BOWDON HISTORY SOCIETY

Bowdon History Society was founded in 1979 to explore the rich and varied past of Bowdon and nearby Dunham Massey. The Society seeks to collect related material and reminiscences, to undertake research and to share it widely.

The Society holds four winter meetings with speakers and a summer visit. It has published 'The Bowdon Sheaf' on a regular basis since 1983.

Bowdon has a long history as a rural community under the Manorial Lords of Dunham Massey and as the centre of a wide-spread parish, much larger than its present size. The Domesday Book records that Hamon de Massey held Bowdon and that it had a church and a priest.

By 1849, its character had changed dramatically, with the coming of the railway to Bowdon Station in nearby Altrincham, combined with the associated large scale land sales for quality housing. This brought a great influx of wealthy, energetic and often cultivated men in the professions and industry, who would commute to Manchester on the train.

Much of the streetscape of Bowdon remains and this provides a visual link to times past, supported by the extensive documentary and photographic evidence.