Middlewich Methodist Church

The land in the area, once in the hands of the family of William, Duke of Normandy, passed to a succession of wealthy land-owners.  Latterly, ownership passed to the Harringtons, recognised in the name of one of the village pubs, The Harrington Arms.

Nowadays, and for many years, the main occupation of the people of the area has been farming.  The underlying geology of the low land of the village (limestone, sandstone, marls) where the River Dane and main road pass through, supports rich soils used mainly for grazing cattle.  To the E and SW the land rises steeply to reach gritstone (coarse sandstone) tops, suitable mainly for grazing sheep. 

To the NE of the town is Bosley Reservoir, used to maintain the level of the nearby Macclesfield Canal.  The canal passes a short distance to the NW of the village,  by way of a flight of 12 locks.

Curiously, hidden in a quiet, rural corner of this 'agricultural' village, is a thriving wood-flour mill.  The 'flour' is used in creating certain plastic compounds and can also be used for composting.  The mill has had quite a varied history.  It began as a facility for rolling copper (!) and was subsequently converted to handling cotton, then corn and finally silk 'throwing', before the wood flour era began.
 
St Mary's Anglican Church in the village dates, in part, back to the 15th century.  Unfortunately, the main part of the building was half-timbered and was destroyed by fire in the 18th century, leaving just a square, stone tower intact.  This tower is now incorporated in the brick-built replacement building completed in the 1770s.  The village's Anglican church has close ties with Bosley Methodist Church, situated near the flour mill.  Joint services are held once a month, turn-about at each church.

There used to be a railway on the edge of the village, running alongside the River Dane.  It ran from Uttoxeter and Leek in Staffordshire, to join the line between Stoke on Trent and Manchester at point close to the Bosley Locks on the Stoke on Trent to Macclesfield Canal, and also close to the impressive 20-arch railway viaduct across the Dane Valley, designed by Thomas Telford.  The Bosley line was closed in 1964 but the Bosley Station buildings are still in use as a restaurant and private dwelling.
 
Telford's railway viaduct was built in 1849 by the North Staffordshire Railway, in part using stone from nearby Bosley Cloud. You can still see the wide groove scored in the side of The Cloud by the rock-carrying aerial rope-way cradles, as they were lowered down from the 'Giant’s Foot' to where the viaduct was being built, a mile away.

One fascinating footnote to Bosley's story concerns its tug of war team.  They were founded in 1944 by the local farmers, but from 1947 involved employees of the wood flour mill, whose proprietors went on to sponsor them.  They have had an extraordinarily successful history.  From 1948 until 1959 they won the Northern Counties AAA Championship, without a break.  At that point they went on to compete for and win the British National Championship, a title which they held for a period of 20 years.  They then went on to compete and win at European level and even took two world titles.  In between these premier competitions, the club walked off with literally thousands of first prizes at the more-local events and collected a rough average of 18 cups each year.