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* Tentering Tower

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This is an unusual building in that its purpose seems to have been twofold. It served not only as part of the textile industry but was also built in such a way as to act as a point of focus on the landscape.

The process of tentering was important in the manufacture of textiles and the term ‘tenterhooks’ is still in common use to describe stretching and straining. Tentering involved the stretching of cloth fixed to wooden frames by a series of sharply pointed hooks, this allowed the cloth to keep its shape whilst it dried. Usually, the tentering frames were located in rows on sheltered and sunny slopes, but this one was undercover to protect from the region’s rainy climate.

It is uncertain whether this tower was used for tentering or the storage of cloth either before or after it had been stretched.

The building, made from local stone with plaster and timber lining, demonstrates the confidence and self-assurance that the industrialists felt at the time and may have also been built to deliver a strong message to their competitors. It was originally one story, but an extra level was added, hence the odd positioning of the staircase … an afterthought!

The factory to which it belonged was built in 1877 by a local textile manufacturing family … Porritt. The family is still remembered with fondness and the death of their only son, Richard, early in WWII, was seen as a tragic loss for both the family and community.

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* Targets

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Our site is depicted on the 1893 OS map, but not on any successive editions … it was a Crimean War firing range. Although there was a smaller target to the east, this one was a longer range and consisted of a firing positions at intervals of 100 to 600 yards to the south-east. The smaller target was constructed a little later in the 1860’s, it was a 200 yard range for use by the Lancashire Volunteers.

What we have survived is the ramped earth bank, a substantial retaining wall for it, a pit in which the targets would be raised and lowered either mechanically or by hand and some steps out of the pit. Soldiers, whose duty it was to attend to the targets, would have been in the pit area, protected by the earth bank, but not daring to put their heads above it! Stray bullets must have landed on the slope of the hill.

The Crimean War was between 1853 and 1856. It was one of the British Army’s greatest failures … infamously remembered in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s narrative poem … ‘The Charge Of The Light Brigade’. It was also the war in which Florence Nightingale became famous when she organised care for wounded soldiers.

Although this military area is synonymous with the Lancashire Fusiliers, it is thought that the Connaught Rangers (88th Regiment of Foot … ‘The Devil’s Own’) were encamped on Harcles Hill during the Crimean War.

All of this predates the current MoD firing range just to the south-west … created in 1912 and covering 900 acres, to accommodate the development of firearm technology. The regiment that was going to become the Lancashire Fusiliers did not begin its association with Bury until 1873, by moving to Wellington Barracks.

The pit is solidly built from local stone, but there is some later brick and concrete additions … we are unsure about their purpose(???).Local opposition to the range

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* Pilgrims’ Cross

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A number of authors have claimed that Medieval pilgrims passed here, to pray and rest, on their way from Manchester Church (Cathedral?) to Whalley Abbey. There is some conjecture about this, because the facts don’t entirely add up … Manchester was an insignificant village back then and held no important religious relics to attract the pilgrims. The cross was first referred to in 1176 (but was probably much older … Saxon), Whalley Abbey didn’t exist then! … although Whalley Church did and also Sawley Abbey (a little further to the east), was this their destination? Geographically, all does add up … draw a straight line between Manchester Cathedral and Whalley … Pilgrims’ Cross lies nicely on the ‘flight path’! (from the 1780 map, there was an ancient highway running from south to north and very close to this site).

The original cross was estimated to stand ten feet high. It is thought to have been destroyed during the Civil War … perhaps by local farmer, George Whowell, in revenge for his family being attacked and murdered by Royalists. Whowell also offered to be the executioner of the Earl of Derby in 1651! The large cube-shaped monument that stands to-day on the site of the Pilgrims’s Cross, tells a story on each of its for sides. The socket that the cross stood on was destroyed by vandals in 1901 and in 1902 the present monument stone was put in place.

Monuments on ridgeways like this would have been invaluable guideposts for Medieval travellers, both as a means of knowing how far you have travelled and as a way to orientate yourself in bad weather. Navigating by landmarks would have been crucial in upland and moorland environments, so crosses and large prehistoric burial mounds would all have been named. Originally, this monument was known as Whowell’s Cross and Chatterton’s Cross.

