Places of Interest - Longdendale

Visitors to Mottram-in-Longdendale today see an attractive village with a peaceful air. The village has a rich and colourful history.

Court House, Mottram-in-Longdendale

Law and order was represented by the Court House where the Court Leet met. Early methodists also used the building for their Sunday School from 1789 to 1791. The stocks outside were brought from the village of Hattersley where they were dug up during work on the Manchester overspill housing estate. The original Crown or Coronation Pole was erected in 1760 to commemorate the coronation of George III.

The drinking fountain against the Court House wall commemorates the introduction of a piped water supply to the village in 1888. It shows the former water cart at Spout Green - the hamlet which stood on Old Road. It got its name from a spring which fed a spout, still to be seen, from which fresh water was carried in a cart to Mottram for sale at ½d for three gallons.

St Michael's and All Angels Church

A beacon of Christianity for 700 years, Mottram church is now a beacon in the literal sense, having been floodlit as part of Tameside Council's activities to mark the millennium.

The floodlighting was financed by the council at a cost of£15,000, and the work was completed in conjunction with the Chester Diocese and Graham Holland Architects with assistance from James Bell, Professor Emeritus at the Manchester University School of Architecture.

The switch-on ceremony in July (1999) was performed by Cllr Roy Oldham, the then Executive Leader of Tameside Council and the Rev Tony Rees, Vicar of Mottram.