Saddleworth Historical Society Bulletin

Volume 50 Number 2 2020

Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society

Volume 50 Number 2 2020

Locating the “Far Famed Bill’s o’ Jack’s” 35 Terry Wyke

The Schofields of Hollingreave (Part 3 - A Postscript) 46 Phil Wild

The Kernel - A recently discovered morale boosting pamphlet from a First World War troop ship 56

Obituary, James Colin Carr (1928-2020) 61

Obituary, Barbara Booth (1932-2020) 63

Cover Illustration: Edwardian ladies on an outing to Bill’s o’ Jack’s

Edited by Mike Buckley Printed by Taylor & Clifton, Uppermill

© 2020 Saddleworth Historical Society and individual contributors and creators of images.

i

ii SHSB. VOL. 50. NO. 2, 2020

LOCATING THE “FAR-FAMED BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

Terry Wyke Historians have long recognised the differences between national and local narratives of the past, and their importance in defining and reinforcing meanings of identity in communities.1 This is especially evident in Saddleworth when considering the year 1832 where the narrative is dominated by the murders of William and Thomas Bradbury rather than the reactions to the passage of the Reform Bill, the Asiatic cholera epidemic or the campaign to reduce working hours in textile mills. It is Bill’s o’ Jack’s that has fixed 1832 as a noteworthy year in the local chronology. That a crime committed nearly two centuries ago has continued to occupy such a prominent place in the history of the community can be partly explained by the fact that it had the defining features of a ‘sensational murder’. First, the double murder in a remote location was extremely brutal - the grisly details of the attack being widely reported in the Yorkshire and Lancashire newspapers, and then in other newspapers whose editors were aware, long before the establishment of a popular press, that news of a savage murder would be widely read. Thus the reports of the ‘frightful murders in Saddleworth’ read by metropolitan readers in the Observer were copied from the Leeds Mercury, whose own reports had likewise been taken from other newspapers. Original reports of the murder and inquest were few, the most detailed of which appear to have been provided by the Oldham-born journalist Edwin Butterworth.2 Second, the limited investigative powers of the local officials, even when buttressed by a substantial £100 reward, were unable to solve the crime.3 Relying principally on the evidence presented at the inquest, two lines of explanation came to dominate the public discourse about the perpetrators and their motives: namely that the murders had been carried out by a local person or persons who may have had a dispute with the family, or that it was an anonymous random act committed by strangers passing through the district. This latter explanation focused on Irish itinerant workers, reflecting anti-Irish prejudices widespread at the time. These suspicions were to result in a number of individuals being detained, including Charles Mullins in Delph and William Stephenson - ‘who looked like an Irishman’ - in Rotherham.4 Interest in the murders continued in the following years. This was the case in 1845 when John Priestley, a navvy, talking in a beershop in Birkby, Huddersfield, provided such details about the murders that he was detained by the police before eventually being freed.5 Other suspects could not be interrogated. There were reports in the Huddersfield press in 1853 that a man, James Hill, who had been transported to Australia had confessed to the murders of the Bradburys before being executed for another murder.6 Writers, especially those with local connections, also responded to the public fascination with the crime. What became one of the most influential accounts of the murders was to be found in Joseph Bradbury’s Saddleworth Sketches (1871). This had originally appeared in the Oldham Chronicle but when it was republished, the editor of the paper, Jonathan Hirst, no doubt aware of its commercial potential, provided a more detailed account of the crime and suspects, drawing in particular on contemporary newspaper reports. This essay was given added significance when it became one of the main sources informing Joseph Burgess’s novel Bill’s o’ Jack’s (1902).

1 J.D. Marshall, The Tyranny of the Discrete: A Discussion of the Problems of Local History in England, (Routledge, 1997). 2 M. Winstanley, ‘News from Oldham: Edwin Butterworth and the Manchester Press, 1829-1848’, Manchester Region History Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, (1990), pp. 3-10. 3 R.W. England, Jnr, ‘Investigating Homicides in Northern England, 1800-1824’, Criminal Justice History, Vol. 6, (1985), pp. 203-214. 4 Manchester Courier, 14 April 1832. 5 Manchester Guardian, 30 April 1845. 6 N. Barrow and T. Wyke, ‘Savagely Murdered in an Unusually Horrid Manner’, Saddleworth Historical Society Bulletin (SHSB), Vol. 17, No. 1-2 (1987), pp. 1-24.

