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GENERAL
WOOD FARM
WALSDEN |
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General
Wood is a name found on older maps that has gone from modern equivalents.
The tiny community of cottages and barns nestles in a small clearing at the top of a steep cobbled track that leads up from the side of the Hollins Inn on the corner of Henshaw Road and Hollins Road. |
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The track
then drops down just as steeply passing Top
o' th' Hill Farm and on
to Stoney Brink and Woodbottom. This track is the remains of what
was the only road through this area, a spur of which leads over
to Knowle and Lumbutts. This explains the unusual location of
this community, perched on the slopes of a steep hill above the
present roads.
It
is an ancient farm, dating back to before 1677, although the present
house may well have been built about 1700. It was the home of
the Rhodes family, Joshua who was a cobbler, and then his son
John who was a miller.
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is still a date stone over the door of the house, inscribed IER
1704. This must surely be Joshua Rhodes and his wife Elizabeth as
their daughter Elizabeth was baptised at St. Mary's from General
Wood in 1704. |
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James
Rhodes, possibly a grandson of Joshua, was the farmer in 1753 when
it is recorded that John Wesley preached in the meadow behind the
barn on 31st May. |
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The
meadow was a natural amphitheatre that would hold several hundred
people. An on-looker wrote:
"the sun was burning hot but the people set up a tent for him.
The people stood or sat on the grass round about and the afternoon
was the hottest I ever remember in England, and he stayed on this
occasion at the house of James Rhodes, the farmer of General Wood." |
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It
is said that a single sycamore tree was planted on the place where
John Wesley stood in memory of the event, and that tree was still
living in 1900. In one of his journals, John Wesley wrote of the
people of Todmorden: "They
were rough enough in outward appearance, but their hearts were as
melting wax" |
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| After
the Rhodes family vacated, John and Betty Halstead were the farmers
at General Wood for many years. In addition to farming, John had
been a greengrocer, and together with his friend, James Howarth
of Newbridge in Walsden, they would go with their carts to Manchester
for provisions for their shops. |
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The
two friends would stop off at a beerhouse in Walsden on the way
home to discuss what prices to charge for their goods. John died
at General Wood in 1811 and Betty followed him in 1820. |
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One
of John's cottage tenants was James Ogden who married his daughter
Mary. James and Mary Ogden remained at General Wood for the rest
of their long lives. Both families well known Wesleyans. Mary was
still there in 1851 aged 78 and a pauper. She lived there nearly
75 years. At one time there were as many as five different households living
at General Wood as can be seen by the entries in the census returns
below. |
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Other
occupiers of the farm were John and Betty Scholfield between about
1830 and 1840. John was the son of James Scholfield, joiner, churchwarden
and Township Land Surveyor, of North Street in Todmorden. |
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Today, the original farmhouse is the end house of the terrace of cottages, extending outwards at the back of the cottages. Much
of the stonework dates back to about 1700. |
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The barn has
been converted to a dwelling house and retains many of its original
features. |
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The
old farmhouse is separated from the barn by the footpath that still
leads to Knowle Farm and the village of Lumbutts. This would have been a busy thoroughfare in days gone by. |
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Sometime
around 1840 it seems that General Wood Farm and close neighbour
Top o' th' Hill Farm merged to became one farm. Over the following 60 years
there was only one farmer, sometimes living at General Wood and
sometimes at Top o' th' Hill. Attempts to separate the histories of the two farms from 1841 onwards are hit and miss as not only did the farms merge, but also the names. Today,
the whole area is known as Top o' th' Hill and the name of General
Wood has disappeared. |
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