Poynton
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Poynton is a town in the
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of Poynton-with-Worth, in the
Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council, which is based in the town of Sandbach. Other towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Wilms ...
district and the ceremonial county of
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, England; from 1974 to 2009 it was in
Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...
district. It is located on the easternmost fringe of the
Cheshire Plain The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by t ...
, south-east of
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, north of
Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...
and south of
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
. The first mention of the manor of Poynton was in 1289. Coal was mined in Poynton from the 16th century and the collieries, under the ownership of the Lords Vernon from 1832 until their closure in 1935, were the largest in Cheshire. Consequent urbanisation and
socioeconomic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
development necessitated better transport links; these came with the completion of the Macclesfield Canal through Poynton in 1831, the arrival of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway in 1845 and the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway in 1869. In the late 20th century, Poynton became a
commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
for Manchester. Since 1945, the population has nearly trebled to 14,260 in
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
.


History

The settlement does not appear in the ''
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
'' of 1086. The first mention of the manor of Poynton occurred in the 13th century when it was held under the Earl of Chester by the Poutrells family and then by the de Stockeports, lords of Stockport. It was part of the
barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of Stockport. Past spellings include ''Ponynton'' and ''Poynington''. The Warren family held the manor from 1382, beginning with Sir John de Warren, who was a son of Sir Edward de Warren and his wife Cicely de Eton of Poynton and Stockport. This family held the manor until 1801, when Sir George Warren, the last surviving male, died. He was succeeded by his daughter, Lady Warren Bulkeley. She died childless in 1826 when she left the estate to Frances Maria Warren (then Lady Vernon) daughter of Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet. The Lords Vernon held the estate until the final sale in 1920. Coal was found outcropping to the east of Towers Road, which corresponds to the line of the Red Rock Fault at the surface. The earliest record to be found is a lease dated 28 February 1589, which talks of the "Coal pit at Wourthe lately occupied by George Finche". This could be worked on the surface then by shallow shafts, and later by deeper shafts with waterwheels or steam engines operating pumps and winding gear. In the late 18th century, the Warrens of Poynton co-operated with the
Leghs of Lyme The Leghs of Lyme were a gentry family Ancestral seat, seated at Lyme Park in Cheshire, England, from 1398 until 1946, when the stately home and its surrounding Landscaped parkland, parkland were donated by the Baron Newton, 3rd Lord Newton to N ...
to work the Cannel and Sheepwash seams at Norbury Hollow. Initially, the mines were pumped using waterwheels driven by the Norbury Brook; atmospheric steam engines were then used and then condensing engines thus allowing deeper pits to be sunk. Output in 1789 was over 23,586 tonnes (26,000 tons), rising to a production of 221,056 tonnes (243,673 tons) in 1859, an amount believed unlikely to have been surpassed. The Poynton Collieries were substantial, and the coal rights were held by the Warren family who leased them the Wrights and the Claytons. The canal, and new roads and railway lines, were used to remove the coal. In 1826, the estate passed to George John Venables Vernon, 4th Lord Vernon, who decided in 1832 to manage the mines himself. In 1856 it was estimated that there was a reserve of 15,163,027 tons, which would supply 245,000 tons for 61 years. This was to be supplied by the Park Round Pit and the Park Oval Pit, both working the Four Foot and Five Foot Seam, and the Anson Pit and the Nelson Pit, which were working the Accommodation Seam. The pits had good transport links to their principal markets, cotton mills around Manchester. With the Lancashire Cotton Famine in 1861, and the subsequent recession, the price of coal collapsed, and the output dropped 112,840 tons, leading to worker redundancies. A new shaft, the Lawrance Pit, was sunk at Park in 1885, raising the output to 216,362 tons and paying for itself within a year. However the costs were rising and the closure of the Norbury Pits resulted in a constant ingress of water. In 1926 production was down to 80,146 tons. The 1926
General strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...
lasted for 17 weeks in Poynton and the men went back to work as the collieries would have closed because of the cost of pumping. The collieries closed on 30 August 1935; 250 men were made redundant. Eighty were offered jobs in the Kent coalfield and some secured employment with
Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...
at Woodford. The Anson Colliery is now the site of the
Anson Engine Museum The Anson Engine Museum is situated on the site of the old Anson colliery in Poynton, Cheshire, England. It is the work of Les Cawley and Geoff Challinor who began collecting and showing stationary engines for a hobby. The museum now has on ...
; all other shafts have been capped and Park Pit has been levelled. The Macclesfield Canal was originally proposed in 1765 but construction did not start until 1826 because of opposition from outside parties. The canal was designed by
Thomas Telford Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well ...
and completed in 1831. Sir George Warren was a promoter of the extension of the turnpike road from
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
by way of Hazel Grove to Sandon, Staffordshire, where it joined what is now the A51 road. The Manchester and Birmingham Railway opened a line through Poynton in 1845, which now forms part of the London–Manchester main line. The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway opened in 1869 with stations at Higher Poynton and Middlewood; it closed in 1970, and the line is now a footpath called the Middlewood Way. In the late 18th century, the Pickford family developed their family business of waggoners on the London-to-Manchester route with The Birches Farm at Poynton as its headquarters. The business thrived and they relocated to London in 1823.
Pickfords Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of Pickfords Move Management Ltd. The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies, although the similar S ...
is today one of the best-known removal firms in the United Kingdom. From the 1870s, private house-building gathered pace and gradually Poynton became a commuter town for workers in the Manchester conurbation. Since the Second World War, several housing estates have been built by both the local authorities and private developers. The population has risen from 5,000 to almost 15,000 since 1945.


