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Sharing our memories of Heald Green
Last Updated 19th June 2025
Bolshaw Farm
By Helen Morgan
First Published 08/06/2025
Last Updated 15/06/2025
An area of open waste land known as Bolshaw Outwood did not begin to take shape until 1810, when acts of enclosure finally reached Cheadle. Bolshaw Road became a defined road from then onwards.
Bolshaw Farm was the original Outwood Farm. By 1841 and probably before that, the farm and its enclosed fields stretched southwards into Handforth cum Bosden, as far as Hope Farm (now The Grange on Clay Lane). Bolshaw was being spelt as Balshaw. The farm was classed as being in Handforth.
1
The history of both the building and the families who lived there.
Fig. 1 Map from 1846
© Cheshire Tithe Maps
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The farm was nearly 50 acres of meadows, pasture and arable fields. In 1841 the owner of the land was Henry Jackson and the tenant farmer was Isaac Sanders. The 1841 census records the farm as in Handforth, Cheadle, Stockport, Cheshire. Isaac had been born in 1796 and was married to Jane. They had six children, five sons and a daughter. Their birth dates and places went back to 1816, and had all been in Handforth, so the family could have been there since then. Son John was the eldest at 25, along with 15 year old William, 14 year old Joseph, 8 year old Issac and 4 year old Enoch. Daughter Alice was 20 years of age.
By the census of 1851 this family had moved on. The next tenants were Samuel Bradburn and his family. The census recorded the farm as Outwood Farm, Handforth cum Bosden. Samuel was aged 40 from Knutsford and was married to 36 year old Mary from Leicestershire. On the day of the census his widowed mother Nancy was visiting, along with an aunt, Sarah Hall. They had two servants. Jane Robinson was a 20 year old dairymaid and 17 year old John Austin Riley was a cow man.
At this time farmers were also multi-tasking. According to the Williams book, Long Lane Cheadle Remembered, Samuel Bradburn was also a draper and a tailor as well as a cheesemaker. By 1861 Samuel now aged 50 and a new wife Maria aged 33, had moved, along with his mother to Upper Fold, Chinley Bugsworth and Brownside, Chapel En Le Frith. He and his wife were recorded as tailors and drapers employing 10 men and farmers employing 22.
2
The Hankinson family can be found all over Heald Green and Handforth. Perhaps the most well-known ones would be the family at Griffin Farm. That was also the original Griffin Inn and going even further back in time to the Black Griffin Inn. The family who was at Outwood Farm on the 1861 census, came from the Hankinsons at Griffin Farm. Isaac Hankinson was the third son of Isaac Hankinson, who was the innkeeper at the Griffin Inn. He was born in 1839 and lived at Outwood Farm by 1861 with his wife Mary who was 23 years old. Their daughter Charlotte was 5 months old. They employed three servants: 15 year old Ellen Morton was a general servant, 16 year old Thomas Royle was a carter, and 50 year old John Pearson was an agricultural labourer.
By 1871 Isaac and Mary had added to their family. Charlotte was now 10 years old, followed by Alice who was 9, Louisa who was 7 and Charles who was 6. All the children were scholars. They employed two servants: 17 year old Peter Bailey who was a farm servant, and 14 year old Priscilla Mottershead who was a general servant. The census records the building just as Bolshaw Outwood, Handforth cum Bosden.
On the 1881 census the building is recorded once again as Outwood Farm. Isaac is noted as being a farmer of 62 acres and lived there with Mary and children Alice, Louisa and Charles. His daughters were dairy maids and son Charles was a teamsman agricultural labourer.
Fig. 2 Cheadle Hulme and District map, 1882
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Outwood Farm is there off Bolshaw Road but not named on this map. Nearby was Outwood Hall Farm (where Greta Avenue is now) Outwood House Farm (Rhind’s corner) and Outwood Road Farm (now Outwood Primary school). There was also another Outwood Farm at some point where Nixon’s is today!!!
