‘Iron church’, textile giants and industrial chain gangs
The second of our two-part feature on the history of Milnrow and Newhey looks at churches, homes and industry
●●MOORHOUSE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, MILNROW:
On the last Sunday in January of 1851, according to a brief historical record in a booklet printed for a ‘grand bazaar’ in 1909, the first services were held in a room in King’s Street.
The room in which the school was started soon became too small and efforts were made to obtain better accommodation – with church members being asked to subscribe to the costs. Most of the members were poor, but they raised the sum of £74 and decided to build a church.
By 1853 they had indeed built a school – Chapel, at a cost of £326.
●●ST STEPHEN’S CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH:
In Milnrow, the members of the St Stephen’s Countess of Huntingdon Connexion worshipped at the British School first of all, then they built a school known as St Stephen’s, at Lowfield.
The site was later occupied by Holroyds, who were taken over by Reynolds.
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon set up residences in various towns, so that she could legitimately appoint a chaplain for each.
In this way she was able to offer ‘livings’ to a number of outspoken clergymen who were deemed ‘too enthusiastic’ by the Anglican Church – due to their leanings towards methodism or calvinism.
The earliest record of a ‘Connexion’ church in Rochdale is 1811, when they met in an old theatre.
In 1812 they built a large church in Ball Street. The Connexion opened a school in Milnrow in 1840. In 1860 a site near the Slip Inn was leased and a church was built there. It opened on October 27, 1861. In 1865 the church members joined the Congregational Union, severing their links to the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion.
●●ST ANN’S, BELFIELD:
In the late 1880s, the Parish of St James, Milnrow, shared a boundary with St Peter’s Church, Newbold.
In 1899, Sunday evening services were being held in a room at Firgrove Conservative Club.
By February 1901, a growth in attendance led to the use of a larger room at the local Co-op.
In May 1901, a Sunday School was instituted at the Co-op, with a Sunday evening service and mother’s meetings during the week.
For morning services, people still went to St James’ in Milnrow itself.
In a parish magazine of September 1903, the idea of a new parish formed from part of Milnrow and part of Newbold was put forward.
In 1905, an ‘iron church’ was purchased from Isaac Dixon & Co, Liverpool, at a cost of £900.
The first service was held in November that year. By 1910 the debt on the ‘tin church’ had been cleared and a fund was opened for the building of a permanent church. St Ann’s was formed into a Parish in 1911. The church today was consecrated on October 2, 1913 by Dr E A Knox, Bishop of Manchester.
●●HALLS AND HOUSES:
Old houses and family estates in the area included Belfield Hall, Butterworth Hall, Schofield Hall, Newbold Hall and Clegg Hall, which was on the border with Littleborough.
Other old buildings of note include many of the old farms like Wildhouse, Birchinley, Ladyhouse (demolished for the M62), Lower Crows Nest and Gartside, etc.
Later buildings included Cliffe House in Milnrow, now the site of the war memorial.
●●TEXTILES:
Woollen manufacture was the earliest textile industry in Milnrow and Newhey – as in other local areas it began with the domestic industry – carding, spinning and handloom weaving in the home, ●●Ellenroad and Garfield Mills, taken from Gartside Farm fields looking towards St Thomas Church Newhey. Ellenroad is on the left, Garfield the right. Taken around 1900 and progressed to mills.
The 1814 to 1815 commercial directory lists three woollen manufacturers in Milnrow - James Barnes & Son, John Schofield & John Sutcliffe. Williams Directory for 1845 lists five woollen manufacturers in Milnrow and two in Newhey.
The same directory lists one cotton spinner in Milnrow and three in Newhey.
By the 1870s, cotton was beginning to outstrip wool as the main textile industry in Milnrow.
More cotton mills came into operation after the dawn of the 20th century.
The Lowfield Spinning Co Ltd at Firgrove, now Cords Ltd, was formed in 1900 and the Birch Waste Mills Ltd at Belfield, was formed in 1903.
The Coral Mill Ltd, New Hey, and the Milnrow Spinning Co Ltd were both established in 1907, the latter being acquired by the C W S in March, 1950.
The Ellenroad Ring Mill Ltd, New Hey, was constituted in 1919, the Harbour Lane Spinning Co Ltd, Milnrow, in 1924, and finally, the Burnedge Mill of J Barnes & Sons. Ltd in the following year.
●●COAL:
Coalmining was also important in the area. The manor Survey for 1626 shows that two mines had been sunk on ‘stinted common land’ at Haugh Hey, above Ogden.
Later there were collieries at Thistley Field, Crow nest, Schofield Hall, Whitaker, Shaw Moss, Shore Lane, Jubilee, Butterworth Hall and Tunshill.
Flooding of the underground workings led to the closure of the pits at Butterworth Hall and Jubilee in 1928, although Butterworth Hall still had its uses – it was purchased by Oldham Corporation for use as an underground reservoir, with upwards of a million gallons of water per day being pumped to Piethorne Reservoir.
The headstock of Butterworth Hall mine was pulled down in October 1950.
●●CHAINMAKING IN THE 19TH CENTURY:
Unusually for the area, women worked as chainmakers in Milnrow during the late 19th century.
Adam Hill of Butterworth Hall lived in a cottage next to the Waggoner’s Inn. He was a blacksmith who employed mostly women in his chainmaking business. There was at least one other Milnrow blacksmith who also employed women as chainmakers, although we do not know his name.
●●FARMING:
Farming was an important part of the local economy in the Milnrow area.
It was mostly hill farming of course, on marginal land that was not very fertile.
Sheep were important, and most farmers would have some cattle – particularly dairy cattle as dairy farming was quite profitable in areas close to industrial towns like Rochdale.
Duncan’s Rochdale Directory for 1894-95 lists a total of 71 farms in the Milnrow area.
These include 41 in the Belfield Ward (an area that included Buckley Hill, Clegg hall Broad lane and Wildhouse) and 30 in the Milnrow Ward.
The photograph of the Agricultural Show in 1919 was taken from Ladyhouse farmhouse and shows Garfield Mill in the distance, with the ruins of Ellenroad Mill closer, on the left.
Ellenroad burned down in a disastrous fire on Wednesday, January 19, 1916.
Garfield Mill was demolished in 1968. The farmhouse and other dwellings at ladyhouse had been demolished a year earlier, in 1967, in preparation for the building of the M62 Motorway.
Other industries – as described in the Milnrow Guide of the 1950s:
“Other factors in Milnrow’s industrial development have been the establishing of such industries as