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GJHC – Grandad John’s Home Circular
This is one of a series of caches set on lesser walked paths on a 6.5 mile circular around my home village of Mobberley. The caches are on a route which has you walking through a variety of farmland, on quiet lanes, bridal paths, small woods, across streams and also over plenty of stiles.
Parking for the series in on Church Lane, where parking can be found on the grass verge opposite Mobberley Church.
53*19.137 002*18.998.
You will also find the Church Inn on the corner near where you park. The Church Inn serves good ale and food as does the other pubs in the village – The Bulls Head, The Roebuck and the Frozen Mop.
THE ROUTE
See GC2AKBY Mobberley Field Bridge
Mobberley – A Brief History
Mobberley is one of England’s oldest parishes. It appears in the Domesday Book, under its Saxon name of Motburlege (village or town meeting place in the open country), as held by Bigot of Loges from Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester. Despite almost two hundred acres paying tax, Domesday records Motburlege as “found waste”. Woodland was the most prominent feature over 9 square miles and this extensive area carries down to the present day, when Mobberley is, reputedly, still the second largest Parish in England.
There has been a church in Mobberley since before the Norman Conquest, the earliest reference to a church however dates from 1206 when Patrick de Mobberley founded a small priory of regular canons of the Order of St. Augustine.
The oldest part of the present building, the main body of the nave, dates from 1245. In 1450 the Clerestory and Roof were added and the aisles widened and in 1533 the tower was added to replace the original detached tower which had fallen into disrepair.
The church underwent a major reordering in the 1880’s when the Chapel and Vestry were rebuilt and the Chancel Arch erected. It was during these works that Saxon remains were found. The church boasts a beautiful Rood screen which dates from around 1500 and which bears a number of coats of arms as well as other motifs. The pillars of the screen are also richly carved and a number of faces can be discerned including that of a Green Man. The church also has some magnificent 14th century stained glass showing the armorial motifs of a number of local families. Other items of note include the font which is a composite structure of a Victorian font on a pedestal from a medieval water stoop on what believe to be an inverted Tudor font.
On the northern wall can be seen a medieval mural which appears to depict St. George slaying a recumbent dragon. At the west end there is a Rangers gallery which opens onto the church and which has a Jacobean carved rail dedicated to John Baguley and Henry Burges who were Churchwardens in 1693.The organ, which sits in a purpose built chamber, once stood in the Manchester Free Trade Hall and was once the property of Sir Charles Halle.
Exterior features include a Victorian gothic-style porch in which can be found 13th century Consecration cross cut into the stonework by the south door. There is also a “scratch” sun dial to the right of the south door.
Mobberley, and its church, were long synonymous with the Mallory Family. In 1619 Thomas Mallory, Dean of Chester, bought the patronage of the Parish Church and in 1625 took up residence in the Manor House. Five Mallorys followed him as Rector, the last being Herbert Leigh-Mallory, father of George Mallory, the mountaineer who died attempting to climb Everest. Although the Mallorys moved from Mobberley they retained patronage of the church until the death of Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, in 1944.
Mobberley, however, has never been singular in its religious observance. The Methodist church stands evidence of the strong non-conformist streak of Mobberley folk, evident as far back as the post-reformation period. Quakers (with their own burial ground, still identifiable in Graveyard Lane), the Congregationalists and Unitarians all followed their faith, sometimes unhindered, sometimes persecuted.
The Manor House that had survived the wear and tear of the centuries failed to survive its use by British and American troops in the Second World War; semi-derelict, it was demolished in the 1950s.
Mobberley has been fortunate in that its long history has been largely peaceful. Its agricultural community, spread widely across its rolling acres, is still reflected in the individual farmhouses and small hamlets around Church Lane, Paddock Hill, Knolls Green and Pepper Street, each fortified by its own public house. The old village centre, by-passed in the 1930s lies just below the Old Hall along Mill Lane: as befits its ancient status, it boasts two pubs.
Mobberley’s first major brush with the industrial age was in 1862 with the opening of the station serving the Manchester to Chester railway. More than a little remote, even then, for Mobberley folk, it was hardly surprising that, here also, a public house opened - no doubt to serve the tired and weary travellers!
The building, in 1901, of the Rajar works that was to become the Iflord factory, was Mobberley’s first, and last, major industrial development. It initiated sporadic housing development around Town Lane which continued to the 1980s. This is now established as the major population centre of Mobberley, a parish with a population that has grown from around 2000 to 3000 over the last 100 years.
Although its history has been peaceful, Mobberley has not been untouched by the outside world. Many of its sons marched away to the wars of old England: many failed to return. The carnage of the Great War took its toll on Mobberley, as on the villages, towns and cities of the whole country. The war memorial outside the Parish Church, honours those who died: the distinctive black and white Victory Hall commemorates those who served and provides a focus and centre for village activities.
The twentieth century wrought many changes to Mobberley - agriculture lost its pre-eminence, and the aeroplane cast a literal and metaphorical shadow across the parish.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx yrsg.