Sale, Greater Manchester
Encyclopedia
Sale is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford
, in Greater Manchester
, England. Historically
part of Cheshire
, the town lies on flat ground on the south bank of the River Mersey
, 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south of Stretford
, 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Altrincham
, and 5.2 miles (8.4 km) southwest of the city of Manchester
. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 55,000.
Evidence of Stone Age
, Roman
, and Anglo-Saxon
activity has been discovered locally. Throughout the Middle Ages
, Sale was a rural township
, linked ecclesiastically with neighbouring Ashton upon Mersey
. In this period, its fertile fields and meadows were used for crops and cattle farming. By the 17th century Sale, had developed a thriving cottage industry, manufacturing garthweb, the woven material from which horses' saddle girths
were made.
The Bridgewater Canal
reached the town in 1765, providing transport for goods and people, stimulating Sale's urbanisation. The arrival of the railway in 1849 triggered Sale's growth as a commuter town
for Manchester and beyond, leading to an influx of middle class
residents; by the end of the 19th century the town's population had more than tripled. Agriculture subsequently declined as service industries boomed.
Sale's urban growth resulted in a merger with neighbouring Ashton upon Mersey, following the Local Government Act 1929
. The increase in population led to the granting of a charter
in 1935, giving Sale honorific borough status
. Since then, Sale has continued to thrive as a commuter town, supported by its proximity to the M60 motorway
and the Manchester Metrolink
network. Retail, real estate, and business sectors have developed. Two of the town's main attractions are the Sale Water Park
, which contains an artificial lake used for water-sports, and the Waterside Arts Centre. Sale Sharks
rugby union
club was founded in the town, as was the Sale Harriers athletics club, although both have now relocated elsewhere.
. A 4th-century hoard
of 46 Roman coins was discovered in Ashton upon Mersey, one of four known hoards dating from that period discovered within the Mersey basin
. Sale lies along the line of the Roman road
which runs between the fortresses at Chester
(Deva Victrix
) and York
(Eboracum
), via the fort
at Manchester
(Mamucium); the present-day A56
follows the route of the road through the town. After the Roman departure from Britain in the early-5th century, Britain was invaded by the Anglo-Saxons
.
Some local field and road names, and the name of Sale itself, are Anglo-Saxon in origin, which indicates the town was founded in the 7th or 8th centuries. The Old English salh, from which "Sale" is derived, means "at the sallow
tree", and Ashton upon Mersey means "village or farm near the ash trees". Although the townships
of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey were not mentioned in the Domesday Book
of 1086, that may be because only a partial survey was taken. The first recorded occurrences of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey are in 1199–1216 and 1260 respectively. The settlements were referred to as townships rather than manors
, which suggests further evidence of Anglo-Saxon origins as townships were developed by the Saxons.
The manor of Sale was one of 30 held by William FitzNigel, a powerful 12th-century baron in north Cheshire. He divided it between Thomas de Sale and Adam de Carrington, who acted as Lords of the Manor
on FitzNigel's behalf. On de Sale's death, his land passed to his son-in-law, John Holt; de Carrington's land passed into the ownership of Richard de Massey, a member of the Masseys who were Barons of Dunham
. Sale descended through the Holt and Massey families until the 17th century, when their respective lands were sold. Sale Old Hall was built in about 1603 for James Massey, probably to replace a medieval manor house
, and was one of the first buildings in northwest England to be made of brick. It was rebuilt in 1840 and demolished in 1920, but two buildings in its grounds have survived: its dovecote
and its lodge, the latter now occupied by Sale Golf Club.
In 1745, Crossford Bridge – which dated back to at least 1367 – was torn down. It was one of a series of bridges crossing the River Mersey destroyed by order of the government, to slow the advance of Jacobite
forces during the Jacobite rising
. The Jacobites repaired the bridge upon reaching Manchester, and used it to send a small force into Sale and Altrincham. Their intention was to deceive the authorities into believing that the Jacobites were heading for Chester. The feint was successful and the main Jacobite army later marched south through Cheadle
and Stockport
instead.
The extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Runcorn
was completed as far as Sale by 1765, and transformed the town's economy by providing a quick and cheap route into Manchester for fresh produce. Farmers who took their wares to market in Manchester brought back night soil
to fertilise the fields. Not everyone benefited from the canal however; several yeomen
claimed that their crops were damaged by flooding from the Barfoot Bridge aqueduct. A 1777 map shows the village of Cross Street, on the site of the road now of the same name, divided between the townships of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey. The village was first referred to in 1586 and is believed to have originated around this time. The map also shows that Sale was spread out, mainly consisting of farmhouses around Dane Road, Fairy Lane, and Old Hall Road. Sale absorbed Cross Street as it expanded.
About 300 acres (121.4 ha) of "wasteland" known as Sale Moor was enclosed
in 1807, to be divided between the landowners in Sale. This was part of a nationwide initiative to begin cultivation of common land
to lessen the food shortage caused by the Napoleonic Wars
. Records of poor relief
in the town start in 1808, a time when the region was in the grip of an economic depression
. Poorhouse
s, where paupers could stay rent-free, were built in the early-19th century, reflecting the poor state of the local economy. In 1829, Samuel Brooks
acquired 515 acres (208.4 ha) of land in Sale – about a quarter of the township – from George Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford
. The area later became known as Brooklands after the land owner.
The Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
opened in 1849, and led to the middle classes using Sale as a commuter town, a residence away from their place of work. This resulted in Sale's population more than tripling by the end of the 19th century. The land in Sale Moor was the cheapest in the town because the soil was poor and difficult to cultivate, which was part of the reason the area was common land until the early 19th century. However, when the railway opened, Sale Moor was close to the station and became the most expensive area in Sale. Villas were built in Sale Moor, and a few in Ashton upon Mersey as the demand for land increased. They were often decorated with stained glass or different coloured bricks in an attempt to make them "mansions in miniature" for the aspiring middle-class.
Pressure from an increasing population led to the town being supplied with amenities such as sewers, which were built in 1875–1880; and Sale was connected to the telephone network in 1888. As in the late-19th century, the early-20th century saw a great deal of construction work in Sale. The town's first swimming baths were built in 1914, and its first cinema, The Palace, was opened during the First World War. The end of the war in 1918 resulted in a rush of marriages, which highlighted a shortage of housing. The local councils of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey took the initiative of building council housing
, and rented it to the local population at below market rates. A housing estate
, Woodhey's Hall, was built in Ashton upon Mersey in 1931, and by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Sale had 594 council houses. The building programme was interrupted by the start of the war.
Sale was never officially evacuated during the war, and even received families from evacuated areas, although it was not considered far enough from likely targets to be an official destination for evacuees. The town's proximity to Manchester, an industrial centre directed towards the war effort, did result in a number of bombing raids. Incendiaries dropped on Sale in September 1940 caused no casualties, but did damage a house. In a bombing incident the following November, four people were injured and a school was damaged; on 22 December 1940, twelve people were injured by bombs. On the night of 23 December, much of Manchester suffered heavy bombing in what became known as the Manchester Blitz
. Six hundred incendiary bombs were dropped on Sale in three hours. There were no injuries, but Sale Town Hall was severely damaged. On 3 August 1943, at 11:50 pm, a Wellington Bomber
on a training exercise crashed in Walton Park in the south-west of the town. Of the six-man crew, consisting of five members of the Royal Australian Air Force
and one member of the Royal Air Force
, the pilot and the bomb-aimer were killed.
Sale's shopping centre was redeveloped during the 1960s, as part of the town's post-war regeneration. In 1973, the shopping precinct in the town centre, which had grown up in the mid-19th century, was also redeveloped and pedestrianised in an attempt to increase trade. The construction of the M63 motorway (subsequently renamed the M60) in 1972 led to the creation of Sale Water Park. To minimise the risk of flooding, the new road was built on an embankment, for which the necessary gravel was extracted from what is today an artificial lake and water-sports centre. Opportunities for leisure were increased when the old swimming baths, demolished in 1971, were replaced in 1973 by a new complex built on the same site.
