Burrs Mill Industrial Site at Walmersley, near Bury, Greater Manchester.

About a mile to the northwest of Bury town centre, near Walmersley, in Greater Man-chester, is the Burrs Mill Industrial site at (OS Grid Ref: SD 79829 12654), which is on the north side of the River Irwell and beneath Castle Stead Iron Age hillfort. Here there used to be two cotton spinning mills and a coal pit, but nothing much of those buildings remains today, apart from a fairly intact row of workers cottagers, the mill lodges, the tall chimney (built in 1850 and 120 foot-high) and some stonework belonging to the mills themselves. The first of those mills, Burrs, was established in the late 18th century by the famous Peel family of Bury, making it the oldest in Bury. Later, in the early 19th century a second mill was established, just a little to the south, at Higher Woodhill by the Calrow family. But, very sadly, both mills closed in the early 1930s. In more recent years Burrs has become an Industrial Heritage site after the buildings were pulled down and the area levelled. It is now called 'Burrs Country Park'; and there is the 'Burrs Halt' on The East Lancashire Railway.

Red Rose Magazine (1989) has an article called: An Insight Into The Past - The Burrs Mill Site. In this we learn that:- "The Burrs is an area with a fascinating history and is fortunate that much still remains to be seen of its early development. The area extends to some 100 acres of mainly open land, much of it in agricultural use, and it lies to the north of Bury town centre in an attractive river-side setting.

"Throughout the Burrs is evidence of Bury's early industrialisation. The area reached its high point of activity during the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the development of two large mill complexes. In the last decade of the eighteenth century the Peel family established a large scale cotton mill at Burrs, together with a row of back-to-back cottages. The cottages still survive, albeit in a state of some dereliction, together with the chimney to the mill and some fragments of the mill itself.

"To the south, but linked by a possibly unique water-system, another cotton spinning mill was established by the Calrow family at Higher Woodhill during the early nineteenth century. Higher Woodhill comprised a community of a mill, four terraces of cottages, allotments, barn, chapel, school and shop. One terrace of houses and the barn remain, together with some remains of the mill and its water works.

"As the growth of industry turned its back on Burrs the site went into decline. Now the tide is turning and the Burrs could once again rise to prominence."

Red Rose Magazine (1989) in the article "The Burrs Mill Site" adds more information about Heritage, it says: "The Burrs area contains a wealth of historical features and industrial remains with the potential to give a fascinating insight into the life and development of settlements in the Irwell Valley. The Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit are currently engaged in the detailed investigation and recording of the areas' historical features and remains. A detailed research and social history investigation is also being carried out. As work progresses the emphasis will move on to the presentation and interpretation of the sites for visitors.

"With the area's wealth of early industrial related remains the opportunity presents itself to develop the Burrs as the Borough's main site of industrial interest. The areacould act as an 'open air museum' for other industrial artifacts and with the possibility of develo-ping a visitor centre and craft workshops the area could develop a strong industrial theme. With the 'Burrs Cottages' remaining virtually intact the industrial theme could put considerable emphasis on the social aspects of early industrialisation."

Much has changed at Burrs in the last 30 years or so, though the 120 foot high chimney is still there. Covering over 30 hectares, the 'Burrs Country Park' has water features, footpaths, scenic areas, a row of restored workers cottages and some ruins of the former cotton mills. There are also facilities for educational, heritage and archaeological activities, with regard to schools; as well as walking, picnicking, outdoor pursuits such as camping and fishing, and much more besides. There are also wildlife habitats and woodland areas, open spaces, wetland and water features such as mill lodges. There is also a cafe and a public house - The Brown Cow. A footpath leads around the base of Castle Stead Iron Age hillfort, and, there are some good panoramic views to be had. The East Lancashire Railway runs through the Country Park with a halt for visitors.

References & Related Websites:-

Red Rose Magazine - People and Places, Past and Present, Vol. 1 No 2, Millgate Publishing Ltd., Rossendale, Lancashire, August/September 1989.

https://lancashirepast.com/2020/12/19/burrs-mill-bury/

https://www.bury.gov.uk/Burrs/

https://www.visitnorthwest.com/sights/burrs-country-park/

https://www.visitnorthwest.com/sights/burrs-country-park/

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g528789-d13964449-Reviews-Burrs_Country_Park-Bury_Greater_Manchester_England.html

Copyright © RayS57 2021.

Black Pits Cotton Mill, Norden, Rochdale, Greater Manchester

Sadly there is nothing left of the Black Pits cotton-spinning and manufacturing mill at Coal Bank Fold beside the Naden Brook at Norden (SD 85685 14273), near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, apart from its very tall chimney, which was fully restored in 2016, especially the very top which had to be renewed. It has been a local landmark for over a hundred years, and, has large white lettering on the side that says BLACK PITS. The mill buildings were demolished and the site levelled, and now trees grow where once a thriving industrial building used to stand.

The chimney (the above photo is from 2012) is located behind a modern housing estate where the Dexine rubber works was to be found. I seem to remember there was a company called Ebonite, who had a works there in the 1970s, though I could be wrong about that. There was also Clapgate Colliery here, but, that has long since disappeared. Cotton manufacturing began at Black Pits in the 1840s and by the 1870s it had become a thriving place of employment for the people of Norden and Rochdale - at the very time when 'Cotton was King' and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing.

Grace's Guid has the following: "Blackpits Cotton Spinning and Manufacturing Co Limited; 15,670 spindles, 1811/361, twist; 474 looms, fustians; Manchester warehouse-14A, New Brown street."

The Black Pits mill, unlike many others in this area, survived well in to the late 20th century - the building was still there in the 1990s, but, it had probably closed by the late 1940s or early 1950s? However, the mill at Coal Bank had closed by the beginning of the 20th century; Crimble mill, Bamford, was still in operational use upto 1970, whereas Bamford Woolen Mill, War Office Road, Bamford, was demolished in 1982 to make way for modern housing.