35 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

Burgess is now rightly remembered as one of the key figures in the founding of the Independent Labour Party in 1893, before going on to spend some years as an active organiser. Journalism provided him with an income.7 His career in journalism began in 1881 when he joined the staff of the Oldham Evening Express. He was later to serve as editor of the Cotton Factory Times, having also been editor of the short-lived Workman’s Times. Burgess’s writings included fiction, serialised novels having become a staple feature in many local newspapers.8 Among these novels was The Master of the Moat, or Oliver the Spy, A Tale of the Luddites, a work mixing historical fact with routine fiction to tell the story of the Luddites in the West Riding, including the attack on William Cartwright’s mill at Rawfolds.9 Bill’s o’ Jack’s was published in 16 instalments in the Cotton Factory Times between February and July 1902. Burgess was aware that the mystery of the unsolved murders would provide a strong subject for a novel, more particularly as the crime and place would be known to many of his readers. The novel revealed his own extensive knowledge of the crime and included a lengthy examination of the various suspects: was it committed by a local person who knew the Bradbury’s (Reuben Platt was one of the principal suspects) or was it simply a burglary gone wrong, committed by a person or persons passing through Greenfield? Burgess concluded that the murders were probably committed by Jamie and Joe Bradbury (‘Red Tom Bradburys’) of Hoowood. Importantly, the crime was not the only theme in the novel. Burgess constructed a plot that discussed other key social issues of the early 1830s, including the early factory reform movement that was to lead to the passing of legislation that limited the number of hours that women and children could work in textile factories. Obviously written at speed and quoting extensively from parliamentary reports, Burgess’s intention was to inform his readers about these pioneer reforms, aware, as most socialists recognised, that the working class were often ignorant of their own history. But central to any explanation of why the murders continued to be a living memory was the fact that the scene of the crime was publicly accessible and that the keepers of the Moorcock inn used its notoriety to encourage visitors. It is important to recall that Bill’s o’ Jack’s was already an established destination before 1832, people journeying there to enjoy ‘scenery picturesque and beautiful beyond description’.10 Indeed it was probably because of the growing numbers of visitors in the summer months that the decision was taken to open a public house in this isolated location. At what date Greenfield began to attract its first tourists is unknown but by the late eighteenth century John Aikin in his well-known account of the Manchester region was referring to ‘the much frequented and celebrated rocks of Greenfield, as well several Druidical remains, a rocking stone, &c’.11 Antiquarians were attracted by the various ‘Druidical remains’ and the local legends associated with them. The Alderman, a short-distance from the inn, was among the most prominent of these ancient stones. The scenery also inspired poetry.12 Thus when, more than thirty years later, James Butterworth published the first detailed account of the landscape and history of Saddleworth, it acknowledged the long established interest in the land and its associated myths. He also provided one of the earliest references to the existence of the inn, pointing out that in keeping with the cultural usages in this part of Yorkshire, it was known by the patronym of its landlord:

7 Kevin McPhillips, Joseph Burgess (1853-1934) and the founding of the Independent Labour Party, (Edwin Mellen Press, 2005), ch. 4. 8 Eddie Cass, ‘Factory fiction in the Cotton Factory Times’, Manchester Region History Review, 8, (1994), pp. 32-43; Graham Law, Serializing Fiction in the Victorian Press, (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2000). 9 In this it followed the plot of another socialist novel, D.F.E. Sykes, Ben o’ Bills The Luddite, (Huddersfield, ‘The Workers’ Press, c.1898). 10 Pigot and Co.'s National Commercial Directory for 1828-9, (1829), p.1058. 11 John Aikin, A description of the country from thirty to forty miles around Manchester, (1795), p. 559. 12 Aikin refers to Samuel Bottomley, Greenfield. A poem. Victor Khadem argues for a publication date of c.1780-2. See Appendix 1 in V. Khadem, ‘Landscape, history and folklore in Samuel Bottomley’s Greenfield’ in Nigel Smith (ed.), History in the South Pennines - The legacy of Alan Petford, (Hebden Bridge Local History Society, 2017). Oldham Local Studies and Archives holds a copy of the first edition and Chetham’s Library a copy of the second (1817) edition.

