A township in Bowdon Parish, Bucklow Hundred (SJ 7784).
Includes the hamlets of Castle Mill (part), Hough Green and Thorns Green.
The population was 288 in 1801, 379 in 1851, 424 in 1901 and 338 in 1951.
CHURCHES AND CHAPELS
Bowdon, St. Mary (C of E). The ancient parish church for Ashley.
Ashley, St. Elizabeth (C of E). Built 1880 as a chapel to Bowdon, becoming the parish church for Ashley and a small part of Mobberley
in 1881. Registers of Baptisms 1880-1969 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office, but Marriage registers from 1882
are still at the church (no burials here).
LOCAL GOVERNMENT DISTRICTS
Altrincham Rural Sanitary District (1875-94); Altrincham Rural District (1894-95); Bucklow Rural District (1895-1974); Macclesfield (1974-date)
