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Download mp3 of A Guided walk with a Park Ranger Track 8'
The text below is a transcript of Track 8 of the walk.
Now at the bottom of this hill turn right through the gate and carry on through the next gate and back to the centre.
Out on the plain you can see views out and on a good day people say that they can see the sea and Liverpool Cathedral in the very far distance is fiddlers ferry power, very much nearer is the long hill of Alderley edge the mines at Alderley have been in use since the Bronze age to the earliest 20th century.
The two towns down there are Macclesfield to the left and Bollington to the right. Manchester Airport is to the right of Alderley and the white bit on the left is Concord now on permanent display.
As we walk down the track to the centre the view over the last 50 years has changed quite a bit. As the big House just past the Country Park Facing us was the Quarry Managers House.
One of the Local farmers Wilf Slack Worked at this quarry when he was young and here he is talking about his life then.
Wilf – Now I started work with Isac of Bailey. He was a Stone Dresser. It was the first day and with a chisel, I broke one of his kerbs in half, yeah we did street kerbs which was you know, 10 inches deep and five inches wide.
Ian – Did the stone come out of the quarry here? (dog barks)
Wilf– Oh yes, where your car park is, the bottom car park.
Ian – Oh yes, that was a big hole there.
Wilf– Yeah, because of the crane at the top, steam crane.
Ian – Near Windy Way House?
Wilf – Well, on this side of the hole, straight up to the crane, because when they were loading stone for Bollington, because it’s better stone, good stone, it went for monumental. The windy way blue stone which you got lower down was a bluey colour and they cut what they call logs out of that and it went to Bollington to be sawn for you know, grave stones and such like and we got the rough pieces to make the kerb sets, anything that was ordered you see.
Ian – How long did it take to make a kerb set?
Wilf – Well, you got your lump of stone was tipped off. There was a metal line down from the crane coming down to towards where your office door is and there was a turntable there and it came along and there was a metal line all the way along to nearly to the top of saddler’s way and they put the stone on your trolley and just tip it off and just cut it up with your wedges into the rough shapes of whatever you were cutting. You’ve seen these holes on the stone haven’t you, there’s some on the gate outside, you did it with your pick at the top and cut your kerb out roughly.
Ian – What about the winter?
Wilf – Well it was rough up there, with the wind and you couldn’t work the stone when it was frosty.
Ian – How long did it take you to make a kerb set?
Wilf – Well, Tommy Goodwin who I worked with after, could make eight a day. My maximum speed was about five a day.
Thank you Wilf
Well I hope you enjoyed this walk as much as I did, now please pass on this recording to a friend they may find it interesting even if they cant manage the walk.
When you get back to the centre or sit in comfort at home you may whish to find out the true story of how Teggs Nose got its Name.
And hear some of the local wallers playing the Teggs Nose Song performing live at an international folk festival (or was it someone’s front room?)
Thank you for coming with me, bye for now.
Now the most frequent question that I get asked is how Teggs Nose got its name.
Well its quite a fascinating story that goes back to the dark times.
There was a drystone waller around here and his name was Red and he lived in a small cottage with his wife just over there. Now Red lived his life with his dog Teggs he went out to work with her and she would lay on an old coat at the foot of the wall, and in the evening they would walk back, Teggs would sit by Reds feet at the table waiting for any tip bits that may fall her way. And when they went to bed Teggs would sleep at the foot of the bed. Red and Teggs were never separated. Teggs was a clever dog some say more than cleaver, she seemed to know things humans didn’t at times it was just a bit eerie.
One night Red and Teggs went out to the local pub, The Setter Dog just up the Road from here, its closed a long time back now. But in those days it used to be busy and it was a fine place. And to sit by the fire after a days walling with a pint in your hand and a dog at your side was pretty much as near to heaven as a man can get.
Some nights Red and his friends used to play cards, and they would have a little bet. Then as now gambling in Pubs is illegal, so what they used to do was use stone chips, they would pay a shilling a chip and at the end of the evening settle up for money.
Funnily that where the term chips comes from in Casinos today.
Now this particular evening, They were happily playing away and Red noticed that every time he had a winning hand, Teggs would be there nuzzling under his knee, and if he had a hand not worth a bet, Teggs would just sit quite. Before long Red had won quite a bit and by the end of the evening he had won more money that he had ever seen together in one place in all his life. They had quite a party.
On his way home Red had his pockets full of money and happy heart and a cleaver dog at his side.
It was a cold night, and on his way back to his cottage he just had an odd feeling that he might get robbed with all this money, so he removed a stone from a drystone wall and placed the money in the wall. So that he could find the place again in the morning he placed some stone chips at the foot of the wall. He went back home to his wife to tell her the story.
That night he slept like a king. In the morning with a slightly sore head he and his wife and Teggs went out to look for the money.
They walked all the way to the Pub, and all the way back, all the roads they could think of, not a stone chip in sight. Hours went into days, days went into weeks and weeks went into months and months went into years and years went into legend. Red nor anyone could find the money.
As life went on Teggs got older and some days, she didn’t want to go out at all, she would just rather site by the fire in the Cottage.
But one day when she was out with Red she went missing, Red looked everywhere for the dog, eventually a neighbour came running Red, Red come quick its Teggs. Red ran and eventually found Teggs dead by a Drystone wall, Red lifted up the still warm body and under the body were the stone chips. Red took the chips and Teggs.
Teggs is buried on Teggs Nose somewhere and her grave is marked with just a few stone chips.
Walls soon get mended around here as everyone is still looking for Reds Money.
Words to the Teggs Nose Song:
Red was a man that built stone walls
He built them wide and long
He lost his money in a dry stone walls that’s why
I wrote this song
CH.
Teggs Nose x4 is what they say
No Matter where this collie went he seemed to know the way
Red had a dog by the name of Teggs
A very faithful friend
He lived his life along with red
Right to the very end.
The days and the weeks and the months went by
And stories were made to tell
He never found the money
And by a wall Teggs fell.
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