By 1891 sadly at 51 years of age, Isaac was a widower. Mary his wife had died in June 1882. He was still at the farm with his three children now aged 29, 27 and 26. On 6th February 1900, aged just 60, Isaac died, leaving the farm to his only son, Charles. The 1901 records Charles aged 36 and single, living at the farm with his spinster sister, Alice who was 39. The two of them continued to live there on the 1911 census as farmer and housekeeper and 1921 census as farmer and doing home duties (housekeeper had been crossed out). The farm was recorded as Bolshaw Road Farm.
In 1929 Charles retired and by 1937, when he died back at Griffin Farm, he had taken a wife and had a son, Philip.
The next family to take over Outwood Farm and rename it Bolshaw Farm, was the Royle family and my goodness me what history that farming family has around the Stockport and Northen Etchells area!! I was very lucky in March to meet up with Kath Wright and Stuart Hobson, whose grandparents Matthew and Fanny Royle were the tenant farmers, before actually buying the farm outright in 1956.
Their back story is just so interesting, that I felt the need to add it. Both came from long standing farming families who socialised together and married into each other’s families over the generations.
Fig. 3 Maud's wedding 1929
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This is 1929. The bride, Maud, was Matthew Royle’s cousin. The groom, John Garner, was Fanny’s cousin. Matthew is sat on the right hand side on the front row. Fanny is stood on the right hand side of the third row.
Matthew’s grandfather was Charles Royle born 1806 and he married Betty Simpson from Chamber Hall Farm and they had ten children. One of those was John Royle born 24.4.1843, he was Matthew’s father.
John Royle married Martha May Harrison and had four children. Matthew was born 25.4.1886.
Matthew married Fanny Elizabeth nee Barlow (the family that owned Lumb Head Farm), and they had four children, Arthur, Frank, Mary Elizabeth (Betty) and John Geoffrey (Geoff).
Fanny’s great, great grandfather was James Gleave who married Martha Woodhead on 23.12.1794. Their son Thomas Gleave, Fanny's great grandfather, married Mary Smith on 4.11.1827. Their daughter Ann, Fanny's grandmother, married James Barlow on 13.8.1851.
Fig. 4 Ann Barlow (nee Gleave)
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Fig. 5 James Barlow
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The 1881 census for Adswood Old Hall Farm, recorded Ann and James had five children. Daughter Mary was the eldest and then four sons Samuel (Fanny’s dad), Thomas, James and William. By 1891 there was another daughter there, she was 20 year old Fanny Emma.
In 1895 Grandad James Barlow bought Lumb Head Farm for £1630. It was 31 acres 1 rood and 7 perches in size. In today’s money that is about £273,000. That is a story in itself and covered separately in its own article.
Fanny’s father Samuel married Mary Garner on the 8.12.1886. They were tenant farmers at Offerton Hall Farm. Fanny Elizabeth was born on the 6.11.1893 and Sarah Ellen (known as Nellie) on the 1.1.1895.
Fig. 6 Mary Barlow wife of Samuel
with Nellie and Fanny Elizabeth c. 1896
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Fig. 7 Mary Barlow (nee Garner)
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By the 1911 census both Fanny and Sarah were working at Offerton Hall farm as dairy workers. Fanny had all her teeth removed as a 21st birthday present! She had very long hair, that was always up in a bun.
By 1921 Samuel, Mary and Fanny were living at 12 Linden Grove, Woodsmoor.
The two Barlow sisters both married Royle brothers. Younger sister Sarah married John Royle first in 1921 and they moved to Moss Side Farm near Heyhead in Northen Etchells. Matthew Royle lived with them and then married Fanny in 1923. Unfortunately, there is not a photo of their wedding day as bride and groom. However, this is Matthew in his wedding suit. Samuel also has a flower in his lapel for their wedding and would be in his sixties in 1923.
Fig. 8 Matthew Royle
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Fig. 9 Samuel Barlow, Fanny's father
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Matthew, with money left by his father John, bought a plot of land on Brown Lane from landowners William Ebenezer Brunt, Herbert Brunt and Robert Kay Wadsworth, for £115 12 shillings and 6 old pence on the 17.3.23.
