West View, the highest house in the centre of the picture, overlooking the fair on Pool Bank in early 20thC. It is more on Queen Street than Palmerston Street, but most references are to the latter.

West View (tall house in the centre), a side view from over Defiance Brow-Street / Queen Street is seen on the right heading up to Great High Street / Palmerston Street Probably taken from Green Lane at the top of Beeston quarry. West View is usually listed as being on Palmerston Street on Kelly`s Directory for instance.

1900: West View was bought by JJJ Heathcote, he lived there with his wife and eight children. When he died in the 1960s, the downstairs became the head offices to JJJ Heathcote Ltd, and upstairs was turned into flats. All those listed below on the censuses were lodgers renting a room in the large house. Great grandson Adam Heathcote kindly supplied this information. West View still remains in the family.

1906: Victor Newman (or Norman) Brindley MRCS LRCP lived at West View.

1911: Henry Stapleton Johnston aged twenty seven years lived at West View. He was an Irish physician and surgeon from County Donegal in Ireland. Also living there was his servant Agnes McArdle aged nineteen years from County Armagh. Henry does not seem to have been in practice in Bollington where the leading doctor Dr Main was at Brook House where he lived and had a small surgery.

1919: On the Kelly`s Directory the occupant of West View in this year was Matthew Henry Wainwright.

1939: Matthew Henry Wainwright was still at West View. This census reveals more about him. He was a fifty year old baker, confectioner and shopkeeper originally from Norman Hall Farm Pott Shrigley. He lived with his wife Florence who was three years his junior. Also living with them was Nellie Gatley, a confectioner and aged twenty nine years. She was possibly Matthew`s married daughter. Matthew died in 1949 at the Royal Infirmary in Manchester leaving his widow Florence.

Pictures above of West View taken in February 2019.

Thank you to Adam Heathcote for the information in 1900.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks go specifically to Linda Stewart who has researched census and other information to present an interesting history of local people and properties.

Our thanks go to all those who researched and discovered the history that is presented in these pages. Please read the full acknowledgement of their remarkable achievement.

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