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.

Waugh’s Well, Scout Moor, Near Edenfield, Lancashire

OS Grid Reference: SD 8287 1957. On windswept Scout Moor between Edenfield and Cowpe in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, stands the Victorian memorial known as Waugh's Well, named after the famous Rochdale-born dialect poet Edwin Waugh (1817-1890), who was the son of a shoemaker. The poet often came to stay at a farm on the moors and, very often would visit and sit beside a spring of water, at Foe Edge. In 1866 a wellhead with a carved stone-head of the poet and a gritstone wall at either side, was built to honour the man who would come to be known as the Lancashire Poet Laureate and also Lancashire's very own "Burns". Following his death at New Brighton the well became a place of pilgrimage for devotees of the poet, but it was here on the moor at Foe Edge that Edwin Waugh composed some of his famous dialect poems, all having a strong Lancashire feel about them. The well lies about ¼ of a mile to the east of Scout Moor High Level Reservoir on the Rossendale Way footpath. The site is probably best reached from the A680 road and the footpath going past Edenfield Cricket Club, and then eastwards onto the moor itself for a few miles towards Cowpe.

Nick Howorth writing in a magazine article (1996) says of Waugh’s Well that: “The well, originally a spring, was converted into a memorial to Waugh in 1866. This was an extraordinary tribute to a man who was not only still in mid-career at the time, but who had only been famous as a writer of Lancashire dialect songs and poems for 10 years. His fame grew to the extent that by the time he died in 1890 he was variously called '”The Laureate of Lancashire”' or '”The Burns of Lancashire”', although he never achieved an international reputation. The well was rebuilt in 1966 and shows a bronze figurehead of Waugh with his dates, 1817-1890. His connection with the spring on Scout Moor was that he often stayed with friends living at Fo Edge Farm near the well, finding the solitude good for composing songs and poems.

"The name ‘Waugh’ is variously pronounced in Lancashire to rhyme with ‘draw’, ‘laugh’ or cough,…..but today ‘Waw’ is more usual. Edwin was born in 1817 in a cottage at the foot of Toad Lane, Rochdale, the second son of a prosperous clog-maker. All was well until his father died of a fever aged 37 when Edwin was nine years old. Years of penury followed but Edwin’s mother, Mary, held the family together. She was a devout Methodist, intelligent, and a good singer. By being careful, she kept Edwin at school until he was 12. She then educated him at home herself, fostering in him the seeds of artistic talent.”

Howorth goes onto say that: “His early career was a struggle against poverty. He was apprenticed to a Rochdale printer, Thomas Holden, when aged 14. This gave him opportunities to read widely although he was often ‘ticked off’ for reading during the shop hours. He also met local literary figures and politicians. Waugh held strong Liberal views but his boss was a Tory; they did not get on well. Between the ages of 20 and 30, Waugh worked in London and the south of England as a printer, but in 1844 he returned to Rochdale to work at Holden’s. They fell out over politics and Waugh left in 1847. In that year he abruptly married Mary Ann Hill, but although he loved her deeply, their natures were so far apart that the marriage was a disaster.

“For the next five years Waugh worked for the Lancashire Public School Association whose aim was to make a good quality primary education available to poor children. Waugh worked in Manchester, which he hated, but he met many of the city’s literary and intellectual leaders and talked literature, education and politics with other struggling writers. He was beginning to get articles and poems published in Manchester. He worked partime as a journeyman printer, earning money by printing copies of “Tim Bobbin” (John Collier’s masterpiece of 1746). In 1855 he borrowed £120 and published his first volume of essays, “”Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities””. Then in June 1856 came the big breakthrough when “”Come Whoam to thi Childer an’ Me,”” was published in the Manchester Examiner, bringing him national prominence. The poem was republished as a penny card, earning him £5 for 5,000 cards.

