MELLOR HERITAGE PROJECT
Historically, Mellor was in Derbyshire, but in 1936 it moved into Cheshire as part of Marple UDC. 38 years later it moved again to join Stockport in Greater Manchester. However, Mellor is on the edge, dropping from over 300 meters to under 100 meters, and so has always been a link between Derbyshire and Cheshire. Samuel Oldknow’s great Mellor Mill, which was built in 1791 and lasted for a hundred years, was on the Mellor side of the River Goyt, but he had many connections in enterprises, property and land with Marple.
There are two old archaeological excavations. Around 1800, the Reverend Marriott, Vicar of Disley, uncovered the Bronze Age barrows on the Northern ridge at Brownlow and Ludworth Intakes, which are now scheduled ancient monuments. Around 1980, amateur archaeologists partly excavated the Bronze Age Shaw Cairn on the Southern ridge. But nothing earlier than medieval times was known on the central hilltop near Mellor Church, until a crop mark in 1995 led to excavations by University of Manchester Archaeology Unit and the discovery of an Iron Age Hillfort. The Mellor Archaeological Trust was formed to continue the excavations, with support from HLF and Stockport MBC. The discoveries include Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age flints, Iron Age and Roman pottery and artefacts, and a medieval aisled hall.
At the end of 2006, the Trust was awarded a grant of £455,500 for the Mellor Heritage Project, which with the in-kind contributions of volunteer time, has a notional total cost of £720,000. The project will cover the whole parish of Mellor, comprising the ancient townships of Mellor and Ludworth (now usually called Marple Bridge) and the whole history from ancient to modern times. In addition to continued digging in the Old Vicarage garden and the fields near Mellor Church, other prehistoric sites will be excavated. The Anglo-Saxon font may be the only relic of the Dark Ages, but there is much medieval and post-medieval history. A wealth of industrial archaeology remains from the dozen mills of the Industrial Revolution, which had almost all gone by 1900. The second half of the 19th century was a period of decline and depopulation, before the growth of a commuter community in the 20th century.
For more information, look at www.mellorarchaeology.org.uk. Open Days at Mellor will be on September 1 and 2, 2007, at the Old Vicarage and Parish Centre on Church Road.
Excavating the Iron Age ditch near its end at the NW entrance.