Historically, Sale was a township
in the ancient parish of Ashton upon Mersey
in the hundred of Bucklow
and county of Cheshire. Throughout the Middle Ages it was governed by the Lord of the Manor
. Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
, Sale was joined with the Altrincham Poor Law Union
, an inter-parish unit established to provide social security
. The unit changed its name to Bucklow Poor Law Union in 1895. Sale adopted the Local Government Act 1858 in November 1866, and Sale Local Board was formed to govern the township at the beginning of 1867. Members were elected to the local board by the town's ratepayers. A household had one vote for every £10 (£ as of ) of rateable value. Under the Local Government Act 1888
Sale became an urban district
of the administrative county
of Cheshire. The local board was replaced by Sale Urban District Council in 1894. The parish of Ashton upon Mersey became an urban district in 1895. In 1930, the Ashton upon Mersey UD was merged into Sale UD under a county review order
.
In December 1933, Sale Urban District submitted a petition to the Privy Council in an attempt to gain a charter of incorporation
. At the time, Sale UD had the largest population and highest rateable value of any urban district in the country. The petition was successful and on 21 September 1935 Sale UD was granted borough status
, and became the Municipal Borough of Sale. Following the Local Government Act 1972
, on 1 April 1974 the Municipal Borough of Sale was abolished. Sale became an unparished area
of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, a local government district of the metropolitan county
of Greater Manchester. The town's education, town planning, waste collection, health, social care and other services are administered by Trafford Council.
For national elections, Sale was in the parliamentary constituency of Altrincham and Sale from 1945 until 1997, when it was split between Altrincham and Sale West
and Wythenshawe and Sale East
. The Altrincham and Sale West constituency is one of the Conservative Party's
two seats in Greater Manchester. The Sale area consists of five electoral wards, which between them have 15 of the 63 seats on the council. The wards are Ashton upon Mersey, Brooklands, Priory, Sale Moor, and St. Mary's. As of the 2010 local elections
, the Conservative Party
held ten of the seats and the Labour Party
held five.
At 53°25′29"N 2°19′19"W (53.4246, −2.322), Sale lies respectively to the north and south of the neighbouring towns of Altrincham and Stretford, and 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Manchester city centre
. The district of Wythenshawe
is to the southeast. Sale is in the Mersey Valley, about 100 feet (30 m) above sea level on generally flat ground. The River Mersey, which runs just north of the town, is prone to flooding during heavy rains, so the Sale Water Park
, close to the town's northern boundary, acts as an emergency flood basin. The man-made, and thus more controllable, Bridgewater Canal runs through the centre of the town.
Sale's local drift geology
consists of sand and gravel deposited about 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age
. The bedrock is Bunter sandstone
in the west and Triassic
waterstone in the east. United Utilities
obtains the town's drinking water from the Lake District
. Sale's climate is generally temperate, like the rest of Greater Manchester. The mean highest and lowest temperatures (13.2 °C (55.8 °F) and 6.4 °C (43.5 °F)) are slightly above the national average, while the annual rainfall (806.6 millimetres (31.8 in)) and average hours of sunshine (1394.5 hours) are respectively above and below the national averages.
The town's main districts are Ashton upon Mersey
in the northwest, Sale Moor in the southeast, and Brooklands
in the southwest. The main commercial area is Sale town centre, in the central northern area of the town, but smaller commercial centres are also found in Ashton upon Mersey and Sale Moor. Brooklands is the most densely populated area. Most of the parks, including Worthington and Walton, are in the central and southern areas, leaving Ashton upon Mersey and Sale Moor with a shortage of accessible green space.
Sale's built environment
is varied, with a mixture of modern and old buildings. Some terraces
, semi-detached houses
, and villas, survive from the Victorian period, although many of the larger houses have been converted into flats. Many semi-detached houses survive from 1930s, when there was a need for new housing in the town as a result of a growing population and an increasingly wealthy middle class. Interspersed with these older structures are newer housing developments, such as the estates built in Ashton upon Mersey and the east of Sale during the 1970s.
As of the 2001 UK census
, Sale had a population of 55,234. The 2001 population density was 12727 PD/sqmi, with a 100 to 94.2 female-to-male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 30.0% were single (never married), 51.3% married and 7.8% divorced. Although the proportion of divorced people was similar to that of Trafford and England, the rates of those who were single and married were significantly different to the national and Trafford averages (Trafford: 44.3% single, 35.6% married; England: 44.3% single, 34.7% married). Sale's 24,027 households included 32.2% one-person, 37.8% married couples living together, 8.3% were co-habiting
couples, and 8.5% single parents with their children, these figures were similar to those of Trafford and England. Of those aged 16–74, 22.3% had no academic qualifications, similar to that of 24.7% in all of Trafford but significantly lower than 28.9% in all of England. Sale had a much higher percentage of adults with a diploma or degree than Greater Manchester as a whole. Of Sale residents aged 16–74, 26.7% had an educational qualification such as first degree, higher degree, qualified teacher status, qualified medical doctor, qualified dentist, qualified nurse, midwife, or health visitor, compared to 20% nationwide.
Originally a working class
town, there was an influx of middle class people in the mid-19th century when businessmen began using Sale as a commuter town. Since then, Sale has had a greater proportion of middle class residents than the national average. In 1931, 22.7% of Sale's population was middle class compared with 14% in England and Wales, and by 1971, this had increased to 36.3% compared with 24% nationally. Parallel to this increase in the middle classes of Sale was the decline of the working class population. In 1931, 20.3% were working class compared with 36% in England and Wales; by 1971, this had decreased to 15.4% in Sale and 26% nationwide. The rest of the population was made up of clerical workers and skilled manual workers. The change in social structure in the town was at a similar rate to that of the rest of the nation but was biased towards the middle classes, transforming Sale into the middle class town it is today.
, or Stretford. The increase in growth in the latter half of the 19th century also coincides with the arrival of the railway, indicative of Sale's growth as a commuter town. A huge increase in population in 1921–1931 is accounted for by the administrative merger of Sale with Ashton upon Mersey in 1930. Steady growth thereon is evident until 1981, when the decline of industry in Trafford and the Greater Manchester area accounts for a reduction in the town's population. This follows the general population trend for Greater Manchester
, with residents relocating to new jobs. The table below details population changes since 1801, including the percentage change since the last census.
During the medieval period, most of the land was used for growing crops
and raising livestock such as cattle. The produce from arable farming would have been sufficient to support the local population, but the cattle would have been sold to the ruling classes. Agriculture provided the main source of employment for Sale's residents the until mid-19th century. Industry was slow to develop in the area, as in most of what would become Trafford. This was partly because of the reluctance to of the two main land owners in the area, the Stamfords
and the de Traffords
, to invest. Although weaving was common in Sale during the late 17th and early 18th century, by 1851 only 4% of the population was employed in that industry.
Along with the rest of the region, Sale's economy during the early-19th century was weak, a state of affairs which persisted until the arrival of the railway in the middle of the century. Despite the dominance of agriculture, there was a growing service industry; Sale and Ashton upon Mersey experienced a growth in numbers employed in retail and domestic services in the first half of the 19th century. By 1901, less than 20% of Sale residents were employed in agriculture. Employment was available in work houses for those who could not find work elsewhere. Sale was part of the Altrincham Union, which ran the nearest work house in Altrincham.
The main shopping centre in Sale, the Square Shopping Centre, was constructed in the 1960s. Following the Trafford Centre's opening in 1998, it was expected that the centre would suffer, but it has since prospered. In 2003 the Square Shopping Centre underwent a £7 million refurbishment, a major part of the redevelopment of Sale's town centre. It was sold for £40M in 2005, by which time the Square had experienced an increase in trade and demand for tenancy that had led to an increase of 70% in rental income. The town's economy expanded to the extent that in 2007, at a time when the rest of south Manchester was oversupplied with office space, Sale's available office and commercial space was at an all time low because of high demand.
