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Coordinates: 53°21′25″N 2°02′35″W / 53.357°N 2.043°W / 53.357; -2.043

Disley
Disley village centre
Disley  Disley shown within Cheshire
Population	4,301 [1]
OS grid reference	SJ972845
- London	186 miles (299 km)
Civil parish	Disley
Unitary authority	Cheshire East
Ceremonial county	Cheshire
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	STOCKPORT
Postcode district	SK12
Dialling code	01663
Police	Cheshire
Fire	Cheshire
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Macclesfield
List of places: UK • England • Cheshire

Disley is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.^[2][3] It is located on the very edge of the Peak District, in the Goyt Valley, very close to the county boundary with Derbyshire at New Mills, and south of Stockport, Greater Manchester. To the north of the village, the River Goyt and the Peak Forest Canal, which opened in 1800, passes along the edge of the village. Today it is a dormitory village retaining a semi-rural character.

Disley railway station is on the Manchester to Buxton line, with through trains to Preston and Blackpool.

The parish includes part of the neighbouring village of Newtown, the bulk of which is in Derbyshire.^[4]

History [link]

Its Anglo-Saxon name was Dystiglegh meaning "windy settlement" or possibly Wood or clearing by a mound.^[5] In the 13th century, in the time of Edward I, there are references to confirmatory grants of land made to Jordan de Dystelegh of Disley Hall and Roger de Stanley-de-Dystelegh of Stanley Hall in the district, pointing to even older local settlements. It later had the name Dystelegh.^[2]

Sir Piers Legh of Lyme founded St. Mary-the-Virgin Church in Disley (completed 1524 and consecrated as parish church in 1558. The earliest parish register is from 1591.

The village had at least one cotton mill by the mid-19th century. As the cotton industry declined, more varied employment became the norm. In 2005, there is a paper mill and some light engineering works, but most people travel out to work.

Governance [link]

The Crescent, Disley in 2000

The parish of Disley was included in the 19th century as one of three parishes in Hayfield rural sanitary district, alongside Hayfield and Mellor in Derbyshire. In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, rural sanitary districts became rural districts, but were required to be entirely within one county or another - this led to Disley, the only Cheshire parish of the sanitary district, to form the Disley Rural District on its own - one of only a few single-parish rural districts to exist. This remained in existence until 1974, when it was merged into the new Borough of Macclesfield, whilst retaining a parish council.^[2][3]

In April 2008 a referendum was announced for Disley residents due to the fact that the Borough of Macclesfield was to become part of the new Cheshire East unitary authority as a result of major local government changes in Cheshire in April 2009. Some residents believed that the village would be better served if it were part of the neighbouring boroughs of Stockport in Greater Manchester or High Peak in Derbyshire.^[6]

On 8 May 2008 this referendum was held, with an overwhelming result in favour of staying within Cheshire, with less than 1/3 of the electors wanting to become part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and an even lower proportion of the population wishing the village to become part of Derbyshire's High Peak Borough.^[7]

Macclesfield Borough Council was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the new unitary authority of Cheshire East.^[8]

People [link]

Past [link]

Disley is the birthplace of the Anglo-American novelist Christopher Isherwood. A.J.P. Taylor lived there, and Dylan Thomas visited him there. Lord John Hunt who led the first successful Mount Everest expedition in 1953 also lived in Disley.

Present [link]

Disley is also the home of

• Big Brother contestant Anouska Golebiewski.
• Presenter of the BBC Bargain Hunt TV programme David Dickinson, who had his first antique shop there.
• 2008 Paralympics cycling gold medal-winning couple Sarah and Ben Storey.^[9]
• 2008 Olympics cycling gold medal winner Jamie Staff^[10] who moved to Disley for access to Manchester Velodrome.

Points of interest [link]

The "Rams Head" inn c.1650 at the centre of the village was formerly a lodge belonging to the Lyme Park estate. It became a main coaching stop on the Manchester to London route. The Rams head is now a restaurant and pub.

Lyme Park is not located in the civil parish of Disley, but in the civil parish of Lyme Handley. However, it is sufficiently close to be associated with Disley. The hall was used by the BBC as a setting in its adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Disley is home to Disley Cricket Club^[11] a member of the Meller Braggins Cheshire Cricket League.

See also [link]

• St Mary's Church, Disley

References [link]

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Disley

• "Disley Online". Disley Parish Council. https://www.disley.info/. 
• "Disley Football Club". Disley Football Club. https://www.disleyafc.co.uk/. 
• "Disley Cricket Club". Disley Cricket Club. https://www.disleycc.co.uk/. 
• "D&C Athletic Football Club". Disley Football Club. https://www.dcathletic.co.uk/. 
• "Disley Baptist Church". Disley Baptist Church. https://www.disleybaptist.org.uk/. 
• "Disley's St Mary's Church". Disley Parish. https://www.disley-parish.org.uk/. 
• "Disley Amalgamated Sports Club (The DASC)". Disley Amalgamated Sports Club. https://www.disleysport.org/. 
• I Visit Disley
• Cheshire Market Towns