Around Knowl Hill (Rochdale)

Knowl Hill near Rochdale is a visible landmark that can be seen for several miles around and, for the people of that town, it has been for a long time now the place to go walking on Sundays and during the summer holidays. The sugar-loaf (conical-shaped) hill has a flat summit that is topped by an Ordnance Survey concrete triangulation pillar, and is 419m (1374) feet above sea-level. It is about 1 mile to the east of Edenfield Road (A680) along a couple of good moorland footpaths; and it overlooks the Ashworth Moor reservoir and the haunted Owd Betts public house, while just downslope to the southeast it overlooks the village of Red Lumb, the hamlet of Wolstenholme, Greenbooth Reservoir, and the village of Norden. To the northwest, the hill stands as a sentinel over the area known as Cheesden with its windswept moors and, further along, it is more distant from Facit and Turn Village, while to the west of Knowl Hill there is Wind Hill and the Ashworth Valley beyond.

Around 12,000 years ago, or more, there would have been a huge glacier covering the moors to the north of Rochdale and, Knowl Hill itself was probably covered by this, and then shaped when the glacier retreated. Then around 10,000 years ago what is now the town of Rochdale, in the valley below, was covered by a huge glacial lake; and some 4,000 years ago when the climate was much warmer ancient people were settling on the higher parts of the area, like Knowl Hill and the surrounding moors. We know for instance that there are two prehistoric burial mounds at Wind Hill over to the west of Knowl Hill; there have also been many finds of 'ancient antiquity' on and around Knowl Hill and also on the moorland around Rochdale and Bury. One find, in particular, a Bronze Age axe or palstave was excavated when the Ashworth Moor Reservoir was being dug in 1905 (photo below).

There is a curious ditch-like feature running in a north-westerly direction from the bottom of the hill, but its purpose is unknown. In the 19th century cotton and calico mills began to encroach in the Ashworth Valley and the Norden area, but these were relatively short-lived as by the early 20th century they were on their way out, never to return.

Websites referenced:
https://lancsarchaeology.wordpress.com/category/ditch/
https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2017/03/29/wind-hill-cairn-cheesden-near-rochdale-greater-manchester/
http://www.heywoodhistory.com/2018/01/ghosts.html
http://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/07/ice-age-carving-cheesden-valley.html
http://trigpointing.uk/trig/4301

Around Blackstone Edge (Littleborough) Part 2

OS Grid Ref SD 9732 1713. The Aiggin Stone on Blackstone Edge is best reached via the A58, and is 2 miles to the north-east of Littleborough. This well-defined and quite well-preserved stretch of Roman road going up over Blackstone Edge can be reached on foot, of course, from the A58 and after about half a mile the Aiggin Stone can be seen at the side of the Roman road. Some historians now believe this is a medieval road or trackway that was constructed over the foundations of the Roman road in the 13th century, eventually becoming a packhorse road. The Roman road, if that's what it really is, with it's worn flat stones and gulley or channel running down the middle connects MAMUCIUM (Manchester) with VERBEIA (Ilkley) and then EBORACUM (York).

The inscribed Aiggin Stone stands in a flat rectangular area amidst a jumble of large recumbant stones and a cairn, and marks the boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is, in fact, a gritstone pillar standing at nearly 4 feet high, and carved on it there is an incised cross as well as the letters I and T. A plaque says the Aiggin Stone is a Medieval waymarker that is 600 years old. Originally it was 7 foot high but over hundreds of years it has been pushed over, or fallen over, and the lower section broken off. The stone tapers towards the top where the Latin-style cross is carved. A pointed cairn stands beside the waymarker stone, no doubt being added to over hundreds of years by walkers traversing the high-level ancient route between Littleborough and Ripponden, high up on the windswept Pennines moors.

These marker stones or waymarkers were used for religious purposes; travellers would stop at the stone and say a prayer for a safe journey over the bleak, windswept moors. Some of these stones were even used by people carrying coffins; the coffin rested here and prayers for the dead would be recited, perhaps a stone or two placed on top of the cairn as well. Just below the carved cross are two letters I and T which obviously have some religious significance, possibly meaning IN TEDIUM or 'In the Lord we trust' or 'In praise of the Lord'. Near the bottom of the stone some more letters: an I or a T and perhaps ED (In Tedium?).

There is more information on the Aiggin Stone at the following website: https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2013/05/06/aiggin-stone-blackstone-edge-lancashirewest-yorkshire/

Around Blackstone Edge (Littleborough) Part 1

OS Grid Reference: SD 9617 1680. Blackstone Edge Roman Road is located 2 miles to the east of the town of Littleborough - running almost parallel to the A58 Littleborough to Halifax road. Blackstone Edge ‘Roman Road’ is a cobbled ‘road’ surface traversing the bleak moorland for about 2 miles or so along Blackstone Edge, on the Lancashire-West Yorkshire border. The road has a deep groove running down the centre. It is a Scheduled monument initially thought to be of Roman Origin. This road is still marked on Ordnance Survey maps as a ‘Roman Road’ but nowadays the most widely accepted theory is that it is an early turnpike road from circa 1735.

Until recently popular opinion had it that before the Romans there were no roads in the British Isles. This is not a correct interpretation of the situation. Ancient routes such as the Ickneld Way existed long before AD43. The Romans did build roads and this was one of the reasons for their great success. Roads aided administration as the Empire became ever larger. Roads aided the quick movement of troops to deal with insurgencies and incursions, and they helped to facilitate trade. However the evidence shows that similar structures usually of timber existed from Neolithic Times. More sophisticated structures existed in the Bronze Age using stone and Timber. The Iron Age saw the introduction of gravelled streets - as at Danbury and Silchester.

Roman Roads typically consist of a consolidated embanked and cambered core of earth, chalk or stones (the agger), which was then surfaced with compacted stone or gravel. The wider zone was then often defined by boundary ditches, and sometimes further drainage ditches, or trenches from which material for the agger was dug.

Blackstone Edge ‘Roman Road’ (at almost 6 metres in width) does not conform strictly to this approach and the other problem with Blackstone Edge ‘Roman Road’ is that the groove running down the centre is unusual, and has therefore led to other theories about its origin, though similar grooved drainage ditches are known from Roman sites around the country.

It has been suggested that this channel may once have accommodated a cable that was used to winch vehicles up the incline. In keeping with this theory a circular foundation block can still be seen at the top of the incline; this solution to the problem being hinted at in the Turnpike Act of 1734. On the other hand, some experts believe that the central channel was used to help vehicles brake as they descended the steep incline down towards Littleborough and others propose that it was merely a drainage duct.

Excavations first took place in 1923/24 under Ian Richmond. In 1965 James L Maxim 'A Lancashire Lion’ proposed that it was a turnpike road dating from 1735 - immediately following the Turnpike Act of 1734. Possibly built on or next to an earlier, probably Medieval Packhorse Route. Maxim proposed that the central groove was for cables assisting cables to negotiate the steep incline with the circular "foundation" acting as a pulley. However, a further survey in 2012, which involved fieldwork and reviewing the evidence, questioned some of these assumptions. Why was work undertaken to create deep and wide cuttings, and what appears to be a terrace on one side? Further the packhorse way closely follows the road using one of the cuttings. The survey came to the conclusion that it might have to be reconsidered as a Roman Road. Another possibility is that none of these apply and it is, in fact, a more modern, perhaps 19^th century moorland track that has long been associated with the quarrying of stone.

