Ashworth Mill, Carr Woods, Near Nordon, Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Located near to School Lane in Carr Woods, near Norden, Rochdale (National Grid Reference SD 85441349) are the ruins of Ashworth fulling mill. A three-storey section of the ruined mill wall has survived the ravages of two hundred years or so and stands, now rather forlornly, beside the Naden Brook and its mill lodges and waterfalls between The Rake and School Lane (deep in the ravine beneath where the lane goes over the Naden Brook). Ashworth Mill was probably built in the early 1800s, if not some years before that, and by 1816 it had been rebuilt. One Edmund Ashworth was employed at the mill as a fuller in 1808. During the 1840s and up until the 1890s it was still a fulling mill, but by the early 1900s it had closed down and thereafter became derelict. Along with the extensive ruins and foundations of the old mill there are some parts of the old machinary, including waterwheel and winding gear-wheel for the weir, etc. Access to the mill was between Waterloo Farm and The Rake - just before the bridge!

H.D.Clayton writing in 1979 tells us more: "A little further upstream, on the opposite bank, are the extensive ruins of Ashworth Fulling Mill still in part standing three storeys high. In 1816 it is mentioned as being newly erected. On the ground lies a wooden driving shaft with pinions on each end. It appearsto be the main driving shaft from the waterwheel and to consist of a whole tree trunk. The stream was fed into two lodges and a very high stone weir constructed so that an imposing waterfall is the result."

A.V.Sandiford & T.E.Ashworth writing in 1981/1992 tell us about the process of fulling cloth:"Fulling is a process by which woollen cloth is subjected to heat, moisture and pressure such that the scaliness of the fibres became locked together and 'felting' is induced. In earliest times, as the curious murals of Pompeii confirm, fulling was achieved by the trampling of the cloth underfoot, hence the name Walker. But his strenous task was eventually replaced by the fulling stocks where the cloth was placed in a semicircular trough containing a solution of fullers earth, a colloidal substance which aided the fulling or felting action. Here it was pounded by heavy beech head hammers operated from a cam on a rotating shaft, which drove the fabric forward and round in the trough until the treatment was complete. Cloths varied in the amount of shrinkage according to the construction of the yarn and weave and even depending on the breed of sheep from which the wool came. The fulling stocks were probably one of the first steps in the mechanisation of textile manufactureand the term 'fulling miller' suggests that in the early days perhapsthe corn miller with sufficient capital to buy a set of stocks and the possession of a good watermill could turn to fulling as an alternative or even supplementary occupation. The ambitious fuller would often choose to extend his service to carding, bleaching and dyeing, processes not suited to the domestic system, and this was clearly the case at Cheesden Lumb Mill."

Not a great deal is known about the history of Ashworth fulling mill. It employed people from the valley and probably a bit further afield. The mill was built by the Ashworth family who were the landowners thereabouts; their Estate was said to be around 1,000 acres and was mainly pasture land. The Ashworth family ran the Ashworth fulling mill from the early 1800s and they also built and ran another mill at Lower Clough. Jonathan Ashworth of Ashworth fulling mill being described as 'a guardian of the poor' in 1867. The Ashworth family lived at Upper Clough Farm - said to date back to 1636. The Ashworth's are buried in the graveyard at St James' Chapel on Chapel Lane overlooking Carr Woods.

Sources & References:-

Photo of Ashworth Mill, Carr Woods, by David Dixon (Creative Commons) https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1679361

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

Sandiford A. V., & Ashworth T. E., The Forgotten Valley, Bury and District Local History Society, 1981 & 2000.

Copyright © RayS57, 2023

Toad Lane, Rochdale, and The Story of the Co-operative Pioneers Movement.

On December 21st, 1844, the first Co-operative Pioneers trading store opened its door at No. 31 Toad Lane, Rochdale, when a group of sixty local men decided to help the working class people of Rochdale to be able to buy items of food at discounted prices. They actually began their venture, though, thirteen years earlier in 1830 at No.15, just down the road from their main Co-operative Pioneers store, which is now the Rochdale Pioneers Museum. From then on the Co-operative Pioneers Movement slowly began to gather pace and other stores were to eventually open in nearby towns, including Oldham, but Oldham itself had already had its very own co-operative movement in 1795 when some local weavers established a supply company there, and, there had been other attempts to set up co-operative movements eleswhere, especially in the London area in the late 18th-century when some corn mills and a Co-op store were established, however these were not particularly successsful.