He had two semis built, numbers 3 and 5 Brown Lane. He called them Sunny Bank. Once built they moved into 3 Brown Lane and rented number 5.
There was no pavement opposite. Not until 1961 did houses further up, like number 36, have land purchased from them by the council to build one.
Fig. 10 Early photo of Sunny Bank nos. 3 & 5 Brown Lane
© Royle family
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Fig. 11 Sunny Bank showing the pebble edged path and the stained glass windows and door
© Royle family
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Sons Arthur (born 6.4.1924) and Frank (born 25.1.1926), and daughter Mary Elizabeth, known as Betty, (born 13.4.1929) were all born at home on Brown Lane.
When Matthew, Fanny and the children moved out to the farm, Samuel and Mary moved in.
Fig. 12 Arthur and Frank Royle with grandad Samuel Barlow at 3 Brown Lane
© Royle family
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Fig. 13 Arthur and Frank Royle with grandma Mary Barlow
at 3 Brown Lane
© Royle family
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In March 1929, Matthew bought the tenancy for Outwood Farm, Handforth from Charles Hankinson.
All the stock was valued, alive or dead. There were cattle, a horse, pigs, poultry, guinea fowls and ducks. The fixtures in the house, scullery, behind the house, in the yard, in the stable and shippons, in the loose box, stock shed and yard, were all itemised.
It was eight pages long. Even the manure had a value! The price was £1084 and 6 old pence in total, with half of the valuer’s fees.
Fig. 14 Sale Hankinson to Royle valuation and fee 28.3.1929
© Royle family
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Figs. 15, 16 & 17 Valuation Hankinson to Royle
© Royle family
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After Betty was born, the Royle family moved into Outwood Farm in 1929. John Geoffrey (known as Geoff) was born there on 6th November 1931.
Matthew renamed the farm Bolshaw Farm, to stop confusion with the other Outwood Farm further up Bolshaw Road, where Nixon’s is today.
Fig. 18 Farm implements bill 30.3.1935
© Royle family
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Fig. 19 Betty, Frank and Arthur Bolshaw Farm garden
© Royle family
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Fig. 20 Frank, Matthew, John Geoffrey, Arthur and Betty c. 1934/5
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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On the 1939 register for Bolshaw Farm, Matthew was recorded as a dairy farmer and Fanny was doing unpaid domestic duties. Arthur was a cowman assisting his father and Frank was at school. Betty and John Geoff were redacted due to privacy regulations as they are still living. Samuel Barlow, Fanny’s father, lived with them. He was now a widow as his wife Mary had died on 5.1.1934. Samuel died on March 3rd, 1941, aged 85 at Bolshaw Farm. In “The Shanty” lived 64 year old cowman Peter Duffy.
Family life there was a hard one and all the children were expected to help out. There was no electricity just candlelight and the toilet was outside. Indeed, Betty could tell a story about sitting on the toilet in the cold and Geoff tickling her bottom with a stick!
All the children had their own personalities. Arthur was the artist, tug o war and champion plougher. Old coins were found on the farm that the plough had gone through. Frank was the athletic one and could do backflips in the kitchen from standing. Geoff was the comedian. One day he took the bull through the kitchen and into the house.
Betty, until recently, could name every animal they had had on the farm. She also had her tonsils removed under chloroform, on the kitchen table!! That was the same table that the family hid under during bombing raids in WW11. In the cellar they tried brewing ginger beer until one day there was an almighty explosion. Bottles had shattered whilst fermenting and they did not know what to do with the rest to get them out safely!
Fig. 21 Arthur, Frank, Betty and Geoff in the Bolshaw Farm garden c.1937
© Royle family
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Fig. 22 Arthur, Frank, Betty and Geoff in the Bolshaw Farm garden early 1940s
© Royle family
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“My dad, Frank, told me that during the war a cow died of anthrax at Bolshaw. Under normal circumstances the Ministry of Agriculture would come and burn the carcass on site, but because of blackout regulations that wasn’t possible. The carcass was buried in a lime pit somewhere on the farm. I remember contacting the highway authorities when they were constructing the A555, in case the cow was unearthed.”
