Essential Hotels > England > Cheshire > Macclesfield

Macclesfield was once the world’s leading player in the silk industry and is situated in the eastern part of Cheshire, a short distance to the south of Manchester. Geographically, the town is next to the beautiful Peak District and so it acts as a good base to jump in and out of the nearby National Park, while access to the town itself is made fairly straight forward thanks to the M6, M56 and M60 motorways which pass by to the west and north.

Found near to the borders with Greater Manchester, Staffordshire and Derbyshire, Macclesfield is home to more than 50,000 inhabitants and they are sometimes known as Maxonians. The market town is set on the River Bollin, a tributary of the River Mersey that flows in from the west coast. While the town’s economy once stood largely around the silk trade that has since subsided; one of the major contributors to local employment today is the pharmaceutical giant Astrazenica. Further evidence of the former prominence of the silk economy, the town’s football club Macclesfield Town has the nickname the Silkmen. Further, some call Macclesfield the Silk Town, while others stick to another nickname - the Treacle Town.

Long ago, in the Domesday Book of 1086 today’s Macclesfield was spelt Maclesfeld while later on in 1183 it was written as Makeslesfeld. Some have suggested the name comes from Michael’s Field, and the fact that the local church is named St Michael’s adds weight to this theory. The church is particularly old, dating back to 1278, built just after the town was granted its borough charter in 1261. Around this time a weekly market was held in Macclesfield and there were two annual fairs – Barnaby Fair in June and All Saints Feast in November. Later, the Earl of Chester’s manor was situated near the town on the edge of the deer park. The Forest of Macclesfield also existed around this period, albeit larger than the present day forest. In subsequent years there was a fortified town house that became known as Macclesfield Castle while between 1826 and 1831 Macclesfield Canal was constructed, some 50 years before the train station opened.

More recently, in 2004, the Times newspaper named Macclesfield as the most uncultured town in Britain. However, the town does have its own museum and art gallery, while the Paradise Mill is also an attraction, demonstrating silk weaving to the public.