References & Related Websites:-

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Blackpits_Cotton_Spinning_and_Manufacturing_Co

https://rays57-aroundbamford.blogspot.com/2012/04/around-ashworth-valley.html

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2018/01/mills-a-z.html

https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/local-historian-uncovers-19th-century-rochdale-mining-disaster/

Copyright © RayS57 2021.

St Chad's Well, near Whitworth, in Rossendale, Lancashire.

Hidden away (and perhaps forgotten) on the moors about a mile to the southwest of Whitworth, in Rossendale, Lancashire, is St Chad's Well at (SD 87361741). The well is situated on a hillside (Robin Bank), close-by a fence and wall, at the northwestern edge of Spring Mills Reservoir. St Chad or Ceadda was an Anglo-Saxon churchman who was influential in the north of England during the 7th century. Rochdale's parish church is dedicated to him. However, the well has sometimes been called Robin Hood's Well, but did the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest ever pass this way? The well is built deep into the hillside and is almost completely hidden from view by the thick grass. It is a solidly built structure with thick slabs of stone at the sides and at the front of the well-basin, with another slab protecting the front of the basin and then more slabs lower down at the front and in the ditch itself, though the stonework doesn't look particularly old, and the well doesn't look especially holy. There is apparently another Robin Hood's Well, on Jackson's Moor, to the northwest of Whitworth, and not that far from St Chad's Well as the crow flies!

Local author and Historian Stephen Oldfield says: "It took much research and many repeated visits to locate the legendary St Chad's or Robin Hood's Well, in Robin Bank, Whitworth. The Rev Oakley wrote in 1923 that people used to visit this well because of its famous link with witchcraft, as well as for the medicinal powers of its water. Legend says that Robin of Huntingdon, staying at Healey Hall, was lured here by a witch who told him she could produce the gold ring he needed to receive his inheritance - by witchcraft. She tempted him by asking him to gaze into the waters of the well and see the great future that lay in store for him once the ring was his. The rest, as they say - is in my second book! The well lies hidden on the hillside just above Spring Mill Reservoir and would have been in a much more elevated position before the reservoir was built. As with many sacred springs, its route down the hillside is marked by a gnarled old oak tree, something not often seen on the Rossendale moors."

St Chad or Ceadda was a Saxon churchman in the 7th century AD and evangelised large parts of Northern England and the Midlands. He became abbot of Lastingham, North Yorks, in 664, and soon afterwards was made Bishop of York. However, he had to resign the see and return to Lastingham, so that St Wilfrid could take up his already designated position as the bishop of York. Later, St Chad set up his new bishopric at Lichfield in Mercia (now Staffordshire), in 669, and here built his great monastery and church; the magnificent Lichfield Cathedral now stands on that site. He died on the 2nd of March 672 AD. St Chad is credited with the christianization of the Kingdom of Mercia. Many holy wells and churches are dedicated to him. He and his disciples may well have visited this area during their mission to convert the local people to Christianity. St Cedd, who died in 664, was the brother of Chad. He was a follower of St Aidan and became bishop of the East Saxons.

Please note the three colour photos of St Chad's Well are by courtesy of Mr Stephen Oldfield and are Copyright © Stephen Oldfield, 2021.

References & Related Websites:-

Oldfield, Stephen, The Forgotten Forest: A Historical Field Guide to the Rossendale Valley, Stephen C. Oldfield, 2020.

https://www.irhb.org/wiki/index.php/Robin_Hood's_Well_(Whitworth)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad_of_Mercia

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Chad

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Ashworth Colliery (Ridd Pit) on Ashworth Road, near Norden, Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Ashworth Colliery was located on the Ashworth Road opposite Ridd Cottages on School Lane (SD 84960 13545), near Norden, Rochdale. Also known as Ridd Pit but some other coal mines were also on that same site: including Wheel pit, Flash Lane pit, Crawstone Rake pit, Tramping Cat pit and Engine Pit. The Ridd shaft was a deep pit, while the others were perhaps drift mines; the coal seams and tunnels apparently running in all directions and, even as far as Norden! It was operational from before 1845 until its closure in 1898. Many local men and boys would have worked down the pit here at Ashworth during the mid 19th century, but, very sadly some never come to the surface again as there were tragic disasters underground. In 1842 an Act of Parliament brought an end, for the most part, to child labour in the coal mines. There is nothing much to see of the Ashworth Pit today, apart from the capped-off pit shaft, a grassy mound, and some large stones which lie in the grassy field adjacent to Ashworth Road. (The photo below shows a drift mine in the Ashworth Valley in 1890. It is probably one of the pits at Ashworth Colliery.)

H. D. Clayton writing in 1979 says: "The whole Ashworth area was riddled with coal mines; many were drift mines cut into the hillside; others. like Ridd pit on Ashworth Road, were deep pits with winding gear operated by a steam engine. The inhabitants of Moss Row in Norden were perturbed to hears miners cutting coal beneath their homes when the pit head was a mile away. The chimney of this pit was only felled recently and the huge stones of the engine bed can still be seen. The coal from the drift mines below Ashworth Hall was carried to a weighbridge at Guelder Clough by a tramway laid along the bank of the Naden Brook, where the path now runs. Although for years naked candles were used by the miners for light, explosion and fire do not seem to have been a hazard. The rock is permeated by underground streams and water was the chief danger, as evidenced by the two disasters at Birtle in 1852 and 1884, when two mines were flooded." (The photo below shows the site of Ashworth Colliery marked by a red arrow).

Sandiford & Ashworth writing in 1981 say: "There were several more pits to the south where the glacial valley cut deeply across a number of coal measures whose names, like Sand Rock Mine and Six Inch, arose from their location rather than their character. They were not, however, broad seams, the former being about one foot nine inches while the latter was about one foot. To mine such narrow seams it was necessary to remove part of the adjacent seat earth and it was suggested that this by-product may have promoted the operation of a pottery which stood at one time close to the present Ashworth Reservoir House.