- Janet McKenna via email 2025
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Fig. 23 A tea or lunch break with Matthew sat in the middle
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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“My Dad, Frank, didn't really talk a lot about his childhood. The only few things I can remember him saying was that he wasn't allowed to join the school football team, because he was needed at weekend to work on the farm. It was all manual labour and there were quite a few Irish men that lived on the farm who all smoked, and he had a large collection of cigarette cards they gave him. I remember him saying that when war was declared all the Irish men left quickly to go back to Ireland. He told me that during the war there was double summertime, the clocks were changed 2 hours forward so that the farmers could work longer in the summer. He remembered it still being light just before midnight when they were bringing in the hay.”
- Janet McKenna via email 2025
On 31st December 1941, Matthew bought the Tenancy for Gill Bent Farm, off Stanley Road.
Fig. 24 Gill Bent Tenancy
© Janet McKenna
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Fig. 25 Arthur Royle on his 21st
© Royle family
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Betty had attended Cheadle Etchells School. The headmaster had wanted to employ her as a PA but she had to work on the farm and feed her brothers.
They did a milk round on a horse and cart and filled up jugs for customers. Until recently Betty could still recite all the people on the milk round!
She was a Rose Queen for St Catherine’s Church in 1945. Later on, she would be a driving force behind the organisation of that event and also the WRVS, until they left Heald Green in 1968.
Betty on the left with Joyce Lawson who was the retiring Rose Queen in 1945.
Joyce would later be Betty’s bridesmaid.
Fig. 26 Rose Queen Betty on left
© Royle family
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Fig. 27 Betty and Joyce with their retinues. Rose Queen 1945.
© Royle family
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Fig. 28 Janet McKenna's father Frank is driving
with Geoff helping. c 1946
© Janet McKenna
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“The Ferguson TE20 was built from 1946, so maybe after then. It looks pretty new.”
- David Webb, Facebook 2022
Bolshaw Road houses can be seen behind them. The triangle houses are near the junction with Wilmslow Road. Behind Frank’s back may well be a glimpse of Dolly Tub row cottages. The building on the right could be Penkethman’s garage owner’s house and office, where Lakeland is now.
Frank and Geoff tried teaching Betty to drive on the farm. She hit the accelerator instead of the brake and went straight into the barn doors.....never again!
Fig. 29 Frank Royle on his 21st. Jan 1947
© Royle family
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The peace on the farm was shattered on Sunday November 9th 1947, when a spitfire plane crash landed in their fields on the way to Ringway.
Fig. 32 Spitfire crash 1947
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Figs. 30A and 30B Spitfire crash
Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser 14.11.1947
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This is a “lamp cockpit markia” Found at Bolshaw Farm, not by Royle family members, and sold in 2017 for £30
Fig. 31 Spitfire find
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Fig. 33 Crash site fields looking towards Wilmslow Rd
GJ Salon or tollkeepers cottage 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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In February 1948 an awful tragedy struck the Royle family, with the death of their eldest son Arthur at the age of 23. He was killed on the back of horse and cart going to/from Gillbent farm. The cart was hit by a sand waggon. The horse survived but would not go back on a road, so it was sold to a farm to work the land.
Fig. 34 Death of Arthur Royle
Manchester Evening News 27.2.1948
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“Gill Bent farm was actually run by the Royle family who farmed at Bolshaw. My dad and their son, Arthur, were carting something from Bolshaw to Gill Bent. It was only by chance that dad was leading the horse at the front, with Arthur in the back. Sadly, they were hit from behind. This made the cartwheel bounce up and Arthur was struck and killed. This happened on Wilmslow Road near Bolshaw Road.”
