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TODMORDEN
SOUTH AND SOUTH WEST
ROCHDALE ROAD IN 1840
Written
by JOHN TRAVIS about 1900
Transcribed
by Arlene Hinman in 2003 |
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White Hart Fold |
The
buildings in the vicinity of the White Hart Fold
were fairly numerous 50 or 60 years ago, consisting
of the inn, barn, and stable, with Messrs. Eastwoods’s
offices, a house and shop belonging to James Lord,
gardener, and the cabinet maker’s workshop
and sale rooms of Timothy Roberts, on the site of
the Old Vicarage. |
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Half
way up the church steps stood the ENDOWED SCHOOL, with
the master’s house over, and the playground for
the school was behind the church. Past the churchyard
on the right hand side was the commencement of Rise-lane,
at that time mainly used as a back entrance to the Todmorden
Hall, and there was a narrow pathway up to the farms and
small dwelling-houses above. The shop at the entrance
to the lane was occupied in 1834 by Abraham Barker, grocer
and draper, who had as his apprentice one of the grandsons
of the late Rev. Joseph Atkinson, curate of Todmorden. |
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The
buildings now in Church-street were almost all built
at the time these papers refer to. Shop-lane (now
Water-street) was so named from its association
with the “Old Shop Farm,” the property
of a family of the name of Barnes, who were also
the owners of Higher Swineshead Farm, and regular
worshippers at the Quaker Meeting house at Shoebroad. |
Church Street about 1860 |
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The
making of the CANAL between the years 1794 and 1802 was
the means of cutting off a large slice of this property,
right from Salford to Stackhills. Up in the Longfield
road and Shoebroad districts, there were quite a number
of buildings at that time, the oldest of all being those
in Honey-hole Gardens, which were probably the oldest
cottages in the district. |
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On
the spot where the Fielden Coffee Tavern now stands,
Joseph Sutcliffe (Joseph o’th’ Butcher’s)
in 1834 built two good dwelling-houses, the site
having been previously occupied by Hanson’s,
“round timber-yard.”
Joseph
Sutcliffe had derived his by-name from the fact
that he had served his apprenticeship with Thomas
Lord, butcher, and had succeeded him in his business
between 1820 and 1830. |
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“Butcher Lord” had been the builder of the
three houses at Pavement, which are now in the occupation
of Mrs. Crossley, James Duckworth Ltd., and the shop previously
occupied by Knowles and Lord, druggists. Next to the houses
on the site of the Fielden Tavern, was the shop of James
Newell Walton, at one time a schoolmaster at the old Mechanics’
Institution, and the keeper of a stationer’s shop
in King-street. This shop was also opened as a printing
establishment, and Mr. Walton was likewise appointed as
Postmaster of Todmorden, his daughter Zipporah succeeding
him in that post on his death.
Salford was very little different from what it is at present,
with the exception of the changes of ownership and of
tenants. This part of Todmorden was fully described in
a paper by the late Thomas Chambers, which was published
in the “Advertiser” under the title of “The
cradle of Todmorden’s industries.” Cheapside
was at one time known as King-street, but Messrs. Chambers
Bros. changed the name to the one which at present designates
it.
view of the Salford area in 1906
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On the left-hand side of the road at Pickles Bridge, where
now the Post Office stands, was Samuel Hanson’s
grocery and tea shop, which occupation and trade he had
assumed when he gave up the timber trade upon the erection
of dwelling houses on the site of his yard. He was a grandson
of Samuel Hanson who kept the White Hart Inn, and he served
his apprenticeship to the trade of a tea and coffee dealer
out of the town. His shop and house was erected on the
site of the old saw-pit.
Opposite Cheapside was BANKFIELD BUILDINGS, three houses
which had been built by Messrs. Fielden Bros. For three
of their employees, John and Joseph Firth, and William
Howarth, who afterwards ran the Folly and Causey Wood
Mills, and the ALBION MILL at Todmorden. The “Admiral
Lord Nelson Inn” was kept before 1830 by William
Sutcliffe, who was married to a daughter of Jeremiah Bottomley,
of Inchfield Fold, Walsden. The other building in Cheapside
was “John o’ Binns’s Smithy,”
as it was erroneously called, the place being kept by
John Shackleton, son of Benjamin Shackleton of Pudsey,
Cornholme. The only other buildings in Todmorden proper
were the cottages built at the back of the smithy, and
running down the “Giddle Gaddle.” These houses
were built by John Sutcliffe, the carrier, about the year
1820.
Between these old buildings and Dawson Weir was old George
Cockcroft’s sheep field. Dawson Weir was at one
time the old “Coach and Horses Inn,” and later
became the property of the late Mr. John Fielden, before
he became the member for Oldham.
Dobroyd-lane led to two old mills and to a roller maker’s
works, once occupied by John Marland, and afterwards by
Joseph Hirst. At Lower Dobroyd there was George Cockcroft’s
slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop, with several
cottages, and the shop of William Ingham, grocer and clogger.
