Town in Cheshire, England
Macclesfield
A Cheshire hill town that once wove silk for the nation, gave Joy Division's Ian Curtis a home, and has a football club nicknamed the Silkmen.
.jpg){kind=link}
Key information
- County
- Cheshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- About 52,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Silk weaving, Ian Curtis and Joy Division, the Macclesfield Canal, the edge of the Peak District
- Famous people
- Ian Curtis, Charles Roe, Marianne Brocklehurst
- Football clubs
- Macclesfield FC, nicknamed the Silkmen, at Moss Rose
About Macclesfield
The town that dressed Britain in silk
Macclesfield was a silk town before it was anything else. Local makers were turning out silk buttons in the 1600s, and in 1743 Charles Roe opened a silk-throwing mill that began the industrial boom. Mills soon crowded the valleys, and the town's silk went into ribbons, scarves, ties and labels. The handloom weavers worked at Jacquard looms, which wove complicated patterns from punched cards. You can still see them at Paradise Mill, a working-weavers' museum where the looms are demonstrated. The Silk Museum nearby tells the wider story. Then came the shock. The 1860 free-trade treaty between Britain and France let cheaper French silk flood in, and Macclesfield's mills began a long decline. The town reinvented itself, and the silk heritage became part of its identity rather than its income.
The man with the copper and the silk
Charles Roe (1715-1781) is the town's great entrepreneur. Besides the silk mill, he ran copper smelting and mined at Parys Mountain on Anglesey. His wealth also paid for Christ Church in the town. Macclesfield's other notable Victorian figure was Marianne Brocklehurst, from a family of silk manufacturers. She travelled to Egypt and brought back a collection that now fills the West Park Museum. The park around it opened in 1854, among the first public parks in England.
Ian Curtis and the Joy Division years
Ian Curtis was born in Stretford, but Macclesfield is where he lived and where his story ended. The Joy Division singer died at his home in the town on 18 May 1980, aged 23, just before the band's first American tour. His funeral was in Macclesfield, and the town remains a pilgrimage spot for fans of the band. Their music, with its cold, echoing sound, sits oddly well with the town's grey stone mills and the moors above it. Curtis is the town's most famous name, but he did not grow up in a famous place. That is partly why Macclesfield's connection to him feels so personal.
The Silkmen and the ground that wasn't good enough
Macclesfield Town's nickname, the Silkmen, is a nod to the mills. The club was founded in 1874 and plays at Moss Rose. It won the FA Trophy in 1970 and again in 1996. In 1995 the club won the Conference, then the top level of non-league football, but was refused promotion because Moss Rose did not meet the Football League's ground standards. They won the title again in 1997 and went up that time, spending years in the league. The club was wound up in 2020, but Macclesfield FC was formed and carries on at Moss Rose, keeping the Silkmen tradition alive.
Hills, canals and a Sunday treacle market
Macclesfield sits on the western edge of the Peak District, and the countryside starts almost at the edge of town. Macclesfield Forest was a royal hunting forest, and Teggs Nose Country Park looks out over the town from a former quarry. The Macclesfield Canal opened in 1831, with Thomas Telford consulting on the design. It climbs through the Bosley Locks, a flight of twelve, and its elegant roving bridges let horses cross without unhitching the towrope. In town, St Michael's Church was founded in 1278 by Eleanor of Castile and holds the Legh and Savage chapels. The Treacle Market, held monthly, fills the streets with local food and crafts. Bonnie Prince Charlie's army passed through in 1745 on its way south, and the town still has a few tales to tell about the visit.
A modern town with a scientific side
The silk mills are quiet, but the town still makes things. AstraZeneca has a large research and manufacturing campus at Macclesfield, and Alderley Park nearby is a biotech base. The town is also well placed for commuters, with Manchester roughly twenty miles away. Some of the old mills have been turned into flats and creative workspaces, which keeps the silk-town skyline intact.