- Walter Slack memories, in conversation 2023
“Mum was 16 years old. The day he died she’d walked under a ladder and was told by the man up the ladder that it was bad luck. When she got home, she was told about Arthur’s death. She blamed herself for his death and didn’t tell anyone until she told me when she was in her 80s. So, so sad.”
- Kath Wright in conversation 2025
His parents received many letters of condolence expressing their shock and sadness at what had happened. These included letters from his tug o war manager, Mr J.J. Pollard and the Woodford and District Young Farmers Club, who said “We remember with pride his ploughing match efforts and his sportsmanship was admired by all.”
Fig. 35 Death of Arthur Royle
Manchester Evening News 1.4.1948
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£10 is about £460 today, it’s not a lot for the waste of a life is it.
“My brother Eddie decided to go in for body building. He had a very serious mastoid when he was young. They had to do an emergency operation and cut a nerve, so he was completely deaf in one ear. This meant that he could not join up for the war, he was really cut up about that. He built a gym in one of the barns and Eddie, Alec Rhind, two other guys and a bloke called Little Arthur trained there. Sadly Arthur, the son of a farmer on Bolshaw Road was killed whilst walking a horse on Wilmslow Road. He was only 23. My brother trained these men and they used to meet up for shows. Billy Nick (Nixon’s farm) decided we would have a tug o war team.”
- Memories of Jean Margaret Rushton nee Bailey, who farmed at Bradshaw Hall farm. In conversation 2021
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“I’m fairly confident that 3rd from right is Frank, he was the strong sportsman. I don’t think Arthur or Geoff are on this.”
- Stuart Hobson In conversation 2025
Fig. 36 Outwood Farm 1947 tug o war
© Jean Margaret Rushton
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“They were actually called Outwood Athletic, their great rivals were Bosley Wood treatment. My father did help train them at one point. They used to practice pulling a concrete block on a pulley block suspended from the branch of an oak tree next to the farm.”
- Mike Pollard, Facebook 2022
In May 1948, Matthew bought the land for the farm from the landowners for £4750. He would pay off the mortgage for it by 1956.
He bought 62 acres and 35 perches from the Brocklehurst Trustees.
Fig. 37 Completion statement from vendors to M Royle 18.5.1948
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Fig. 38 Frank Royle and Eileen Kelsall wedding Sept 1949
© Royle family
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At the end of 1949, Matthew Royle passed over the tenancy of Gill Bent Farm to his son Frank.
Fig. 39 Gill Bent tenancy
© Janet McKenna
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This is the same tractor as in Fig 28, but now at Gill Bent Farm.
Fig. 40 Gill Bent Farm: Betty, Geoff and Frank c. 1950s
© Janet McKenna
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“This was the front door leading out to a garden, closest to the road. On all my visits, this door was never used, only the kitchen door was used.”
- Stuart Hobson. In conversation 2025
Fig. 41 Matthew and Fanny Royle Bolshaw farm front door
© Royle family
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They were outside the door shown on my photo (Fig 42).
Fig. 42 Farmhouse 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Fig. 43 Mr and Mrs Sam Higgins worked at Bolshaw Farm for Matthew Royle
© Royle family
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I took my up to date photos of the farm, from March 2025, to show Kath and Stuart so that they could tell me what used to be where.
Fig. 44 The bull shed 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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In the foreground was the farmyard. There was a well here too. The buildings across the back were the shippons.
Fig. 45 Shippons and farmyard originally 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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In the far corner was the dairy alongside the kitchen that was attached to the main house. The kitchen door led out onto the farmyard.
Fig. 46 Dairy originally after shippon row 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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This was the back of the main house. The door seen here was added when the building was redeveloped. It had been just a window. The long window was where the stairs were.
Fig. 47 The original front 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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A door led off the kitchen to an outside toilet in the yard at the back. That was behind the brick buildings here.
Fig. 48 Farmhouse side on to show outside loo area 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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The little window almost at floor level was on the steps to the cellar. The original small window can be seen.
Fig. 49 Frank and Arthur on horse with Sam Higgins, Betty on left
© Royle family
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This is the same wall of the farmhouse.
