The History and Geography of Red Lumb and Wolstenholme, near Norden, Rochdale.

The picturesque hamlet of Red Lumb lies just off the A680 Edenfield Road near Norden, Rochdale, in the shadow of, and on the lower slopes of the conical shaped, Knowl Hill. The etymology of the place-name Red Lumb is uncertain though it possibly means 'a small valley with red soil or clay', but that is open to interpretation. The lane through the hamlet winds its way along passing by what used to be a textile mill that made cauduroy clothing, but now it's called 'the Meadows' and is a complex of modern luxory flats, very sadly. The mill, situated beside Boyd's Brook, was built in the 1840s and was for most of its life a cotton spinning manufacturing establishment. It eventually closed down and was later converted into private apartments - in about 2005. The lanes further along branch off and become trackways called Red Lumb Street - while in the opposite direction - the other farm trackway is called Over Town Lane.

There were several coal mines scattered around the hamlet - Red Lumb Colliery being the main pit - the area rich in the commodity of coal - but the mine at Red Lumb closed down in the 1950s following a tragic accident there. Other coal mines were located at Knowl, Bamford Closes, and at Wolstenholme Fold, a bit further along Edenfield Road in the direction of Norden, and at Cheesden Bar (Cheesden Bridge) in the opposite direction there was another coal mine. There was also a coal mine at Wind Hill opposite the Ashworth Moor Reservoir. However, all these coal mines have long since closed dowm and in most cases there is now nothing much to see at ground level.

There are several farms scattered around Red Lumb hamlet and the moors nearby - the area being rich in agriculture. Farms include Lower, Middle and Higher Red Lumb; Knowl Farm and Top o 'th' Royds Farm and Bamford Closes Farm. Above the hamlet of Wolstenholme another hamlet, Rain Shore and the former bleach and Dye works and cotton spinning mills (upper and lower), which were demolished to make way for a modern housing estate with Greenbooth Reservoir close by, while beyond that the smaller Naden Reservoirs. The etymology of the 12th century Old English place-name Wolstenholme is possibly derived from Wulfstan's Holme which is maybe an island on raised dry land or “Holme” refers to a piece of land located by a river or stream, often submerged during floods. Wolstenholme Hall, a Gothic-style ediface, was built in 1850 by a Mr George Goodwin of North Staffordshire and was built with bricks from that county. It became a military hospital in World War I, but the hall is now a restaurant called Nutters.

Baitings Mill on Rainshore Road (Over Town Lane), Wolstenholme, was marked on the Ordnance Survey map as Baitings Mill (cotton) in 1848 and in 1890 as Baitings Mill (cotton). In 1908 it was marked on the OS map as Baitings Mill (fustian) and in 1923 as Baitings Mill (fustian). Then in 1961 it appeared on the OS map as Mill. But in 1986 the mill was known as Cudsworth's Mill and made cotton fustian cloth for corduroy material. The building was demolished after 2000, and by 2003 there was a new housing development on that site, which is now known as Baitings Close.

The former Red Lumb Mill, now called The Meadows, is located at: SD 84256 15593 and Wolstenholme Hall is at: SD 8482 1508. The former Baitings Mill, now known as Baitings Close, was located at: SD 8524 1479. Rain Shore bleach and Dye works and cotton mills, now a modern housing estate, were at SD 8522 1540.

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2018/01/mills-p-r.html

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

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Approach_Road_to_Red_Lumb_-_geograph.org.uk_-_214068.jpg

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/59681

Copyright © RayS57, 2024.

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.

Around Wind Hill (Cheesden) near Rochdale

OS Grid Reference: SD 83262 14945. In a farmer’s field at the side of Ashworth road, Cheesden, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, is Wind Hill Cairn, dating from the Beaker Period of the Bronze Age. Now it is nothing more than a low, grassy mound at either side of the more recent drystone wall. The cairn stands at the north side of Wind Hill, 298m above sea-level and overlooking Knowl Moor, with Knowl Hill itself rising over to the east beyond Edenfield road. A little further down the lane is Ashworth Moor Reservoir and, on the opposite side of Edenfield Road, is the famous Owd Betts public house. The cairn is in a damaged condition due partly, at its north-side, to farming, but on its south-side there is less damage and has, therefore, kept its circular identity. There is a footpath heading east across Wind Hill from Ashworth road, just above Wind Hill farm and the wind turbine, but the cairn is partly on private land (at its northern-side) where there is a locked metal gate next to the wall – beside the Ashworth road.

Originally Wind Hill Bronze Age cairn had a diameter of 10.45m (34 feet) and a height of 0.75m (2-3 feet) but it is now less than that due to destruction at its N side. According to the ‘Lancashire Archaeological Bulletin’ (1984) with the primary reference: Tyson, N (1972) at the end of the excavations by Bury Archaeological Group between 1968-72: this is a ruined cairn with a kerb of horizontal slabs. There was an opening to the E which was 6 feet wide with a subrectangular area outside that was defined by inward-leaning slabs that are further enclosed by a “satellite kerb”. Both of these kerbs were finally concealed. No grave pits were found, but at the cairn’s centre a flint knife, pebble hammer and a V-bored ‘jet’ button were discovered. Further to this information: there was a cist of sand-stones at the E side. The central and W parts of the cairn were denuded; the E and S sides were in a better condition and still visible. The dry-stone wall running in a straight-line through the middle of the mound ‘was’ dug deep into the structure, causing further destruction, and some of the stonework from the cist may have ended up in the wall itself, or could still be in ‘situ’ in the mound?

In 1905 a Late Bronze Age socketed axe (palstave) was dug up by workmen building the Ash-worth Moor Reservoir, just along the road from Wind Hill cairn. There have also been a number of archaeological finds on Knowl Moor and on Knowl Hill itself including arrowheads in a variety of shapes: lozenge, leaf, stemmed and barbed, and many flints in varying sizes and a thumbstone. It would seem, though, that these finds have not originated from ‘settlements’, but from pre-historic man simply roaming the higher ground above the forested areas beside the river Roch – where today we see the highly populated towns of Rochdale, Heywood and Bury. On Hamer Hill (Rooley Moor) above the town of Rochdale – some recumbent stones were recently discovered which has led archaeologists to consider the distinct possibility that they form a stone circle, and on nearby Hunger Hill there are possible burial mounds. There have also been a number of coin finds from the Roman period in the Rochdale and Heywood areas.

Sources & References:-

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2017/03/29/wind-hill-cairn-cheesden-near-rochdale-greater-manchester/

http://www.buryarchaeologicalgroup.co.uk/windhill.html

Lancashire Archaeological Bulletin, Vol 10, No. 2/3, May & July, 1984.

Tyson, N., A Bronze Age Cairn at Wind Hill, Heywood, Lancs. Bury Archaeological Group, 1972.

Copyright © RayS57 2017.