Governance

From 1974 until the
2009 structural changes to local government in England On 1 April 2009 structural changes to local government in England took place which reformed the local government of seven Non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties: Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, County Durham, Shropshire, Northumber ...
, Poynton was administered by three tiers of local government: the parish council of Poynton-with-Worth, Macclesfield Borough Council and Cheshire County Council. Poynton-with-Worth (a
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
) was made up of three electoral wards and was created in 1880 by uniting the hitherto separate civil parishes of Poynton and Worth. In 2009 the Parish Council resolved to become a Town Council and elect a Mayor, creating Poynton with Worth Town Council.
Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority for Cheshire East, a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs th ...
took over the responsibilities of the borough council and the county council on 1 April 2009. Poynton is represented on Cheshire East Council in two two-member electoral wards, Poynton West and Pott Shrigley and Poynton East and Adlington, by four councillors, all members of the Conservative Party. Poynton is in the Macclesfield Constituency of the
United Kingdom Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
, which was represented by Conservative MPs from 1918 to 2024 but is currently represented by Labour Party MP Tim Roca. Poynton was formerly a
township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
and
chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...
in the parish of Prestbury, in 1866 Poynton became a separate civil parish, in 1880 the parish was abolished.


Geography

Poynton is located at SJ925835 , between the
Norbury Brook Norbury Brook is a tributary of the River Wandle that rises near Lower Addiscombe Road and flows north-west through Selhurst, Thornton Heath, and Norbury before joining the Wandle at south Wimbledon. A short stretch of this is visible in ...
and the Poynton Brook at the easternmost limit of the
Cheshire Plain The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by t ...
. The land is between and above sea level. The town is approximately SSE of Manchester, from
Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2024, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers (the busiest outside of London) ...
, from junction 5 of the
M56 motorway The M56 motorway serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately north of Chester. With a length of , it connects North Wales ...
and from junction 3 of the
M60 motorway The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through all of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolt ...
. The west of the parish is predominantly residential, buffered from Hazel Grove and Bramhall by the North Cheshire Green Belt. To the south of the town are two business parks but here and to the east it is rural in nature, bounding on the former deer park of Lyme Hall. The A6 trunk road passes to the north of the parish, and the Macclesfield Canal runs north–south along the contour to the east of the parish. The town straddles the Red Rock Fault. Its downthrow to the west brings the Permo
Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
s and
mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...
s of the Cheshire Plain up against the
Millstone Grit Millstone Grit is any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the British Isles. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills. Geologists refer to ...
and
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
s of the
Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...
. To the immediate east of the fault are the coal measures of the
Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
period which, unlike those in the
Lancashire Coalfield The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British Coalfield#Great Britain, coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. The Rom ...
, are missing the top layers. Outcrops of the Middle Coal Measures are present here. Coal from these strata, particularly the Four Foot Mine (or seam), the Five Foot Mine and the Accommodation Mine, was mined in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The lower ground, including most of Poynton, is covered by
glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
left by the retreating ice sheet at the close of the last
ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
. Woodford Aerodrome was to the west and was owned by
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
and had a
Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...
weather station. Woodford's weather station recorded a temperature of on 8 January 2010, during the Winter of 2009–10 in Great Britain and Ireland. The area has now been developed for housing.


Climate


Demography

At the time of the 2011 census, the population of the parish of Poynton with Worth was 14,260. The ethnic grouping of Poynton was 98% white, 1.1% Asian, 0.5% Mixed Race, 0.1% Black/African/Caribbean and 0.2% other groups. Religious division was 70.4% Christian, 21.5% no religion, 0.3% Muslim and 0.2% other religions. 59.7% of residents aged over 16 were married.


