'You turn the corner and it's like turning the clock back': Stockport's hidden idyll

Just a few yards from the rumble of traffic on one of Stockport's busiest roads, there's a hidden idyll that's steeped in history. Vale Close is one of Heaton Mersey's oldest streets.

The picturesque cobbled lane is lined with mews-like terraces that once housed the workers who powered the Industrial Revolution. But many, if not most, of the thousands of people who drive past every day probably don't even realise it's there.

"When you turn the corner it's like turning the clock back," says Glennis Shea, 76, who moved onto the close three years ago. "Everyone that comes to see it says it's like stepping into a different world," adds husband Peter, also 76. "They can't believe it's just off the main road."

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Nowadays Vale Close might be an island of old world charm, but in the mid-1800s it was at the cutting edge of industry and commerce. Originally Heaton Mersey was a largely rural area made up of three small hamlets.

But in 1765 well-known industrialist Samuel Oldknow established a bleachworks on the north bank of the Mersey at the foot of Vale Close. Over the following decades the works were expanded, with subsequent owners building the rows of terraces that would house the workers and the population grew rapidly.

Then, around 1830, Heaton Mersey became a fashionable suburb for the well-off. Attracted by views over the Mersey and the easy access to both Manchester and Stockport, newly-rich industrialists built several large villas along the ridge of the valley.

And that pretty much set the tone for the next two centuries. To this day it remains a prosperous, largely middle-class suburb, home to doctors, lawyers and business people. At the top of Vale Close stands The Crown pub. Built in 1820, it once stood next to a bakery.

Drinkers would wait for their freshly baked loaves to be passed through a gap in the wall while they supped their pints.

Legend has it a secret tunnel once led from the pub to the pulpit of the chapel across the road. It's also been home to the Crown Cow Club, a secret society of drinkers which had a series of passwords, rituals and penalties for unseemly behaviour.

Their legacy remains in the form of a board displaying their codewords and fines hung next to the bar. Manager Martin Haugh says the timber-beamed pub is also rumoured to have its own ghost, called Malcolm, who prowls the bar late at night.

"It's a good old boozer," laughs Martin while recounting the tale. "We have some old fellas that have been drinking in here a good 60 years."

Writer Richard Dolan lives in a Grade II-listed timber framed cottage next to the pub. Thought to date back to the 17th century, it's one of the oldest homes in Stockport.

And Richard says he can confirm the myth of the subterranean passage. "In my living room there's a trap door that leads to a priest tunnel," he said. "It's blocked up now but it used to lead to a church about 200 yards up the road. And in the back garden there's a 200ft deep well.

"There also used to be a large garden out the back where all the kids used to play. People knock on all the time to say they used to play there when they were children.

"It's very, very quiet, even though it's in the middle of the Stockport to Manchester road. It's a nice place to live, but it can shake a bit when the lorries go past."

The hamlet's most famous son is an 18th Century mariner called John, later Juan, Illingworth. Born in 1786, he is considered a national hero in Ecuador after fighting for independence from Spain, helping to lead the fledgling nation and founding its naval academy.

Efforts are underway to erect a blue plaque in his honour on the wall of the Crown. In the mid-70s the cottages on Vale Close could be bought for around £5,000 - and at the time that was thought to be pretty steep. By the turn of the century they were fetching around 10 times that amount.

Nowadays you wouldn't get much change from £420,000. But despite the rocketing prices the terraces are still some of the most sought after properties in the area.

And over the years they've also caught the eye of TV producers, with a fight scene from Cold Feet supposedly filmed outside the pub and an advert for a pie company shot on the cobbles.

Jackie Murdoch says she had wanted to live on Vale Close for 20 years, before she eventually moved in in March 2021. Since then her bright yellow front door has become a bit of a local landmark, with passers-by often stopping to take photographs.

"It's a really, really nice place to live," says Jackie as she's about to head out on a walk with her nine-month-old Irish setter Rufus. "It's perfect for the dog. I can come out my front door and he doesn't have to have a lead on and we're down by the Mersey."

"People don't move out often," added Glennis Shea. "We had to wait to get this one.

"There's not a straight wall in the house and they are all different interiors. I think every one is different inside.

"In the summer when all the flowers are out it's just beautiful and in the winter when the cobbles are covered in snow it's like a postcard."