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*Iron Forge

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Marked on the map in Gothic writing is “Paddy’s Bar” (this water feature was later restored by the MoD as ‘Paddy’s Pond) which is thought to be the location of a Tudor iron works. Further to archaeological investigation, the date and location are now proven to be incorrect!

The location of two bloomeries (a bloomery is a furnace used for smelting iron ore) was discovered a little further to the southeast in Cinder Hill Field.

According to local history, the iron workings in this area were assumed to be Tudor (1485-1603) in date. Evidence from the excavations has shown that the activity on the site took place during the 12th-14th centuries. Charcoal fragments were carbon tested and many contemporary fragments of Medieval (1066-1485) pottery sherds were discovered during the project. This dating fits in nicely with the period that the Priory of Monk Bretton at Barnsley owned vast estates, including the Forest of Holcombe. The monks needed high-quality tools for ploughing, sheep clipping, tree felling, butchery and building tools.

Although the location of the iron ore has not been confirmed, it would have probably been extracted from the immediate vicinity. In addition, it could have been brought onto the site from further afield. The charcoal for the furnaces would have been produced in the valley, due to the fact that it could not be easily transported due to its fragile nature. There are certainly iron ore seams in the valley which can be seen in the eroded banks of the brook.

Once mined, the ore would have been washed, probably in Red Brook (perhaps its naming comes from the leeching of iron ore into the stream), then it would be roasted on open fires to start the chemical processes needed in the smelting process. The ore would then be mixed with the charcoal and placed into a shaft furnace, constructed using the clay that is found in many places throughout the valley, where it would be heated to around 1100-1300 degrees Celsius until a bloom of wrought iron was formed in the furnace. Any waste would be removed from the furnace by means of “tapping” the base of the furnace to allow the molten slag to flow out. The bloom would then be taken to a smithing hearth (string hearth) and then re-heated and hammered until the bloom was converted into a bar (or billet) of wrought iron which would then be either sold or used to make iron tools.

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* Engine House, Bottoms

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These intriguing ruins are that of an early Industrial Revolution engine house. Cinder Hill Engine House was constructed between the late 1780s and the early 1790s. It was built by Laurence Brandwood and ran by his son John, they lived at nearby Holcombe Hey Farm and Cinder Hill Farm.

Initially, the engine house was a small, three-storey, building and it may well have carried out all the processes of textile production. A typical arrangement might have carding > spinning > weaving …each process occurring on a separate floor. The spinning was powered by a 16-foot diameter water wheel. The archaeology showed that this was fed by a ‘breast shot’, meaning water was fed in level with the axle of the wheel, and then flowed down and under the wheel to turn it. A reservoir at the back of the building fed the water to the wheel. In turn, the reservoir was supplied by a leat from a weir 100 yards upstream of Red Brook.

Machine parts recovered in the excavation could be pieces of spinning machines, possibly showing they were using technology such as Richard Arkwright’s Water Frame or Samuel Crompton’s Spinning Mule. Archaeological excavations have revealed that the water wheel had to be repositioned at some point (a stone plinth was placed over where the wheel stood). This could be because it had become twisted or the machinery it powered had been modified. An unusual feature in the ruin is the large fireplace. This may have contained a large cauldron of boiling water. The water vapour produced could have kept the humid air in the room damp to facilitate spinning. The stonework next to the footbridge once supported a trackway that went over the brook and made its way up the eastern side of the valley and joined up with Moorbottom Road.

In 1825, the Cinder Hill Estate was taken over by John Parker, a very wealthy cotton spinner. He constructed a new building 200 yards down stream … the Cinder Hill Factory, a cotton waste spinning mill.

The engine house was then put to a different use … the wheel pit was filled in and the building was now being used for bleaching or some kind of finishing process for the textiles produced in the new factory downstream. By the late 1830s, the bleaching and finishing process was no longer required. The former engine house did not, however, fall into disuse … it was converted into accommodation for some of Parker’s workers and became known as ‘Bottoms’. By the 1870s, in line with the Factory, the cottages fell into disuse.

In the years just before WWI, the army took over this part of Holcombe Moor, they have stayed here ever since. During the 1970s, all the remaining farm buildings and ruins in the valley were demolished under the orders of the MoD.

