Pryor, Hazel. (Altrincham: Willow Publishing, 1982). ISBN 0 9506043 8 0
The following is a quote from a wonderful soft cover book by Hazel Pryor on the township of Timperley. The book is filled with many photographs of the town from the early 20th century and contains descriptions of various points of interest within the town at that time.
In the early 13th century a man called Walter of Timperley (spelled Timperleie) was a witness to a charter. The charter itself does not concern us, but this was one of the earliest references to the name Timperley. The most commonly accepted explanation of the name comes from the words 'timber' and 'leah' meaning a clearing or glade. The ending -ley is a common one locally, we have only to think of Baguley (badger-ley), Ashley, Mobberley and others. The name has gone through various forms, spelled phonetically, with a 'y' at the beginning and variations of 'legh' at the end, but the present spelling is remarkably close to the early form.
An alternative explanation known locally is that the name arises from the name 'tymp' given to stone blocks, or troughs, quarried locally. For this to be feasible, the quarries would have had to be well-established by the 13th century at the latest, and no documentary reference has yet been found earlier that the 17th century.
The early settlement in Timperley, possibly in Saxon times, was probably on the higher ground near the junction of Wood Lane and Green Lane, with open fields extending to the north and east keeping to the higher land. The cultivated land was gradually extended, while separate moated farmsteads were set up nearer to the Timperley and Fiarywell Brooks which form the boundary of Timperley. Timperley Hall and Riddings Hall were two of these farmsteads and there was probably another moat at the Heyes, off Heyes Lane, but no information has been found about this.
For more information contact: Willow Publishing, Willow Cottage, 36 Moss Lane, Timperley, Altrincham, Cheshire WA15 6SZ