Heritage Projects Index

Erection of Marple Hall Print in Marple Library

When local business Park & Paterson Ltd. closed early in 2005, after more than 130 years on the Cross Lane site, we were approached about finding a new home for a print of Marple Hall that was hung outside the company's boardroom. It was a bit of a surprise to discover just how big it was but of course we still agreed to take it on.

In June 2005 we recovered the print from Park & Paterson's offices. It measures 98" wide by 50" high (2.5m x 1.3m) and was slightly battered and very dirty. It spent the next few weeks in Mark's hallway whilst we cleaned and repaired it and added a fresh coat of paint to the frame. We've learnt that the original source of the print was a plate from the book "East Cheshire Past and Present" by J.P. Earwaker M.A., F.S.A. published in 1880. This particular copy of the book, which was badly damaged by fire, was found by Fred Robinson in the 1960s during a house renovation. Fortunately the Marple section of the book was intact and was reproduced by local printer Gordon Mills in 1997 - there is a copy of this in the heritage section of the library. Gordon also remembers creating a copy negative of the plate for an outside firm to produce the print for Park & Paterson during the 1970s.

A scan of the plate from "East Cheshire Past and Present"

The print is so large that the only local public building we could think of with enough space to take it was Marple Library. Fortunately, when we approached Head Librarian Sue Caldecot and her boss, Jim Heatlie, they were as enthusiastic as we were when they realised what the print was like. Even at the library there were few spaces large enough, but it could have been made to measure for the spot on the empty wall above the stairs that we eventually agreed upon.

The print was erected on Saturday 13th August by MAVIS members Mark Whittaker, Peter Clarke and Jon Bintliff. Mark's son Michael was there for a short while too but he had to dash off to attend a lamp post fire with the rest of Marple's Retained Firefighters. Costs associated with restoring and erecting the print were paid for by Marple Promotions. In addition to the MAVIS team involved on the day, our thanks also go to Adrian Ellis of Stockport Council for transporting the print to the library for us; to Sue and Jim at Marple Library for agreeing to provide a new home for the print and, last but not least, to Mark's wife Gill for putting up with it being in her hallway for nearly six weeks!

MARPLE HALL Circa 1600
This print was recovered by The Marple Website from the offices of Park & Paterson Ltd., Cross Lane, Marple
when the business closed in 2005.

Click here to learn about the history of Marple Hall