Liz, who had kindly offered to lead the walk, was armed with many interesting facts which she shared with us as we started to walk towards the centre of Altrincham, passing Chapel Street, famous for providing so many volunteers to fight in the trenches of WW1 and, for doing so, was aptly dubbed as 'the bravest little street in England' by King George V.
Onward we went and visited the Market Hall before heading for the Town Hall, which Hazel realised was open. Being a keen local historian, Hazel took us inside and showed us around, including taking us into the Council Chambers where we admired the stained glass window.
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| Council Chambers stained glass window |
As we continued our journey and headed towards the old market square (thought to stand on the site of the original town settlement), Liz told us that Altrincham was granted Market Charter status in 1290 by King Edward I, enabling it to be a self-governing township. We walked past the Old Market Tavern which was originally an old Coaching Inn, and headed out of Altrincham towards St Margaret's Church whilst hearing a brief history of 300 years of Booth and Grey family dramas!
From there we headed towards Dunham Massey, passing Dunham Village, as Liz told us about the Earls of Stamford and the WW1 Stamford Military Hospital with Dunham’s role as a First World War auxiliary hospital from April 1917 to January 1919.
After walking through Dunham Massey park, spotting lots of deer as we went, we headed over the golf course and back to the Griffin for a bite to eat.
It was a great day, dry and bright, and interesting hearing all the facts that Liz had gathered, combined with the information that Hazel added. The timing was also spot on - Liz said we'd be back at the Griffin by 1.30pm and we were!!
Thanks to Liz, supported by Hazel, for a lovely day:-)
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