Fighting Men & Forging Iron

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* Tentering Tower

The Tower at Stubbins ~ Stretching on tenter hooks

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This is an unusual building because its purpose seems twofold. It served not only the textile industry (the woollen mill at the bottom of the hill) but also acted as a focal point in the landscape … someone was showing off!

The process of tentering was important in textile manufacture, and the term ‘tenterhooks’ is still commonly used to describe being in a strained state of anticipation. Tentering involved stretching newly made cloth fixed to wooden frames with a series of sharply pointed hooks, allowing the cloth to keep its shape as it dried. Usually, the tentering frames were arranged in rows on sheltered, sunny slopes, but this one was covered to protect against the region’s rainy climate.

It is uncertain whether this tower was used solely for tentering or also for storing cloth, either before or after it was stretched.

The building, made of local stone with plaster and timber lining, reflects the confidence and self-assurance that the industrialists felt at the time and may also have been built to send a strong message to competitors. It was originally only one story, but an extra level was added, hence the odd positioning of the staircase … an afterthought! The square tower was meant to be an eye-catching local landmark, so it sits at the edge of the hill with steep drops below. Ornamental battlements top three sides, as can be seen from the village below. There are no battlements on the west (rear) side; this is where the workers accessed the tower … obviously, no expense was thought necessary here!

The factory it belonged to was Stubbins Vale Mill. The mill was built in 1851 as a manufacturing plant that produced woollen cloth … the tower was constructed soon after, in 1866. A local textile manufacturing family owned it … the Porritts. 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. Richard bequeathed nearly 500 acres of the Stubbins Estate to the National Trust, including the magical Ox Hey Woods and Buckden Woods … we enjoy exploring both on this walk!

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* Targets

Target Pit ~ Enfield practice 1859

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Bury, and these moors are synonymous with the Lancashire Fusiliers. However, they did not come to the town (Wellington Barracks) until the 1870s. The regiment originated as the 20th Foot in Devon, so why did they move here? … we are in the heart of Industrial Revolution country, prime for recruiting from a booming population. In recognition of the county, they changed their name to the LFs in 1881.

From the mid-19th century, firearm hardware developed rapidly. Up to then, muskets were used … they would have been lucky to have reached 100 yards! The current firing range towards Hawkshaw (on the Reddisher Estate) is a multi-target complex (including provision for machine guns), but wasn’t opened until 1912. Three simpler ranges, much older, are located around Bull Hill and White Hill.

RANGE ONE – 1853 – Britain was preparing for war against the Russian Empire. It responded to Russia’s attempt to dominate Turkey. The Crimean War (1854-57) was remembered for great gallantry but also great incompetence!

The 88th Regiment of Foot (later the Connaught Rangers) was briefly barracked at Bury. They camped on Harcles Hill, hastily trying to get used to the newly introduced Pattern P53 Enfield rifle-musket. The lead cylindrical bullets could reach their cast-iron targets up to 1000 yards away. Our target of interest lay on the western slopes of Harcles Hill, towards the western slopes of Bull Hill.

The 88th went on to see action at Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol.

RANGE TWO – 1860 to 1898 – in 1859, the perceived threat once again came from France (Napoleon III).

The 57th Volunteer Rifle Corps used this range, based in Ramsbottom and Tottington. This period saw a further progression in rifle and bullet technology. The targets were made of cast or wrought iron. The shooter needed to know exactly where he hit the target, so another soldier (a marker) stood 15 yards offset from the target behind a shield (mantlet). He would indicate the shot location on a dummy target positioned above the mantlet.

Soft lead bullets hitting the iron target would disintegrate, contaminating the surrounding ground and stunning vegetation for decades!

RANGE THREE (the pit is flagged) – 1898 – 1914 – by now, the 57th Volunteers (precursor to the Territorials) were part of the 3rd Corps K Company (Ramsbottom).

As emphasis on safety came to the fore, targets were now made of penetrable canvas stretched over a wooden frame. The marker could mechanically withdraw them behind the safety of a mantlet for scoring and patching. The common practice (as here on Holcombe) was to dig a dedicated target pit.

The pit remains to this day. It measures 45 x 15′ and is lined with dressed stone; a flight of steps leads into it. Its size suggests it could have accommodated four targets. Evidence suggests a degraded low mantlet protected the pit, but no trace of a purpose-built stop-butt. It was assumed that the naturally rising soft ground at the rear of the pit was high and angled enough to safely retain bullets. A search of the area has only produced a few .303″ bullets.

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* Pilgrims’ Cross

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A number of authors claim that Medieval pilgrims passed here to pray and rest on their way from Manchester Church (Cathedral?) to Whalley Abbey. Some conjecture exists because the facts don’t entirely add up … Manchester was an insignificant village back then and held no important religious relics to attract 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 so did Sawley Abbey (a little further 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, an ancient highway ran from south to north, very close to this site).

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

Monuments on ridgeways like this would have been invaluable guideposts for Medieval travellers, showing how far you had travelled and helping orientate you in bad weather. Navigating by landmarks would have been crucial in upland and moorland environments, so people would have named crosses and large prehistoric burial mounds. Originally, locals knew this monument as Whowell’s Cross and Chatterton’s Cross.

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St.Mary’s, Whalley ~ Manchester Cathedral

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*Iron Forge

Bay (Paddy’s) Pond ~ Bloomery

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Marked on the map in Gothic script is “Paddy’s Bay” (this water feature was later restored by the MoD as ‘Paddy’s Pond’), thought to be the site of a Tudor ironworks. Further archaeological investigation has now proven the date and location are wrong!

Archaeologists discovered two bloomeries (a bloomery is a furnace used to smelt iron ore) a little further southeast in Cinder Hill Field.

