Sale, Greater Manchester
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Sale, Greater Manchester Coordinates: 53°25′26″N 2°19′19″W / 53.424°N the town.[2] After the Roman departure from Britain in 2.322°W the early-5th century, Britain was invaded by the Anglo- Saxons. Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England.[1] Historically in Cheshire, it is on the south Some local field and road names,[5] and the name of Sale bank of the River Mersey, 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south of itself, are Anglo-Saxon in origin, which indicates the Stretford, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of Altrincham, town was founded in the 7th or 8th centuries. The Old and 5.2 miles (8.4 km) southwest of Manchester. In English salh, from which “Sale” is derived, means “at the 2001, it had a population of 55,000. sallow tree”,[6] and Ashton upon Mersey means “village [7] Evidence of Stone Age, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon activ- or farm near the ash trees". Although the townships of ity has been discovered locally. In the Middle Ages, Sale Sale and Ashton upon Mersey were not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, that may be because only a par- was a rural township, linked ecclesiastically with neigh- [8] bouring Ashton upon Mersey, whose fields and meadows tial survey was taken. The first recorded occurrences of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey are in 1199–1216 and 1260 were used for crop and cattle farming. By the 17th cen- [9] tury, Sale had a cottage industry manufacturing garthweb, respectively. The settlements were referred to as town- the woven material from which horses’ saddle girths were ships rather than manors, which suggests further evidence made. of Anglo-Saxon origins as townships were developed by the Saxons.[10] The Bridgewater Canal reached the town in 1765, stim- ulating Sale’s urbanisation. The arrival of the railway in 1849 triggered Sale’s growth as a commuter town for Manchester, leading to an influx of middle class resi- dents; by the end of the 19th century the town’s popu- lation had more than tripled. Agriculture gradually de- clined as service industries boomed. Sale’s urban growth resulted in a merger with neigh- bouring Ashton upon Mersey, following the Local Gov- ernment 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 The dovecote is all that survives of Sale Old Hall. as a commuter town, supported by its proximity to the M60 motorway and the Manchester Metrolink network. The manor of Sale was one of 30 held by William Sale Water Park contains an artificial lake used for water FitzNigel, a powerful 12th-century baron in north sports. Sale Sharks rugby union and Sale Harriers ath- Cheshire. He divided it between Thomas de Sale and letics club were founded in Sale, although both have now Adam de Carrington, who acted as Lords of the Manor on relocated elsewhere. FitzNigel’s behalf.[11] 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 1 History the Masseys who were Barons of Dunham. Sale de- scended through the Holt and Massey families until the [11] A flint arrowhead discovered in Sale suggests a prehis- 17th century, when their respective lands were sold. toric human presence,[2] but there is no further evidence Sale Old Hall was built in about 1603 for James Massey, of activity in the area until the Roman period. A 4th- probably to replace a medieval manor house, and was one of the first buildings in northwest England to be made century hoard of 46 Roman coins was discovered in Ash- [12][13] ton upon Mersey, one of four known hoards dating from of brick. It was rebuilt in 1840 and demolished in that period discovered within the Mersey basin.[3][4] Sale 1920, but two buildings in its grounds have survived: its dovecote, now in Walkden Gardens, and its lodge, the lat- lies along the line of the Roman road which runs be- [12] tween the fortresses at Chester (Deva Victrix) and York ter now occupied by Sale Golf Club. (Eboracum), via the fort at Manchester (Mamucium);[3] In 1745, Crossford Bridge – which dated back to at least the present-day A56 follows the route of the road through 1367 – was torn down.[14] It was one of a series of bridges 1 2 1 HISTORY lands after the land owner. 1777 map of area around Sale showing the townships of Sale and Ashton upon Mersey and the separate village of Cross Street View of the Bridgewater Canal, looking north towards Stretford. (Baguley and Wythenshawe Hall are in the southeast) The railway is parallel with the canal. The Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway crossing the River Mersey destroyed by order of the gov- opened in 1849,[25] and led to the middle classes using ernment, to slow the advance of Jacobite forces during the Sale as a commuter town, a residence away from their Jacobite rising. The Jacobites repaired the bridge upon place of work.[26] This resulted in Sale’s population more reaching Manchester, and used it to send a small force than tripling by the end of the 19th century.[27] The land into Sale and Altrincham. Their intention was to deceive in Sale Moor was the cheapest in the town because the the authorities into believing that the Jacobites were head- soil was poor and difficult to cultivate, which was part of ing for Chester. The feint was successful and the main the reason the area was common land until the early 19th Jacobite army later marched south through Cheadle and century. However, when the railway opened, Sale Moor Stockport instead.[15] was close to the station and became the most expensive area in Sale. Villas were built in Sale Moor, and a few in The extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Runcorn was [28] completed as far as Sale by 1765, and transformed the Ashton upon Mersey as the demand for land increased. town’s economy by providing a quick and cheap route They were often decorated with stained glass or different [16] coloured bricks in an attempt to make them “mansions in into Manchester for fresh produce. Farmers who took [29] their wares to market in Manchester brought back night miniature” for the aspiring middle-class. soil to fertilise the fields.[17] Not everyone benefited from Pressure from an increasing population led to the town the canal however; several yeomen claimed that their being supplied with amenities such as sewers, which were crops were damaged by flooding from the Barfoot Bridge built in 1875–1880;[30] and Sale was connected to the aqueduct.[18] A 1777 map shows the village of Cross telephone network in 1888.[31] As in the late-19th cen- Street, on the site of the road now of the same name, tury, the early-20th century saw a great deal of construc- divided between the townships of Sale and Ashton upon tion work in Sale. The town’s first swimming baths were Mersey.[19] The village was first referred to in 1586 and is built in 1914,[32] and its first cinema, The Palace, was believed to have originated around this time.[20] The map opened during the First World War.[33] The end of the also shows that Sale was spread out, mainly consisting of war in 1918 resulted in a rush of marriages, which high- farmhouses around Dane Road, Fairy Lane, and Old Hall lighted a shortage of housing.[34] The local councils of Road.[19] Sale absorbed Cross Street as it expanded. Sale and Ashton upon Mersey took the initiative of build- About 300 acres (120 ha) of “wasteland” known as Sale ing council housing, and rented it to the local population at below market rates. By the outbreak of the Second Moor was enclosed in 1807, to be divided between the [34] landowners in Sale. This was part of a nationwide ini- World War in 1939, Sale had 594 council houses. The building programme was interrupted by the start of the tiative to begin cultivation of common land to lessen [32] the food shortage caused by the Napoleonic Wars.[21] war. additional private housing development brought Records of poor relief in the town start in 1808, a time the total of inter-war houses built in Sale to around 900, when the region was in the grip of an economic depres- including large housing estates like Woodheys Hall estate sion.[22] Poorhouses, where paupers could stay rent-free, in Ashton. were built in the early-19th century, reflecting the poor Sale was never officially evacuated during the war, and state of the local economy.[23] In 1829, Samuel Brooks even received families from evacuated areas, although it acquired 515 acres (208 ha) of land in Sale – about a was not considered far enough from likely targets to be an quarter of the township – from George Grey, 6th Earl official destination for evacuees.[35] The town’s proxim- of Stamford.[24] The area later became known as Brook- ity to Manchester, an industrial centre directed towards 3 the war effort, did result in a number of bombing raids. tablished to provide social security.[1] The unit changed Incendiaries dropped on Sale in September 1940 caused its name to Bucklow Poor Law Union in 1895.[1] Sale no casualties, but did damage a house.