Ashworth Fold, Near Heywood, Greater Manchester

From Simpson Clough Ashworth Road curves round the valley and further along is Ashworth Fold at (SD 85021325), a hamlet made up of a couple of farms dating from the 17th-18th century, some cottages of a similar date, and a 16th-17th century hall that has an old inscribed stone and sundial in its garden. The hall had been abandoned for a time, but it has now been made into three cottages. Ashworth Fold is roughly situated halfway between Heywood and Norden, in Greater Manchester. Ashworth as a place-name probably means 'Ash-trees beside a farm'. The Naden Brook flows from Simpson Clough through Ashworth Fold and then on into Carr Woods. A bit further along the road there was Ridd Pit or Ashworth Pit, but this closed down in 1898 and hardly anything now remains, apart from the old capped shaft. Opposite where this coal pit used to be are the very pitcheresque Ridd Cottages on School Lane and the old School house just beyond, which is now St James' parish rooms.

H.D.Clayton writing in 1979 says:- "The fold is the only group of buildings in Ashworth and consists of the Hall, two farms, four cottages and the estate workshops. It is a Grade 2 group in the list of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest and is descri-bed as 'a group of buildings, mainly stone, 17th and 18th century. The siting of the group, and features such as a late Gothic doorway, a massive studded oak door, a stone segmented archway, an attractive parapet and finial, a stone stile, a range of low stone mullioned windows and areas of cobbles, combine to produce a very attractive composition. All in same style, barns with loop lights.' The mullioned windows have disappeared, but the well-built stone pigsties could have been mentioned. It is not known when the Fold was built and the only clue was a date stone 1601 R.H., which used to be on a stone pedestal placed on the ridge of the roof of Ashworth Hall farm building.

"There must have been a house on the site of the Hall from very early times and one massive stone gable end, possibly 15th century, still stands. Some time later this house was greatly enlarged to form a mansion, half-timbered lath and plaster, with a wing of three gables running back to the road, and forming a courtyard with the present two cottages and farm buildings. At the entrance was a square tower and wicket gate, and, on the other side of the house, a rose garden terrace, orchard and ornamental pond. At a later date the wing and tower were removed and the half-timbered walls replaced with hand made bricks. The original stone built house with mullion windows was left intact, although the mullions have since been removed".

Clayton goes on to say: "Rev. D. Rathbone recorded how the hall appeared about 1830: 'The Hall still retains its aspiring site, its gables still peep from the woods that environ it, but much has been destroyed, and the strong stone-built gateway with its massive doors and wicket gatestands alone; the eastern side of the quadrangle is gone, and nothing now remains but that southern portion which fronts the dilapidated terrace with its moat and hanging garden. A hundred yew trees, tradition says, once grew in stately avenues or in sombre groups around the deserted house of many generations, but only a few survive; they stand single and forlorn. The ruins of Ashworth Hall afford a pleasing specimen of that style of domestic architecture which has in its many peculiarities a distinction and beauty which bore the antiquarian and the lover of the picturesque gives it a more than ordinary character of interest. Nothing remains to guide us as to its age, but, judging from general appearance, we should not hesitate to affix a date at least coeval with the Wars of the Roses. Parts of the building may be more ancient, for there is a diversity of style and character.'

"Two thirds of the Hall was let to the Vicar at a nominal rent and the remainder was the farmhouse for the Hall Farm. A stream ran under this portion of the house and beneath the floor a small waterwheel provided power as required. In the garden are a large upright stone inscribed 'R.H. 1685' for Richard Holt and an undated sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Although much altered from the age of the horse, when chain horses were kept at Guelder Clough to help carts up the hills, and the large open space in the Fold was covered with grass, with a stone trough in the middle, overhung with a large cherry treeand seat for gossip, the Fold is still picturesque and beloved by artists."

