THE HISTORY OF SALE By Joseph Smith

Contents Ancient history pg 3 Town hall pg 4 Old to new pg 5 The old theatre pg 6

Ancient History! Sale is situated in the Mersey Valley and this area was used as a route to the Pennines from prehistoric times. Sale lies less than 30m above sea level, on the edge of a valley. Prehistoric man first came to the area more than 6000 years ago. They preferred to live on high ground in hill forts. The only prehistoric find so far in Sale is a flint arrow head discovered in the garden near Derbyshire Rd in 1894. The Romans, famous for their roads, built one on the line of what is now the A56. It connected the forts at Chester, Northwich and Manchester. The part of this road that still runs through Sale is Washway Road – named after the Roman drainage system. The Anglo Saxons arrived in Sale in the 5th century AD. Dane Rd is probably the oldest road in Sale (apart from the Roman A56). Dane comes from the Anglo Saxon dene, meaning ‘valley’.

Old to New I have really enjoyed looking at photographs of Sale from more recent times but still way before I was born! Some things still look very familiar but others have really changed. Here is an old photo of Sale Town Hall. Part of this now houses the Waterside Arts Centre and things don’t look too different on the outside.

The Avenue The left side photo shows the house on the corner of Washway Road and The Avenue in 1920. On the photo on the right, you can see the house is still there but the entrance gates and tram lines are not. Buses took over from the tram in 1931. Town hale .grammar school

The Avenue The Avenue used to be called Brooks’ Avenue and the gates led up to to 3 large houses which all had coach houses and cottages for servants. When my mum was little, Sale Boys’ Grammar School was near The Avenue but this was knocked down and some houses were built on the land. Sale Boys’ Grammar then joined up with Sale Girls’ Grammar on Marsland Road. Town hale .grammar school

The Old Cinema There is a famous building on Washway Road. It used to be a cinema. The outside still looks pretty much the same today. In the 1990’s the cinema became a nightclub called Liberty’s. It is now Sports Direct Gym. The building still has lots of the ‘art deco’ features from the original building. Town hale .grammar school

The Old Cinema Originally & Today

The cinema screen: Now & Then

As you can see the lights were very fancy!

The walls were highly decorated!

Thanks for watching!!! Dane Rd is probably the oldest road in Sale (apart from the Roman A56). Dane is derived from Anglo Saxon denu, dene, daenland  - a valley. Another road with Anglo Saxon origins is Fairy Lane. It is almost a continuance of Dane Rd and is derived from A.S faer - road, way. Other field names such as Street Field (straet), Hurst (hyrst - a wood), Farry Yort (feorr - far, eort - earth or ground) are all Anglo Saxon. Medieval farming in Sale appears to have been a balance between cattle and . THANKS FOR WATCHING!!!!!!!! BYE!!!!!