According to the 2001 UK census, the industry of employment of residents aged 16–74 was 18.4% property and business services, 15.9% retail and wholesale, 11.1% manufacturing, 10.9% health and social work, 9.1% education, 7.8% transport and communications, 6.1% construction, 6.3% finance, 4.5% public administration, 3.8% hotels and restaurants, 0.7% energy and water supply, 0.5% agriculture, 0.2% mining, and 4.7% other. Compared with national figures, the town had a relatively high percentage of residents working in property, business services and finance. The town had a relatively low percentage working in agriculture, public administration, and manufacturing. The census recorded the economic activity of residents aged 16–74, 2.6% students were with jobs, 3.3% students without jobs, 4.9% looking after home or family, 5.2% permanently sick or disabled, and 2.3% economically inactive for other reasons. The 2.4% unemployment rate of Sale was low compared with the national rate of 3.3%.
Sale has three Grade II* listed buildings – two churches (St. Martin
and St. John the Divine) and Ashton New Hall – and eighteen Grade II listed buildings. The cenotaph outside the town hall was designed by Ashton upon Mersey sculptor Arthur Sherwood Edwards and is a Grade II listed building. It commemorates the 400 men from Sale who died in the First World War and the 300 who died in the Second World War. The memorial consists of a statue of a mourning Saint George
on top of a granite pedestal. Costing £600 (£ as of ), it was funded by public subscription and unveiled in May 1925 in front of a crowd of 10,000.
The oldest surviving building in Sale is Eyebrow Cottage. Built around 1670, it was originally a yeoman
farmhouse and is one of the earliest brick buildings in the area. Its name is derived from the decorative brickwork above the windows. It was built in Cross Street, which at the time was a separate village from Sale.
A bronze bust of James Joule, the physicist who gave his name to the SI
unit of energy, is in Worthington Park. Originally a tower was to have been erected in his honour, but lack of donations led to the production of the bust as a substitute; it was unveiled in 1905. Joule moved to Sale in the 1870s for his health; he died at his home at 12 Wardle Road in 1889, and is buried in Brooklands Cemetery.
The area has several parks and green spaces. Worthington Park, originally called Sale Park, was opened in 1900. It features a bandstand, gardens, play areas, and a skate ramp and is maintained by Trafford Council and The Friends of Worthington Park. Opened in 1939, Walton Park is in the southwest of the town and features a miniature railway. Sale Water Park
is an artificial lake, created from a 35 metres (115 ft) deep gravel pit left during the construction of the M60
. It opened in 1980 and is a venue for water sports, fishing and bird watching. The water park is the site of the Broad Ees Dole wildlife refuge, a Local Nature Reserve
that provides a home for migratory birds.
Situated next to the town hall, the Waterside Arts Centre houses a plaza, a library, the Robert Bolt
Theatre, the Lauriston Gallery, and the Corridor Gallery. The centre, which was opened in 2004, regularly hosts concerts, exhibitions and other community events. Performers have included Midge Ure
, Fairport Convention
, The Zombies
and Sue Perkins
. In 2004, the centre received the British Urban Regeneration Association Award for its innovative use of space and for reinvigorating Sale town centre.
Sale has a Gilbert and Sullivan
society, formed in 1972, which performs at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse
. The group is directed by Alistair Donkin, a former principal comic for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
. Members of the group have won several awards at The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. Sale Brass is a traditional brass band based in Sale, formed in about 1849 as the Stretford Temperance Band. Its first recorded performance was at the 1849 opening of the railway between Manchester and Altrincham.
ground since 1905. One of the oldest rugby clubs in the world, its 1865 Minute Book is the oldest existing book containing the rules of the game. The professional Sale Sharks
team was originally part of Sale F.C. but split from it in 2003. Sale Sharks now play their matches in Stockport although they retain the use of the Heywood Road ground for training. The town is also home to the Ashton upon Mersey and Trafford Metrovick rugby union clubs.
Sale Harriers Manchester Athletics Club was formed in 1911, but is now based in nearby Wythenshawe. The club has produced successful athletes such as Olympic
gold medallist Darren Campbell
and Commonwealth Games
gold medallist Diane Modahl
, both former residents of the town. Sale Sports Club encompasses Sale Cricket Club, Sale Hockey Club, and Sale Lawn Tennis Club. The Brooklands Sports Club is home to Brooklands Cricket Club, Brooklands Manchester University Hockey Club, and Brooklands Hulmeians Lacrosse Club. It also provides facilities for squash, tennis, and bowling. Sale United FC plays at Crossford Bridge and was recognised as Trafford's Sports Club of the Year in 2004. Sale Golf Club and Ashton on Mersey Golf Club have courses on the outskirts of the town, and a municipal pitch and putt is based at Woodheys Park. Trafford Rowing Club has a boathouse beside the canal. The Sale leisure centre has badminton and squash courts, a gymnasium, and three swimming pools. The Walton Park Sports Centre has a sports hall for activities such as 5-a-side football
, karate and table-tennis. Tennis, crown-green bowls
, golf putting, and football facilities are available at the town's parks. Sale Water Ski Club is based at Sale Water Park.
, Methodists
, and Unitarians
. The first school-chapel built in Sale as part of a school was constructed by Primitive Methodists
in 1839, and still survives. The second school-chapel in the town was St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
, built in 1866, and was replaced by the current school in 1899.
Trafford maintains a selective education system assessed by the Eleven Plus
exam. Sale has one grammar school
, two secondary modern school
s and nineteen primary schools. Sale Grammar School
is a specialist school
in science and the visual arts
. It consists of two parts, one for 11–16 year olds and 900 pupils, and the other a sixth form
college with 300 students. The school was described in its 2006 Ofsted
report as "outstanding with an outstanding sixth form". Ashton on Mersey School is a foundation
secondary modern school and specialist sports college
. It has 1,300 pupils aged 11–16 and 80 students in its sixth form. In its 2008 Ofsted report it was rated "outstanding". Sale High School, formerly Jeff Joseph Sale Moor Technology College, is a foundation secondary modern school for 11–16 year olds and specialist technology college. It has 1,000 pupils and in its 2006 Ofsted report was rated as "satisfactory". Manor High School provides secondary education to pupils with special needs. It has 140 students aged 11–16 and 20 members of its sixth form and was rated as "good" in its 2007 Ofsted report.
Sale is a diverse community with a synagogue
and Christian churches of various denominations. The church buildings were mostly constructed in the late 19th or early 20th century in the wake of the population boom created by the arrival of the railway in 1849, although records show that the Church of St Martin
in Ashton upon Mersey dates back to at least 1304. Before the English Reformation
, the inhabitants of Sale were predominantly Catholic, but afterwards were members of the Church of England
. Roman Catholics returned to the area in the 19th century in the form of Irish immigrants. Two of the three Grade II* listed buildings in the town are churches. The Church of St Martin, which was probably originally an early 14th-century timber framed
structure, was rebuilt in 1714 after the church had been destroyed in a storm. The Church of St John the Divine was built in 1868, to the design of Alfred Waterhouse
. There are three Grade II listed churches in Sale: the Church of St Anne; the Church of St Mary Magdalene; and the Church of St Paul.
As of the 2001 UK census, 78.0% of Sale residents reported themselves as Christian, 1.4% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.6% Jewish, 0.2% Buddhist and 0.2% Sikh. A further 12.9% had no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion, and 5.9% did not state their religion. Sale is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, and the Church of England Diocese of Chester
. Sale and District Synagogue is on Hesketh Road in Sale, and is part of United Synagogue
under the aegis
of the Chief Rabbi
of Britain, Jonathan Sacks
. The only mosque
in Trafford is the Masjid-E-Noor in Old Trafford, 3 mi (5 km) away.
The first turnpike
road in the area was the latter-day A56 Chester Road between Manchester and Crossford Bridge (on the border between Sale and Stretford). Turnpike trusts collected tolls from road users and used the proceeds to maintain the highway. There was a toll booth on the Sale side of Crossford Bridge. Another section of road between Altrincham and Crossford Bridge was turnpiked in 1765. The commencement of "swift packet
" services on the newly opened Bridgewater Canal in 1776 made commuting from Sale into Manchester both practical and convenient, with boats travelling at a relatively swift 10 mph (16.1 km/h). However the arrival in 1849 of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway sounded a death-knell for both the canal packet services and turnpike trusts. Many trusts went into terminal decline, mirroring a national trend. By 1888 almost all roads and highways were the responsibility of the local authority. Sale's railway station, originally named Sale Moor, was renamed to Sale in 1856. Three years later Brooklands railway station
was opened, followed in 1931 by the opening of Dane Road railway station
along with the electrification of the entire line. The line was renovated in the early 1990s and is now part of the Metrolink
.