“His reputation was made and he never looked back. His first collection of poems and Lancashire songs followed in 1859. A few of the titles give the flavor: '”God bless these poor folk!”', '”while takin’ a wift o’ my pipe”' and '”Aw’ve worn my bits o’ shoon away.” Apart from courtship and family life, his great love was nature. Many of his essays described excursions far beyond the Lancashire moors, such as Scotland and Ireland. Essays were often published as pamphlets selling for 6d or 1s, eg ‘Over Sands to the Lakes’, ‘Seaside Lakes and Mountains of Cumberland’, ‘Norbreck: A Sketch of the Lancashire Coast’ cost 1d. Waugh’s third area of composition was poetry in standard English. A few titles are: ‘The Moorland Flowers’, ‘Keen Blows the North Wind’, ‘God Bless Thee, Old England’ and ‘The Wanderer’s Hymn’. Subjects like these no doubt reflected the tastes of Victorian England.

Nick Howorth (1996) also adds that: “Another important Waugh activity for many years was giving public readings of his works, rather like his contemporary, Charles Dickens. Although these did not pay very well, they kept his name in the public eye. His big, open, friendly face and soft Lancashire accent made him a popular performer. He did not dress up for these public performances, was always an unkempt figure with big boots, thick tweeds and a heavy walking stick. This emphasized his humble origins to his audiences. In 1869, he read in public almost fortnightly in town halls all over the midlands and the north.

Waugh was an important figure in Lancashire’s literary history because he popularized dialect poetry and made it a valid part of English literature. Before Waugh, Lancashire dialect was difficult to follow, because it contained so many obscure words and spellings. Tim Bobbin, dating from 1746, is the best example of the “”old dialect”’. Readers have to refer constantly to the author’s glossary. Waugh simplified and standardized how Lancashire dialect should be written down, and it has hardly changed since then."

At the western edge of Broadfield Park, Rochdale, overlooking the Esplanade there is a very fine four-sided monument commemorating Edwin Waugh and three other local poets. (See photo below). This monument is called ‘The Lancashire Dialect Writers Memorial’. It was designed by Edward Sykes and erected on the land above the Esplanade in 1900. The pedestal is made of red granite and is topped by an obelisk. The four local poets are: Edwin Waugh (d. 1890), Oliver Ormerod (d. 1879), Margaret Lahee (d. 1895) and John Clegg (d. 1895). This fine memorial is inscribed with various poems and information regarding each writer, with their carved heads. A bit further along the path is a statue of John Bright (1811-1889 the Liberal MP for Manchester. Bright was a reformer and campaigner for the repeal of The Corn Laws (1839). In St Chad’s churchyard, Sparrow Hill, is the grave of Tim Bobbin alias John Collier (1708-1786), the satirical dialect poet who frequented the inns of Rochdale. His grave, with its now worn epitaph, is behind iron railings; but ‘the’ grave has become a place of pilgrimage for devotees of his life and works.

Sources/References:-

Nick Howorth, ‘Edwin Waugh – a man of ink, and his well’, Really Lancashire – A Magazine for the Red Rose County, Landy Publishing, Staining, Blackpool, Issue No. 2, August 1996.

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

http://www.edwinwaughdialectsociety.com/waugh.html

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2018/03/04/waughs-well-scout-moor-near-edenfield-lancashire/

Copyright © RayS57, 2020.

Around Bamford: St James' Chapel, Chapel Lane Near Rochdale, Great...

Around Bamford: St James' Chapel, Chapel Lane Near Rochdale, Great...: On a hilltop roughly halfway between Carr Woods (Coal Bank) and School Lane, near Norden, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, there is an early 16th century chapel dedicated to St James, and an attached graveyard. See more at the following Link:- https://rays57-aroundbamford.blogspot.com/2020/11/st-james-chapel-chapel-lane-near.html

St James' Chapel, Chapel Lane Near Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

On a hilltop roughly halfway between Carr Woods (Coal Bank) and School Lane, near Norden, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, there is an early 16th century chapel dedicated to St James, and a graveyard. The little building stands at the top end of Chapel Lane next to a building that used to be the Egerton Arms Inn, but which is now a private house. There are good panoramic views from here. The chapel is rectangular shaped and quite small in size (roughly 9m x 6m 29ft x 19ft), and has obviously been rebuilt on a number of occassions; the present building is of 1789 though it was enlarged in 1837. St James' Chapel was built by Thomas Holt of nearby Ashworth Hall in 1514 for the use of his tenents; Sir Thomas, formerley of Gristlehurst, was knighted at Flodden in Scotland in 1544. He was the first priest to officiate at St James' Chapel, Ashworth; he died in 1563. Sir Thomas's nephew, Robert, succeeded him as priest. By the early part of the 19th century the patrons of St James' chapel were the Egerton family of Tatton. Wilbraham Egerton (1781-1856) very likely had the Egerton Arms Inn, formerley called Chapel House, built just opposite the chapel in the early 19th century; and he also had the school-house built on what is now School Lane, in 1838, for the Ashworth Estate. This building is now St James' parish hall and it is still a pretty little building. St James' Chapel is 3 miles northwest of Rochdale town centre.

