The Old Rochdale Market Cross in Greater Manchester.

The old cross that stands beside the Packer Spout, just opposite Rochdale Town Hall and beside the steep steps (Church Steps) going up to the parish church of St Chad, is fairly recent, well maybe 19th century, but the circular, stepped and moulded base could be late medieval or post medieval in date? The base stones are thought to be the only remaining part of the old Rochdale Market Cross. The original open market used to be located at the bottom of Yorkshire Street, but was moved for a time to the Town Hall Square, close-by Packer Spout.

In the entrance to the Touchstones Museum an ornate cross-head is on display. Could this have once adorned the top of the present Market Cross, probably not. The shaft of (this) cross is much more recent, but the cornice and stone sphere (ball finial) on top could be 18th or 19th century in date, and, therefore, much more recent than the cross-head in the museum across the road on the Esplanade, which looks distinctly Medieval. The market cross, in its entirety, originally stood at the bottom of Yorkshire Street back in the early 19th century.

The Packer Spout fountain, mentioned earlier, is still flowing in St Chad's Garden and was the town's main water supply for a few hundred years or more. The old Market Cross is Grade II listed. List Entry No: 1031929. The Ordnance Survey Grid Reference is: SD 89641321.

Sources/References:

The illustration (above) of the Rochdale Market Cross is by courtesy of Greg Couzens on The Original Rochdale Memories group on Facebook. Thankyou most kindly Greg.

https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101031929-market-cross-milkstone-and-deeplish-ward#.Y6otz7rP3IU

https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101031929-market-cross-milkstone-and-deeplish-ward/photos/21906

Copyright © RayS57, 2022.

The Celtic Stone Heads of Wardle, Near Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Back in 1970 two carved stone heads were donated to the Rochdale Museum by a lady living in Lowflats, Wardle, near Rochdale; she had previously had them as garden ornaments. The two gritstone heads which stand on stone pillars had been described as Celtic stone heads, but that is unlikely to be the case, as they were dated to the 17th or 18th centuries, and, maybe even only as old as the 20th century! These carved heads, which had been used as gateposts in the past, had come from different places in the Wardle area. The smaller head, which is 117cm high, apparently came from Low Farm (Low Hill) in Wardle (there was an ancient burial mound on Low Hill), whereas the larger head, which is 148cm high, came from nearby Howarth Farm (also called Howarth Knowl Farm). It is likely the smaller carved head stood beside an ancient spring - where it had acted as a lucky, symbolic talisman. The two stone heads have been on display in the entrance area of the Touchstones Museum, the Esplanade, Rochdale since 2002.

In an article for the Winter 2012 volume of the 'Lancashire History Quarterly' magazine, Raymond Varley tells about the 'Two Stone Gatepost Heads from Wardle, Rochdale, Lancashire'. He says: "These two stone gatepost heads were donated to the Rochdale Museum in 1970 by Gertrude Jane Wilkinson of Lowflats, Wardle near Rochdale, where she kept them in her garden for a number of years. They were then put into storage waiting extensive renovation work to the former vicarage of the Parish Church of St. Chad which opened as Rochdale Museum in 1975. The stone heads were then put on display in the entrance hall. However, the museum closed in 1989 and once again the stone heads were put into storage until a permanent and accessible home to display them was found. This was at Touchstones Rochdale in 2002, but before being displayed, conservation work..... was carried out on the heads, which are made from local gritstone. After they were cleaned and restored the stone heads were placed at the entrance to the museum.

"Although the actual sites for these two stone gatepost heads is not known, there is no doubt that they both came from Wardle, which is a small Pennine village. It is situated at foothills of the Pennines surrounded on three sides by high moorland country. Wardle was originally an isolated village with just a cart track to Rochdale. It may have Celtic origins..... and Mesolithic and Bronze Age flint tools and arrowheads have been found on Middle Hill..... and Brown Wardle Hill, north of Wardle..... Howarth Knowl might originate from the Anglo Saxon word 'cnoll' meaning hill top..... Immediately north of Wardle was once the hamlet of Watergrove, which is now beneath the waves of the reservoir."