"The position of the measures, inclined across the direction of the valley, meant that the drift mine was common, where the coal was worked progressively from the point at which it emerged on the surface or was approached by means of a passage or adit rather than a shaft. As the measures frequently sloped downwards and the entrances were often on the side of the hill, there was the constant problem of flooding. The danger was greater where flooding occured in disused workings and there have been several instances where miners have accidentally broken into these workings and have been swept away by the released water. Such was the case at Birtle Coal Pit situated some 400 yards from the Pack Horse Inn in Elbut Lane.

Northern Mines Research Society website gives the following: "The shafts at this colliery, three kilometres north of Heywood, were 122 metres deep to the Mountain Mine. It was being worked by Robert Lees, James Greenwood & James Lord in 1854. The same people probably comprised the Ashworth Coal Co. which had the colliery in 1855. Members of the Stott family owned Ashworth from 1859 to 1880. The Ashworth Colliery Co. Ltd worked it from 1885 until 1898, when it was abandoned. In the latter period, 40 persons worked underground, with seven on the surface."

References & Related Websites:-

Clayton H. D., A History of Ashworth near Rochdale, Ashworth Hall, Rochdale, 1979.

Cole, John & Fish, Grahame, Beyond Heywood, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, 1978?

Sandiford, A. V & Ashwoth T. E., The Forgotten Valley, Bury and District Local History Society, 2000.

https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/lancashire-coalfield/rochdale-oldham-coalfield/ashworth-colliery-pre-1854-1898/

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/captain-fold-pit-disaster-1139413

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Around Cheesden Lumb Mills, near Norden, Rochdale.

The evocative ruins of Cheesden Lumb (Lower) Mill, also known as 'Alice O'Shoddy's', 3 miles to the north of Rochdale, at (SD 82381617), are all that remain of the once-thriving woollen mill that began its life way back in 1786. The Industrial Revolution was still to make its mark in the Cheesden Valley, where twenty other mills, including Cheesden Lumb Higher Mill, would eventually be built in the 19th century; Higher Mill (also known as Mr John's) being built in 1845 was a cotton-spinning mill. Cheesden Lumb Higher and Lower mills are located just to the southeast of Cheesden Bar on the (A680) Edenfield-Rochdale Road by walking along the Croston Close Road, which runs alongside the Cheesden Brook for 3 miles towards Birtle. A three-storey section of wall survives at Cheesden Lumb (Lower) Mill and a waterfall still flows out of a rounded-arch at the base of this - the Cheesden Brook actually flowing from beneath the mill. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th the mills of the Cheesden Valley were abandoned, soon to be consumed by nature and ruination, and today only the scant remains of these once mighty industrial buildings survive, though their memory lives on.

A.V.Sandiford & T.E.Ashworth writing in 2000 tell us: "When the mills first came to Cheesden Valley they came not to challenge the cottage weaver but to help him, to provide him with a service and to offer him the facility of developing mechanisation. When Cheesden Lumb Mill was built in 1786 a little below the confluence of the Cheesden and Kilgate Brooks, it was operated by another John Kay as a fulling mill.

"In an advertisement in the Manchester Mercury on the 29th August 1809 offering the mill for sale by auction, reference is made to 'one water wheel, one stock, one perching mill, blueing house and brimstone stove, and woollen carding engines, one billy, one teaser, together with all the tenters thereto belonging.' Here we see the furnishings of a mill equipped to provide a full range of services for the cottage weaver; carding engines to prepare the fleece for the spinning process, a billy, which was an improved form of spinning jenny; and a teaser, a circular drum covered with 'teasels' (a variety of thistle grown in Somerset) over which the cloth would pass to raise the 'nap' and provide a texture suitable for blankets and warm clothing. Here, too, were the blueing houses and the brimstone stove for the bleaching of cloth, and the 'tenters thereto belonging', hooks on which the bleached and washed fabrics would be stretched to dry. The bleaching process adopted at Cheesden Lumb had been in use since Roman times. The cloth would be hung in a room in the centre of which would be placed a pile of sulphur. A piece of hot metal was then placed on the sulphur and the room would soon be filled with the fumes of sulphur dioxide to effect the process. It seems, however, that not only the cloth was subjected to this treatment for it is said that mothers would occasionally place their children amongst the fumes to cure them of whooping cough!"

Sandiford & Ashworth go on to say: "In 1845 John, of the family of Ramsbottoms of Cheesden Pasture, built another mill a short distance to the south of Cheesden Bar Mill and operated it, predictably, for cotton waste spinning. Officially titled Upper Lumb Mill it was more familiarly known as 'Mr John's', and when the father died the business was taken over by his son James. Later he went into partnership with Joshua Hitchon of Longlands Mill but the attraction and convenience of the nearby towns caused the company to buy Moss Mill in Rochdale for 600 pounds and on May 27th, 1884 'Mr. John's' together with it's fifty looms finally ceased operation.

"The building of 'Mr. John's' in 1845 and also of George Parker's mill some eight years later, both directly for the purpose of cotton waste spinning, clearly suggests that by this time the hard waste trade was by no means a 'survival' industry for the upper valley but a flourishing business in its own right. Parker's mill was built in the valley of the Killgate brook, a tributary of the Cheesden Brook, a little to the east of Cheesden Lumb Mill. It was situated within 150 yards of the Rochdale - Edenfield turnpike at a point close to the New Inn. Known locally as 'Plantation Mill' it traded in later years as Carr, Parker and Company but, like Ramsbottom and Hitchons, the company eventually moved out of the valley, to Charles Lane Mill in Grane Road, Haslingden. The valley mill closed in 1891 but the business, now owned by James Rothwell Ltd., of the Vantona Group, is still concerned with the spinning and weaving of cotton waste in the manufacture of raised sheets.