The next building was the house and schoolroom built by
John Taylor, schoolmaster, the schoolroom extending over
the shops. This school used to be considered the best
institution of its kin in the district. In Dobroyd Canal
Yard were six old houses, which were the property of the
Rochdale Canal Co., but were in the occupation of employee
of Messrs. Fielden Bros. On the other side of the road
was WATERSIDE MILL, the first portion of which was known
as Laneside Mill, which was turned by water power, the
first cotton being worked there about 1783.
On the right hand side of the road was the FIELDEN FACTORY SCHOOL, with the clock tower. The clock was placed there
in 1836. There was a large timber yard and saw pit next
to the school, and the offices for Waterside Mill were
afterwards built here. At the head of Waterside Holme
were the barns and stables belonging to the firm, with
Wadsworth Mill old tollhouse as the next old building.
The mill was an old corn-grinding mill, owned and run
by a man named Wadsworth, the mill power being one horse
or jennet. The whole of the frontage on to the main road
was built upon before 1840, whilst the back-to-back houses
at Waterloo were built by the Fieldens after the battle
of that name.
The Wadsworth Mill Holme, called after the corn miller
mentioned above, is now entirely built over, the extent
being from the stables at the head of Waterside Holme
to the Bridge-end Co-op., the site of which was once occupied
by a smithy and wheelwright’s establishment. About
1837, Thomas Butterworth and others built and ran a bobbin
shop at the canal end of High-street, Shade, and immediately
afterwards William Fielden, coming from a beerhouse in
Hanson’s old timber-yard, Todmorden, built a house
here and kept it as a beerhouse under the name of the WHISKET INN.
Butcher Hill and Knowlwood being older than Shade proper,
it is proposed to take that route first. At the bottom
is Swineshead Clough, where seven new cottages were built
in a garden at the foot of the clough by Wm. Stansfield,
the then owner of the land, and four old cottages higher
up the ravine. The two houses at the top were originally
a small factory owned and run by the Fielden family, of
Middle Swineshead Farm, as a clothing factory.
On the Langfield side of the clough at the bottom were
four houses and a smithy, since rebuilt as Castle-view.
On the Walsden side was the old GUERNING DOG
public house, with several old cottages, the property
of the Fielden family just mentioned, but later owned
by the Fieldens of Allescholes, Walsden. This property
was later pulled down and entirely re-modeled by Mr. James
Crossley, butcher, of Todmorden.
Opposite Bridge-end-terrace, Messrs. Fielden Bros., of
Waterside, built a shop for the Co-operative Society,
the society later on buying up the smithy and wheelwright’s
shop, and erecting the present stores. The rest of the
property along the road was built at different times,
and by different people, though the contractor for many
blocks of the property was John Sutcliffe, a stonemason,
of Knowlwood, who also built the row of houses opposite
the Spinners’ Rest beerhouse before 1820; who also
built more of the blocks on the left-hand side of Knowlwood-road,
and the back-to-back row of houses opposite the Spinners’
Rest. The Black Horse and SPARKS' lodging-house
were built by John Lord, butcher and farmer, of Swineshead
Middle Farm.
The block of houses of which the above named public house
was one, was at one time in the possession of Mr. John
Eastwood, of Eastwood, and behind these cottages was the
old loomshop, the object of which was the relief of the
poor of the district. This was built by the overseers
of Todmorden and Walsden, to accommodate a number of poor
families and to supply them with the means of existence
in the way of handloom weaving, but when the factories
became more common, and the old method of manufacture
passed out of common use, the poor were sent to the GAUXHOLME and other workhouses. This place was built on the site
of the present Speak’s lodging-house, the property
having been purchased by Mr. Thomas Speak from George
Cockcroft, the son of the original owner.
Returning to the starting point at Bridge-end, it may
be noticed that all the property around Little Holme and
Wadsworth Holme belonged at one time to a Mr. Shackleton,
a tanner, of Hebden Bridge, whose daughters married Mr.
John Eastwood, of Eastwood, and Dr. Thomas, of Hebden
Bridge, each of the ladies being dowered with a portion
of the land, and in the latter case with about five or
six houses, three in Little Holme-street and the three
in the main road which are at present used as butcher’s
and drapery shops. When the canal was being made, the
company erected a woodshed, or shade, from which place
the district probably drives its name. All the land in
the vicinity was afterwards built upon, the principal
buildings being the cabinet maker’s shop of Mr.
John Firth, and the carrier’s stables and premises
of John Sutcliffe, at one time a very successful business
man having an extensive connection with the surrounding
districts. |
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The
houses in Lock-st. and Shade-st. were built by Dr
Thomas, but those names were not at first given
to them, and the streets were known generally as
Physic-street. Most of the houses round were built
before 1840, some of the stone coming from the old
Masons’ Arms at Gauxholme, which was demolished
to make room for the railway works. |
Shade Street |
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In
Gauxholme much of the old property remains to this day
just as it was in those times, the tenant of the Masons’
Arms having built the VIADUCT TAVERN when he was compelled
to remove from the old house. When the viaduct was made,
the old corn mill was demolished and moved further back,
and a row of cottages in the corner of Dancroft, which
belonged to Mr. Abraham Stansfield, were taken down and
rebuilt in the Masons’ Arm’s garden next above
the Viaduct beerhouse.