Following the completion of a tram
way between Manchester and Stretford in 1901, the British Electric Traction Company
applied to Parliament for an extension to Sale. The proposal was amended to continue the line further south, into Altrincham. The line through Sale was owned by Sale Urban District Council and leased to the Manchester Corporation. Services to Sale commenced in 1907. A branch along Northenden Road from the line to Sale Moor was created in 1912. Sale Moor's line had only a single track which in 1925 resulted in a head-on collision between two tramcars, injuring eight passengers. Bus services were first introduced to the area in the 1920s, but became more widespread in the 1930s. The buses did not suffer the drawback of being limited to tracks and were therefore more practical than the tram services which from the 1930s went into decline. The tramlines along Northenden Road were removed between 1932 and 1934, and throughout Sale in the 1940s.
The Metrolink
system connects Sale with other locations in Greater Manchester. Trams depart the town's three stations every six minutes between 7:15 am and 6:30 pm, and every 12 minutes at other times of the day. The nearest main line railway station is Navigation Road in Altrincham, from where trains run to Manchester Piccadilly
, Stockport and Chester
. Bus routes operated by various companies provide services to Manchester and Altrincham. The A56 road runs between Chester and North Yorkshire
via Sale, Manchester, and Burnley
, and the M60 motorway
– which encircles Manchester – can be accessed via junction 7, just to the north of Sale. The M56
and M62
motorways are about 4 miles (6 km) away, and the M6 motorway
, which runs between Warwickshire
and Carlisle, is about 7 miles (11 km) to the west. Manchester Airport, the busiest airport in the UK outside the London area, is 4 miles (6 km) to the south.
Trafford
The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 211,800, covers , and includes the towns of Altrincham, Partington, Sale, Stretford, and Urmston...
, in 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...
, England. Historically
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
part of Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, the town lies on flat ground on the south bank of the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
, 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south of Stretford
Stretford
Stretford is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Lying on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, it is to the southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Salford and northeast of Altrincham...
, 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Altrincham
Altrincham
Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
, and 5.2 miles (8.4 km) southwest of the city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 55,000.
Evidence of Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
, Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, and Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
activity has been discovered locally. Throughout the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, Sale was a rural township
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
, linked ecclesiastically with neighbouring Ashton upon Mersey
Ashton upon Mersey
Ashton upon Mersey is an area of Sale in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, in the northwestern part of Sale, and is situated about south of Manchester city centre....
. In this period, its fertile fields and meadows were used for crops and cattle farming. By the 17th century Sale, had developed a thriving cottage industry, manufacturing garthweb, the woven material from which horses' saddle girths
Girth (tack)
A girth, sometimes called a cinch , is a piece of equipment used to keep the saddle in place on a horse or other animal. It passes under the barrel of the equine, usually attached to the saddle on both sides by two or three leather straps called billets...
were made.
The Bridgewater Canal
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester...
reached the town in 1765, providing transport for goods and people, stimulating Sale's urbanisation. The arrival of the railway in 1849 triggered Sale's growth as a commuter town
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
for Manchester and beyond, leading to an influx of middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
residents; by the end of the 19th century the town's population had more than tripled. Agriculture subsequently declined as service industries boomed.
Sale's urban growth resulted in a merger with neighbouring Ashton upon Mersey, following the Local Government Act 1929
Local Government Act 1929
The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales....
. The increase in population led to the granting of a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
in 1935, giving Sale honorific borough status
Borough status in the United Kingdom
Borough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...
. Since then, Sale has continued to thrive as a commuter town, supported by its proximity to the M60 motorway
M60 motorway
The M60 motorway, or Manchester Orbital, is an orbital motorway circling Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It passes through all Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolton...
and the Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...
network. Retail, real estate, and business sectors have developed. Two of the town's main attractions are the Sale Water Park
Sale Water Park
Sale Water Park is a area of countryside and parkland including a artificial lake in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. Opened in 1979 and owned by Trafford council, the water park lies in an area of the green belt running through the Mersey river valley between...
, which contains an artificial lake used for water-sports, and the Waterside Arts Centre. Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club who play in England in the Aviva Premiership.The club is an offshoot of Sale FC, which is based at Heywood Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.Part of the...
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club was founded in the town, as was the Sale Harriers athletics club, although both have now relocated elsewhere.
History
A flint arrowhead discovered in Sale suggests a prehistoric human presence, but there is no further evidence of activity in the area until the Roman periodRoman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. A 4th-century hoard
Hoard
In archaeology, a hoard is a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards may be uncovered by...
of 46 Roman coins was discovered in Ashton upon Mersey, one of four known hoards dating from that period discovered within the Mersey basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. Sale lies along the line of the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
which runs between the fortresses at Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
(Deva Victrix
Deva Victrix
Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia. The settlement evolved into Chester, the county town of Cheshire, England...
) and York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
(Eboracum
Eboracum
Eboracum was a fort and city in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into York, located in North Yorkshire, England.-Etymology:The first known recorded mention of Eboracum by name is dated circa 95-104 AD and is an address containing the Latin form of the settlement's name, "Eburaci", on a wooden...
), via the fort
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
(Mamucium); the present-day A56
A56 road
The A56 is a road in England which extends between the city of Chester in Cheshire and the village of Broughton in North Yorkshire. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections, and traverses environments as diverse as the dense urban sprawl of inner city Manchester and the...
follows the route of the road through the town. After the Roman departure from Britain in the early-5th century, Britain was invaded by the Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
.
Some local field and road names, and the name of Sale itself, are Anglo-Saxon in origin, which indicates the town was founded in the 7th or 8th centuries. The Old English salh, from which "Sale" is derived, means "at the sallow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
tree", and Ashton upon Mersey means "village or farm near the ash trees". Although the townships
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey were not mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086, that may be because only a partial survey was taken. The first recorded occurrences of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey are in 1199–1216 and 1260 respectively. The settlements were referred to as townships rather than manors
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
, which suggests further evidence of Anglo-Saxon origins as townships were developed by the Saxons.
The manor of Sale was one of 30 held by William FitzNigel, a powerful 12th-century baron in north Cheshire. He divided it between Thomas de Sale and Adam de Carrington, who acted as Lords of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
on FitzNigel's behalf. On de Sale's death, his land passed to his son-in-law, John Holt; de Carrington's land passed into the ownership of Richard de Massey, a member of the Masseys who were Barons of Dunham
Dunham Massey
Dunham Massey is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The parish includes the villages of Sinderland Green, Dunham Woodhouse and Dunham Town, along with Dunham Massey Park, formerly the home of the last Earl of Stamford and owned by the National Trust...
. Sale descended through the Holt and Massey families until the 17th century, when their respective lands were sold. Sale Old Hall was built in about 1603 for James Massey, probably to replace a medieval manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, and was one of the first buildings in northwest England to be made of brick. It was rebuilt in 1840 and demolished in 1920, but two buildings in its grounds have survived: its dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...
and its lodge, the latter now occupied by Sale Golf Club.
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
forces during the Jacobite rising
Jacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...
. The Jacobites repaired the bridge upon reaching Manchester, and used it to send a small force into Sale and Altrincham. Their intention was to deceive the authorities into believing that the Jacobites were heading for Chester. The feint was successful and the main Jacobite army later marched south through Cheadle
Cheadle, Greater Manchester
Cheadle is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester, England. It borders the districts of Cheadle Hulme, Gatley, Heald Green and Cheadle Heath in Stockport, and the East Didsbury area of Manchester. As of 2001 it had a population of 14,261.-Early history:There has...
and 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...
instead.
The extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Runcorn
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
was completed as far as Sale by 1765, and transformed the town's economy by providing a quick and cheap route into Manchester for fresh produce. Farmers who took their wares to market in Manchester brought back night soil
Night soil
Night soil is a euphemism for human excrement collected at night from cesspools, privies, etc. and sometimes used as a fertilizer. Night soil is produced as a result of a waste management system in areas without community infrastructure such as a sewage treatment facility, or individual septic...
to fertilise the fields. Not everyone benefited from the canal however; several yeomen
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
claimed that their crops were damaged by flooding from the Barfoot Bridge aqueduct. A 1777 map shows the village of Cross Street, on the site of the road now of the same name, divided between the townships of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey. The village was first referred to in 1586 and is believed to have originated around this time. The map also shows that Sale was spread out, mainly consisting of farmhouses around Dane Road, Fairy Lane, and Old Hall Road. Sale absorbed Cross Street as it expanded.
About 300 acres (121.4 ha) of "wasteland" known as Sale Moor was enclosed
Inclosure Act
The Inclosure or Enclosure Acts were a series of United Kingdom Acts of Parliament which enclosed open fields and common land in the country. They removed previously existing rights of local people to carry out activities in these areas, such as cultivation, cutting hay, grazing animals or using...
in 1807, to be divided between the landowners in Sale. This was part of a nationwide initiative to begin cultivation of common land
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
to lessen the food shortage caused by the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. Records of poor relief
Poor relief
Poor Relief refers to any actions taken by either governmental or ecclesiastical bodies to relieve poverty experienced by a population. More specifically, the term poor relief is often used to discuss how European countries dealt with poverty from the time just around the end of the medieval era to...
in the town start in 1808, a time when the region was in the grip of an economic depression
Depression (economics)
In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe downturn than a recession, which is seen by some economists as part of the modern business cycle....
. Poorhouse
Poorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
s, where paupers could stay rent-free, were built in the early-19th century, reflecting the poor state of the local economy. In 1829, Samuel Brooks
Samuel Brooks
Samuel Brooks was born at Great Harwood, near Whalley in Lancashire, England, the second son of William Brooks. In 1815 he became a partner in his father’s Blackburn-based business, Cunliffe Brooks & Co. This business supplied cotton and/or textile equipment, and also ran a bank as a sideline...
acquired 515 acres (208.4 ha) of land in Sale – about a quarter of the township – from George Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford
George Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford
George Harry Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford and 2nd Earl of Warrington , styled Lord Grey from 1768 to 1819, was a British peer and politician....
. The area later became known as Brooklands after the land owner.
Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway was a suburban railway which operated a 13.7 km route between Altrincham in Cheshire and London Road Station in Manchester....
opened in 1849, and led to the middle classes using Sale as a commuter town, a residence away from their place of work. This resulted in Sale's population more than tripling by the end of the 19th century. The land in Sale Moor was the cheapest in the town because the soil was poor and difficult to cultivate, which was part of the reason the area was common land until the early 19th century. However, when the railway opened, Sale Moor was close to the station and became the most expensive area in Sale. Villas were built in Sale Moor, and a few in Ashton upon Mersey as the demand for land increased. They were often decorated with stained glass or different coloured bricks in an attempt to make them "mansions in miniature" for the aspiring middle-class.
Pressure from an increasing population led to the town being supplied with amenities such as sewers, which were built in 1875–1880; and Sale was connected to the telephone network in 1888. As in the late-19th century, the early-20th century saw a great deal of construction work in Sale. The town's first swimming baths were built in 1914, and its first cinema, The Palace, was opened during the First World War. The end of the war in 1918 resulted in a rush of marriages, which highlighted a shortage of housing. The local councils of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey took the initiative of building council housing
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
, and rented it to the local population at below market rates. A housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
, Woodhey's Hall, was built in Ashton upon Mersey in 1931, and by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Sale had 594 council houses. The building programme was interrupted by the start of the war.
Sale was never officially evacuated during the war, and even received families from evacuated areas, although it was not considered far enough from likely targets to be an official destination for evacuees. The town's proximity to Manchester, an industrial centre directed towards the war effort, did result in a number of bombing raids. Incendiaries dropped on Sale in September 1940 caused no casualties, but did damage a house. In a bombing incident the following November, four people were injured and a school was damaged; on 22 December 1940, twelve people were injured by bombs. On the night of 23 December, much of Manchester suffered heavy bombing in what became known as the Manchester Blitz
Manchester Blitz
The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the Nazi German Luftwaffe...
. Six hundred incendiary bombs were dropped on Sale in three hours. There were no injuries, but Sale Town Hall was severely damaged. On 3 August 1943, at 11:50 pm, a Wellington Bomber
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
on a training exercise crashed in Walton Park in the south-west of the town. Of the six-man crew, consisting of five members of the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
and one member of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, the pilot and the bomb-aimer were killed.
Sale's shopping centre was redeveloped during the 1960s, as part of the town's post-war regeneration. In 1973, the shopping precinct in the town centre, which had grown up in the mid-19th century, was also redeveloped and pedestrianised in an attempt to increase trade. The construction of the M63 motorway (subsequently renamed the M60) in 1972 led to the creation of Sale Water Park. To minimise the risk of flooding, the new road was built on an embankment, for which the necessary gravel was extracted from what is today an artificial lake and water-sports centre. Opportunities for leisure were increased when the old swimming baths, demolished in 1971, were replaced in 1973 by a new complex built on the same site.
Governance
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
in the ancient parish of Ashton upon Mersey
Ancient parishes of Cheshire
The Ancient Parishes of Cheshire refers to the group of parishes that existed in Cheshire, roughly within the period of 1200–1800. Initially, the ancient parishes had only an ecclesiastical function, but reforms initiated by King Henry VIII, developed by Queen Elizabeth I and expanded by...
in the hundred of Bucklow
Bucklow (hundred)
The hundred of Bucklow was an ancient division of the historic county of Cheshire, in northern England. It was known to have been in existence at least as early as 1260, and it was formed from the earlier Domesday hundreds of Bochelau and Tunendune.-Courts:...
and county of Cheshire. Throughout the Middle Ages it was governed by the Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
. Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, sometimes abbreviated to PLAA, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Lord Melbourne that reformed the country's poverty relief system . It was an Amendment Act that completely replaced earlier legislation based on the...
, Sale was joined with the Altrincham Poor Law Union
Poor Law Union
A Poor Law Union was a unit used for local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. The administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of parishes, which varied wildly in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements...
, an inter-parish unit established to provide social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
. The unit changed its name to Bucklow Poor Law Union in 1895. Sale adopted the Local Government Act 1858 in November 1866, and Sale Local Board was formed to govern the township at the beginning of 1867. Members were elected to the local board by the town's ratepayers. A household had one vote for every £10 (£ as of ) of rateable value. Under the Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
Sale became an urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
of the administrative county
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...
of Cheshire. The local board was replaced by Sale Urban District Council in 1894. The parish of Ashton upon Mersey became an urban district in 1895. In 1930, the Ashton upon Mersey UD was merged into Sale UD under a county review order
Local Government Act 1929
The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales....
.
In December 1933, Sale Urban District submitted a petition to the Privy Council in an attempt to gain a charter of incorporation
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
. At the time, Sale UD had the largest population and highest rateable value of any urban district in the country. The petition was successful and on 21 September 1935 Sale UD was granted borough status
Borough status in the United Kingdom
Borough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...
, and became the Municipal Borough of Sale. Following the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, on 1 April 1974 the Municipal Borough of Sale was abolished. Sale became an unparished area
Unparished area
In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. Many towns and some cities in otherwise rural districts are also unparished areas and therefore no longer have a town council or city...
of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, a local government district of the metropolitan county
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
of Greater Manchester. The town's education, town planning, waste collection, health, social care and other services are administered by Trafford Council.
For national elections, Sale was in the parliamentary constituency of Altrincham and Sale from 1945 until 1997, when it was split between Altrincham and Sale West
Altrincham and Sale West
Altrincham and Sale West is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
and Wythenshawe and Sale East
Wythenshawe and Sale East
Wythenshawe and Sale East is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.- Boundaries :...