Clayton, H.D., A History of Ashworth near Rochdale, Ashworth Hall, Rochdale, 1979. The two images (above) are taken from this book.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1084283

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1084285

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2017/04/north-heritage.html

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/11/mines.html

https://www.realrochdale.co.uk/editions/spring-2020/take-a-walk-in-ashworth-valley/

Copyright © RayS57, 2021 >

Castleshaw Roman Forts at Standedge, Greater Manchester

On the windswept Pennine moors to the north of the A62 where Bleak Hey Nook lane intersects with Dirty lane is the area called Castle Hill (SD 9987 0963) at Standedge, which is on the borders of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. And, located between the two reservoirs (upper and lower) are the rectangular-shaped earthworks of the Roman fort of Castleshaw, known to the Brigantes and later the Romans as RIGODUNUM – ‘the royal fort’ or ‘the king’s fort’ – the name Castleshaw is of Celtic origins. But long before the Romans settled here at Castleshaw the site was known to have been a Brigantean settlement, but later becoming just a little bit of the Roman province of Brittannia.

The Romans built the first fort here during the Flavian period c79 AD in order to protect their newly constructed road between Chester (Deva) and York (Eboracum) from the Brigantes tribe who had held the area. Upto 50 roman auxiliary soldiers of the Spanish Cohors III Bracaraugustanorum regiment from Lusitania in northern Portugal were stationed here, the rest of the cohort were quartered at MAMUCIUM (Manchester) 10 miles to the south-west. One wonders what those hardy Spanish soldiers thought to the often bleak weather conditions here on the Pennine moors.

The auxillary fort or ‘fortified encampment’ at Castleshaw measured 380 x 330 feet including the outer vicus, but less than that (360 feet by 300 feet) inside the defences or ramparts – the whole site covering between 2-3 acres (1-2 hectares) in total. Construc-ted from turf, clay and timber, it has an outer ditch measuring 5 feet wide at the rampart with an outer, smaller ditch. There were two main entrance gates at the western and eastern sides, probably double gates made from local timber and a smaller entrances at the north side; at each of the four corners of the fort there may have been watchtowers? – although only one post hole has been excavated. The next fort along the Roman road was Slack, near Huddersfield. This, too, was built in 79 AD and extended in the early 2nd century. It may be one and the same as the Roman station of Cambodunum.

In 90 AD the fort was abandoned for a temporary period, but in 105 AD it was re-occupied and turned in to a fortlet. It was finally abandoned in 120 AD. The buildings inside the fort included a granary at the northern side, a barrack block at the east side, principia and praetorium in the central area and, also various storerooms or workshops at the south-west corner, while outside the fort, at the south side, the “vicus” was the civilian settlement where the families of the soldiers would have lived. There are traces of earthworks at this side and also at the north side but no proper archaeological excavations have taken place either outside the fort or, indeed, inside. I understand that Roman soldiers were not allowed to be married!

Sources & References:-

Image: A plan of Castleshaw Roman fort drawn by antiquarian Francis Bruton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/category/castleshaw-roman-fort/

https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200594/scheduled_monuments/861/castleshaw_roman_forts

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Jacob's Well near Littleborough, Lancashire

At the side of the A58 Halifax Road (SD 9638 1706) and close to Blackstone Edge Roman road, near Littleborough, not far from the Lancashire and Yorkshire border, is the now almost forgotten ‘Jacob’s Well’, a sacred spring that is hidden in the grass and fearns at the side of the busy, windswept moorland road that links the two counties. Some 280 metres east of the well is the so-called Roman Road that climbs over Blackstone Edge and then heads to the fort at Ilkley. Presumably the Roman soldiers who marched along this Roman road knew of the presence of this ancient spring, which they may have even dedicated to one of their gods and, before that, the Celts would have also recognized it as a sacred spring. In more recent times it has acquired the dedication to Jacob, who might be the biblical prophet of the Old Testament? and is sometimes called St Jacob by Orthodox Churches. The well is to be found about halfway up the A58 road (right-hand side) and just 100m past where a wooden gate and footpath leads off to the east to meet up with the Roman road. At the top of the A58 road, on the opposite side, is the well-known landmark White House public house. The west Yorkshire border is further along the road.

