St James's Church, Taxal (SE View)

“TAXALL (is) a parish in the hundred of Macclesfield, county Chester, 4 miles W. of Chapel-en-le-Street, and 8 N.E. of Macclesfield. The village is situated on the banks of the river Goyt, which separates it from Derbyshire. The Peak Forest canal passes through the township of Whaley-cum-Yeardsley, and is here met by the rail-road from Cromford. The surface is mountainous and partially barren, but well wooded. There are collieries, slate works, and quarries of good building and flagstone, chiefly in the township of Whalley.

The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Chester, value £312. The church, dedicated to St. James, is modern, with an old tower containing three bells. It has tombs of the Shallcrosses of Shallcross Hall. The church, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt in 1826. Erwood Hall is the principal residence. The parochial charities produce about £17 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes, at which a Sunday-school is also held. J.W. Jodrell, Esq., is lord of the manor.”

(Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003)