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Saturday 4 April 2009

Saturday in Saddleworth - Saddleworth Church



This is the first of a series of visits to nearby Saddleworth.

Saddleworth is an area that is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and now forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. It is deep in the Pennine hills, around the headwaters of the River Tame, with stone being the main building material.

Although only around 4 to 8 miles from the centre of Ashton, parts of Saddleworth look as if they could be 50 miles away in the Yorkshire Dales!

The first photo shows Saddleworth parish church of St Chad's. The church dates from around 1200, although probably none of the building is original - the tower was rebuilt in 1746 and most of the rest in 1832! Although Saddleworth is made up of a number of villages, the church stands in near isolation high up on the hillside above Uppermill, although it does have the Church Inn to keep it company.

The church is the focus of the annual rush cart festival which takes place in August.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

If you were hoping to see a photo in the Stalybridge Saturday series, there will be one next week!

6 comments:

  1. A strong easterly wind blowing I see.
    A wonderful picture!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its location sounds marvelous! This is the first time I've heard about a church inn, though. Sounds interesting. Do they rent out rooms?

    ReplyDelete
  3. St Chad's has a legend attached to it. Apparently the original site was to have been on Brown Hill nearby (my cousin lives on Brownhill Lane in Uppermill). But every night the stones were moved to the site where the church now stands. The builders eventually gave up & built the church on its present site. The fairies who were reputed to have moved the stones were driven out by the church bells whose loud chimes put their own fairy bells out of tune. There's a Grey Lady supposed to haunt the church. In the churchyard there's a memorial to a father and son who kept a hostelry known as The Moorcock Inn on the road to Holmfirth. They were murdered in 1832, hacked and bludgeoned to death with a shovel. The murderer was never caught. (thanks to Mysterious Britain for details)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I do believe that the Moorcock murders are comonly known as "The Bills O Jacks Murders"

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  5. Saddleworth is in the West Riding of Yorkshire
    adminstered by Oldham Borough Council
    It is not "Historically" in West Riding It still is

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you read what I wrote, pajamahead, you will see that it is perfectly correct. I wrote "Saddleworth is an area that is historically part of the West Riding" not "that was historically part of the West Riding."

    ReplyDelete

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