Although the area of Hale is likely to have been settled in Saxon and Roman times, no evidence appears before the entry in the Domesday Book which shows it as belonging to a Saxon Lord named Aelfward. It states that he was removed and his lands given to the Norman, Hamo de Massey. With the ending of the main branch of the Masseys of Dunham in the 14th century, Hale passed into the ownership of the Booths of Dunham, the Stanleys and the Chauntrells, but by the beginning of the 19th century it was reunited through the Booth family and hence to the Earls of Stamford. Hale was a rural farming community, remaining that way until up to the mid 19th century, when with the opening of the railway, Hale became an attractive place of residence for wealthy merchants working in the city. In 1900, having been in the parish of Bowdon, Hale became an Urban District in its own right. Images TL2548 and TL9856 available on Trafford Lifetimes