. The Altrincham and Sale West constituency is one of the Conservative Party's
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
two seats in Greater Manchester. The Sale area consists of five electoral wards, which between them have 15 of the 63 seats on the council. The wards are Ashton upon Mersey, Brooklands, Priory, Sale Moor, and St. Mary's. As of the 2010 local elections
Trafford Council election, 2010
Elections to Trafford Council were held on 6 May 2010. One-third of the council was up for election, with each successful candidate to serve a four-year term of office, expiring in 2014...
, the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
held ten of the seats and the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
held five.
Geography
Manchester City Centre
Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
. The district of Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the city of Manchester, England.Formerly part of the administrative county of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner...
is to the southeast. Sale is in the Mersey Valley, about 100 feet (30 m) above sea level on generally flat ground. The River Mersey, which runs just north of the town, is prone to flooding during heavy rains, so the Sale Water Park
Sale Water Park
Sale Water Park is a area of countryside and parkland including a artificial lake in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. Opened in 1979 and owned by Trafford council, the water park lies in an area of the green belt running through the Mersey river valley between...
, close to the town's northern boundary, acts as an emergency flood basin. The man-made, and thus more controllable, Bridgewater Canal runs through the centre of the town.
Sale's local drift geology
Drift (geology)
In geology, drift is the name for all material of glacial origin found anywhere on land or at sea , including sediment and large rocks...
consists of sand and gravel deposited about 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. The bedrock is Bunter sandstone
Bunter (geology)
Bunter beds are sandstone deposits containing rounded pebbles, such as can notably be found in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Devon and Dorset in England...
in the west and Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
waterstone in the east. United Utilities
United Utilities
United Utilities Group PLC is the UK's largest listed water business. The Group owns and manages the regulated water and waste water network in the north west England, through it subsidiary United Utilities Water PLC , which is responsible for the vast majority of the group's assets and...
obtains the town's drinking water from the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
. Sale's climate is generally temperate, like the rest of Greater Manchester. The mean highest and lowest temperatures (13.2 °C (55.8 °F) and 6.4 °C (43.5 °F)) are slightly above the national average, while the annual rainfall (806.6 millimetres (31.8 in)) and average hours of sunshine (1394.5 hours) are respectively above and below the national averages.
The town's main districts are Ashton upon Mersey
Ashton upon Mersey
Ashton upon Mersey is an area of Sale in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, in the northwestern part of Sale, and is situated about south of Manchester city centre....
in the northwest, Sale Moor in the southeast, and Brooklands
Brooklands, Trafford
Brooklands is an area and electoral ward within Sale, in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is to the south-southwest of Manchester city centre and has a total resident population of 9,773....
in the southwest. The main commercial area is Sale town centre, in the central northern area of the town, but smaller commercial centres are also found in Ashton upon Mersey and Sale Moor. Brooklands is the most densely populated area. Most of the parks, including Worthington and Walton, are in the central and southern areas, leaving Ashton upon Mersey and Sale Moor with a shortage of accessible green space.
Sale's built environment
Built environment
The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...
is varied, with a mixture of modern and old buildings. Some terraces
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
, semi-detached houses
Semi-detached
Semi-detached housing consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin...
, and villas, survive from the Victorian period, although many of the larger houses have been converted into flats. Many semi-detached houses survive from 1930s, when there was a need for new housing in the town as a result of a growing population and an increasingly wealthy middle class. Interspersed with these older structures are newer housing developments, such as the estates built in Ashton upon Mersey and the east of Sale during the 1970s.
Demography
| Sale compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK census | Sale | Trafford | England |
| Total population | 55,234 | 210,145 | 49,138,831 |
| Foreign born | 6.7% | 8.2% | 9.2% |
| White | 95.1% | 89.7% | 91.0% |
| Asian | 1.9% | 4.6% | 4.6% |
| Black | 0.7% | 2.3% | 2.3% |
| Christian | 78% | 76% | 72% |
| Muslim | 1.4% | 3.3% | 3.1% |
| No religion | 13% | 12% | 15% |
| Over 65 years old | 17% | 16% | 16% |
As of the 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Sale had a population of 55,234. The 2001 population density was 12727 PD/sqmi, with a 100 to 94.2 female-to-male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 30.0% were single (never married), 51.3% married and 7.8% divorced. Although the proportion of divorced people was similar to that of Trafford and England, the rates of those who were single and married were significantly different to the national and Trafford averages (Trafford: 44.3% single, 35.6% married; England: 44.3% single, 34.7% married). Sale's 24,027 households included 32.2% one-person, 37.8% married couples living together, 8.3% were co-habiting
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
couples, and 8.5% single parents with their children, these figures were similar to those of Trafford and England. Of those aged 16–74, 22.3% had no academic qualifications, similar to that of 24.7% in all of Trafford but significantly lower than 28.9% in all of England. Sale had a much higher percentage of adults with a diploma or degree than Greater Manchester as a whole. Of Sale residents aged 16–74, 26.7% had an educational qualification such as first degree, higher degree, qualified teacher status, qualified medical doctor, qualified dentist, qualified nurse, midwife, or health visitor, compared to 20% nationwide.
Originally a working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
town, there was an influx of middle class people in the mid-19th century when businessmen began using Sale as a commuter town. Since then, Sale has had a greater proportion of middle class residents than the national average. In 1931, 22.7% of Sale's population was middle class compared with 14% in England and Wales, and by 1971, this had increased to 36.3% compared with 24% nationally. Parallel to this increase in the middle classes of Sale was the decline of the working class population. In 1931, 20.3% were working class compared with 36% in England and Wales; by 1971, this had decreased to 15.4% in Sale and 26% nationwide. The rest of the population was made up of clerical workers and skilled manual workers. The change in social structure in the town was at a similar rate to that of the rest of the nation but was biased towards the middle classes, transforming Sale into the middle class town it is today.
Population change
According to the hearth tax returns of 1664, the township of Sale had a population of about 365. Parish registers show that the area experienced steady population growth during the 17th and 18th centuries, more so during the latter half of the 19th century (due to the Industrial Revolution). This later growth was less rapid than that seen in neighbouring areas such as Altrincham, BowdonBowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon is a suburban village and electoral ward in the Altrincham area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.-History:...
, or Stretford. The increase in growth in the latter half of the 19th century also coincides with the arrival of the railway, indicative of Sale's growth as a commuter town. A huge increase in population in 1921–1931 is accounted for by the administrative merger of Sale with Ashton upon Mersey in 1930. Steady growth thereon is evident until 1981, when the decline of industry in Trafford and the Greater Manchester area accounts for a reduction in the town's population. This follows the general population trend for Greater Manchester
Demography of Greater Manchester
The demography of Greater Manchester is characterised by a number of trends recorded amongst its multicultural agglomoration of 2.55 million people, as part of census returns and other systems of measurement used in the English metropolitan county....
, with residents relocating to new jobs. The table below details population changes since 1801, including the percentage change since the last census.
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Sale since 1801 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 |
| Population | 819 | 901 | 1,049 | 1,104 | 1,309 | 1,720 | 3,031 | 5,573 | 7,916 | 9,644 | 12,088 | 15,044 | 16,329 | 28,071 | 38,911 | 43,168 | 51,336 | 55,749 | 57,824 | 56,052 | 55,234 |
| % change | – | +10.0 | +16.4 | +5.2 | +18.6 | +31.4 | +76.2 | +83.9 | +42.0 | +21.8 | +25.3 | +19.6 | +8.5 | +71.6 | +38.6 | +10.9 | +18.9 | +8.6 | +4.4 | −3.1 | −1.5 |
| Source: A Vision of Britain through Time | |||||||||||||||||||||
Economy
| Sale compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK Census United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.... |
Sale | Trafford | England |
| Population of working age | 40,272 | 151,445 | 35,532,091 |
| Full time employment | 45.5% | 43.4% | 40.8% |
| Part time employment | 11.6% | 11.9% | 11.8% |
| Self employed | 7.8% | 8.0% | 8.3% |
| Unemployed | 2.5% | 2.7% | 3.3% |
| Retired | 14.3% | 13.9% | 13.5% |
During the medieval period, most of the land was used for growing crops
Agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology,...
and raising livestock such as cattle. The produce from arable farming would have been sufficient to support the local population, but the cattle would have been sold to the ruling classes. Agriculture provided the main source of employment for Sale's residents the until mid-19th century. Industry was slow to develop in the area, as in most of what would become Trafford. This was partly because of the reluctance to of the two main land owners in the area, the Stamfords
Earl of Stamford
Earl of Stamford was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Henry Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Groby. This Grey family descended through Lord John Grey, of Pirgo, Essex, younger son of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and younger brother of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk Earl...
and the de Traffords
De Trafford Baronets
The de Trafford Baronetcy, of Trafford Park in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was restored after the Catholic Emancipation, by Royal Decree on 7 September 1841, for Thomas de Trafford...
