yearly, which is paid from Bradley Meadow in Disley. Francis GASKILL, 1718, gave £100, and directed 20s. yearly to be divided between the minister and the schoolmaster of Disley; 20s. each yearly to the poor of Whaley and Disley; 10s. among the poor of Lyme and Handley; and 10s. each to Taxal and Kettleshulme.
Thomas LEGH Esq., Lyme Hall Rev. Peter LEGH Thomas BROCKLEHURST, coal master & farmer, Plattwood Farm Farmers William BARTON Hannah BAYLEY James BEARD Robert BEARD James BENNETT Henry BLOOMFIELD William BROWN Henry BULLOCK James BULLOCK James GASKELL |
Ervans GEE John GODDARD Joseph GOODWIN Samuel GOODWIN James GRIFFIN William HEATHCOTE James HOWARD John JACKSON William JACKSON Lucy LEE John OLERENSHAW William PEARSON Joseph SWAN William WILLOTT George WOOD |