Earliest records show that at a lonely farmhouse in the hills between Macclesfield and Rainow, there lived a good woman whose name was Mary Aldersley. The name of the farm was Shrigley­fold. One can only surmise that she had been converted by some travelling preacher, and that she felt impelled to tell others of the Gospel. She gathered her neighbours and friends in the farm­house, and together they studied the Scriptures.
After some years, the membership grew in numbers, and even­tually the farmhouse became too small to hold them. They moved to a stable which they cleaned up and made as respectable as they could. Meetings continued here for some years until two cottages were bought, and some of the interior walls were removed to make one large room.

From these beginnings, the Methodists grew in numbers. How they increased in influence, built their Chapels and extended their Circuits is told in the book, "The History of Methodism in Macclesfield", which was written as long ago as 1875. It is in that book that various references are made to the Alderley Edge and Knutsford area. After mentioning the Chapel which was built at the Hough, the author, Rev. B. Smith, writes: "In 1862 villas were rapidly rising in that charming locality. One or two influential Wesleyan families had gone to reside there, and it was thought best that an effort should be made to place an attractive chapel in the vicinity. This was eventually done. One result of this effort was that a division of the Circuit, which had long seemed desirable, was effected. In 1864, the Alderley Edge and Knutsford Circuit was formed, including those two places, with Mobberley, Snelson, Warford, and Mottram."