Memories of Rochdale (1996) gives the following historical information called 'Cradle of the Co-operative Movement' and says: "Rochdale is famous for being the 'home' of the worldwide Co-operative Movement, which started life at No 31 Toad Lane in the humble premises first opened as a shop by the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society in December 1844.

"The little store established by the Pioneers began by selling only a basic stock of commodities such as butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and candles, a reflection of the desperate conditions for most working people at the time. Trade developed rapidly however, and within a few years the Pioneers Society was able to open branch shops in other parts of the town - the first was in Oldham Road - and to move into an imposing four storey 'central store' higher up Toad Lane. Unfortunately this building was demolished to make way for a new road system. But an even more imposing symbol of the Cooperative Movement's success during the intervening years has arrived in Rochdale with the opening in 1996 of a spectacular new headquarters at Sandbrook Park for the largest independent consumer-owned society, CRS Ltd. This has brought hundreds of new jobs to the town and provided a significant boost to the local economy.

"The Co-operative Movement that was born in Rochdale has spread throughout the United Kingdom and today it is one of the country's biggest retail organisations, providing eight million members with a vast range of shopping facilities and services, extending from banking and insurance to travel and funerals. The idea has flourished too as an international network of 750 million members in more than 100 countries, with the 'Rochdale Principles' - the decisions and practices of the first Pioneers - still referred to as a guide to setting up and running co-operative enterprises.

"The original Toad Lane premises meanwhile have been lovingly restored as part of a conservation area. Now the Rochdale Pioneers Museum is a source of interest and inspiration for co-operators everywhere attracting thousands of visitors from the UK and abroad each year."

Memories of Rochdale (1996) adds to the above and says of the Museum in Toad Lane:"Visitors to the Rochdale Pioneers Museum are struck by the basic simplicity of the original Co-operative store, where the goods initially sold were few. Close inspection of the poster on the wall reveals the Pioneer Principles, which included: open membership, democratic control and political and religious neutrality."

Sources & References:

Memories Of Rochdale with Forward by Phil Holland (Publisher), True North Publishing, Halifax, December 1996.

Cole, John, Rochdale Revisited - A Town And Its People, George Kelsall, Littleborough, Lancashire, 1988.

https://www.visitrochdale.com/things-to-do/rochdale-pioneers-museum-p85681

Copyright © RayS57, 2023

Church of St. Mary-in-the-Baum, St Mary's Gate, Rochdale, and the Legend of the Baum Rabbit.

On St Mary's Gate (Town Head), Rochdale, Greater Manchester, stands the brick-built parish Church of St Mary-in-the-Baum, which dates from 1909-1911. The building actually stands on its own island between several busy roads, and quiter side streets: St Mary's Gate (the A58), Hunter's Lane, Toad Lane and Cheetham Street at OS Grid Reference: SD 89601360. It is famous for the often told (local) legend of the Baum Rabbit, the ghost of which was said to haunt the graveyard. The rabbit was said to be white in colour and large and plump in body. Baum or balm refers to the wild, herbal flowers growing where the church was built; these flowers were also known as Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis) and sometimes called White Mint. The herb has a calming effect on the body and is good for anxiety and sleep disorders. The present-day church of St. Mary stands on the site of an earlier church from 1742 - this earlier building being a Chapel of Ease; the font inside St Mary's came from that 18th century building.

Dennis Ball, in his most excellent 1987 book 'Lancashire Pastimes', we learn more about The Baum Rabbit. He tells us: An unusual legend is that the old graveyard of St. Mary's, Rochdale, is said to be haunted by a spectral rabbit. Many people speak about the unusual phantom but no one has actually seen it. When the graveyard was opened it was known as The Baum, from and old Lancashire term for a certain medicinal herb that grew there, so the ghost has always been known as The Baum Rabbit. Over one hundred years ago William Robertson in his book 'A Guide to Rochdale' describes the Baum Rabbit as plump and well nourished, always beautifully clean, and even said to be whiter than snow. It was apparently "' much pleased with the love music of the music of the cat tribe, to which it listened with mute attention,"' and even after being fired at with a shotgun it used to re-appear "'with the greatest equanimity.""