Culture and community

Poynton Co-op was founded in 1862, staying independent until February 1992. There were many Friendly Societies, Burial Clubs, Workmen's Club and the Miners' Union. The
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
Chapel was established in 1847 followed by the
Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
and Primitive Methodists chapels; together with St George's Church they were the social centres of the village. Lord Vernon opened the first school in 1838 which was extended as the number of children attending it grew, and this building is now used as the Poynton Youth and Community Centre. The Poynton Show is held every August bank holiday weekend. It started in 1885, as an agricultural show, and has grown in size; 35,000 people visited the show in 1970. It offers a range of events in the main arena such as stunt riding and aerobatics, a fairground, exhibitions and competitive events. The St George's Singers is large choral society founded in 1956. The choir has strong links with the Royal Northern College of Music and
Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is a private co-educational boarding and day music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates pupils between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. The music school was established i ...
. It has sung in
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
,
Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
,
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
,
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
and
Érd Érd (; ; , ) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is a city with county rights. History The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric humans lived here 50,000 year ...
; more locally the choir's annual Singing Day regularly attracts over 200 singers to learn and perform choral music. The Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band first started within the Poynton coal-mining community and was supported by the mine owners, the Vernon family. Records from 1832 stating that new uniforms had been purchased by Lady Vernon suggest that it has existed for over 160 years. Poynton has two
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
churches: St Martin's, Higher Poynton, and St George's, which occupies a prominent position in the town centre. St George's church dates from 1859 and is in the
Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
style; the steeple was added in 1884. The two churches have active congregations and run services, youth groups and a children's group. Poynton is twinned with
Érd Érd (; ; , ) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is a city with county rights. History The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric humans lived here 50,000 year ...
in Hungary. Since 2016, it has also been twinned with Haybes in France.


Landmarks

Sir George Warren bought the Worth estate in 1792. Worth Hall, now redeveloped as flats, was originally the home of the Downes family of Worth; it lies within Davenport Golf Club. Several halls were built in Poynton Park, each one then demolished to make way for a new hall. The final hall, Poynton Towers, was demolished in the 1930s. The ornamental lake, known locally as Poynton Pool, was created in the 1760s by Sir George Warren, who dammed a tributary of Poynton Brook as part of his landscaping of the park. The dam itself served as the foundation for the turnpike. Poynton Coppice is a designated local nature reserve. Other landmarks include St George's Church, with the town's war memorial in its churchyard, Park Colliery and Anson Pit.


Transport


Waterways

The Macclesfield Canal, a canal with only one flight of locks, was first proposed in 1765, but was not commenced until 1826. Completed in 1831, it joins the
Peak Forest Canal The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow ( gauge) locked artificial waterway in northern England. It is long and forms part of the connected English/Welsh inland waterway network. Route and features General description The canal consists of two leve ...
in Marple with the
Trent and Mersey Canal The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middl ...
near
Kidsgrove Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276 (2019 census) ...
and forms a part of the Cheshire Ring. The route was chosen so it could pass close to the Poynton Colleries to transport coal to Macclesfield for the steam engines and c5,000 houses. It shortened the canal journey from Manchester to London by and allowed easy carriage of coal to the cotton mills at Dukinfield.


Railway

The Manchester and Birmingham Railway opened a line through Poynton in 1845, which now forms a spur of the
West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
between London and Manchester. Poynton railway station is served by northbound trains to
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
and
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the main railway station of the city of Manchester, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. Opened originally as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchest ...
, and southbound to
Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...
and
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
. Services are operated by
Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...
; they run generally hourly trains in both directions, with additional trains at peak times and fewer on Sundays. The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway was opened in 1869, with stations at Higher Poynton and Middlewood. This line was closed in January 1970 and was later converted into a
shared-use path A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is "designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists". Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, Bridle path, bridleways and ra ...
called the Middlewood Way, which was opened in 1985 by
David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English academic, botanist, television presenter, author and prominent environmental campaigner in the UK and globally. His distinctive, energetic style of presenting became wel ...
.


Roads

Poynton lies to the south of the A6 road. This was the favoured London to Manchester route in the
Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
, as it avoided the wetter land of the Cheshire Plain. This is shown in
John Ogilby John Ogilby, Ogelby, or Oglivie (17 November 16004 September 1676) was a Scottish translator, impresario, publisher and cartographer. He was probably at least a half-brother to James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Airlie, though neither overtly acknowl ...
's road atlas of 1675. It was improved by the formation of a
turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road toll road, tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain from the 17th ...
in 1724. In 1760, Sir George Warren, the Leghs of Adlington and James Pickford promoted a new turnpike through Poynton with Worth from Hazel Grove to Sandon in Staffordshire on the A51 road; this provided a link to Macclesfield. It is now known as the A523 or locally as the London Road. Later, the A5149 Chester Road, provided a link to
Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...
. The town is within 5 miles of the
M60 motorway The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through all of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolt ...
at Stockport and
M56 motorway The M56 motorway serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately north of Chester. With a length of , it connects North Wales ...
at Manchester Airport.


