Heaton Moor is a suburb located in Stockport

Stockport

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, in North West England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is one of the Four Heatons

Four Heatons

The Four Heatons are four affluent suburbs to the northwest of Stockport, bordering the city of Manchester, England. They are: Heaton Norris, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Chapel...

 and borders onto Heaton Chapel

Heaton Chapel

Heaton Chapel is an area in the northern part of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It borders the Manchester districts of Levenshulme to the north, the Stockport districts of Heaton Moor to the west, Reddish and Heaton Norris to the east and Heaton Mersey to the west and south...

, Heaton Norris

Heaton Norris

Heaton Norris is now a mainly residential area of Stockport, England bordering on Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor. Formerly it was the name of the parish, that included Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor and was in Lancashire....

 and Heaton Mersey

Heaton Mersey

Heaton Mersey is a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The area is situated on the north-western border of Stockport, and is adjacent to Didsbury and Burnage which are both in Manchester....

. Heaton Moor is characterised by the affluent Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 housing built between 1852 and 1892 along tree lined streets which follow the field patterns of a former agricultural economy.

Governance

Heaton Moor is in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, mainly within the Heatons North ward. It was originally in the township of Heaton Norris, in the Salford hundred of Lancashire. Following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act it was administered by Heaton Norris Local Board as part of the Stockport Poor Law Union. In 1913, Heaton Moor, as part of Heaton Norris was absorbed into Stockport, in the county of Cheshire.

Geography

Heaton Moor is predominantly flat with no rivers or streams. The soil is black and fertile as expected from land that was previously peat moor. Heaton Moor has little public open space with the exception of Heaton Moor Park and Thornfield Park, but because of its tree lined roads and the building line set well back from the street, it gives the impression of having more, and of Victorian affluence.

Heaton Moor is bounded by the railway line, and centred on Heaton Moor road.

History

Before the opening of the railway, Heaton Moor was agricultural land in Heaton Norris. The land supported pigs cattle and cereal. Heaton Norris was part of the Manchester barony of the Grelley family, but between 1162 and 1180 it belonged to William le Norreys.
In the early 13th century, Heaton Norris was a sub manor of Manchester, it encompassed all of the Four Heatons. It was escheated (i.e. reverted) to the manor of Manchester around 1280. In 1322, there were 32 dwellings suggesting a population of 150, the ten freeholders of the escheated manor had the right to graze on common pasture and to cut wood. Evidence of this pre railway existence can be seen from the name Shaw Farm, Shaw Fold farm, and the road pattern Heaton Moor Lane, Shaw Lane, Shaw Fold Lane, Pin Fold, Green Lane. Parsonage Road and Cranbourne Grove follow the lines of ancient tracks.

The opening of Heaton Chapel railway station

Heaton Chapel railway station

Heaton Chapel railway station serves the Heaton Chapel and Heaton Moor districts of Stockport, in Greater Manchester.The station is 7 km south of Manchester Piccadilly towards Stockport...

 marked a turning point in development of the area. Land was acquired, and streets were planned. The houses and new buildings along Heaton Moor Road were of a grandiose scale with generous gardens. They are set back from the road, and have imposing stone gate posts. The new residential roads such as Broomfield Road, Derby Road, and Peel Moat Road which were built when agricultual land was acquired, have the same characteristics. The building and infilling continued into the Edwardian era. There were a wide range of sporting facilities, such as crown green bowling, tennis and golf. A substantial terrace of shops was built on Heaton Moor Road,with glass and cast iron awnings. Intellectual life was provided for when the Reform Club was built in 1886 by Alfred Darbyshire

Alfred Darbyshire

-Education and career:Alfred Darbyshire was born in Salford to William Darbyshire, the manager of a dyeworks, and his wife Mary née Bancroft. He was a nephew of George Bradshaw, the compiler of railway guides. He went to a succession of Quaker schools and was then articled to the architects'...

.

The Savoy Cinema opened 1923, built in the Baroque Style in red brick with white terracota dressings. The Savoy Cinema had announced its closure due to low audiences. This caused an uproar amongst locals, especially when it was announced it could be replaced by a Varsity bar - though, much of the uproar was concerned around the owners of Varsity, the Barracuda Group. A campaign entitled 'Save Our Savoy' was launched. Although the plans for the Varsity were thrown out, the cinema is still on the market on a "to let" basis but is still open for business.