"Cheesden Lumb Mill remained active in wool textiles into the middle years of the nineteenth century. J. H. Howarth writes, '"The mill formerly belonged to John Kay, a woollen manufacturer, who had two sons, John who until lately (c.1900) resided in Rochdale, and James, one time Master at Shuttleworth Church School. "'The mill was taken over following the death of John Kay the elder by John Haworth of Croston Close. He acquired a long lease and enlarged the mill and took out the woollen machinery, substituting 'devils' for breaking up hard waste.'" Other sources suggest that in 1854 the mill was occupied by the devisees of one John Bowker but there is little doubt that by the end of that decade Haworth's 'devils' were busily at work at Cheesden Lumb, expanding further the, perhaps unique, concentration of the cotton waste trade in the upper valley.

"Haworth had one daughter, Alice, who grew to be a very shrewd and confident businesswoman. She married Richard Ashworth who consequently took over the operation of Cheesden Lumb Mill. But Richard was a kindly, practical person who would be the first to admit his lack of business ability and was content to leave the manage-ment of the mill to his wife. This she did with some vigour and when her father died on November 14th, 1875, his age matching the years of the century, she inherited Cheesden Lumb, the mills of the Croston Close Estate 'and all the machinery and goods therein and respectively belonging thereto', together with properties at Rigshaw Close, Sedger Hey, Edenfield and Wardle The list of properties bequeathed to Alice was prefaced in the will, drawn up in 1868, by the commonly used phrase 'if not otherwise disposed of by me in my lifetime'. There may however have been more than a little substance in this phrase for Mrs. Elizabeth Bate, a granddaughter of Alice states that at this period John Haworth perhaps foreseeing the eventual decline of the valley, was giving serious consideration to the sale of the mills. Alice, however, persuaded him against such action, but in the years that followed the death of her father the difficulties of an isolated industrial community surrounded by thriving and prosperous cotton towns must have, at times, presented her with a formidable challenge. The growing difficulty of obtaining useful work is evident in an entry in Worrall's Textile Directory of 1887: Richard Ashworth, Cheesden Lumb Mill, Norden. 750 Spindles. Lampwicks and at Croston Close Mill, Nr. Bury.

"From the flourishing days of the early 1800s when the mill provided all manner of services for the wool textile trade, from the vigorous days of the 1860's when Haworth harnessed the mill to the rapdly expanding cotton waste trade, Cheesden Lumb had come to rely by the end of the 1880's on the manufacture of lampwicks.

"But Alice remained undaunted. From her house on the hill above Croston Close Upper Mill, she briskly traversed the valley and her various properties by pony and trap. When plans for the Ashworth Reservoir were laid in the 1890's she vigorously challenged the decision by the landowner, the Earl of Derby, to close the mills in the reservoir's catchment area. She had more than one stormy encounter with Thomas Statter and his son, agents for Lord Derby, and stoutly refused to surrender her water rights. A legal battle ensued but the requirements of the new reservoir were too much even for Alice and the judgement went against her. She left the valley in 1898 and took up residence at Tor Hey in Greenmount, Bury. She died on June 4th, 1928 and was buried in the Haworth vault in Edenfield Churchyard. The Bury Times for June 9th carried only a brief paid announcement in the Deaths column: ASHWORTH. On June 4th at her residence Tor Hey, Greenmount, Alice, wife of Richard Ashworth, aged 85 years. Richard however survived to reach the grand old age of 95."

Sources & References

Please note the three colour photos of Cheesden Lumb Mill are by courtesy of Mr Stephen Oldfield and are Copyright © Stephen Oldfield, 2021.

Sandiford, A. V., and Ashworth, T. E., The Forgotten Valley, Bury and District Local History Society, 2000.

Clayton H. D., A History of Ashworth, Ashworth Hall, Rochdale, 1979.

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2017/12/mills-c-e.html

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/02/the-lost-mills-of-cheesden-valley.html

https://lancashirepast.com/2020/10/03/cheesden-lumb-mill-near-heywood/

https://cheesden.blogspot.com/

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Ashworth Fold, Near Heywood, Greater Manchester

From Simpson Clough Ashworth Road curves round the valley and further along is Ashworth Fold at (SD 85021325), a hamlet made up of a couple of farms dating from the 17th-18th century, some cottages of a similar date, and a 16th-17th century hall that has an old inscribed stone and sundial in its garden. The hall had been abandoned for a time, but it has now been made into three cottages. Ashworth Fold is roughly situated halfway between Heywood and Norden, in Greater Manchester. Ashworth as a place-name probably means 'Ash-trees beside a farm'. The Naden Brook flows from Simpson Clough through Ashworth Fold and then on into Carr Woods. A bit further along the road there was Ridd Pit or Ashworth Pit, but this closed down in 1898 and hardly anything now remains, apart from the old capped shaft. Opposite where this coal pit used to be are the very pitcheresque Ridd Cottages on School Lane and the old School house just beyond, which is now St James' parish rooms.

H.D.Clayton writing in 1979 says:- "The fold is the only group of buildings in Ashworth and consists of the Hall, two farms, four cottages and the estate workshops. It is a Grade 2 group in the list of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest and is descri-bed as 'a group of buildings, mainly stone, 17th and 18th century. The siting of the group, and features such as a late Gothic doorway, a massive studded oak door, a stone segmented archway, an attractive parapet and finial, a stone stile, a range of low stone mullioned windows and areas of cobbles, combine to produce a very attractive composition. All in same style, barns with loop lights.' The mullioned windows have disappeared, but the well-built stone pigsties could have been mentioned. It is not known when the Fold was built and the only clue was a date stone 1601 R.H., which used to be on a stone pedestal placed on the ridge of the roof of Ashworth Hall farm building.