, to invest. Although weaving was common in Sale during the late 17th and early 18th century, by 1851 only 4% of the population was employed in that industry.
Along with the rest of the region, Sale's economy during the early-19th century was weak, a state of affairs which persisted until the arrival of the railway in the middle of the century. Despite the dominance of agriculture, there was a growing service industry; Sale and Ashton upon Mersey experienced a growth in numbers employed in retail and domestic services in the first half of the 19th century. By 1901, less than 20% of Sale residents were employed in agriculture. Employment was available in work houses for those who could not find work elsewhere. Sale was part of the Altrincham Union, which ran the nearest work house in Altrincham.
According to the 2001 UK census, the industry of employment of residents aged 16–74 was 18.4% property and business services, 15.9% retail and wholesale, 11.1% manufacturing, 10.9% health and social work, 9.1% education, 7.8% transport and communications, 6.1% construction, 6.3% finance, 4.5% public administration, 3.8% hotels and restaurants, 0.7% energy and water supply, 0.5% agriculture, 0.2% mining, and 4.7% other. Compared with national figures, the town had a relatively high percentage of residents working in property, business services and finance. The town had a relatively low percentage working in agriculture, public administration, and manufacturing. The census recorded the economic activity of residents aged 16–74, 2.6% students were with jobs, 3.3% students without jobs, 4.9% looking after home or family, 5.2% permanently sick or disabled, and 2.3% economically inactive for other reasons. The 2.4% unemployment rate of Sale was low compared with the national rate of 3.3%.
Landmarks and attractions
St Martin's Church, Ashton upon Mersey
St Martin's Church, Ashton upon Mersey, is in Ashton upon Mersey, a district of Sale, Greater Manchester, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building...
and St. John the Divine) and Ashton New Hall – and eighteen Grade II listed buildings. The cenotaph outside the town hall was designed by Ashton upon Mersey sculptor Arthur Sherwood Edwards and is a Grade II listed building. It commemorates the 400 men from Sale who died in the First World War and the 300 who died in the Second World War. The memorial consists of a statue of a mourning Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
on top of a granite pedestal. Costing £600 (£ as of ), it was funded by public subscription and unveiled in May 1925 in front of a crowd of 10,000.
The oldest surviving building in Sale is Eyebrow Cottage. Built around 1670, it was originally a yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
farmhouse and is one of the earliest brick buildings in the area. Its name is derived from the decorative brickwork above the windows. It was built in Cross Street, which at the time was a separate village from Sale.
A bronze bust of James Joule, the physicist who gave his name to the SI
Si
Si, si, or SI may refer to :- Measurement, mathematics and science :* International System of Units , the modern international standard version of the metric system...
unit of energy, is in Worthington Park. Originally a tower was to have been erected in his honour, but lack of donations led to the production of the bust as a substitute; it was unveiled in 1905. Joule moved to Sale in the 1870s for his health; he died at his home at 12 Wardle Road in 1889, and is buried in Brooklands Cemetery.
The area has several parks and green spaces. Worthington Park, originally called Sale Park, was opened in 1900. It features a bandstand, gardens, play areas, and a skate ramp and is maintained by Trafford Council and The Friends of Worthington Park. Opened in 1939, Walton Park is in the southwest of the town and features a miniature railway. Sale Water Park
Sale Water Park
Sale Water Park is a area of countryside and parkland including a artificial lake in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. Opened in 1979 and owned by Trafford council, the water park lies in an area of the green belt running through the Mersey river valley between...
is an artificial lake, created from a 35 metres (115 ft) deep gravel pit left during the construction of the M60
M60 motorway
The M60 motorway, or Manchester Orbital, is an orbital motorway circling Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It passes through all Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolton...
. It opened in 1980 and is a venue for water sports, fishing and bird watching. The water park is the site of the Broad Ees Dole wildlife refuge, a Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
that provides a home for migratory birds.
Events and venues
Robert Bolt
Robert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.-Career:He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after war service, the University of...
Theatre, the Lauriston Gallery, and the Corridor Gallery. The centre, which was opened in 2004, regularly hosts concerts, exhibitions and other community events. Performers have included Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
, Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
, The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
and Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
. In 2004, the centre received the British Urban Regeneration Association Award for its innovative use of space and for reinvigorating Sale town centre.
Sale has a Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
society, formed in 1972, which performs at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse
Altrincham Garrick
The Altrincham Garrick Society is an amateur dramatic society in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It normally stages 12 main productions per season in its own theatre building, the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse....
. The group is directed by Alistair Donkin, a former principal comic for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
. Members of the group have won several awards at The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. Sale Brass is a traditional brass band based in Sale, formed in about 1849 as the Stretford Temperance Band. Its first recorded performance was at the 1849 opening of the railway between Manchester and Altrincham.
Sports
The rugby union side Sale F.C. has been based in Sale since 1861 and at its present Heywood RoadHeywood Road
Heywood Road is a rugby union stadium in Sale, Greater Manchester. It has been the home ground of Sale F.C. since 1905. It was the home ground of spin-off professional club Sale Sharks until 2003, when the club moved it's matches to Edgeley Park, Stockport. It's capacity was 5,400 in 2003. Sale...
ground since 1905. One of the oldest rugby clubs in the world, its 1865 Minute Book is the oldest existing book containing the rules of the game. The professional Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club who play in England in the Aviva Premiership.The club is an offshoot of Sale FC, which is based at Heywood Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.Part of the...
team was originally part of Sale F.C. but split from it in 2003. Sale Sharks now play their matches in Stockport although they retain the use of the Heywood Road ground for training. The town is also home to the Ashton upon Mersey and Trafford Metrovick rugby union clubs.
Sale Harriers Manchester Athletics Club was formed in 1911, but is now based in nearby Wythenshawe. The club has produced successful athletes such as Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medallist Darren Campbell
Darren Campbell
Darren Andrew Campbell MBE is a former English sprint athlete. He competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres, as well as the 4 × 100 metres relay...
and Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
gold medallist Diane Modahl
Diane Modahl
Diane Modahl, née Edwards is an English former middle distance runner.Originally from Manchester, of Jamaican parents, she was 800 m champion in the Commonwealth Games of 1990. She competed in four Olympic Games: 1988 in Seoul, 1992 in Barcelona, 1996 in Atlanta, and 2000 in Sydney...
, both former residents of the town. Sale Sports Club encompasses Sale Cricket Club, Sale Hockey Club, and Sale Lawn Tennis Club. The Brooklands Sports Club is home to Brooklands Cricket Club, Brooklands Manchester University Hockey Club, and Brooklands Hulmeians Lacrosse Club. It also provides facilities for squash, tennis, and bowling. Sale United FC plays at Crossford Bridge and was recognised as Trafford's Sports Club of the Year in 2004. Sale Golf Club and Ashton on Mersey Golf Club have courses on the outskirts of the town, and a municipal pitch and putt is based at Woodheys Park. Trafford Rowing Club has a boathouse beside the canal. The Sale leisure centre has badminton and squash courts, a gymnasium, and three swimming pools. The Walton Park Sports Centre has a sports hall for activities such as 5-a-side football
Five-a-side football
thumb|240px|alt=Men playing football on artificial grass pitch.|Five-a-side game on astroturf pitch.Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players , rather than the usual eleven on each team. Other differences from football include a smaller...
, karate and table-tennis. Tennis, crown-green bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
, golf putting, and football facilities are available at the town's parks. Sale Water Ski Club is based at Sale Water Park.