H.D.Clayton in his very interesting book 'A History of Ashworth near Rochdale' (1979), tells us more about St. James' Church: He says:

"Ashworth Church is dedicated to St James, but when that dedication took place is not known. Its distance from Ashworth Hall, the ancestral home of a branch of the Holt family, would preclude the idea of its having originally been a private domestic chapel. According to the Ecclesiastical Year Book it was in existence in 1514. It was probably built during the reign of Henry VIII by the Holts for the use of their tenants. Amongst the Holt family records of 1522 occurs more than once the name of 'Sir Thomas Holt, capellanus', and it may be assumed that he officiated at Ashworth. The inventory of Church goods taken by order of Edward VI in 1552 gives details of 'one vestment, chalice and paten as belonging to a chapel called Assheworthe in the parish of Middleton.' It remained in the parish of Middleton until 1867, when it became the parish of Ashworth covering the town- ship of Ashworth. In 1559 Robert Holt left '6s. 8d. to sustentation of Ashworth Chapel to be paid when the church reeves require it.' This Robert Holt, a nephew of Sir Thomas, is thought to have been priest at the chapel from 1548-52. The Chapel is shown on Saxton's Map of 1577. Because it was a Chapel of ease to Middleton for over 300 years, it is still known locally as Ashworth Chapel.

"The church, with the exception of the Chancel, was rebuilt and enlarged in 1789. In 1837 the Chancel, the only relic of the old building, was done away with and the east end of the Church made to assume its present shape. By this alteration and others in the gallery about 110 additional sittings were added, and the whole of the gallery, with the exception of that portion reserved for the singers, was understood to be appropriated 'henceforth and forever' for the use of the Sunday Scholars. The whole building was thoroughly repaired and wooden Gothic Mullions introduced into the windows.

"The church as it now stands is a plain rectangular building with the rather austere interior relieved by a very fine East window, given in memory of the Rev. David Rathbone, Vicar 1832-71, and members of his family. On the wall at the east end are miniatures of the Rev. Joseph Selkirk, Vicar 1821-32, and his wife. Many gifts to the church, too numerous to mention, have been made by parishioners. The Egertons of Tatton, as patrons of the living for nearly 200 years, helped financially when necessary and gave the Font, made of stone from Mount Tabor near Halifax, in 1852; a bell which did duty from 1774 to 1895, and a silver Chalice and Paten engraved with the Egerton Arms and the date 1808. Originally the clerk's desk, reading desk and pulpit were placed one behind the other, each being raised slightly higher than the one in front of it. In some churches these three were contained in a three decker pulpit. In the 18th century this arrangement was altered and, in 1933, Miss E. Baron gave a new pulpit, the old one going to a church in Northumbria. There is an unusual memorial inside the church on the west wall. It reads:

"Requiescat in Pace. Near this place rest the mortal remains of Benjamin Cass of Birtle, aged 64, and Alice his wife aged 78 obt. October 1st 1825

Let the man who lives without God in his life, Give ear to the voice from the grave; Tho' he look for tomorrow, the murderer's knife May attack when ther's no one to save.

We looked for tomorrow as we went to repose Thro the night on our lone humble bed. But the murderer came and the sun never rose To us - for our spirits had fled.

Live then to God whilst thou livest below And to Him give each day as it flies, Prepare for the grave, that when dead thou may'st go To dwell with thy God in the skies."

H. D. Clayton adds that: "Dr. Temple, Bishop of Manchester, preached at Ashworth in 1928 shortly before becoming Archbishop of York."

Source / References:-

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

http://rochdalenorthwest.org/st-james/ https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ashworth,_Lancashire_Genealogy