"There must have been a house on the site of the Hall from very early times and one massive stone gable end, possibly 15th century, still stands. Some time later this house was greatly enlarged to form a mansion, half-timbered lath and plaster, with a wing of three gables running back to the road, and forming a courtyard with the present two cottages and farm buildings. At the entrance was a square tower and wicket gate, and, on the other side of the house, a rose garden terrace, orchard and ornamental pond. At a later date the wing and tower were removed and the half-timbered walls replaced with hand made bricks. The original stone built house with mullion windows was left intact, although the mullions have since been removed".

Clayton goes on to say: "Rev. D. Rathbone recorded how the hall appeared about 1830: 'The Hall still retains its aspiring site, its gables still peep from the woods that environ it, but much has been destroyed, and the strong stone-built gateway with its massive doors and wicket gatestands alone; the eastern side of the quadrangle is gone, and nothing now remains but that southern portion which fronts the dilapidated terrace with its moat and hanging garden. A hundred yew trees, tradition says, once grew in stately avenues or in sombre groups around the deserted house of many generations, but only a few survive; they stand single and forlorn. The ruins of Ashworth Hall afford a pleasing specimen of that style of domestic architecture which has in its many peculiarities a distinction and beauty which bore the antiquarian and the lover of the picturesque gives it a more than ordinary character of interest. Nothing remains to guide us as to its age, but, judging from general appearance, we should not hesitate to affix a date at least coeval with the Wars of the Roses. Parts of the building may be more ancient, for there is a diversity of style and character.'

"Two thirds of the Hall was let to the Vicar at a nominal rent and the remainder was the farmhouse for the Hall Farm. A stream ran under this portion of the house and beneath the floor a small waterwheel provided power as required. In the garden are a large upright stone inscribed 'R.H. 1685' for Richard Holt and an undated sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Although much altered from the age of the horse, when chain horses were kept at Guelder Clough to help carts up the hills, and the large open space in the Fold was covered with grass, with a stone trough in the middle, overhung with a large cherry treeand seat for gossip, the Fold is still picturesque and beloved by artists."

Clayton, H.D., A History of Ashworth near Rochdale, Ashworth Hall, Rochdale, 1979. The two images (above) are taken from this book.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1084283

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1084285

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2017/04/north-heritage.html

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/11/mines.html

https://www.realrochdale.co.uk/editions/spring-2020/take-a-walk-in-ashworth-valley/

Copyright © RayS57, 2021 >

Castleshaw Roman Forts at Standedge, Greater Manchester

On the windswept Pennine moors to the north of the A62 where Bleak Hey Nook lane intersects with Dirty lane is the area called Castle Hill (SD 9987 0963) at Standedge, which is on the borders of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. And, located between the two reservoirs (upper and lower) are the rectangular-shaped earthworks of the Roman fort of Castleshaw, known to the Brigantes and later the Romans as RIGODUNUM – ‘the royal fort’ or ‘the king’s fort’ – the name Castleshaw is of Celtic origins. But long before the Romans settled here at Castleshaw the site was known to have been a Brigantean settlement, but later becoming just a little bit of the Roman province of Brittannia.

The Romans built the first fort here during the Flavian period c79 AD in order to protect their newly constructed road between Chester (Deva) and York (Eboracum) from the Brigantes tribe who had held the area. Upto 50 roman auxiliary soldiers of the Spanish Cohors III Bracaraugustanorum regiment from Lusitania in northern Portugal were stationed here, the rest of the cohort were quartered at MAMUCIUM (Manchester) 10 miles to the south-west. One wonders what those hardy Spanish soldiers thought to the often bleak weather conditions here on the Pennine moors.

The auxillary fort or ‘fortified encampment’ at Castleshaw measured 380 x 330 feet including the outer vicus, but less than that (360 feet by 300 feet) inside the defences or ramparts – the whole site covering between 2-3 acres (1-2 hectares) in total. Construc-ted from turf, clay and timber, it has an outer ditch measuring 5 feet wide at the rampart with an outer, smaller ditch. There were two main entrance gates at the western and eastern sides, probably double gates made from local timber and a smaller entrances at the north side; at each of the four corners of the fort there may have been watchtowers? – although only one post hole has been excavated. The next fort along the Roman road was Slack, near Huddersfield. This, too, was built in 79 AD and extended in the early 2nd century. It may be one and the same as the Roman station of Cambodunum.

In 90 AD the fort was abandoned for a temporary period, but in 105 AD it was re-occupied and turned in to a fortlet. It was finally abandoned in 120 AD. The buildings inside the fort included a granary at the northern side, a barrack block at the east side, principia and praetorium in the central area and, also various storerooms or workshops at the south-west corner, while outside the fort, at the south side, the “vicus” was the civilian settlement where the families of the soldiers would have lived. There are traces of earthworks at this side and also at the north side but no proper archaeological excavations have taken place either outside the fort or, indeed, inside. I understand that Roman soldiers were not allowed to be married!

Sources & References:-

Image: A plan of Castleshaw Roman fort drawn by antiquarian Francis Bruton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castleshaw_Roman_Fort

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/category/castleshaw-roman-fort/

https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200594/scheduled_monuments/861/castleshaw_roman_forts

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Jacob's Well near Littleborough, Lancashire

At the side of the A58 Halifax Road (SD 9638 1706) and close to Blackstone Edge Roman road, near Littleborough, not far from the Lancashire and Yorkshire border, is the now almost forgotten ‘Jacob’s Well’, a sacred spring that is hidden in the grass and fearns at the side of the busy, windswept moorland road that links the two counties. Some 280 metres east of the well is the so-called Roman Road that climbs over Blackstone Edge and then heads to the fort at Ilkley. Presumably the Roman soldiers who marched along this Roman road knew of the presence of this ancient spring, which they may have even dedicated to one of their gods and, before that, the Celts would have also recognized it as a sacred spring. In more recent times it has acquired the dedication to Jacob, who might be the biblical prophet of the Old Testament? and is sometimes called St Jacob by Orthodox Churches. The well is to be found about halfway up the A58 road (right-hand side) and just 100m past where a wooden gate and footpath leads off to the east to meet up with the Roman road. At the top of the A58 road, on the opposite side, is the well-known landmark White House public house. The west Yorkshire border is further along the road.