The original road from the farmyard, down the side of the farmhouse, towards Bolshaw Farm Lane that leads to Bolshaw Road.
Fig. 50 Road from entrance to farmyard 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Last bit of the original road to Bolshaw Farm Lane.
Fig. 51 Original entrance from service road 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Fig. 52 Bolshaw Farm Lane in Winter to Bolshaw Road
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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And now in 2025.
Fig. 53 Service road back to Bolshaw Road 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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I just want that to be the same gate post!!
Fig. 54 old gate and post 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Fig. 55 Frank, Geoff, Betty and Arthur on gate
© Royle family
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Fig. 56 Betty Royle on her 21st birthday
© Royle family
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Fig. 57 Geoff Royle on his 21st birthday
© Royle family
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Brian Hobson drove his motorbike from Nether Alderley to Bolshaw Farm courting Betty. He fell asleep once and crashed his bike at the bottom of a hill in Alderley, straight into the back of a van!
They went to dances in Alderley Edge having met at The Regal which is now a medical centre. He was drafted into the army and served in Germany. He learnt to drive in the army and drove Scammels over there and never passed a test in the UK.
They married on 6th June 1953 at St Marys Church, Alderley. From being 19 Brian was connected to that church as a sidesman. They lived in Nether Alderley where Kath was born in 1955.
“I think the place where Betty and Brian met in Alderley was called the Festival Hall. It was renovated some years ago. The front of the building is now a medical centre but the new Festival Hall is behind. I actually go there Scottish country dancing on Wednesday evenings.”
- Janet McKenna via email 2025
The Alderley Edge Festival Hall from 1928 became The Regal Cinema and Ballroom in 1938, so are the same building. It is now the medical centre.
Fig. 58 Brian and Betty's wedding
© Royle family
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The lady on the left is Fanny Hobson, Brian’s mum. The bridesmaid is Joyce who was Betty’s best friend and fellow Rose Queen. Then brother Geoff, mum Fanny, Best Man Frank Powell and dad Matthew on the end. Betty made her own dress that the family still have. She was 5 foot 1 inches and is now 4 foot 11 inches, in her 96th year.
Fig. 59 Geoff and Doris (nee Cooke) wedding 1954
© Royle family
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On September 23rd 1955, Matthew and Fanny moved back to 3 Brown Lane. Geoff took over farming at Bolshaw. When Kath was 6 months old, her family moved into 5 Brown Lane, after the tenants had left, with her grandparents living next door. Stuart was born there in 1958. Kath can only ever remember Matthew being poorly in bed.
In March 1956, Matthew paid off the final instalment for the farm land.
Fig. 60 Sale completed 23.3.1956
© Royle family
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Matthew died on November 7th 1958. The farm passed on to his wife Fanny with Geoff running it.
Sunny Bank can just be seen through the trees on this photo.
Fig. 61 Brown Lane 1960
© Ratepayers Association
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Both Kath and Stuart went to Vernon House private school on Outwood Drive. Kath remembered going up the stairs with her apple cored and cut into four in a tin and semolina with jam. Stuart remembered the front room as a music room, where he had to ring the triangle. Kath recalled walking on the way home past a field with pig cotes made of metal and played near them. There were no pigs but tin huts. Perhaps this was Meadows Farm (where Peakdale Ave now stands)?
The back gardens of number 3 and 5 Brown Lane were not separate, so it was a big space with a greenhouse and a big shed. There had been an air raid shelter (bolted iron works covered in soil) where the swing was. They had a rabbit called Patch. Kath remembered steam trains passing under Brown Lane bridge and the fields further along where Rose Vale Park and beyond is now.
Stuart remembered collecting rose petals for the Rose Queen from their garden and Kath could remember the stalls round the outside. Peter Lucas was the Vicar of St Catherine’s, with a slobbering Boxer dog called Bengo, and that family emigrated to Canada.