Turning up the Dulesgate valley, we find on the other
side of the viaduct near the canal bridge two old blocks
of houses which are nearly as old as the Black Bull Inn,
they having been there before the new Dulesgate road was
made, the old way up the Bacup road being by a narrow
lane which led past the Black Bull. These buildings were
also in position before the canal was made, and at the
time when the river flowed down by where the lock is now,
the lane going by the side of the river. At this junction
of the road, canal, and river, there was some sixty years
ago a considerable village, which has been very much altered
in the course of time.
Over
the canal bridge is the entrance to the road to PEXWOOD,
or Stones-road, at which place John and Reuben Haigh,
of PASTURESIDE and MOORCOCK, built the first block of
houses in 1836, and at the bottom is the old “driving
gate” or highway leading up past Watty Farm and
on to Sourhall, etc. |
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The
houses at Pexes built by the Haigh brothers in 1836,
and below is Watty Farm.
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On
the left-hand side of the canal bridge was the lane
behind the row of old cottages, which led to the
entrance to Naze-road, and to the entrance to the
Dulesgate-road before the alteration was made by
the Haslingden and Todmorden trustees. This lane
sixty years ago went by the name of “Alleluia-lane,”
and thirty years later was rechristened by the name
of Shipka Pass, after the sanguinary battle of that
name in the war between the Turks and the Bulgarians. |
Gauxholme
from the Naze Road |
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Including
this lane and omitting the canal towing-path, which, of
course, has been used as a public thoroughfare always,
there were thus no less than five high roads leading out
of the old village of Gauxholme.
Higher
up the road was WATTY MILL and Watty-place, which had
been built before 1800 by Mr. Edward Dearden, known, known
generally as “Old Dearden,” who had acquired
the site and water rights from Mr. Robt. Hardman, of Todmorden,
father of Dr. James Hardman. The corn mill was burnt down
before 1820, and it is related that the heat from the
fire was so intense that the door of Watty House opposite
was set on fire. This has been told to the writer by Mr.
Thos. Unsworth, of Knowlwood, who was a young man at the
time of the fire. Mr. Dearden afterwards rebuilt the mill,
and sold it to the Greenwoods of Harehill, together with
the whole of the property in Watty village. Mr. Dearden
retired from active work and took the Haugh House, on the
road up to the UNION WORKHOUSE. The Greenwoods ran the
mill and after 1830 they were also running the Gauxholme
and STONESWOOD MILLS. Owing to some dispute about the
toll house charges, the Greenwoods made a private road
from the Watty mill to the canal wharf, and so evaded
the payment of the toll which had hitherto been charged
by the authorities. These same Greenwoods were also pretty
extensive farmers in the district.
Watty
in 2004
Further up the road, FRITHS MILL, then in the possession
of Mr. Wm. Helliwell, was in full swing in 1840, the work
having been very slack for a year or two before, during
which time Mr. Helliwell employed his men in felling the
timber in Friths Wood, and setting his men to stub the
land and make it into a meadow. Milking Green cottages
were also the property of this gentleman, another house
being added about that time to the seven or eight which
had previously been there. Above Frog Hole was another
row of houses which Mr. Helliwell had built, which passed
by the name of Brass Nob Row.
STONESWOOD, or more properly the Inchfield Pasture cotton
mill, was another of the outside mills posses by the Fieldens
of Waterside, the motive power of the mill being the Dulesgate
stream. This mill had been run by James Stansfield Marshall
(commonly called Jim o’ Mary’s), Charles Barker,
and Luke Hamer, but on the latter’s death, the mill
was bought by the Fieldens, and the original owners continued
the manufacture of cotton pieces in their own houses.
Higher up the road was the other STONESWOOD MILL, a corn
mill of about the same age as the one at Gauxholme, which
belonged to Mr. Hardman. This mill has been transformed
into the works of Messrs. Sunderland and Mercer, and a
row of modern cottages and houses has displaced the old
cottages, which used to stand there.
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Gorpley
Mill
The
GORPLEY MILL was built by the Madens of Bacup in
1805 on the extreme corner of their Gorpley estate, and
was used as a raising place for their flannel pieces.
This mill afterwards passed into the hands of Mrs. John
Ormerod, of Todmorden-edge, whose sons afterwards improved
it out of all knowledge several bays being added to the
mill, and power looms installed, with the necessary steam
power appliances, but soon after 1850 the machinery was
removed, and the mill once again became derelict, and
the materials of which it was built were sold by auction,
and removed from the site.
photographs of White Hart Fold, Church
St., Salford and Gorpley Mill
by kind permission of Roger
Birch
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