Education
Sale's first school was built in 1667 and was used until the first half of the 18th century. The second school in Sale was built some time in the 18th century, one of about 30 non-grammar schools founded in Cheshire around this time. By 1831, there were two private schools – with the children's parents paying fees for their education – in Sale and one in Ashton upon Mersey. At the same time, there were also four Sunday schools in Sale and one in Ashton upon Mersey, operated by various religious denominations, including CongregationalistsCongregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
, Methodists
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, and Unitarians
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
. The first school-chapel built in Sale as part of a school was constructed by Primitive Methodists
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
in 1839, and still survives. The second school-chapel in the town was St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, built in 1866, and was replaced by the current school in 1899.
Trafford maintains a selective education system assessed by the Eleven Plus
Eleven plus
In the United Kingdom, the 11-plus or Eleven plus is an examination administered to some students in their last year of primary education, governing admission to various types of secondary school. The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years...
exam. Sale has one grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
, two secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...
s and nineteen primary schools. Sale Grammar School
Sale Grammar School
Sale Grammar School is a selective school with a dual specialism in the visual arts and science. The school is located in Sale to the south of Manchester, England.The school became an Academy Trust Grammar School in 2011...
is a specialist school
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
in science and the visual arts
Arts College
Arts Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, the performing, visual and/or media arts...
. It consists of two parts, one for 11–16 year olds and 900 pupils, and the other a sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
college with 300 students. The school was described in its 2006 Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
report as "outstanding with an outstanding sixth form". Ashton on Mersey School is a foundation
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....
secondary modern school and specialist sports college
Sports College
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...
. It has 1,300 pupils aged 11–16 and 80 students in its sixth form. In its 2008 Ofsted report it was rated "outstanding". Sale High School, formerly Jeff Joseph Sale Moor Technology College, is a foundation secondary modern school for 11–16 year olds and specialist technology college. It has 1,000 pupils and in its 2006 Ofsted report was rated as "satisfactory". Manor High School provides secondary education to pupils with special needs. It has 140 students aged 11–16 and 20 members of its sixth form and was rated as "good" in its 2007 Ofsted report.
Religion
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
and Christian churches of various denominations. The church buildings were mostly constructed in the late 19th or early 20th century in the wake of the population boom created by the arrival of the railway in 1849, although records show that the Church of St Martin
St Martin's Church, Ashton upon Mersey
St Martin's Church, Ashton upon Mersey, is in Ashton upon Mersey, a district of Sale, Greater Manchester, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building...
in Ashton upon Mersey dates back to at least 1304. Before the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, the inhabitants of Sale were predominantly Catholic, but afterwards were members of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. Roman Catholics returned to the area in the 19th century in the form of Irish immigrants. Two of the three Grade II* listed buildings in the town are churches. The Church of St Martin, which was probably originally an early 14th-century timber framed
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
structure, was rebuilt in 1714 after the church had been destroyed in a storm. The Church of St John the Divine was built in 1868, to the design of Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...
. There are three Grade II listed churches in Sale: the Church of St Anne; the Church of St Mary Magdalene; and the Church of St Paul.
As of the 2001 UK census, 78.0% of Sale residents reported themselves as Christian, 1.4% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.6% Jewish, 0.2% Buddhist and 0.2% Sikh. A further 12.9% had no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion, and 5.9% did not state their religion. Sale is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, and the Church of England Diocese of Chester
Diocese of Chester
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester, covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries...
. Sale and District Synagogue is on Hesketh Road in Sale, and is part of United Synagogue
United Synagogue
United Synagogue is an organisation of London Jews that was founded with the sanction of an Act of Parliament, in 1870. , it remains the largest religious grouping within the British Jewish community and indeed in Europe, covering 62 Orthodox Jewish communities...
under the aegis
Aegis
An aegis is a large collar or cape worn in ancient times to display the protection provided by a high religious authority or the holder of a protective shield signifying the same, such as a bag-like garment that contained a shield. Sometimes the garment and the shield are merged, with a small...
of the Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Britain, Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks, Kt is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His Hebrew name is Yaakov Zvi...
. The only mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in Trafford is the Masjid-E-Noor in Old Trafford, 3 mi (5 km) away.
Transport
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
road in the area was the latter-day A56 Chester Road between Manchester and Crossford Bridge (on the border between Sale and Stretford). Turnpike trusts collected tolls from road users and used the proceeds to maintain the highway. There was a toll booth on the Sale side of Crossford Bridge. Another section of road between Altrincham and Crossford Bridge was turnpiked in 1765. The commencement of "swift packet
Packet trade
Packet trade generally refers to any regularly scheduled cargo, passenger and mail trade conducted by ship. The ships are called "packet boats" as their original function was to carry mail.-United States:...
" services on the newly opened Bridgewater Canal in 1776 made commuting from Sale into Manchester both practical and convenient, with boats travelling at a relatively swift 10 mph (16.1 km/h). However the arrival in 1849 of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway sounded a death-knell for both the canal packet services and turnpike trusts. Many trusts went into terminal decline, mirroring a national trend. By 1888 almost all roads and highways were the responsibility of the local authority. Sale's railway station, originally named Sale Moor, was renamed to Sale in 1856. Three years later Brooklands railway station
Brooklands Metrolink station
Brooklands is a Manchester Metrolink station serving the Brooklands area of Sale, Greater Manchester. It is located on Brooklands Station Approach at the corner of Marsland Road and Brooklands Road. The station is in Ticketing Zone F.-History:...
was opened, followed in 1931 by the opening of Dane Road railway station
Dane Road Metrolink station
Dane Road station is located on Dane Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, England. The station is in Ticketing Zone F.-History:The station originally opened on 20 July 1931 by the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway . Referred to as Dane Road on early tickets, timetables etc.. Operated...
along with the electrification of the entire line. The line was renovated in the early 1990s and is now part of the Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...
.
Following the completion of a tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way between Manchester and Stretford in 1901, the British Electric Traction Company
British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.- Early history :The company was founded as...
applied to Parliament for an extension to Sale. The proposal was amended to continue the line further south, into Altrincham. The line through Sale was owned by Sale Urban District Council and leased to the Manchester Corporation. Services to Sale commenced in 1907. A branch along Northenden Road from the line to Sale Moor was created in 1912. Sale Moor's line had only a single track which in 1925 resulted in a head-on collision between two tramcars, injuring eight passengers. Bus services were first introduced to the area in the 1920s, but became more widespread in the 1930s. The buses did not suffer the drawback of being limited to tracks and were therefore more practical than the tram services which from the 1930s went into decline. The tramlines along Northenden Road were removed between 1932 and 1934, and throughout Sale in the 1940s.
The Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...
system connects Sale with other locations in Greater Manchester. Trams depart the town's three stations every six minutes between 7:15 am and 6:30 pm, and every 12 minutes at other times of the day. The nearest main line railway station is Navigation Road in Altrincham, from where trains run to Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly station
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. It serves intercity routes to London Euston, Birmingham New Street, South Wales, the south coast of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central, and routes throughout northern England...
, Stockport and Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. Bus routes operated by various companies provide services to Manchester and Altrincham. The A56 road runs between Chester and North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
via Sale, Manchester, and Burnley
Burnley
Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....
, and the M60 motorway
M60 motorway
The M60 motorway, or Manchester Orbital, is an orbital motorway circling Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It passes through all Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolton...
– which encircles Manchester – can be accessed via junction 7, just to the north of Sale. The M56
M56 motorway
The M56 Motorway, also known as the North Cheshire motorway, is in Cheshire and Greater Manchester, England. It runs from Junction 4 of the M60 to Dunkirk, Cheshire and is in length. It is often busy with long-distance commuter traffic towards North Wales...
and M62
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
motorways are about 4 miles (6 km) away, and the M6 motorway
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
, which runs between Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and Carlisle, is about 7 miles (11 km) to the west. Manchester Airport, the busiest airport in the UK outside the London area, is 4 miles (6 km) to the south.
External links
- Sale Community Web
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenug/sets/72157602217782482/A set of contemporary images of Sale on FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
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