Staley Hall

Staley Hall was the Tudor residence of the Staveleigh family, and later became the location for the preaching of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1745. A plaque to commemorate this can be found on the south front of the building. The hall was built in the late sixteenth century on the same site as an even earlier hall of the stayley family. It is situated on a knoll making defence of the building a relatively easy affair. The external walls and the roofing slabs are made from locally quarried grit stone. The inside of the building has been altered as parts of it were let as cottage tenaments and the plaster has fallen off showing the original lattices of wicker work and clay daub. Part of the staircase still remained in 1871 although the floor was dilapidated even then.

Bohemia Cottages

These attractive white cottages were built in 1721 and were homes for farmers and weavers. During the first fifty years of the eighteenth century there were only one hundred and forty villagers in all of Stalybridge. Some of the cottages have loom houses still attatched from when as many as eight spinners had to supply a weaver. This was often a job for women and children.