Kathleen Eyre writing in 1989 asks the question: "But what happened to the Baum Rabbit?....the ghostly white bunny mentioned in Robertson's Guide to Rochdale in the 1870s. Its cavorting in St. Mary's Churchyard startled many an inebriated reveller wending home and, as it had proved immune to gun shot and pellets, it was suspected to be of a supernatural order. It did no harm, though it scared quite a few, including a local poet who commemorated his experiences..."

Kathleen Eyre also tells us about another ghost seen in St Mary's Churchyard: "The Vicar of St. Mary's, the Rev. R. A. Shone, came up with some fascinating information, not only about the spectre in the churchyard, but about the church itself. When a sight was being sought, some 250 years ago, for a new Rochdale church, a field was chosen to the north of the River Roch between Toad Lane and the Lordburn, a stream which now runs into a sewer.........

When the old church of St Mary was demolished and the present ediface was erected in 1909 there was some encroachment on the south side of the graveyard. Bodies, many of young children - the infant mortality rate was high - were lifted and re-interred in three large trenches in the Baum and the coffins were excellently preserved through the effects of the old Lordburn stream. Whether the ghost of the old graveyard dates back to this 1909 upheaval or not, no-one can say, but the male apparition drifts across the Baum, proceeds through the wall of the market into the fish section, passing through stalls to the canteen in a corner of the open market. There it vanishes, having upset the calcalations of a number of Police Offficers who have mistaken it on a number of occasions for a down-to-earth intruder.

"Policemen, in the main, are far to practical to "'see"' things which aren't there and one can only assume the the Baum spectre, which is perfectly harmless, is an unhappy spirit, earthbound through some deep tragedy long forgotten. Those who know about its nocturnal perambulations avoid the Baum and the market after dark."

Sources & References:-

Dennis Ball, Lancashire Pastimes, Burnedge Press Limited, Royton, 1987.

Kathleen Eyre, A Daleman Book - Lancashire Ghosts, The Dalesman Publishing Company Ltd., Clapham, 1989.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Mary-in-the-Baum,_Rochdale

https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/st-mary-baum-rochdale

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/an-angelic-tale-of-the-ghostly-rabbit-1099922

Copyright © RayS57, 2023

Crimble Mill and Crimble Hall, near Heywood, Greater Manchester.

The Crimble Spinning Mill on Crimble Lane, between Bamford and Heywood, near Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, is sadly today in a ruinous state of delapidation. It was originally built way back in 1780 as a Woollen fulling mill, but, by about 1825-6 the mill had been re-developed by its new owners, the Stott family, for the manufacture of Cotton and had a water-wheel built. In the 1860s it was rebuilt as a spinning mill, and in the 1880s it manufactured woollen products once again and remained as such for much of the rest of its industrial life, at least until the 1920s. A warehouse was added in the 1880s. The Mill finally ceased manufacturing sometime after 1971 when parts of the mill began to fall into disuse, although a dyeing company moved into the building, but that ended in 2005. The mill's engine house was demolished sometime back, and dereliction has recently set in. But, it would be a sacrilege if this once great industrial building had to be demolished, although some might say that 'that is progress' and its now 'time to move on'.

The huge industrial complex that is Crimble Mill stands beside the River Roch at (O.S. Grid Reference: SD 8652 8116) with Queens Park to the west, and the town of Hey-wood about half a mile to the southwest. It is roughly halfway between the Bury And Rochdale Old Road (B6222) and Rochdale Road East (A58). There are plans afoot, sadly, to demolish this Grade II listed mill and build flats and commercial spaces at some point.

The history of Crimble near Heywood goes back to 1810 when John Fenton the wealthy industrialist (1791-1863) built Crimble Hall. John became the first Liberal Party member of Parliament for Rochdale in 1832; the Fenton family were also mill owners in the Heywood area, and they were a family of bankers. Sometime after 1913 a Colonel Hartley lived at the Hall; he later restored the building to what it originally looked like. In the late 1950s or early 1960s the Gartside family (Colonel Gartside) took over Crimble Hall. After that it became a restaurant but that closed in 2019. However, there are now plans to re-develop the hall into new homes. The former hall is located on Crimble Lane, Captain Fold, at OS Grid Reference SD 8647 1199. There is a small park just to the south of the hall.

