Charlotte Street

If you look around the back streets of Macclesfield you can find occasional relics and reminders of the past industries of the town. This wall on Charlotte Street is made from blocks of slag which were a bye-product of the copper works on Macclesfield Common that was established by Charles Roe in 1758. Initially the copper ore was obtained from Alderley Edge but in 1764 Roe began to work the rich ores of Parys Mountain on Anglesey. Although Roe soon established smelters on Merseyside the Macclesfield Copper Company continued to operate in the town on a diminishing scale until 1801. The lcocation of the copper works is remembered in the names of Calamine Street and Copper Street off Windmill Street.