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Cheadle
Cheadle is a famous market town located close to Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. The last census recorded a population of 12,158 people living in Cheadle; the town itself is 15 miles from Stoke-on-Trent and is equidistant between Birmingham and Manchester. It is one of the closest centers of population to the Alton Towers leisure park making it a popular destination for hotels, bed and breakfast and other accommodation. Cheadle can trace its history back to Anglo-Saxon times when it was recorded in the Domesday book like many Staffordshire towns and it has almost always been a market settlement and an important route for trade.
Cheadle began life as a small hamlet with an equally small population but it grow as agriculture, trade and industry came to the region. In modern times Cheadle has been closely related to coal mining, agriculture, brass and copper along with nearby Froghall and Oakamoor. Cheadle is well known for its interesting architecture, a number of ancient structures are still in place in the town and it has hardly changed since Victorian times. The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches are important historic sites in Cheadle and both are dedicated to St. Giles.
The latter was created in the 1840's at the request of the Earl of Shrewsbury and is considered one the finest examples of this unique type of structure in the UK. The former was rebuilt in the 1830's and Methodism has always played a major role in Cheadle, in fact many of the younger boys who worked in the mines were taught to read and write by the various Methodist chapels dotted around the area. Cheadle has become less of a centre for industry and is now known as an area for tourism, Alton Towers is one of the towns major employers along with the tremendous variety of tourist attractions, hotels and bed and breakfasts in the area. Cheadle has a rich and intriguing tapestry of history and is well worth a visit the next time you are in the Staffordshire area.
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