About Lower Withington Village

The village is in the north of the Circuit area.  It is tucked into the wedge formed by the A34 as it runs north from Congleton, and the A535 as it runs north from Holmes Chapel, to where they join at Alderley Edge.

The village featured in the Domesday Book.  The owner of the manor from the 1360s was one of the Baskervyle family, whose ancestor had travelled with William the Conqeror's invasion force.  From the late 1600s, the manor was owned by the Mainwaring family.


The Rose Day Parade
passing by the Methodist Church

One of the local roads just north of the village is known as Catchpenny Lane.  It got its name in years gone by, when people trying to avoid the toll bar at Dingle Bank took to using this lane.  In response, another toll bar was established on the lane, where a toll of one penny was charged to 'catch' the fare dodgers.  

The village has a triangular village green, known locally as The Sandhole.  It is used nowadays for pinics and for children to play on.  In earlier times, horse racing took place there during the Wakes Week in November.  Another Wakes tradition was the eating of 'frumenty', created by boiling a mixture of wheat and milk.



  The Red Lion Inn
 on the village green
 
 

Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope
just one mile away to the west

 

The village has an annual Rose Day with a parade and fair, including events such as sheep shearing, maypole dancing and duck-herding!  For over 100 years there has also been an annual Gooseberry Show in July.  In its earlier years the show was held in the Red Lion Inn on the green.  The inn goes back to mediaeval times when it was used as a 'Moot House'.  The idea of a 'moot' (cf. 'meet') dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when it was a gathering of key men (sic) to deliberate on matters of policy and administration.
 
In modern times the main developments have been the construction nearby of Jodrell Bank radio telescope, in 1957, by Manchester University, and the quarrying of silica sand for use in glass making, abrasives and the steel industry.  The sand was left behind by a succession of retreating ice-age glaciers, the last one retreating just 10,000 or so years ago.  The main site for the buildings concerned with the silica sand quarrying is at Dingle Bank.
 
Curiously, there has been little or no new house building in the village in modern times.

See 'Our Locality' for more of Lower Withington's story.

Lower Withington Events

Saturday 30 Mar 10.00am
Phoenix Project Open Day at L Withington
Saturday 22 Jun
Safari Supper at L Withington

Coming up soon . . .

Friday 29 Mar 9.30am
Biddulph - Good Friday service of Reflection
Saturday 30 Mar 10.00am
Phoenix Project Open Day at L Withington
Sunday 31 Mar 6.30am
Easter Sunrise Service at Mow Cop
Sunday 31 Mar 9.15am
Biddulph - Easter Communion & Breakfast
Monday 1 Apr 2.15pm
Easter Monday walk over the Cloud
Saturday 13 Apr 10.00am
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Training
Friday 19 Apr
MWiB Conference 2024
Saturday 20 Apr 10.00am
Car Boot Sale and Craft Fair at Wellspring
Tuesday 23 Apr - Saturday 27 Apr
'The Addams Family' Musical Comedy
Saturday 11 May 10.00am
Prims Heritage Day at Mow Cop