A second hub was built around Thornfield, the former town hall at Moor Top.

Education

Tithe Barn Primary School is located in Heaton Moor. The Heaton Secondary Special School is available for students with disabilities, and the Heaton Moor campus of Stockport College

Stockport College

Stockport College is a large educational institute providing further education and Higher Education to those age over 15. It has a well-established history and plays a major role in providing educational opportunities for the community including school leavers, businesses and overseas students.The...

 can be found on Buckingham Road. Heaton Moor is also home to Charnwood Nursery, which provides inclusive education for children with and without Special Educational Needs.

Religion

• St Paul's Church - low Anglican built 1876 by Bird and Whittenbury, extended in 1896 and the octagonal tower added in 1900 by EP Oakley.
• Congregational Church - now Virgin St Mary and St Mina Coptic Church - built 1896 by Derbyshire and Smith.
• Heaton Moor United Church (Methodist & United Reformed - united in 2010)(formerly Heaton Moor Methodist Church) - corner of Heaton Moor Road and Stanley Road.
• Heaton Moor Evangelical Church, Green Lane - also known as Church on Green Lane.
• United Reformed Church (See Heaton Moor United Church above).

Transport

The Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company built the line from Manchester to Crewe, the Manchester to Heaton Norris section opened in 1840. Heaton Chapel Station opened in 1852. Heaton Moor is built along Heaton Moor Road, a road leading from Reddish

Reddish

Reddish is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Stockport and southeast of Manchester...

 to Didsbury

Didsbury

Didsbury is a suburban area of the City of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre, in the southern half of the Greater Manchester Urban Area...

.

Sport

The Heaton Moor Rugby Club has been representing the area in the Rugby fraternity for over 100 years. After a number of years of decline from near top level status pre league structures, a steady improvement in form in recent years has led to a re-emergence of the club in the local leagues. It has some of the best facilities in the region due to a unique sporting set up featuring Rugby

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

, Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, Lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 and Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 facilities in a multi million pound development.

West Heaton Bowling,Tennis and Squash Club was established in 1873 and provides 6 all weather tennis courts (5 floodlit), two squash courts and a bowling green.

Personalities

Heaton Moor was the birthplace of cricketer Charles Marriott

Charles Marriott

-Life and career:Marriott was one of the best leg break and googly bowlers of the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Lancashire, he went to school at St Columba's in Ireland, coming back to Lancashire to play in his first first-class match in 1919. He then went on to Cambridge, winning blues in 1920 and 1921...

 and dramatist Ronald Gow

Ronald Gow

Ronald Gow was an English dramatist, best known for Love on the Dole .Born in Heaton Moor, Stockport, Cheshire, the son of a bank manager, Gow attended Altrincham County High School. After training as a chemist, he returned to his old school as a teacher...

, as well as novelist and broadcaster Joan Bakewell.

Dominic Monaghan

Dominic Monaghan

Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....

, who plays Merry

Meriadoc Brandybuck

Meriadoc Brandybuck, usually referred to as Merry, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, featured throughout his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings....

 in the film trilogy of Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...

 and Charlie Pace

Charlie Pace

Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...

 in the television show Lost

Lost (TV series)

Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

 was born in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 but raised in Heaton Moor.

The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 journalist and feminist Mary Stott

Mary Stott

Mary Stott was a British feminist and journalist. Stott was a journalist and columnist on the "Women's Page" of The Guardian....

 and her husband lived there after moving from Leicester.

The crime author Val McDermid

Val McDermid

Val McDermid is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of suspense novels starring her most famous creation, Dr. Tony Hill.-Biography:...

and TV screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst (Shameless, Sorted, Clocking Off) currently reside there.

External links

• Heaton Moor Council link
• Heaton Moor Conservation Area Appraisal
• heatonmoor.com - All the Moor - A community site for Heaton Moor and the surrounding areas.
• onthemoor.com - Local Community Website - News and events for the Four Heatons.
• On the Moor - Heaton Moor blog of news and gossip.