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| Bowdon, St. Mary's Church |
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| Bowdon Church is today surrounded by a paved area
made up from the headstones of the very many graves in the Churchyard.
The position of the stones does not necessarily reflect the position
of the actual grave. These memorials have, in recent years, been very
carefully cleaned and recorded by a member of the church and compared
with the information in the parish registers. My personal interest (webmistress) in Bowdon is because the names of my Hard[e]y, Calderbank, Pickstone and Timperley ancestors crop up in the church registers. The Hardeys, for example, were at Dunham Massey (Sinderland) and Ashley, and the Timperleys at were Oldfield. Below is a partial extract about Bowdon from Balshaw's of 1855.1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOWDON. BOWDON OR BOWDEN parish comprises the chapelries of Altrincham and Carrington, and the townships of Agden (part of), Ashley, Baguley, Bollington (part of.), Bowdon, Dunham-Massey, Hale, Partington, and Timperley. This township may take its name from two Anglo-Saxon words, Bode a dwelling or abode, and Don or Dun a plain upon a rising hill, or a down, so that Bowdon means a town or dwelling on the downs ; or as in Doomsday Book, the name is written Boge-don, it may denote a down or hill by a bog; and towards Ashley there did exist, what Leycester calls, "a great bog, " not to mention Hale Moss. BOWDON, township and populous village, is pleasantly situated on high ground, 7¾ miles, N. by E. from Knutsford, 1 mile S. E. from Altrincham, and 9 miles S. from Manchester. The township contains 828A. 0R. 26P. of land; the population was in 1801, 340; in 1831, 458; in 1841,549 ; and in 1851, 1164. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £33 10s., and the rectorial for £95 10s. The church and principal part of the village stand on the highest part of an eminence commanding delightful views of the vale of the Bollin to the south, including Alderley Edge, Cloud End, Mow Cop, and the more distant bills of Derbyshire and even Shropshire to the east; Rostherne and Knutsford to the South; and the Parks of Dunham close in the prospect to the west; and to the north the view is extensive over the vale of the Mersey towards the Lancashire hills. From the church tower, Manchester and Stockport are visible in that direction. Hammon de Massey, the first baron of Dunham-Massey, held Bowdon in the time of William the Conqueror, under Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester. It subsequently became divided, and Roger Massey sold a moiety of it for £4 7s. in money, and two robes one for himself and one for his wife, rendering annually 1lb. cummin seed at the feast of St Martin. In 1666, Lord Delamere possesed one-fourth of Bowdon ; the Breretons of Ashley another fourth; and the other half, which the baron had given to the priory of Birkenhead about Edward I., at the dissolution of religious houses, was given (1541) to the then created Bishopric of Chester, with the Church of Bowdon. There was a Church here at the Doomsday survey , which records that here is "a Priest and Church, to which pertaineth a half a hide of land." At the Doomsday survey there was also a mill at Bowdon. Dr. Ormerod adds that the estates of Lord Delamere, in time descended to the Earl of Stamford. The estate of Birkenhead priory, granted to the Bishopric of Chester, is held on lease, with the rectory, by Lord Stamford, and the present owner of Ashley, Wilbraham Egerton, Esq. who possesses lands there which formerly belonged to the Breretons. The manor is part of the barony of Dunham Massey, and is included in the barony leet. The delightful situation of Bowdon and the proverbial salubrity of the air, has caused great numbers of neat villa residences to be erected by the merchants of Manchester. The houses have a remarkable light, clean and elegant appearance; many of them are erected of a light yellow kind of brick, others are stuccoed, and some are built of the red brick, most of which have sprung up within the last ten years. The Earl of Stamford has brought a quantity of land into the market for building purposes, which, together with the increased facilities of communication with Manchester, in consequence of the opening of the Railway, has given a great impetous to building and added greatly to the prosperity and importance of Bowdon. BOWDON CHURCH, a fine old structure, is dedicated to St. Mary, the Blessed Virgin, whose "wakes" or dedication feast was celebrated on the 8th of September, being the nativity of the Virgin ; they are now held on the first Sunday after the full moon succeeding the 14th of September. It consists of a tower, containing a peal of six musical bells, a nave, chancel and side aisles, terminating in two private chancels, appropriated to the Earl of Stamford's manors of Dunham Massey and Carrington. In the nave are various monuments. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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Image© Andy Andrews. All other information provided by and © Ann Andrews Intended for personal use only |
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References and notes on the text: 1"Charles Balshaw's Stranger's Guide & Complete Directory to Altrincham, Bowdon, ..." (1855), pp.37-38  Our Genealogy |
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