A gift of land open to the public and the New Bridge over the Iron Age Ditch

In order to ensure that the archaeology discovered in their garden will always be available to the public, John and Ann have made an extremely generous gift of part of their garden to Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, It is a wonderful section of the garden, near the entance gates to the Old Vicarage and the Church, which contains a huge section of the very deep Iron Age Ditch and a viewing area, developed by Marie Widger and the Community and Educational side of the Mellor Heritage Project into a Roman Garden.



It was installed in May 2009 by quite a feat of engineering, when a long loader carrying an 8 metre footbridge reversed all the way from Longhurst Lane up Church Road to stop outside the Old Vicarage. The bridge, constructed by Blackburn Fraser Ltd Steel and Bridge Fabricators was then lifted off the loader and swung round onto two heavy concrete blocks placed on the rock at either end of the Iron Age ditch.

Earlier in the year, the short wall between the entrances of the Old Vicarage and the Church had been taken down and BT moved an obstructing telephone pole. Visitors will enter the viewing area through the Roman garden designed. After crossing the bridge, they will be able to follow paths and look at boards interpreting 10,000 years of occupation of the site.

As always, however, we ask that visits to the private part of the garden and the surrounding area must only be made by prior arrangement.