Full Description
In 1953 the schoolboy Alan Garner rediscovered a wooden shovel originally found in the Alderley copper mines in 1875. In 1991 he presented it to the Manchester Museum in the University of Manchester: this - and the discovery of a hoard of over 500 Roman coins - inspired the creation of the Alderley Edge Landscape Project, a multi-disciplinary research programme of the Museum and the National Trust, who own of most of the Edge, that aimed to study the entire history of Alderley, from geology to entomology, mining to oral history. No other village has enjoyed such a comprehensive study of its story: the list of chapter-headings reads like a roll-call of everything you ever wanted to know about this or any place. The book concludes with Alan Garner's retelling of the famous legend of the sleeping king, setting a familiar tale told him by his grandfather in a whole other world of prehistoric ritual and sacrifice.
Contents
1. Introduction - John Prag 2. Approach to the Edge - Alan Garner Part II. The bedrock of the Edge 3. Introduction: the geological story of Alderley Edge - Simon Timberlake and David Thompson 4. Introductory survey: rocks, minerals and landforms - Simon Timberlake 5. The solid geology - John Nudds, John Pollard, David Thompson and Geoffrey Warrington Appendix on Rhyncosaurides - John Pollard 6. The minerals of the Edge - David Green, Richard Braithwaite, David Thompson and Geoffrey Warrington 7. Geomorphology - The evolution of the landscape -R.H. Johnson and David Thompson Part III. Natural history - the flora and fauna 8. The vegetation of the Edge - Sean Edwards, Simon Timberlake et al. 9. The familiar birds of Alderley Edge - John Adams and Edward Stanley 10. Amphibians and water beetles - Jill Smethurst and Jonathan Guest et al. 11. Invertebrates, insects & spiders - Dmitri Logunov et al. 12. Butterflies on Alderley Edge: resources, habitats and changes - Roger Dennis Part IV. Human history 13. The archaeology of Alderley Edge - John Prag and Simon Timberlake Underground - The mines 14. The evidence for mining before 1598 - Simon Timberlake 15. Mining in the Alderley district: the documented period - Geoffrey Warrington 16. The Alderley Edge Mines: working the mines - Nigel Dibben with Paul Deakin 17. The quarries of Alderley Edge with a note on the graffiti - Nigel Dibben with Carolanne King et al. Overground - Social history 18. The history of Alderley Edge - Clare Pye 19. Living memory: the people of the Edge (the oral archive) - John Ecclestone Appendix: the voice of Philip Jarvis - John Adams, John Prag 21. Alderley Edge: the villas and the village - Matthew Hyde 22. The Stanley Estate - Matthew Hyde 23. Nether Alderley water mill: an historical and architectural study - Mike Redfern 24. Tracks, paths, roads and rights of way on the Edge - Clare Pye, Simon Timberlake and Carolanne King 25. The stones of Alderley Edge - John Adams 26. Alderley: the names of street, house and field - John Adams Part V. Looking back, looking forward 27. Close to the Edge: ensuring the future of the Edge for everyone - Chris Widger 28. By Seven Firs and Goldenstone: an account of the Legend of Alderley - Alan Garner 29. Envoi - John Prag Part VI. End matter 30. Bibliography - John Prag 31. Glossary - John Prag Index - Simon Timberlake