The place-name Crimble means "small piece of land" or a hamlet. Crimble mill, beside the River Roch, was originally built in 1780 as a wool fulling mill. In 1825 it was re-developed and enlarged into a cotton spinning mill. Its decline began in the early 1970s when a dyeing company took it over, but by 2005 the mill had become abandoned and derelict. Recently, there have been plans to demolish Crimble mill and build flats on the site. The hamlet or settlement of Crimble [itself) probably goes further back in history to the 17th-18th centuries, or earlier.

Sources/References:-

First photo (above) of Crimble Mill, Heywood, is by Dr. Neil Clifton (2013) and is © Copyright Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crimble_Mill,_Heywood.jpg

Second photo down is: Crimble Mill, Heywood, by Chris Allen (2006) and is © Copyright Chris Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2191927

https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101187124-crimble-mill-spinning-mill-attached-engine-house-and-fire-proof-warehouse-and-attached-warehouse-north-heywood-ward#.ZDCltznMLIU

http://www42.heywoodhistory.com/

https://aboutmanchester.co.uk/the-fentons-and-crimble-hall-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-rochdale-dynasty/

https://www.facebook.com/RochdaleLocalHistory/posts/on-the-9th-june-1880-crimble-hall-the-residence-of-lieutenant-colonel-fenton-sol/799380260219471/

https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/hope-for-stricken-rochdale-mill-as-resi-plans-emerge/

Copyright © RayS57, 2023.

The Story of Milkstone, Near Rochdale, in Greater Manchester.

Milkstone was a small community near Rochdale, just to the south of the town centre. It is now more or less only the name of a road near Deeplish. Milkstone became a thriving weaving community from around 1840. The place-name of Milkstone is obviously derived from the stone tables upon which farmers would place their milk churns to be collected or rested before being collected by horse and cart. These stone tables or milkstones were usually two upright stones with a long stone slab placed on top; sometimes they were wooden tables. Some of these milk-stone tables still stand at the entrance to farms, but they are growing scarcer now, as are the wooden milk tables, which tended to rot away and collapse. And now the milk churns themselves, which stood on top of the stone tables, are now collectors items - and some even antiques!

The Wikipedia website says: "In Britain, milk churns would be left by dairy farmers by the roadside on purpose-built platforms, or stands, at the right height to be loaded on to the dairy's cart or lorry. They fell out of use when milk began to be collected by tanker from the farm and ceased entirely by 1979. Some stands remain in the countryside as historical features, but most have been dismantled or left to decay."

John Cole in his 1988 local history book 'Rochdale Revisited - A Town And Its People', says that:

"Edwin Waugh, the Lancashire dialect poet, believed that the area known as Milkstone got its name in or around 1645, during the Great Plague. According to Waugh, the inhabitants wanted to keep strangers away from Rochdale to mini-mise the risk of contagion, and various "plague stones" or milkstones, were set up to serve the outlying areas. William Robertson, the journalist and historian, disagreed with this dramatic interpretation. Of an earlier stone at Sparth, Robertson states: "Mr Walmsley who owned a large tract of land in Castleton, was the first to erect stone tables on which women could rest their cans of milk." These stone tables "consisted of two upright flags, with another lying across" and a similar stone, on the ancient route to Oldham, lent its name to the area - Milkstone.

Birtle Dene Mill, near Bury, Greater Manchester.

There is nothing much, if anything, left of Birtle Dene Cotton spinning mill in the lower Cheesden Valley today. But, back in the 19th century it was a thriving manufacturing establishment, even though it was located well away from the towns of Bury and Rochdale, making it difficult to reach for the workers who came from the local towns and villages down in the valley, especially in the Winter months. Some workers were even persuaded to up-sticks and come from other parts of the country to work at Birtle (Bircle) Dene Mill. It was back in 1824 that industrial entrepeneur Mr Thomas Rams-bottom built his spinning mill at Birtle Dene. Thomas and his brother John had earlier built a mill at Harwood Fields in the nearby town of Bury, and, they owned three coal mines in the vicinity of Birtle Dene. To reach the mill one had to walk the two or three miles up Elbut Lane and Birtle Road, and then on up to the mill where the industrial revolution seemed to have arrived at breakneck speed by the early 19th century, and, at which time the Ramsbottom family had 'secured their place in cotton spinning history'. The mill finally closed in 1894-5. OS Grid Ref: SD 83261345. I'm just thinking here - would Birtle Dene Mill have been called Mr Tom's by its workers?