At the front of the well there is a very long sandstone slab that has the inscription ‘Jacob’s Well’ carved onto it and some other letters just below that, but it is difficult to tell what this says. It looks as though the inscription was carved in more recent times. The water is held in what looks to be a large and deep stone trough just behind the carved slab, but there is much foliage surrounding the well and so it is difficult to give any measurements. On the day of my visit the water was slimy green in colour and most certainly “not” drinkable.

There doesn’t appear to be any record of this well, whether it be holy or sacred, is not really known and the dedication to Jacob is uncertain. It could perhaps be named after the Biblical Jacob (Yacob) who was the Hebrew prophet and patriarch of the Old Testament. He is venerated as St Jacob by the Orthodox Churches. There are other wells named after Jacob, one at Bradford, west Yorkshire, and another at Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, but there are a few others in England. The name “Jacob” is also “James”, so these wells could be dedicated to a person with that name, perhaps even St James of Compostela?

Sources & Related Websites:-

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

https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2017/06/16/jacobs-well-near-littleborough-lancashire-yorkshire-border/

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Around Watergrove Reservoir near Wardle, Rochdale, Greater Manchester

On the windswept Pennine moors to the north of Wardle, near Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, is Watergrove Reservoir. The reservoir was constructed back in the 1930s in order to supply water to nearby Rochdale, which was short of water in times of drought, but the old village of Watergrove very sadly had to be abandoned and sub-merged beneath the waters of this new reservoir. Watergrove village itself came into being in the first half of the 19th century with at least three mills providing work for the good folk of Wartergrove and probably some from Wardle; there was also a Methodist church, and a public house! and, eventually by about 1870 300 people were living in the village. However, children from the village had to go to Wardle as there was no school.

Going further back into the history of Watergrove there were several farms dotted around, mainly dating from the 1700s, but one from as far back as 1640. But the cotton mills that were built in and around Watergrove after 1840 were what undoubtedly caused the village to flourish during the 19th century. The millworkers lived in rows of cottages in the village; they attended the church on Sundays, and maybe went to the pub when they had the time and the money. Life was quite good but also hard for the cotton workers here for they worked long hours, but, the good folk of Watergrove village were a 'very big part' of the Industrial Revolution in the Rochdale area in the Victorian Age. But, by the early part of the 20th century the mills began to decline and by about 1930 had finally closed; the village of Watergrove then also fell into a slow depression, with some of its inhabitants moving away to the nearby towns, while hundreds of local men were employed in the construction of what would be the final nail in the coffin, the reservoir itself.

In 1938 the once vibrant community of Watergrove had gone forever, sunk beneath the waters of the reservoir, the foundations of its long-forgotten farms and other buildings only reappearing when the reservoir's waters are at a very low-level in long spells of dry weather. On the south-eastern bank of the reservoir there is 'The History Wall' or Wave Wall with many interesting carved stones and date-stones from the old village built into it. Today Watergrove Reservoir is a place to go to for walking - there are indeed many paths and trails in the area and, there are footpaths running around the edges of the reservoir. The Rochdale Way runs just to the west. There is car-parking at the south-side of the reservoir (SD 91169 17649). The History Wall is 100 metres east of the carpark.

Watergrove Reservoir is the largest in the Rochdale area and is situated some 240 metres (787 feet) above sea-level. From west to east it is 846 metres (2,775 feet) in width and from south to north 1,245 metres (4,084 feet) in length.

Sources & Related Websites:-

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2289430

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2290199

https://lancashirepast.com/2019/09/01/watergrove-reservoir-and-drowned-village-wardle/

http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/rochdale3.html

https://www.visitrochdale.com/things-to-do/watergrove-reservoir-p12901

https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/watergrove-reservoir-rochdale

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

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.