Within 40 years of the Romans leaving Briton, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded Briton and occupied Celtic land. The Celts were driven out of Briton into Cornwall and Wales.

By the Ninth Century, we can suppose that Hazel Grove had finally become inhabited because the names for the Hamlets of Torkington (moated farm of Torek), Bosden (Bosen’s Dun/Hill) and Norbury (North Manor) are all Angle. It’s impossible to say what these hamlets consisted of, but it’s likely they were no more than small holdings belonging to a single family.

Between the ninth century and tenth century, Danes invaded Northern England and wrecked havoc on the area. They introduced their own taxes (actually, more like protection money) and even destroyed Manchester. Again, it’s difficult to determine if the Danes settled in the area, but a number of words local to Oldham, Ashton and Stockport (and very few other places) are of Dutch origin (eg. Skriek – To Cry), so possibly they made a great impact than archaeology can tell us. The place name Hulme is also Danish, and means “Island in a swamp”.

In 1066, the Norman’s invaded England and William, Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England. At this time Hazel Grove probably had a population of about 60 people. By the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, Bramhall, Norbury and Bosden had been burnt to the ground by spiteful Norman troops and only Torkington had anybody farming the land.

By 1200, the hamlets were again in occupation. Norbury was held by the Hyde family until it was sold to the Leghs of Lyme Hall in the 1690’s. Bosden was held by the Handforth family from Handforth (consequently, the name of the hamlet was Bosden-cum-Handforth and formed part of Cheadle Parish until 1834). Torkington was held by the Torkynton family, until 1467 when John Legh of Booths leased Torkington Hall. The Legh’s held Torkington Hall until 1937 and built Torkington Lodge on Torkington Green(Park) in 1790. Torkington Lodge is now council offices and is owned by Stockport MBC.

It should be remembered that at this time, almost all of the area were part of Macclesfield forest and bore no resemblance to the modern village. Again, we should be reminded that even until the sixteenth century, the village probably consisted of fewer than 200 people.