Nether
Alderley - Part II
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Dating back to about 1300,
the structure of St Mary's Nether Alderley unsurprisingly repeats
the same local materials as the Mill and Old School buildings.
The separate private entrance to the Stanley family 'pew' is seen
at the top of the steps.
...
There was an intriguing
and intoxicating scent floating in the churchyard which I attributed
to the flowers of the lovely large yellow Azalea bushes. It couldn't,
I'm sure, have been the white 'Bluebells'.
...
The entrance porch and doorway
on the south side of the church are considered to have been moved
from the west end of the building when the bell tower was built
in the sixteenth century. The barrel vaulted roof and sixteenth
century roof beams were uncovered in 1877 when wall plaster was
also removed from the nave.
The influence and patronage
of the Stanley family is all pervasive in what might almost have
been their private chapel. They had their own 'pew' actually a
separate room, elevated above the floor of the nave and with its
own private entrance (seen above).
Here the tomb of the second
Lord Stanley faces, across the altar, that of the first Lord.
...
No doubt the carved angels
under the supporting plinths in the chancel were there as guardians
solely of the Stanleys and the arms of the various branches of
the family adorn the balcony of the musician's gallery/organ loft
at the opposite, west, end of the church.
...
...
The Stanleys armorial bearings
keep recurring in the church; over the Stanley Pew and on the
Chancel floor; outside the church on what used to be their properties,
here on a house gable in the village.
The imposing tower of the
church is seen to advantage from the public footpath, from the
fields towards Sand Lane, that crosses the extension to the graveyard.
...
Public footpaths into and
through the parish ...
... lead to bucolic serenity
a field or two off the A34.
...
...
Sycamore, Horse Chestnut,
Hawthorn and Oak all bursting into leaf and flower.
In Nether Alderley there
is variety of domestic architecture, frequently in substantial
plots ...
... with intriguing cottages
...
... not all of them whitewashed
...
... and in Cheshire it seems
black and white half-timbered buildings are never far away.
...
Neither are the beauties
of nature, either 'wild' or cultivated ...
... and to which class these
Artists Lane Beech trees belong may be open to discussion, but
their magnificence is unquestionable.
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