Local history suggests the iron workings in this area were assumed to date to the Tudor period (1485-1603). However, excavation evidence shows that activity on the site took place during the 12th-14th centuries. Charcoal fragments were carbon-dated, and the project recovered many contemporary fragments of Medieval (1066-1485) pottery sherds. This dating fits in nicely with the period when the Priory of Monk Bretton at Barnsley owned vast estates (from 1225 until the 1539 Dissolution), including here at the Forest of Holcombe. The monks needed high-quality tools for ploughing, sheep clipping, tree felling, butchery and building.

Although the iron ore source is unconfirmed, it was probably extracted from the immediate vicinity. It may also have been brought to the site from further afield. The charcoal for the furnaces would have been produced in the valley, because it could not be easily transported due to its fragile nature. Iron ore seams in the valley are clearly visible in the brook’s eroded banks.

Once mined, they would have washed the ore, probably in Red Brook (perhaps its name comes from the leeching of iron ore into the stream), then roasted on open fires to start the chemical reactions needed in the smelting process. They would then mix with charcoal and place in a shaft furnace, built from clay found throughout the valley, where they would heat to around 1100-1300 degrees Celsius until a bloom of wrought iron formed in the furnace. They removed any waste from the furnace by “tapping” the base to allow the molten slag to flow out. They then took the bloom to a smithing hearth (string hearth), reheated it and hammered it until was converted into a bar (or billet) of wrought iron, which they then either sold or used to make iron tools.

FURNACE LOCATION - from the Engine House > cross the brook over the footbridge > 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 site of two very well-preserved bloomery furnaces (excavated 2018 - 2023)

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* Engine House

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These intriguing ruins are those of an early Industrial Revolution engine house. Cinder Hill Engine House was constructed between the late 1780s and the early 1790s. Laurence Brandwood built it, and his son John ran it; they lived nearby at Holcombe Hey Fold 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. Archaeological evidence showed that a ‘breast shot’ fed the water, meaning it entered level with the wheel’s axle 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, a leat from a weir 100 yards upstream of Red Brook supplied the reservoir.

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 twisted, or because the machinery it powered was modified. An unusual feature in the ruin is the large fireplace. This may have contained a large cauldron of boiling water. The water vapour could have kept the air in the room humid to facilitate spinning. The stonework next to the footbridge once supported a trackway that crossed the brook, ran up the eastern side of the valley and joined Moorbottom Road.

In 1825, John Parker, a very wealthy cotton spinner, took over the Cinder Hill Estate. He constructed a new building 200 yards downstream … 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 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 were no longer required. The former engine house did not, however, fall into disuse … it was converted into accommodation (three cottages) 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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Although drystone walls are a familiar sight on our walking adventures, the vertically placed rectangular slabs we come across on to-day’s walk are less well known. They are called ‘vaccary walls’ … vaccaria in Latin means cows. They restricted the movement of livestock, particularly cattle. They are similar to ‘shard fencing’ (interlocking stone slabs) in the Lakes.

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* Redisher Bleach & Dye Works

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Redisher Works once stood here, built next to Holcombe Brook. It also fell within the boundary of land granted to the monks of Monk Bretton Priory in 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 work 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”.

Samuel Knowles built the business in 1866. He was important to the local textile-finishing industry, owning the nearby Tottington & Kirklees printworks, and introduced ground-breaking textile-printing techniques. Under his ownership, he modified the buildings and reservoirs and 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 Knowles partially funded it 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 locally influential, serving as the Conservative MP for Bury from 1918 to 1935. Following the takeover, the site diversified, incorporating dyeing … and was renamed the Redisher Bleach & Dye Works. By the 1920s, the works had expanded, comprising an L-shaped range surrounded by ancillary buildings. It operated until it closed in 1961, with 80 employees.

Workers excavated both circular and rectangular dyeing vats here before the housing estate was built. One of these vats has been replicated at the brick information board. The circular vats (‘dye vessels’) were used to mix dyes in the early 20th century. They added a mordant, traditionally alum. In the mid-20th century, they were replaced by the rectangular vats (‘dye becks’) used to dye cloth, by which time synthetic dyes had been introduced.

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Holcombe Brook developed as a village in the early 19th century when it became the crossroads of two major turnpike roads, which converged at Alter Bridge (the junction outside the Hare & Hounds) and the brook’s crossing.

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INFORMATION:

DISTANCE: 7.7 miles

CLIMBING: 1401 feet

ORIENTATION: Linear/East to West

START: Ramsbottom / FINISH: Holcombe Brook

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 / IF RED FLAGES FLYING, YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO CROSS MoD LAND … ALTERNATIVE ROUTE ON MAP – – – – –

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/holcombe-moor-firing-times.

DOGS: On lead at all times (plus on buses). All facilities in HB are dog-friendly

PRODUCED AND NARRATED BY: Vinne Anderson

CAMERA WORK BY: Jon Shedwick

MUSIC: “The Lancashire Fusiler” by The Houghton Weavers

INCIDENTAL MUSIC: “Over The Moors” by Stockton’s Wings

DISCLAIMER: No drone shots were taken from or over MoD land

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

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: GATIS ODINS / BILL FLENTJE / KEITH BURROUGHS / SYLVIA WALCH / NEIL COLDRICK

This was ... "Fighting Men & Forging Iron"
The Blue Fox Team will return in ... "Stand & Deliver"

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Pilgrims’ Way … In Pictures

St James’, Haslingden ~ Robin Hood’s Well, Holcombe Moor

Ellen Strange’s Memorial, Holcombe Moor ~ Pilgrims’ Cross, Holcombe Moor

Cross, Affetside ~ Christ Church, Cockey

St Mary’s, Radcliffe ~ Tower, Radcliffe

Kersal Cell, Salford ~ The Angel Stone, Manchester Cathedral