“Went on a visit to the farm when I was a pupil at Outwood Primary, c.1964. Mr Royle gave each of us a glass of milk and a piece of cattle cake. He didn’t tell us what it was and some thought we had been given a biscuit. Only when they started to try and eat it, he began shouting “STOP” and explained it was for the cows.”
- Graham Bloxsome, Facebook 2024
Back at Bolshaw Farm in January 1968, a contract was being arranged with Mr Stockfis who was chairman of Northern Caravan Distributors Limited to buy a piece of land from Fanny as farm owner. It was 5356 square yards and was part of land that had been requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence in the war as a Maintenance Unit around Clay Lane. Frank, Betty and Geoff, who was the tenant farmer, agreed to the sale for £750, once the company had obtained planning permission to display caravans there.
This did not go down well with everyone and the Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser on 18.4.1969 carried the headline “Caravan site an Eyesore, inquiry told.”
Handforth Ratepayers and Electors Association were attacking an appeal by the caravan firm against refusal of planning permission for an extension of their display centre. “Before the appellants bought this site it was a pleasant and green field. This morning it was littered with paper and oil cans. It appears to us that the site is being made to look untidy” said Mr Sampey, a Wilmslow Councillor representing the Association. Mr Brown, for the caravan company said “in its present state the land had been used as a tip since the war.”
The firm did not intend to put any buildings there but wanted to use it for a display in an attractive garden setting for 21 caravans. The air raid shelters there would not be removed but incorporated into the landscape as grassy mounds. The reasons given for refusal of planning permission was to do with infringement of the North Cheshire green belt and that the proposed Manchester outer ring road would go through the land.” Remember this is 1969!!!
Mr Leslie Warbrick, planning officer for the North Cheshire Area of the Cheshire County Council said, “the appeal site was formerly part of Bolshaw Farm and during the 1939 war the air raid shelters had been built on it. During this time, it was occupied by the services and clearly separated from the caravan site by a hawthorn hedge which screened the view from the main road across the caravan site or the disused air raid shelters.” He pointed out that “the green belt at this site, provided a break between the built up parts of Cheadle and Gatley Urban district at Heald Green and the built up parts of Wilmslow Urban District at Handforth, and this break was important.”
The assistant county surveyor, Mr Hornsby, said the proposals would considerably increase the business and the amount of traffic entering and leaving.
It was agreed that as per an inquiry in 1953 the important highway proposals were protected!!
Looking at this advert it must have gone ahead ...
Fig. 62 Northern Caravans extension
Manchester Evening News 4.6.1969
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“Went to school with Peter Royle and we were good mates. Used to go hay bailing at the farm every spring/summer around 1968/9. Always remember Pete’s dad leading a huge bull out of its stable opposite the farmhouse.”
- Nigel McGivern, Facebook 2025
“My dad, Ken Carpenter, who sold animal feeds for Silcock’s, used to visit Geoff Royle. I often accompanied him in the school holidays, we used to live on Bolshaw Road. I also watched the tug of war team training on summer evenings. I seem to remember you could hear the shouts from the guys for miles!!”
- Ian Carpenter, Facebook 2022
Fanny died in Cheadle from dementia in 1969. Stuart could remember Kath and his mum Betty, letting Fanny’s hair down from its usual bun, only once in a while as it was very long and brushing it moving further and further away as her hair was almost to the floor.
After her death, number 3 Brown Lane was sold for £4300 and number 5 for £5000. The family moved away from Heald Green to Alderley. The farm was split three ways with Geoff paying rent to Betty and Frank. It was then valued and Geoff bought out Frank and Betty.
Geoff continued at Bolshaw Farm and brought his children up there.
Fig. 63 Christine Royle's wedding 31.5.1984
Macclesfield Express
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In 1986 the wedding of Peter Geoffrey Royle, only son of Geoff took place. Peter worked on his dad’s dairy farm.
Fig. 64 Peter Royle's wedding 5.6.1986
Wilmslow Express Advertiser
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“Once married they lived in a mobile home on the farm. Their first son Mark was born there in 1989. However, their second son James was born in Coventry in 1991.”
