Longnor, Staffordshire
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place
Longnor is a village in the Staffordshire Peak District, England. The settlement dates from early times, the first recorded church building being in the Middle Ages. The village was named Longenalre in the Domesday Book. Located on a major crossroads, Longnor was a significant market town in the 18th century. It lies on the north bank of the River Manifold, on a limestone ridge between the Manifold and the River Dove.<ref>Ordnance Survey Landranger 1:50000 map, sheet 119</ref>
Location and geography
Longnor is about Template:Convert south of Buxton on the B5053 main road from Cheadle to Buxton. It is at a crossroads with routes to Leek and Macclesfield to the west and Bakewell to the east.
West of Longnor are the Staffordshire Moorlands, with a summit at Axe Edge Moor towards the north and Morridge further south. North and east of Longnor is the White Peak section of the Peak District, with the Dove flowing in a steep-sided limestone valley of which the famous Dovedale is a small part.
Longnor looks towards the Manifold but lies on the southern slope of a limestone ridge between the two rivers.
Village description
Longnor is one of the more significant villages in this corner of north Staffordshire, chiefly for the market.
The parish of Longnor is one of 13 in the Deanery of Alstonefield, Lichfield Diocese.<ref>Template:Usurped</ref>
History
Records of the village's early history have been lost, but there is evidence of activity in the area from around 700AD. Longnor is listed in the Great Domesday Book of 1086 as Longenalre.<ref>Summary of Domesday Book Folio248v</ref> It is distinguished from the other modern Longnor near Shrewsbury which is in the Domesday Book as Lege. According to local legend the village was burned during the reign of William II as a punishment for the poaching of deer from the forests around Leek.<ref name=board>Tourist information board, Longnor</ref>
The first written record cites the founding of St Bartholomew's Church in 1223 on the site of the present 18th century parish church, and over the next two centuries there were around 20 homes in the village.<ref name=board/><ref>Longnor page on the Template:Usurped</ref>
The 1787 Cary map of Staffordshire shows the village on a major crossroads.<ref>John Cary's 1787 New and Correct English Atlas</ref> Cary wrote the name LONGNOR rather than Longnor, a style shared only with Leek and Cheadle in Staffordshire north of Stafford and The Potteries. This implies that Longnor was then a market town of some significance.
Methodist history
Built in 1780, the Methodist Chapel is one of the oldest in the area.<ref>For dates of this and other chapels in North Staffordshire see Chapel date map</ref> John Wesley once preached at Longnor while passing through on a journey from Sheffield. However Methodist preachers had established a Methodist society before this in 1769. The fuller story of early Methodism in Longnor is told by J. B. Dyson, along with a brief biography of Mrs Cecily Ferguson who later was hostess to John Wesley on his visit to Amsterdam.<ref>Dyson, Wesleyan Methodism in the Leek Circuit (1853) Ch.V</ref><ref>Wesley's visit was 11 August 1772, Dyson, op cit</ref> In 1784, Longnor Methodist Society had 42 members.<ref>Dyson, Op Cit</ref>
In 1870, a new Methodist Circuit was created, which was named the "Wetton and Longnor Methodist Circuit". The manse was built at Wetton, along with a new chapel building. But the importance of Longnor was also recognised. The original Wetton and Longnor Circuit had been Wesleyan, and in 1932 it took in some of the Primitive Methodist chapels in the area. In 1969 the circuit was closed and its chapels assigned to neighbouring circuits.<ref>Diagram of Methodist Circuits in North Staffordshire</ref>
The Methodist Chapel closed in the 1996,<ref>Longnor page on Rewlach history site</ref> but some of the former members continued to meet for a while in a hired hall, because the journey to Buxton Methodist Church was not practical.<ref>Attending these services.</ref>
The village formed the basis of two paintings by L. S. Lowry, Longnor, Derbyshire (1940)<ref name="Artnet">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and A Village Square (1943; now in Glasgow). He wrote of the latter work:
Points of general interest
Some of the TV series Peak Practice was filmed here.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In episode 5 of the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Longnor was used for shots of the fictitious village of Lambton, where Elizabeth Bennet and her aunt and uncle stay during their visit to Derbyshire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The church of St Bartholomew, Longnor, has a modern sculpture<ref>St. Bartholomew, Longnor Template:Webarchive</ref> of St Bertram by British Frink School sculptor Harry Everington.
The nearby Blakemere Pond is a body of water precariously perched upon a hilltop, with scenic views across the Peak District and beyond in two directions.
See also
References
Template:Reflist Template:Sister project Template:Staffordshire Template:Civil Parishes of Staffordshire Moorlands