H.D.Clayton says of Birtle Dene Mill: "This was a large establishment, owned by the Ramsbottoms for most of its life, and consisting of a four-storey spinning mill and a weaving shed, lit by their own gas. It was driven by a large waterwheel and auxiliary engine. Lying at the foot of a steep hill, access was difficult down a winding road on which were two rows of cottages with their backs to the hill, so that only front doors could be provided. A windlass was used to haul goods up and down the hillside to the top road and the same procedure was adopted for coal from a nearby pit. When the boiler was installed the mill had a day's holiday, owing to the danger of the boiler falling on the mill as it was lowered down the hillside. When the mill closed towards the end of the 19th century, the boiler was removed and hauled up the hill by a large team of horses."

Sandiford & Ashworth (2000) tell us that: Beyond Deeply Vale the Cheesden Brook wanders across a broad plain flanked on either side by steep hills. Here there are no mills but it is as if the valley chooses to pause before making its final and perhaps most surprising revelation. The stream curves gently round the towering contours of Birtle Edge and the valley gradually opens into a deep gorge, curiously patterned with low embankments and crumbling walls, its thick undergrowth strewn with sturdy masonry and gouged with hollows and enigmatic channels, for it was here in Birtle Dene that the industries of the Cheesden Valley reached their pinnacle. The mill that Thomas Ramsbotttom of Harwood Fields built there in 1824 was far removed, in both style and spirit, from those humble enterprises to the north of the valley.

"Thomas Ramsbottom, however, showed no such caution when he built his mill at Birtle Dene. Here was a cotton mill in its own right, in no way dependent on the putting-out system or the domestic outworker. It was a vertical concern spinning the raw cotton into yarn and weaving the yarn into cloth, with possibly some yarn dyeing capacity and cloth finishing. It was planned and built with the boldness and confidence of a man who clearly had caught the spirit of the Industrial Revolution. Yet when the observer stands at the top of the mill road, a good 340 yards from the valley bottom with a steady and formidable gradient of one in seven, he may ask why Ramsbottom chose such a remote site for such an ambitious mill. There were, of course, the usual facilities of water and coal, but for an enterprise of this scale, comparable with many of the edifices of the growing towns beyond this valley, its situation created intrinsic problems.

"The Observer may also ask how Ramsbottom raised his capital for the project. There is, in fact, evidence that the Ramsbottom family had been involved in textile manu-facture previously at Harwood Fields."

Sandford & Ashworth go on to say: "Perhaps Ramsbottom, for all his ambitions, was still at heart a man of the valley. There is no doubt that he used his resources to the full. Birtle Dene Mill was powered by two, possibly three, water wheels, a small one being provided solely for used in the mechanic's shop when the rest of the mill was closed. The mill also used steam power and Ramsbottom owned three mines situated above the Dene, Bassy Mine, Lower Foot Mine (known as Halfpenny Hole) and Upper Foot Mine (known as Mountain Mine). Access was by narrow tracks running along the hillside to the south of the mill, though there is no evidence of a rail line...... these mines were frequently subjected to flooding and by 1887 they were either unworkable or unable to meet the demands of the large mill. Supplies were then brought up from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways coal yards at Buckley Wells in Bury. The Dene Mill, like several others in the valley, produced its own gas for lighting and the circular depression which once held the gasholder is still in evidence. In later year electricity was introduced.

"To spare the horses the strenuous haul of goods up the steep slope from the mill, the woven cloth consigned to the merchant houses of Manchester was taken up the hillside by means of a windlass and stored in a building before loading. Such consideration for employees was not, however, universal. Three rows of cottages were provided for work-people on the road down to the mill, while others came from Jericho and Fairfield, hamlets some two miles away. Labour was also recruited from the unfortunate inmates of Jericho workhouse and in 1836, following revisions in the administration of the Poor Law, large numbers of people from areas of Suffolk, Norfolk, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire were persuaded to come North to regular work in the new cotton mills."

Sources and References:

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, Reprinted 2000.

Colour photo (above) of Birtle Dene Mill in the Cheesden Valley is by John Westhead on Geograph (Creative Commons).

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

Copyright © RayS57, 2023.