Even from the Carpark, there is a spectacular view. In fact wherever you stand on The Edge the view is excellent.
The Edge
To me, Cheshire is the best of all English counties. Fine weather took me out into Cheshire again; this time for a walk on The Edge! Alderley Edge that is.
The Edge is a huge, red sandstone ridge or escarpment with a plateau on top which towers above the classy Cheshire village of Alderley Edge. In Cheshire "an Edge " is a name used for a piece of high land. Alderley Edge gives its name to the local village. The Edge is about 360 feet high.The Edge is shaped like a horseshoe / hough (pronounced huff), in Cheshire parlance.
It is owned by the National Trust and has a very long pre-history dating back to Stone and Bronze Age. The Children's author Alan Garner wrote a book "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen " based on the Legend of the Wizard and the folklore related to The Edge.
The unusual spell of good weather this week saw my husband and I out walking up and about The Edge. It was at its finest in gorgeous weather.
- Aderley Edge53.30424839763152, -2.245025634765625
Car Park
The legend about the Wizard
The legend about the Wizard is evident every where, even at the Tea Rooms. The building is hundreds of years old.
The Legend
The legend we all grew up with round here says that a farmer was taking a white mare to sell at Macclesfield market. Whilst walking along The Edge, an old man, a Wizard, clad in a long, flowing garment stopped him and offered the farmer money for his horse but the farmer refused, saying he could get a better price at the market.
The old man told the farmer that that no-one would buy the horse and he would buy it later that day. Indeed the farmer did not sell his horse and sure enough he met the Wizard on his way home.
The farmer followed the Wizard to the rocks which opened when he struck them with his stick. They entered the cave and the farmer saw Knights and white horses, all asleep. The Wizard took gold and jewels from a chest, and paid the farmer. The wizard explained that the sleeping knights were ready to awake and fight when England was in desperate need and he was in need of one more white mare. The farmer left terrified.
Every year next weekend in fact, in May, Alderley Edge holds its May Fair for a weekend and it include a procession through the village with a Wizard on a white horse.
One of the walks
This gate from the car park leads up to the Wizard Tea Shop and the start of a lovely woodland walk. Our damp Cheshire climate means that the vegetation is lush and green. A charming, well spaced picnic area is just beyond the gate.
The woodland walk soon leads to The Beacon above. The Beacon is reputedly so called because in 1588 when the Spanish Armada ( fleet ) attacked Queen Elizabeth Tudor's fleet, a series of beacons was lit throughout the land when the Armada was defeated. This tradition of beacon lighting still happens in Britain as recently as last month for Queen Elizabeth's 2nd's 90th birthday.
On top of the stone monument you can see the inscription. "The site of the Armada Beacon "
The pathways through the woods are excellently maintained and preserved by volunteers for the National Trust. There are several beautiful walks, one of which looks down the side of The Edge into a gully ( small canyon) below.
The Edge isn't huge but parts of it are challenging and it is very good exercise to do a walk round it.
Comments
frankbeswickJun 28, 2017
VeronicaJun 28, 2017
Plus, it has Castles. Roman forts, legend, myths, royal intrigue and lovely ancient villages pubs. I am its main advocate I think. :)
frankbeswickJun 27, 2017
VeronicaJun 27, 2017
People in former times were terrified of anything resembling witchcraft and superstition. I always feel there is a grain of truth in every oral tradition and this legend has persisted for centuries.
As for North Cheshire being spectacular... I do agree. I feel truly blessed to be so happily and beautifully situated. I get out there walking as often as I can.
DerdriuMarrinerJun 27, 2017
frankbeswickMay 18, 2016
I suggest that Bronze Age remains may have perished in the huge rockfall that you can see near the Devil's Grave,which took away a chunk of slope some time in the past. There is still a seam of copper ore in the rock, so it is likely that that area was copper-rich, and it is possible that the ancient miners undermined the cliff, causing the rockfall.
VeronicaMay 18, 2016
The National Trust have done a wonderful job in preserving it. It is free to visit too.
frankbeswickMay 18, 2016
A variety of birds is found: I have seen jays there, and having seen nuthatches in nearby Styal woods, I am told and can believe that they are present at Alderley. The nuthatch is the only bird capable of walking down a tree head first.
If you visit, don't be seduced by the druids circle, it is a nineteenth century folly laid down by some people who thought that the druids worshiped at stone circles.
