Festival celebrates Goostrey village life in pictures

Fascinating photographs are featured in an exhibition as part of Goosfest, the village's annual two-week festival of arts, music, drama and comedy.

A picture believed to be the first car in Goostrey and station staff captured around the turn of the century are among the images on show.

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Staff at Goostrey Station around 1900 (Image: Supplied)

Goostrey Parish Archive has teamed up with Friends of Goostrey Station to illustrate how transport has transformed the lives of residents and the farming community.

An exhibition will be mounted at the village hall on Saturday, September 30.

The village bus after the last war (Image: Supplied)

Goosfest runs until October 15.

Retired farmer John Basford and his wife, Valerie, custodians of one of the few remaining historic toll bar houses, are also featured.

The couple have a barn conversion beside the old toll house in Twemlow, renamed Turnpike House.

John and Valerie Basford (Image: Supplied)

The cottage-style Turnpike Houses with a toll collector barred the passage of travellers unless a fee was paid.

The money used to keep roads in good order.

John's family took ownership of the two-roomed property when they bought Saltersford Farm, Twemlow, in the 1950s.

John Basford with his new Saltersford Turnpike sign (Image: Supplied)

The couple have lived on the site since moving into a barn conversion alongside the 18th-century building on retirement from dairy farming some 10 years ago.

It is now used as a storeroom and garage for two cars but its position beside the busy main road continues to arouse curiosity.

They often find vehicles in the driveway parked by fans following the Holmes Chapel Harry Styles pilgrimage route to the viaduct.

Over the years, its previous life as a toll house was largely forgotten.

The property was called Daneside and let to tenants, but when John and his wife moved in, the original name Saltersford Turnpike was restored.

A section of a toll sign on display, donated to the archive,is believed to have been erected at the Saltersford Turnpike along with a barrier stopping traffic and stock from crossing the river without payment.

Tolls were imposed on travellers from the time Saltersford was first recorded in 1797 until 1878 when by Act of Parliament turnpike charges were abolished and the roads again became public highways, the money collected being spent on maintaining and repairs to the roads.

The tolls operated across every county and were run by trusts such as the Holmes Chapel and Chelford Turnpike Trust.

They were placed at strategic points along roads where it was difficult for travellers to evade paying the tolls, such as crossing Saltersford Bridge.

In many areas, rioting ensued as angry mobs gathered outside turnpike bars due to the imposition of the high charges.

So far no evidence has come to light in local records of trouble on the Holmes Chapel to Chelford road.

The exhibition highlights how residents were able to travel much further afield more easily when the age of the horse and cart was superseded by faster and more efficient transport in a period which took several decades to complete.

The Manchester to Crewe railway line dramatically revolutioned rural life forever when it opened in 1841.

Farmers were able to send their milk, cheeses and produce to markets across the country.

But the village had still to rely on horsepower or to walk and cycle through the lanes to the nearest stations at Holmes Chapel or Chelford until a station opened on September 1, 1891.

The arrival of the motor car late in Queen Victoria's reign, together with bus services before and after the First World War provided greater opportunities for residents to seek entertainment and shopping in surrounding towns and visit the seaside.

Goostrey continued to remain a self-contained village with shops, a post office and two pubs The Crown Inn and Red Lion, recently renamed the Space Invader.