White Nancy was built in 1817 by John Gaskell junior of North End Farm to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Waterloo.[4] John Gaskell was a member of the Gaskell family who lived nearby at Ingersley Hall.[5] It originally had an entrance to a single room which was furnished with stone benches and a central round stone table, but the entrance is now blocked. It has been described as a summer house or a folly.[4] Locals supposedly told 1940s Army signallers working on Kerridge Hill that the landmark was named after the lead horse that had transported all materials for the building of White Nancy.[6]
Description
The structure is circular in plan with its shape described as that of a sugar loaf, and is surmounted with a ball finial. It is built in sandstonerubble which has been rendered and painted.[4] It is about 18 feet (5 m) high. Stone paving has been laid around its base which is inscribed with the points of the compass.[5]
Painting
Until at least 1925 the structure was unpainted.[7] It has been painted in a number of different colours over the years, most commonly in white.[5] In 2005 vandals painted it partly in pink.[8] In March 2009 it was repainted in white with the ball finial in black.[5] In 2012 a Jubilee crown and the dates 1952–2012 were added to the north-west face and Olympic rings added to the south-east face. The green ring is in the form of a laurel wreath encircling a gold medal and the number 29 which was added later to mark Team GB's 29 gold medals. It has also been painted with a large red remembrance poppy[9] and during the 1980s it was commonly painted at Christmas, decorated as a Christmas pudding or Father Christmas.
In 2015, in recognition of the reason for its construction, the structure was painted with a '200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo' motif, and the silhouettes of soldiers in traditional military uniform from the time.[10] In May 2016 it was returned to its traditional all white with a black finial.
White Nancy provides a focus on the ridge of Kerridge Hill and from it there are extensive views across the Cheshire Plain towards the mountains of North Wales to the west, the hills of Shropshire to the south and the Pennines to the north and east. White Nancy and the Kerridge ridge are part of the Gritstone Trail.[13] The Peak District Boundary Walk also runs past the monument.[14]
^"Council Grants". Bollington Town Council. Retrieved 7 February 2018. Logo is prominent on page.
^"Bollington: Guide to Organisations"(PDF). Bollington Town Council. Retrieved 7 February 2018. This monument can be seen from virtually anywhere in Bollington, and has become a much-loved symbol of the town.