The Armada beacon is likely to be a genuine Armada beacon site, as Alderley then was a clear vantage point. It was sited though on a now disappeared Bronze Age burial mound, which confirms my idea that we have remnants of a sacred landscape dating from the Bronze Age here.
VeronicaMay 17, 2016
The legend as it stands is a medieval tale but you are right that based on ancient traditions it probably is.
frankbeswickMay 17, 2016
The Wizard is male, as is the sleeping king, but linked to dark lakes is the lady, the goddess of the Earth. The Lord and the Lady are key figures in ancient paganism. We see a remnant of them in Glen Lyon in Scotland, where there is still preserved a shrine to the Old Man and the Old Woman [an potach agus an cailleach]; Scottish fishermen used to stop at the isle of Gigha to render homage to the old man and the old woman. Traces of ancient paganism still linger in the British landscape and its folklore. That's why I think the legend rooted in the ancient past, though it has certainly gone evolution over time.
VeronicaMay 17, 2016
Yes it is my kind of place too. The Tea Room is always a perfect addition to anything for me! I too like quirky pathways, well maintained. They make me feel I won't get lost too!
VeronicaMay 17, 2016
As good as your information is, as always, I feel you have gone back too far in history with this. I feel it is a more recent legend.
jptanabeMay 17, 2016
frankbeswickMay 17, 2016
Why would you need a legend about sleeping knights, for knights were simply a routine feature of life in the early Middle Ages? Unremarkable in fact. It may be the case that it is the sleeping king who is the key to this legend, for he sleeps under the Edge, and the warriors were invented to be with him, because a king needs an escort. Is the king the lord of the underworld converted into an acceptable figure? It was the case that old gods and goddesses were absorbed into the Mediaeval Christian world view, often as saints or mythical figures. The king may be an old god waiting or the time when he is summoned again.
VeronicaMay 17, 2016
Look at the legend, a team of sleeping knights ready to be called on when England was in need. I think it is as I say.
frankbeswickMay 17, 2016
frankbeswickMay 17, 2016
Britain was roughly split into four areas: the English South and Midlands, Wales, Hen Ogled [Northern England and Southern Scotland, and the lands of the Picts and Scots. Hen Ogled disappeared as a cultural unit, split now between Northern England and Southern Scotland. These were not four kingdoms, for there was a multiplicity of kingdoms,but general cultural zones with some sense of a common identity.
VeronicaMay 17, 2016
I do think that all legends have some sort of truth behind them. The "sleeping" knights could well have been groups of local knights who were " sleepers " and called into action by the King only in times of need and one of them needed a white horse. The farmer was paid in gold and thereby a legend is created.
VeronicaMay 17, 2016
Indeed ! But this legend / myth has survived the test of time. And while I am not remotely fanciful and don't believe in ghosts and such things, this place likes Loch Ness and the monster , makes me feel like their must be a grain of truth in it.
frankbeswickMay 17, 2016
Witches are more common in British folklore than wizards are.
blackspanielgalleryMay 17, 2016
VeronicaMay 16, 2016
frankbeswickMay 16, 2016
I had already known the Edge for four years by that time, as we lads used to cycle there.
VeronicaMay 16, 2016
I consider myself very blessed to live only 5 miles away.
VeronicaMay 16, 2016
frankbeswickMay 16, 2016
From the Edge, which is a small cliff with a big overhang that defies unaided climbing, you can walk down until you cross a stream and then ascend until you reach the Wizard's Well, a spring that drips out of the rock. Catch the water as it drips out of the rock and drink from it [rather than from the basin at the bottom] for it is cold,crystal clear and clean.
We lads used to cycle to the Edge and hide our bikes in the woods near the path before we went exploring. There is an area where the side of the escarpment has slipped,making a jumbled rockfall. In that area there are two mines.One,the Devil's Grave, is now closed to the public for safety reasons, but as lads we went exploring in it. It is a narrow slit that widens out below ground. Then it narrows into a muddy tunnel that we could not explore.
Those who love an easy walk will find that the walking is pleasant and as it is on sandy soil derived from the underlying red sandstone the paths are not muddy. The woodland is not dark, as the trees are spaced far enough apart to allow light into the wood. The ground vegetation is not very dense. Thus the Edge is a pleasant place for a walk.
MiraMay 16, 2016
frankbeswickMay 15, 2016
VeronicaMay 15, 2016
frankbeswickMay 15, 2016