The Roman road that runs over Blackstone Edge linked the large Roman legionary fortress of MAMVCIVM (Manchester) to the smaller fort of VERBEIA (Ilkley) and is some 36 miles long. Some historians have, perhaps, wrongly called the fort at Ilkley (OLICANA). More information about the Roman road can be found at:- https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2014/12/07/blackstone-edge-roman-road-littleborough-lancs-yorks-border/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around St Chad's Church (Rochdale)

OS grid reference: SD 8964 1313. St Chad’s parish church stands upon a lofty ridge overlooking the River Roch and the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The church is a very imposing edifice standing high above the equally imposing Victorian town-hall and its famous clock tower. There was a church here in either the late Saxon period, or more likely just after the Norman conquest – the mid 11th to early 12th centuries – although that is open to question. There is a well-known legend that says there were problems with the siting of the first church which was being built on lower ground on the other side of the river, and that it had to be re-sited to the higher position that we see it today. The church can be reached from opposite the Town Hall carpark and by climbing the steep 124 steps up to Sparrow Hill passing the Packer Spout on your right.

 Author Dennis Ball in his interesting book 'Lancashire Pastimes' (1987) says that: "A Saxon thane,  Gamel, Lord of Rochdale, decided to build a church to St Chad on the banks of the river Roche. The  foundations were dug and all the materials taken to the site. All the materials mysteriously disappeared and reappeared at the summit of the steep hill on the opposite side of the river. Gamel was very annoyed and blamed his workmen. He made them take all the materials back to the original site. This took the whole of the next day. That night they were again moved back to the top of the hill. But this time the culprits were seen by some of the workmen. They were goblins."

Another, more lengthier interpretation of the legend, from the 19th century is given by J. Harland & T. T. Wilkinson in 'Lancashire Legends', which is published in 'The Secret Country' by Janet & Colin Bord. They say: "Towards the close of the reign of William the Conqueror, Gamel, the Saxon thane, Lord of Recedham or Rochdale, being left in the quiet possession of his lands and privileges, was 'minded, for the fear of God and the salvation of his immortal soul, to build a chapel unto St Chadde', nigh to the banks of the Rache or Roach. According to Mr Roby, in his 'Traditions', a place was set apart on the north bank of the river, in a low and sheltered spot now called 'The Newgate'. Piles of timber and huge stones were gathered in profusion; the foundations were laid; stakes having been driven, and several courses of rubble stone laid ready to receive the grouting or cement. In one night, the whole mass was conveyed, without the loss of a single stone, to the summit of a steep hill on the opposite bank, and apparently without any visible signs of the mode of removal. The Saxon thane was greatly incensed at what he supposed to be a trick of some of his own vassals, and threatened punishment; to obviate which, a number of the villeins and bordarii with great difficulty and labour con-veyed the building materials back to the site for the church; but again were they all removed in the night to the top of the hill. Gamel having learned the truth, sought counsel from Holy Church, and it was thereon resolved that the chapel should be built on the hill-top, as the unknown persons would not permit it to be erected on the site originally selected. This explains the chapel or church of St Chadde, still standing on a hill so high that one hundred and twenty-four steps were cut to accomplish the ascent, and enable the good people to go to prayers."

St Chad to whom Rochdale parish church is dedicated was a 7th century northern churchman who became abbot of Lastingham in Yorkshire, and for a while he was bishop of York until St Wilfrid returned from France. Later, he was made bishop of the Mercians at Lichfield. He died in 672 AD and his feast-day is held on 2nd March (Colin Waters 'A Dictionary Of Saints Days, Fasts, Feasts And Festivals'). The town of Chadderton near Rochdale is probably named after St Chad.

There are no antiquities of great age within St Chad's, although the Tudor pews are of some notable interest and parts of the church tower are 'thought' to date back to the late Saxon age, or more likely the early Norman period. The statue of St Chad high up on the outer south wall is particularly fine. The Lancashire poet John Collier (Tim Bobbin) 1708-86 is buried in the churchyard. Visit the following website/link to find more details: https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2016/04/04/st-chads-church-rochdale-greater-manchester/