Shared Space

In December 2011, the village road network was reconstructed at the junction of Chester Road/Park Lane and London Road, creating the first ''double roundel'' for a high-traffic intersection. Similar to a
roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...
, the new junction reduces the four-lane approaches to two lanes, allowing pedestrians to cross quickly and safely allowing the elimination of traffic signals. Multiple coloured and textured cobbles separate traffic from pedestrian areas; however, it functions as a
shared space Shared space is an urban design approach that minimises the segregation between modes of road user. This is done by removing features such as curb (road), curbs, road surface markings, traffic signs, and traffic lights. Hans Monderman and othe ...
, allowing pedestrians to cross anywhere that feels safe. According to the town, businesses have seen increased foot traffic and congestion has been considerably lessened. The total cost was £4m.


Buses

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority for Cheshire East, a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs th ...
is responsible for co-ordinating public transport. It runs an Integrated Transport Service based in
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
. Poynton with Worth parish council was one of the Cheshire parishes that were part of Selnec PTE, created by the Transport Act 1968, but was not included in
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
when it was formed on 1 April 1974 by the
Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
. As a result, special ticketing arrangements are in place within the parish. The 391/392 bus services, operated by Belle Vue Coaches, run between Stockport and Macclesfield every two hours in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays.


Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by
BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...
and
ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. The town is served by these local radio stations: * BBC Radio Manchester * Heart North West *
Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...
* Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West *Canalside Radio, a community-based station broadcast from
Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...
. The ''Poynton Post'' and regional ''
Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'' are the town's local newspapers.


Education

Education in Poynton is now run by Cheshire East Council; it was formerly run by Cheshire County Council. Given the proximity to the border, some parents choose to have their children educated in
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
. There are 5 primary schools and Poynton High School. After secondary school, young residents can attend Poynton High School's sixth form or colleges nearby such as Aquinas College, Marple College or Macclesfield College.


Notable people

* Leslie Wood (1920–1994), artist and illustrator, lived in Poynton * Joyce Scott (born 1938), an Australian oil painter and ceramicist, migrated to Adelaide, in 1951. *
Alan Beith Alan James Beith, Baron Beith (born 20 April 1943), is a British Liberal Democrat politician who represented Berwick-upon-Tweed as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2015. From 1992 to 2003 he was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democra ...
(born 1943 in Poynton), Lib Dem MP for
Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
1973–2015 * Stephen Oake (1963 in Poynton – 2003), a police officer who was murdered while attempting to arrest a suspected terrorist * Graham Evans, Baron Evans of Rainow (born 1963 in Poynton), MP for
Weaver Vale Weaver Vale was a constituency in Cheshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished at the 2024 general election. Just ...
in Cheshire 2010–2017, Member of House of Lords since 2022 * Luis Troyano (1971–2020), ''
The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, atte ...
'' finalist in 2014, lived in Poynton * Reuben Singh (born 1976 in Poynton), entrepreneur, known in the mid-1990s for his ''Miss Attitude'' retail chain * Andrew Stephenson (born 1981), a former British Conservative Party politician, MP for Pendle from 2010 to 2024, went to Poynton High School


Sport

* James Meunier (1885 in Poynton – 1957), played first-class cricket and association football for several Football League teams * Jimmy Murphy (1910–1989), footballer, played 204 games for West Bromwich Albion F.C. & 15 for
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
; moved to Poynton after retiring. * Dame Sarah Storey (born 1977),
road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...
and track racing cyclist, former swimmer, multiple gold medal winner at the
Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...
and twice British national track champion * Sophie Thornhill (born 1996), a visually impaired English racing cyclist who competes in
para-cycling Para-cycling (or paracycling/para cycling) is the sport of cycling (sport), cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disability, disabilities. It is governed by the (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include Road bicy ...
tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...
track events * Edward Francis (born 1999), footballer who has played over 150 games


See also

* Listed buildings in Poynton with Worth


Notes


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Cheshire East Council

PoyntonWeb





Poynton Post Newspaper
{{Authority control Towns in Cheshire Former civil parishes in Cheshire Borough of Cheshire East