Oversleyford

Oversley and Oversleyford (sometimes Oversley Ford) is a name used for some places in an area near Manchester Airport.

• Oversleyford Bridge, where the A538 road from Altrincham to Wilmslow crosses the River Bollin
• Oversley Lodge Farm (as at August 2011 occupied by an asbestos cleanup firm for training)
• Oversley Farm, and Oversleyford Brickworks, now obliterated by Runway 2 of Manchester Airport

There are places called Oversley elsewhere in England.

The name is first recorded in the 13th century as Vulverichelei and seems to come from Anglo-Saxon Wulfrīces lēah (Wulfrīc's clearing or meadow).^[1] The ford was probably a few yards north of the modern main road Oversleyford Bridge, where a minor road bridges the Bollin; that minor road is now a back entry to a hotel's front yard but was part of the A538 road before it was diverted for a runway extension. The name Oversleyford is at the middle of the south edge of this old Ordnance Survey map.

Oversley Farm

Remains of a timber long house were found near at Oversley Farm during the building of Manchester Airport's second runway.^[2][3] Oversley Farm has been described as "by far the most important prehistoric site within the boundaries of the twenty-first-century city ... [and] ... one of the most important in the North West".^[4] It is the site of an Early Neolithic farming community, although it is now underneath runway two of Manchester Airport. The longhouse measured 10 metres (33 ft) by 7 metres (23 ft) with a central hearth. Material in the pit was radiocarbon dated to 3975 BC to 3675 BC.^[4] The site was probably in use into the Late Bronze Age.^[5]

References

1. John Dodgson, in The Place-Names of Cheshire 1, p. 230; he says that the ford was at the south end of Wulfrīc's land.
2. "Revealing Cheshire's Past" (PDF). Cheshire County Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
3. Nevell (2008), p. 11.
4. Nevell (2008), p. 14.
5. Nevell (2008), p. 15.

Source

• Nevell, Mike (2008). Manchester: The Hidden History. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4704-9.

Further reading

• The Neolithic and Bronze Age Settlement at Oversley Farm, Styal, Cheshire: Excavations in advance of Manchester Airport’s Second Runway by D. J. Garner. ISBN 978-1-4073-0040-5. xiv+170 pages

53.3431°N 2.2774°W / 53.3431; -2.2774