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* Redisher Bleach & Dye Works

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Here once stood Redisher Works, built next to Holcombe Brook. It also came within the boundary of land granted to the monks of Monk Bretton Priory during the late Medieval period and lay in very close proximity to the site of a manorial corn mill first mentioned in 1246.

It was probably established in the early 19th century , and by 1841 it was a bleach works operated by Ambrose Wilkinson. From the 1840s to 1860s, it was a large rectangular two-storey building, powered by both a waterwheel and a small steam engine, surrounded by three large reservoirs. Between 1850 and 1864, the success of these works resulted in the construction of another building, listed in historical records as a “chemical works”.

The business was purchased by Samuel Knowles in 1866. He was important to the local textile-finishing industry, owning the nearby Tottington & Kirklees printworks, and introduced ground-breaking techniques of textile printing. Under his ownership, the buildings and reservoirs were modified, and he also established a small brickworks. The site was further enhanced in 1882 when a branch railway was opened (over the main road where the precinct now is), operated by the Bury & Tottington District Railway Company. This greatly improved transport, allowing coal to be delivered cheaply, and was part-funded by Samuel Knowles to connect his textile-finishing works to Bury, and ultimately Manchester.

Samuel Knowles & Co sold the Redisher Bleach Works to Charles Ainsworth in 1898, whose family had bleach works at Bolton. He was also influential locally, being the Conservative MP for Bury between 1918 and 1935. Following the takeover, the site diversified incorporating dyeing … being renamed the Redisher Bleach & Dye Works. The works had expanded by the 1920s, comprising a L-shaped range surrounded by ancillary buildings. It continued to operate until its closure in 1961 when it had 80 employees.

Both circular and rectangular dyeing vats were excavated here, prior to the building of the housing estate. One of these vats has been replicated at the site of the brick information site. The circular vats (‘dye vessels’) were used to mix dyes in the early 20th century works. A mordent, traditionally alum, was added. These were replaced in the mid-20th century by the rectangular vats (‘dye becks’) used to dye cloth, by which time synthetic dyes were introduced.

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INFORMATION:

DISTANCE: 7.6 miles

CLIMBING: 1431 feet

ORIENTATION: Circular/Anti-Clockwise

BUS: Outward – No.472 Bury Interchange Stand P > Cross Street Stop C, Ramsbottom

BUS: Inward – No.474 Opposite Hare & Hounds, Holcombe Brook > Bury Interchange

END OF WALK PUB: Hare & Hounds, Holcombe Brook

EATING PLACES: The Bower, HB / Hare & Hounds, HB

COMMENTS: Exposed moorland crossing

DOGS: On lead at all times. All facilities in HB are dog-friendly

PRODUCED AND NARRATED BY: Vinne Anderson

CAMERA WORK BY: Jon Shedwick

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SOURCES OF INFORMATION: HOLCOMBE MOOR HERITAGE GROUP/HOLCOMBE HISTORY SOCIETY/28 DAYS LATER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: NEIL COLDRICK

This was ... "Fighting Men Of Iron"
Blue Fox will return in ... "This Ole House"

According to mapping, the location of the iron working site is around the area of Paddy’s Pond but this was an assumed position and is in fact incorrect. The location of the bloomery furnaces is on the opposite side of the brook in a field known as Cinder Hill Field. When you cross Red Brook over the bridge near the engine house, follow the path to the right of the seating circle up onto Cinder Hill Field. As you walk by the trees on your left, you may notice that there is a flatter area towards the top of the field, this is the siting of two very well preserved bloomery furnaces which we excavated between 2018 – 2023.

The engine house was excavated by our group between 2013 – 2017, during which we found that the water wheel was actually situated immediately to the right of the left most bay as you stand looking at the remains. The stone work next to the footbridge once supported a trackway that went over the brook and made its way up the eastern side of the valley and joined up with

Although we are familiar with drystone walls, the vertically placed rectangular stone slabs are called vaccary walls. The name comes from the Latin word for cows … “vaccaria” and were used to restrict the movement of livestock, particularly cattle. similar to shard fencing (interlocking stone slabs) in the Lakes