Alsager

Last updated 20th, January, 2009

PICTURESQUE Alsager is a town of contradictions, writes Richard Ault.

Despite its status as a thriving town, it is known as “the village” by most locals. And although it sits over the Cheshire border, within the Borough of Congleton, it has a Staffordshire post code.

Yet despite these contradictions, the 12,500 or so people who live in Alsager suffer no identity crisis and are perfectly at home in this sought-after location.

Even Buffalo Bill, the colourful celebrity from the Wild West, enjoyed a stay when he visited Alsager in 1904.

Alsager began life as a sleepy farming hamlet and it crops up sporadically throughout history. Its name is said to be taken from a Saxon pre-Domesday landowner, called Aella, who owned an acre of land, known as Aella’s Acre. Over time, this mutated into Alsacher and then into the name we know today.

Alsager was built around the mere which sits is in the centre of the town, and was used for widespread watering of livestock.

Village life continued quite happily for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until the advent of the railways that Alsager began to grow from a sleepy hamlet into a suburban village and then a small but thriving university town.

The Crewe to Derby line that passes through Alsager is still a busy route and it was this easy access to the Potteries, plus its attractive surroundings, which encouraged rich pottery manufacturers to make their homes in Alsager.

Potters like Adolphus Goss, inheritor of the famous Falcon Pottery at Stoke and inventor of Goss China, moved to the town. Living at his huge Old Villa House until his death in 1934, Goss was a neighbour of Sir Ernest Craig, a member of Parliament for Crewe and silver miner who lived at the equally huge Milton House.

These heavyweights of industry rubbed shoulders with a middle-class community of educationalists, scientists and physicians, who took advantage of Alsager’s picturesque rural location and its excellent transport links.

And it was these various professionals who first created the associations and guilds of which Alsager has so many. There is the Rotary Club of Alsager, Alsager Lions Club, Alsager Trefoil Guild, the Probus Club of Alsager, and the B’Hoys of Alsager, to name but a few.

None the less, the introduction of the armaments factory at nearby Radway Green in 1940 – which was later taken over by British Aerospace, now BAE Systems – brought a mix of working class people to Alsager, but only those who could afford to live there.

And it was Alsager’s desirability as a place to live which continued to inspire its growth. Towards the end of the 19th century, homes began to be built around the mere, as it shrunk in size and surrounding land dried up. The luxury houses which surround the mere today are much sought-after properties, as is much of the housing in Alsager.

Alsager still has its own railway station, as well as a reliable bus service, with regular services to Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe and Sandbach. It also provides easy access to the M6 and A500.

Visitors to Alsager could do a lot worse than drop in on the two stunning churches in the town, Christ Church, which is more than 200 years old, and St Mary Magdalene, which dates from the Victorian era.

Since 1992, Alsager has been a university town, populated but not over-run by students attending the Manchester Metropolitan University campus. But the campus is leaving town over the next few years, as MMU instead plans to invest in its Crewe site.

The campus in Alsager will be replaced by a new development of sport and leisure facilities, shops and about 250 houses.

There are not many of the large chain stores in the town, but there are smaller local shops. These include butchers, bakers, boutiques, charity shops and a large post office. The town is served by a Co-op supermarket and there is a market every Wednesday.

Alsager also has an abundance of takeaways, ranging from Chinese to Indian, and the very popular fish and chip shop, Lakeside Fish Bar. For an evening meal, the Italian restaurant Azzurri remains popular.

Sport seems to be a passion of the town. Alsager Golf Club has a well-used course and there’s a leisure centre with a swimming pool, plus squash and badminton courts. Alsager Cricket Club offers not only cricket, with hockey teams meeting there as well.

For football, Alsager Town FC can trace its roots back to 1965.