Raymond Varley goes on to say:"These two ancient-looking stone head faces can be recognised as human, carved at the top of gateposts. In the past stone heads were often disregarded as a minor architectural feature and it was not until the 1960s when they started to receive public attention. This was when Sidney Jackson, late Keeper of Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford, began publicising the abumdance of primitive looking carved heads, which were turning up in the North of England in particular Yorkshire. Press publicity also increased the awareness of stone heads in Yorkshire. Jackson was the first to realise that the carvings were an important and overlooked part of our historical heritage with a significant number found throughout West Yorkshire. As a result he wrote many short articles on their discovery in the Cartwright Hall Museum Archaeology Group Bulletins (Jackson 1960) suggesting that they had ancient origins. This was because the features on most of the carvings were often primitive.

"Many stone heads have been found in gardens serving as ornaments and some were found built into dry-stone field walls. Most of them are three-dimensional and free-standing. They also appear in buildings above doorways, on either side of a window, or on a gable end. Other common locations are bridges, wells and springs. Stone gatepost heads, like the ones from Wardle however, seem to be an infrequent discovery.

Sources/References:-

Lancashire History Quarterly - Exploring The History Of Old Lancashire Volume 15 Issue No. 2 Winter 2012, Hudson History of Settle, Kirkgate, Settle, N.Yorks.

https://www.yourtrustrochdale.co.uk/venues/touchstones-rochdale/

Copyright © RayS57, 2022.

Simpson Clough Mills, Heywood, Near Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The Ashworth road begins its long, 3 mile journey eastward at Simpson Clough, near Heywood - in what is a sunken stretch of lane - through a secluded wooded gorge where two brooks converge a little after the B6222 Bury And Rochdale Old Road, and just before the hamlet of Ashworth Fold. Where the lane dips down there is an industrial complex of old mill buildings beside the road known as Simpson Clough Mills. Here beside the Cheesden and Naden Brooks in about 1840 a woollen fulling mill was built and by 1880 it had become the woollen manufacturers of Oram Thomas & Sons. At the end of the 19th century it was a bleach mill run by Barkers. Then, in the late 1930s it was in the ownership of Crompton's, and, in the early 1940s it was taken over by the War Office and put to good use by them before being converted into a paper mill after the war. The mill was still in use for paper manufacturing in 2018 and beyond - with the name Union Papertech. H. D. Clayton writing in 1979 says of Simpson Clough:-

"When a mill was first built here is not known, but it was a prime site at the confluence of Cheesden and Naden Brooks and on Ashworth Road, and is thought to have been occupied by a Fulling Mill. Towards the end of the 19th century Barker Bros., bought the existing mill and built a large extension for their business of bleachers, dyers and finishers. They had 16 carthorses, kept in stables on the other side of the Bury Road, and delivered two loads of finished cloth to Manchester warehouses each working day, returning with loads of cloth for finishing. The first load left the millabout 6 a.m. and returned at 7 p.m., and the second left at 9 a.m. and did not get back till 11 p.m. The wagons had three horses each and the journey was broken at 'The Three Arrows' near Heaton Park for the horses to rest. One evening there was a fearful accident with the last load. It was customary for the carter, on reaching the Bury Road after ascending the hill from Hooley Bridge, to put on the brakes before going down the hill to the mill. On this occasion, whilst he was doing so, the horses ran away and crashed into the bridge at the bottom. One horse was so badly pierced by a shaft that it had to be destroyed and the cloth was scattered all over the road.

"Horses were eventually replaced by a Foden steam wagon and trailer which could take the Manchester cloth in one journey.

"The mill closed some years ago and was bought about 1945 by James R. Crompton & Bros. Ltd., a subsidiary to their Elton Paper Mills. This old established firm makes special papers, fundamentally different from other papers, as they are very light and made chiefly from long fibred Manila Hemp. They are of high porosity, low substance and a high strength/weight ratio and are used as stencil base tissue, teabags, filtration and many other uses. It is nice to know that the only mill still taking water from the Cheesden Brook contains the most modern machinery and exports its unique products all over the world."

References:-

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

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2018/01/mills-s-u.html

http://www.unionpapertech.com/the-history-of-our-headquarters/

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2174839

Copyright © RayS57, 2022.