Architecture enthusiast Ian to publish his love letter to Macc
AN ARCHITECTURE enthusiast has created a book as his ‘love letter’ to the important buildings in Macclesfield.
Ian Tatlock, who has lived in the town for 30 years, is the man behind the architecture series featured in the Express since 2021.
It was based on those landmarks in the Cheshire edition of Nikolaus Pevsner’s Buildings of England series and we published more than 70 instalments.
Now Ian has taken all his pictures, research and information and made his own book, Pevsner’s Macclesfield - The Architecture of a Town.
Much of his work was done in the Covid pandemic.
He said: “I wanted to document buildings through photography, and this book contains the pictures I took with my trusty Nikon (camera), during two long walks around town, in the summer of 2020.
“This book is my photographic love letter to, and description of, the town’s important buildings.”
Much of the growth of Macclesfield was down to the silk industry with the town having more than 100 mills at one point some of which feature in the book. This industry was then indirectly responsible for some of the town’s other notable buildings with churches,
houses and schools springing up to support an increasing population.
Ian’s book also contains location maps to help anyone who is curious find each building.
There is a section of buildings not featured by Pevsner but that are Ian’s own choice, which has added to his workload.
He said: “At times, the
logistics involved in the creation of this book were complicated, which caused me to reflect on the nature of Nikolaus Pevsner’s mighty achievement.
“If it was hard for me to keep tabs on the entries for the one town in which I lived, how much harder must it have been writing about the architecture of
the buildings in every town, in every county throughout the whole country? The man’s immense resolve, dedication and determination are astonishing.”
Pevsner’s Macclesfield - The Architecture of a Town is currently at the proof-reading stage and Ian is looking to find a publisher for it.