At the front of the well there is a very long sandstone slab that has the inscription ‘Jacob’s Well’ carved onto it and some other letters just below that, but it is difficult to tell what this says. It looks as though the inscription was carved in more recent times. The water is held in what looks to be a large and deep stone trough just behind the carved slab, but there is much foliage surrounding the well and so it is difficult to give any measurements. On the day of my visit the water was slimy green in colour and most certainly “not” drinkable.

There doesn’t appear to be any record of this well, whether it be holy or sacred, is not really known and the dedication to Jacob is uncertain. It could perhaps be named after the Biblical Jacob (Yacob) who was the Hebrew prophet and patriarch of the Old Testament. He is venerated as St Jacob by the Orthodox Churches. There are other wells named after Jacob, one at Bradford, west Yorkshire, and another at Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, but there are a few others in England. The name “Jacob” is also “James”, so these wells could be dedicated to a person with that name, perhaps even St James of Compostela?

Sources & Related Websites:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2017/06/16/jacobs-well-near-littleborough-lancashire-yorkshire-border/

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Around Watergrove Reservoir near Wardle, Rochdale, Greater Manchester

On the windswept Pennine moors to the north of Wardle, near Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, is Watergrove Reservoir. The reservoir was constructed back in the 1930s in order to supply water to nearby Rochdale, which was short of water in times of drought, but the old village of Watergrove very sadly had to be abandoned and sub-merged beneath the waters of this new reservoir. Watergrove village itself came into being in the first half of the 19th century with at least three mills providing work for the good folk of Wartergrove and probably some from Wardle; there was also a Methodist church, and a public house! and, eventually by about 1870 300 people were living in the village. However, children from the village had to go to Wardle as there was no school.

Going further back into the history of Watergrove there were several farms dotted around, mainly dating from the 1700s, but one from as far back as 1640. But the cotton mills that were built in and around Watergrove after 1840 were what undoubtedly caused the village to flourish during the 19th century. The millworkers lived in rows of cottages in the village; they attended the church on Sundays, and maybe went to the pub when they had the time and the money. Life was quite good but also hard for the cotton workers here for they worked long hours, but, the good folk of Watergrove village were a 'very big part' of the Industrial Revolution in the Rochdale area in the Victorian Age. But, by the early part of the 20th century the mills began to decline and by about 1930 had finally closed; the village of Watergrove then also fell into a slow depression, with some of its inhabitants moving away to the nearby towns, while hundreds of local men were employed in the construction of what would be the final nail in the coffin, the reservoir itself.

In 1938 the once vibrant community of Watergrove had gone forever, sunk beneath the waters of the reservoir, the foundations of its long-forgotten farms and other buildings only reappearing when the reservoir's waters are at a very low-level in long spells of dry weather. On the south-eastern bank of the reservoir there is 'The History Wall' or Wave Wall with many interesting carved stones and date-stones from the old village built into it. Today Watergrove Reservoir is a place to go to for walking - there are indeed many paths and trails in the area and, there are footpaths running around the edges of the reservoir. The Rochdale Way runs just to the west. There is car-parking at the south-side of the reservoir (SD 91169 17649). The History Wall is 100 metres east of the carpark.

Watergrove Reservoir is the largest in the Rochdale area and is situated some 240 metres (787 feet) above sea-level. From west to east it is 846 metres (2,775 feet) in width and from south to north 1,245 metres (4,084 feet) in length.

Sources & Related Websites:-

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2289430

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2290199

https://lancashirepast.com/2019/09/01/watergrove-reservoir-and-drowned-village-wardle/

http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/rochdale3.html

https://www.visitrochdale.com/things-to-do/watergrove-reservoir-p12901

https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/watergrove-reservoir-rochdale

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Rochdale Castle.

There used to be a castle in Rochdale!, well there was way back in the 11th century, but by the early 13th century it had been abandoned. It's possible there was an earlier, Saxon settlement, on what is now Castle Hill. The motte and bailey castle had stood on a raised, steep-sided area of land at the south side of the River Roch, to the west of Rochdale town centre at SD 89164 12851. The area around Castle Hill is also known as Castleton - which means 'Castle by a farmstead or settlement' - and is a post-Conquest place-name.

A motte-and-bailey castle is a fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a mound called a motte, which may have had a walled courtyard on one side, or a bailey; this in turn was surrounded by a defensive ditch and a wooden palisade. This raised, tree-covered area of land, above Manchester Road, is called Castle Hill, and on its summit where the Medieval fortification used to be there is a large 19th century house with a Georgian facade; an earlier building from the early 1600s had also stood on this site. Henry Fishwick's plan (above) from 1823 clearly shows the steep-sided defensive ramparts and layout of Castle Hill.

Before and after the Norman Conquest of 1066 the Saxon thegn, Gamel, Lord of the manor of Recedham, may have occupied the castle above the river Roch; he also built the church of St Chad. Gamel was the father of Orm. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) Gamel owned land in the north-west of England including Rachedal. He was one of the 21 men in the Saxon Salford Hundred area, of which Rochdale was a part. The Domesday Book goes on to tell us that Gamel retained two carucates of land in Rachedal in 1086. Gamel also owned the manors of Heywood and Radcliffe.

There is nothing left of Rochdale's Medieval Castle today. However, at Castle Hill some of the earthworks of the steep-sided defensive banks or ramparts can still be seen, especially at the north side, north-west side, north-east, south-west and western sides, some of which are still quite extent; the bank at the south-eastern side now much denuded and lost to the road layout (Manchester Road), as well as a row of houses which were demolished, and the driveway upto the house. There are no traces of the motte-and-bailey castle on the top of Castle Hill - the site being occupied by the house and other buildings - as well as more recent features such as the new housing estate called Castle Hill Crescent. There used to be a church at the far south-western side of the hill but this has gone.

