[2][3] Its cafes and designer shops attract Premier League footballers, actors and businesspeople,[4] making it one of the UK's most sought-after places to live outside London.

[3] The Alderley Edge area shows signs of occupation since the Mesolithic period, with flint tools found along its sandstone outcrop.

The first written record of Alderley Edge, then called Chorlegh (later spelt Chorley) dates back to the 13th century, likely derived from ceorl[6] and lēah,[7] meaning a "peasants' clearing".

Cheshire had its own system of taxes in the mediaeval period, the Mize; in the records for 1405, Chorley was assessed at 20s 0d and Nether Alderley at 27s 0d.

In 1830, Chorley comprised a few cottages, the De Trafford Arms Inn, a toll bar, and a smithy scattered along the Congleton to Manchester Road.

The railway company offered free 20-year season tickets to Manchester businessmen who built homes worth over £50 within a mile of the station.

[8] After the railway's construction, Sir Humphrey de Trafford, owner of Chorley Hall, developed an estate with new roads and houses, most completed by 1910.

The 1899 map shows a similar layout but details individual villas like Holybank, Ashfield, and The Larches, along with remnants of old mines near Windmill Wood to the southeast.

John Cherry from the British Museum along with Adrian Tindall, the conservation officer for Cheshire County Council reported that the bar weighed 97.01 grams and was 73% gold.

[11] The settlement now known as Alderley Edge was historically called Chorley and was part of the ancient parish of Wilmslow in the Macclesfield Hundred of Cheshire.

[23] In 1974, Alderley Edge Urban District was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, with a successor parish established covering the same area.

[28] The Office for National Statistics estimated that, during the period of April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households in Alderley Edge was £720 (£37,440 per year).

Owned by the National Trust, it is a public access wooded area attracting 300,000 visitors annually from Manchester and the nearby towns of Wilmslow and Macclesfield.

The Cheshire Plain is visible, stretching from Macclesfield Forest in the south-east towards the Derbyshire peaks in the east, and north to Manchester and the Blackstone Edge in Yorkshire.

Trees obscure views of landmarks like the Wrekin in Shropshire; The Cloud near Bosley, Mow Cop and the mountains of North Wales.

The Edge has a long history of copper mining, with activity dating back to the Bronze Age and Roman times.

The National Trust now owns many of the mines, leasing them to the Derbyshire Caving Club, which maintains access and explores long-sealed areas.

The first villa was constructed in the early 1840s and by 1850 thirty "handsome residences" had been erected, mainly by the cotton barons from Manchester who moved out of the city as the railway was built.

The wide range of materials used reflects this somewhat eclectic mix of styles, and includes stone, brick, smooth render or roughcast for the walls, and Welsh slate or clay tiles for the roofs.

Leading the farmer to a spot near Stormy Point, the old man waved a wand, uttered a spell, and revealed iron gates in the rock.

[33] The author claimed the story came from an old servant of the Stanley family and was often told by Parson Shrigley, Clerk and Curate of Alderley (1753–1776).

A very similar one was made into a ballad called Sir Guy the Seeker by Matthew 'Monk' Lewis,[37] and is based on a legend of Dunstanburgh Castle.

The £56 million project was carried out by Birse Civils and was officially opened by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and MP for Alderley Edge, George Osborne, on 19 November 2010.

[46] The author Alan Garner, who wrote the children's fantasy novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which is set on Alderley Edge, lived on Trafford Road at the corner with Stevens Street and Moss Lane.

[47][page needed] Former footballers who live in Alderley Edge include Joleon Lescott and Manchester United players Dwight Yorke, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Andy Cole.

[3][49][50] A number of Coronation Street actors, including Helen Flanagan and Richard Fleeshman, live in the village, as do musicians Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook.