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.

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