Long after the death of Gamel in the early 13th century, just before the year 1212, King Henry II granted the manor of Rachedam (Rochdale) to Roger de Lacy whose family retained it as part of the Honour of Clitheroe until it passed to the Dukes of Lancaster by marriage and then by 1399 to the Crown, according to the Wikipedia website. Whether Rochdale Castle was ever re-occupied at a later time is not known.

Sources & Related Websites:-

https://lancashirepast.com/2020/02/22/rochdales-lost-castle/

http://gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/3023.html

https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=45159#:~:text=The%20motte%20and%20bailey,%20built%20in%20the%20early,from%20North-South%20by%20100%20feet%20East%20to%20West.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Castle

https://rays57-aroundbamford.blogspot.com/2018/01/around-st-chads-church-rochdale.html

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Blackheath Circle, Near Todmorden, West Yorkshire

About 1 mile north of Todmorden, west Yorkshire, near the southern edge of Todmorden Golf Course at (SD 94339 25434) there is a Bronze Age cairn circle, ring cairn or round barrow. This is usually referred to as Blackheath Circle, but locally it is called Frying Pan Circle, because of its circular shape. It has also been called Roman barrow in the past. It also sometimes goes under the name 'Blackheath Ringbank Cemetery'. This quite large circular feature is now incorporated into the level part of the golf-course, however at ground-level it is hardly noticeable today apart from a slight raised bank at either side of the circle; the north side being very denuded. The grass is often a brownish colour where the cairn's outer raised ring shows up after being mowed. Blackheath cairn circle is situated at over 900 feet above sea-level. When it was excavated in 1898 nineteen burial cists were discovered along with a number of cremation urns, food vessels and grave-goods. Very sadly, though, this ancient site is now part of the golf-course - of all things!

Blackheath Circle is best reached from Kebs Lane, Eastwood Road and then Hey Head Lane, which goes past the golf course. About halfway down the lane on the right-hand side there is a wall-stile and a footpath running west beside a wall at the eastern edge of the course. The Bronze Age cairn circle is 350m along this path through the trees and, at the far end, just in front of the large gap in the wall running across.

The following information is taken from 'Life In Bronze Age Times - A Resource Book For Teachers'. It says of the site: "Blackheath is a Prehistoric cemetery situated at 940 feet (287) O.D., on a south facing slope. On excavation it was found to comprise a circular bank of earth 3 feet (1m) high in which large stones were regularly arranged. The circle was 100 feet (30m) in diameter. There was no obvious entrance. A circular area with a floor of beaten clay was enclosed by the bank. There were cairns both inside the circle and in the earth bank. These revealed pits and cists containing cremation burials. Nineteen were found in all. Some of the cremations were found in urns. The urns were all upright and buried just below the surface. A characteristic feature of the urned cremations was the use of a small inverted vessel placed upside down in the urn and serving as a lid. The central urn is 11 inches (20 cm) high. The collar shows impressions made by twisted cord. As well as bones, the urn contained a small decorated pygmy vessel . In this vessel there was a bronze dagger, a bone pin and a bronze pin.

Another urn also contained a pygmy vessel together with beads of faience, amber, jet and shale, two bone pins, flint flakes and a leaf shaped arrowhead. Two of the urns were covered by other vessels, one of which may have been a food vessel. With the exception of the two urns in the bank, all the finds were in the eastern half of the circle. In the rest of the circle there were areas where the floor showed evidence of being baked by a great heat. These were covered with a layer of charcoal 1-2 inches thick. It was suggested that these may have been the areas where the bodies were cremated. Two deep pits were also found, possibly the holes where clay was dug out of the ground for making the pots. Areas of coarse sandstone were discovered. This could have been used for grinding down and mixing with the clay. There was at least one (possibly four) kilns. These were cist-like structures surrounded by baked floors where the pottery was fired."

There is another "possible" circular feature just to the east of the large cairn circle at SD 94454 25507. However, this almost destroyed circle is smaller and very difficult to make out as it is now, sadly, incorporated into a raised golfing barrow, but the outer ring of this circle often shows up at one end as brownish grass in the summer months, especially where the golfing barrow slopes down to ground level.

Sources & Related Websites:-

Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann Publishing, Milverton, Somerset, 2001.

Thomlinson, Sarah & O' Donnell, John, Life In Bronze Age Times - A Resource Book For Teachers, Curriculum Development Centre, Burnley.

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2017/02/10/blackheath-circle-near-todmorden-west-yorkshire/

http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/v2/residents/leisure-and-culture/local-history-and-heritage/glimpse-past/archaeology

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=46095

Copyright © RayS57, 2021.

Around Deeply Vale Mills & Wind Hill Colliery, Cheesden, Near Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The Industrial Revolution came to the Cheesden Valley, north of Rochdale, in the late 18th century and flourished in the 19th when fourteen mills were built here, although they were not wholly reliant on the Cheesden Brook itself - the course of which runs in a south-easterly direction from Four Acre mill above Cheesden Pasture mills in the north to Simpson Clough in the south - these mills being for the most part steam-driven. The place-name Cheesden means 'gravel valley', though parts of it are gorge-like. The area soon became an Industrial enclave or Cradle of Industry with thousands of local people from the nearby towns and villages working in the mills, which were at their heyday in the middle of the 19th century; the workers' youngest children being sent to school at Buckhurst school-cum-chapel, just a short distance to the north (after 1840) which was opposite Longlands Mill and its lodge. To the Industrial Archaeologist the mill ruins alongside the Cheesden Brook are like paradise! Deeply Hill, also known as Deeply Vale Upper mill, is located at (SD 8230 1488), while just to the south is Deeply Vale Lower Mill at (SD 8242 1455).