- Janet McKenna via email 2025
In Nov 1989 the local newspaper ran a story about right of way issues across the farm. The tenant farmer was still Geoffrey Royle.
Fig. 65 Bolshaw farm right of way 15.11.1989 Stockport Express Advertiser
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In 1989 and 1990 the farm buildings and land went up for sale.
Fig. 66 Farm sale 9.2.1989
Wilmslow Express Advertiser
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Fig. 67 Land sale 22.3.1990
Wilmslow Express Advertiser
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“The reason Geoff Royle stopped farming at Bolshaw I believe was because some of the land had been compulsorily purchased ready for the bypass to be created. There had been an earlier plan to create a bypass in the 1940s but it was cancelled due to the actions of a certain Adolf Hitler.”
- Stuart Hobson, via email 2025
Although Matthew had bought 62 acres, there was now only 57 being sold.
The A555 stopped at Wilmslow Road for many years until more land was purchased by the council. This then meant that the bypass could then go under the road, where it now always floods, through Bolshaw Farmland and onwards to the airport. It opened in 2018.
After the sale the Royle family moved on.
“Mr Royle was the farmer. The farmhouse was rented out after he left for a few years by a couple with a child. When it became empty, it got vandalised. Teenagers were using it as their den and lighting fires. The new owners built the mews houses within the footings of the farm.”
- Doreen Brown Jones, Facebook 2024
“The younger son Geoff Royle moved to a large dairy farm in Coventry, where my cousin Peter and his sons still farm today.”
- Janet McKenna, Facebook 2022
“No one lived there after Geoff left. I seem to remember it was originally sold with a view to it becoming an Indian restaurant. Something in my mind tells me it was someone from the Hilal Restaurant in Handforth. It was left to go derelict and I remember taking my children to look around the farm and showing them the steps down to the farmhouse cellar. My dad Frank had told me the story about my Grandad Matthew, falling down those cellar steps during the war, and I think he broke his leg.”
- Janet McKenna, via email 2025
The farm went to auction in 2006.
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Fig. 68 Main & Main Advert 26.7.2006
Macclesfield Express
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%20Kath%20Wright%20nee%20Royle.jpg)
Fig. 69 Bolshaw Farm
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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Fig. 70 Bolshaw Farm
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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Fig. 71 The farmhouse 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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%20Kath%20Wright%20nee%20Royle.jpg)
Fig. 72 Bolshaw Farm
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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%20Kath%20Wright%20nee%20Royle.jpg)
Fig. 74 Bolshaw Farm
© Kath Wright nee Royle
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Fig. 73 Shippons and farmyard 20.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Fig. 75 Side of old buildings from service road 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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August Blake developed it into stunning accommodation. There are certain stipulations with the development, for example the windows and doors have to all be the same and cannot be altered without permission.
Fig. 76 Robinsons greenhouses across the back fields 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Although Robinsons greenhouses are across the back, apparently there are approximately 20 landowners around the farm. Shentons rent land to graze their sheep at both Bolshaw and Gillbent.
Bolshaw Farm Road, now Lane, from Bolshaw Road to the farm is exactly the same as on the early maps. It was referred to as Cow Lane then. There are now houses built on it.
Fig. 77 House sale 28.3.1996
Stockport Times
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Fig. 78 Service road to farm 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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The spare land opposite the farm is up for sale (see Fig 78).
The land and the views are still amazing.
From Wilmslow Road looking at the farm, Bolshaw Road would be on the right.
Fig. 79 Towards Handforth 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Farm to the right. Looking across towards Handforth and the bypass.
Fig. 80 Towards Handforth 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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Looking towards Bolshaw Road/Wilmslow Road.
Fig. 81 Looking towards Wilmslow Rd 16.3.2025
© H Morgan
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With many thanks to the Royle family for their documents, photos and memories. They certainly have a family history to be proud of.
Thanks to Ashley for showing me around her house and the outbuildings, so that I could take up to date photos.
Thanks also to Heritage Facebook members who shared their memories of the farm.
Bibliography
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