These cotton-spinning mills, paper and print mills, and bleach and dye works, in particular, those at Deeply Vale Upper (formerly known as Deeply Hill) and Deeply Vale Lower, were supplied with coal from Wind Hill Colliery (SD 83105 15220) on the Ashworth Road, 1 mile to the east. Deeply Hill mill became Hardmans in 1867. It closed after 1890. Coal was supplied to Deeply Vale mills by means of a tramway over the Ashworth Road and then crossing the moorland from the colliery at Wind Hill; it eventually reached the mills in wagons (carriers) over a wooden trellis viaduct and overhead rope and pulley system, which would have been very ingenious for its time.

The Cheesden Valley has, in more recent times, been referred to as 'The Forgotten Valley', but maybe not so much forgotten today! However, today not much is left of the mills and workers cottages at Deeply Vale apart from the bare overgrown ruins of these once mighty industrial buildings that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution in the Cheesden Valley. By the end of the 19th century and the early 20th it was the end for the mills in the valley; they were closed and abandoned forever with nature slowly consuming the buildings, which became ghostly ruins. Peace returned to the valley. However, some of the mill workers dwellings continued to be occupied right up until 1960. And equally there is not much left of the former Wind Hill Colliery on the Ashworth Road apart from the square-shaped perimeter earthworks and foundations of coal-working buildings and pit shaft etc.

You can walk south along a country lane (Croston Close Road) from Cheesden Bar (SD 82259 16563) on the A680 (Edenfield Road) for about 4-5 miles passing the now peaceful and solitary ruins of Bridge Mill, Cheesden Lumb mills, Croston Close mills, Longlands mill and its lodge, and the former Buckhurst school and chapel, which is now a private house. Continue walking south-south-east through Deeply Vale with the Cheesden Brook on your left as well as the mill lodges. Here one can see some enormous dressed stones among the overgrown foundations, all that remains of the two former mills; also the Almonds residence. Continue south along the main footpath passing the ruins of Washwheel Mill Lower (Almonds) to Birtle Dene Mill and Kershaw Bridge Mill (Allansons) - ending up at Simpson Clough Mill (SD 85217 12140) which is still in use today. Hooley Bridge is just a little further along on the Bury-Rochdale Old Road.

Sources and related Websites:-

Clayton, H. D., A History of Ashworth near Rochdale, Ashworth Hall, Rochdale, 1979.

Sandiford, A. V., & Ashworth, T. E., The Forgotten Valley, Bury and District Local History Society, 1981.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesden_Valley

Photo of Deeply Hill and Deeply Vale by Bill Boaden: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1875969

Photo: Remains of Deeply Vale print works by Liz Dawson: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/380469

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/02/the-lost-mills-of-cheesden-valley.html

Copyright © RayS57, 2021.

Affetside Cross, Near Bury, Greater Manchester

OS Grid Reference: SD 75471 13676. At the edge of Affetside village green, near Bury, Greater Manchester, stands an old cross of uncertain date. It is probably Medieval but, because it stands on the old Roman road (Watling Street), some historians have even considered it to be a Roman cross or milestone, or even a Roman column, but that seems unlikely. It is probably a pilgrims cross. Watling Street runs southeast from Affetside towards Manchester, and northwest in the opposite direction towards Ribchester. The village green has some modern standing stones and a large pond. Affetside Cross is best reached from the A 676 (Ramsbottom road) and then southeast for ½ a mile along the almost straight-running lane that is the Roman road, bringing you into the picturesque little village, where you’ll find the old cross beside the green – you can’t really miss it.

Affetside cross is about 4¼ feet high on its three steps, well actually two steps, as the top step is in effect the base which the gritstone shaft is socketed into, while the two lower circular, tiered steps are well worn with age. The shaft is formed from one complete length of local stone. At the top of the shaft there is a collar with a round or bun-shaped capital which may originally have held a stone cross, or maybe it never did? This is perhaps why the cross-shaft has taken on the appearance of a Roman column! There looks to be some faint carving on the shaft, or is this simply the mason’s tool marks. Thought to be Medieval in date and probably a pilgrims cross that was used ‘as a place to stop and pray for a safe journey’ by those weary but very religious travelers – making their way to Whalley Abbey by way of Bury, Ramsbottom, Helmshore, Holcombe Moor and Accrington – from the late 13th/early 14th century until the Dissolution of that holy place in 1537, when pilgrimages ceased. It would seem though the present monument is a market cross and more recent in age maybe 17th century, being re-erected about 1890, according to Pastscape.

The village of Affetside stands on the Roman road Watling Street which runs from here into Manchester (Mamucium) where there was a Roman fort and settlement, while in the opposite direction it runs to the fort at Ribchester (Bremetennacum). Is it possible that the pillar of the Affetside cross was a Roman milestone as the village is actually about halfway between the two forts; maybe it was re-fashioned by Medieval masons into what we see today. Or does the cross mark the site of a beacon – at which time an earlier monument or cross had stood here, apparently. These questions can never really be answered with certainty, we can only guess.

Authoress Jessica Lofthouse (1964) does not say anything about Affetside cross but she mentions the village and Roman road, saying that: “Driving the civilizing power of Rome through the north-west came Julius Agricola and his road-builders in 79 A.D. Follow the line of the Manchester-Ribchester highway through Affetside and north by Blacksnape and Over Darwen.”

Sources and related websites:-

Lofthouse, Jessica, Lancashire Countrygoer, Robert Hale Limited, London, 1964.

Shotter, D. C. A., Romans in Lancashire, Dalesman Publishing Company Ltd., Clapham, Yorkshire, 1973.

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=44366&sort=4&search=all&criteria=affetside&rational=q&recordsperpage=10

http://affetside.org.uk/cross_history.htm

http://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=11677

Copyright © RayS57, 2021.