36 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

‘In these romantic glens, and near to Raven Stone, is a noted public house, called by the inhabitants of the surrounding country, ‘Bill’s o’ Jacks’, which in the summer season is much frequented by numerous parties, who are admirers of the romantic beauties; or others who repair herewith line or gun to amuse themselves ...’13 As other licensed premises were more favourably located to serve the population of Greenfield and the coaching and wagon trade using the turnpike road to Holmfirth and Huddersfield, it seems reasonable to conclude that Bill’s o’ Jack’s depended on the trade brought by those who came to admire the scenery and associated leisure activities. Of course, after 1832 there were other reasons to visit. Whereas Georgian visitors made the journey expecting to be thrilled by the romantic grandeur of the landscape, Victorian visitors regarded the landscape as more intimidating, its very remoteness and wildness a contributory force in the savage crime.14

Figure 1. Photograph of items associated with the murder c. 1915. The objects pictured, except the pistol, are now in Saddleworth Museum

Saddleworth Museum Collection In this reformulation of the inn and its landscape the landlords of Bill’s o’ Jack’s were to play an important part, establishing it as the district’s most important leisure destination. The inn remained open after the murders and they capitalized on its notoriety. The main room was left almost unchanged, its ordinary features - a stained flagstone, a recess in a wall - taking on a gruesome significance as visitors listened to the landlord or locals recounting the particulars - ‘two pounds of gore’ on the floor - of the crime. Objects associated with crime were also displayed (Figure 1). Many visitors would have walked to Bill’s o’ Jack’s but reports in the local newspapers indicate that there was already a coach trade from surrounding places before the coming of the railways. The opening of Greenfield station in 1849 on the existing Huddersfield to Manchester line and the building of a new line from Oldham Mumps in 1856 further increased the catchment area from which visitors were drawn. Leo Grindon, for example, included Bill's o' Jack's in his series of rambles that began from the various stations in Manchester. From Greenfield the way to the ‘mountains [which

13 James Butterworth, A history and description of the parochial chapelry of Saddleworth... (Manchester, 1828), p. 53. The use of nicknames for an individual rather than their legal name was a feature of Pennine culture at this time, providing the crime with its memorable title which covered both the place and the name of one of the victims. 14 Suzanne Prendergast, ‘Why have the Bill’s o’ Jack’s Murders Remained such a Cause Célèbre?’, BA Dissertation, Department of History and Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University, (2011).

37 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S” are] truly grand and craggy’ and their many botanical treasures was via Bill's o' Jack's.15 By the mid- nineteenth century Bill’s o’ Jack’s was a well-established leisure destination, its status officially recognised when the Ordnance Survey included both names of the public house on what was the first definitive map of the district (Figure 7).16 ‘Thousands visit Greenfield now where once only units came; and the thousands will soon become tens of thousands. The railway and an excellent highway render it easy of access to the hard-worked artisans and operatives of Lancashire and the borders of Yorkshire; and the more familiar they become with such scenes, and the more they are prized; the better it will be for them, for our common humanity, and our common country.’17

Saddleworth Museum Archives

Figure 2. The front room c.1936 little changed since the murders

Visitors recorded their impressions of the place. The Manchester novelist Geraldine Jewsbury recalled visiting Saddleworth in an essay published in Charles Dickens’s Household Words, an excursion which, predictably for the early 1850s, included a visit to Bill’s o’ Jack’s and a recounting of the infamous murders.18 In the following decade Betty Beaumont, who had returned to Lancashire from the United States following the end of the Civil War to visit family, also provided a vivid account of the place, intimating at reasons for its popularity: ‘... all through the summer months the spot is visited by hundreds of people who look upon it with as much interest as if the sad occurrence were a thing of yesterday. The house has been enlarged and a restaurant established for the accommodation of visitors, though the room of the murder has been left intact.’19

15 Leo H. Grindon, Summer rambles in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, being a sequel to Manchester walks and wild flowers, (Manchester: Palmer & Howe, 1866), pp.182-6. 16 OS Yorkshire, West Riding, 6 inch to 1mile, 1st edition, 1854 (OS 1854), published in M. Buckley et al. (eds), Mapping Saddleworth I, (Saddleworth Historical Society, 2007), p. 70. 17 ‘Greenfield at Whitsuntide’, Huddersfield Chronicle, 13 June 1857. 18 G. Jewsbury, ‘The Great Saddleworth Exhibition’, Household Words, 1 October 1853, pp. 109-112. 19 Mrs B. Beaumont, A Business Woman’s Journal being a sequel to ‘Twelve years of my life’ (Philadelphia, 1888), pp. 164-5.

38 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

The increasing number of visitors to the inn encouraged its landlords to improve and expand the facilities, of which the tea room became a most important part. These developments can be seen from various plans and photographs (Figures 3 and 5). The original inn, a small single bay cottage, had been doubled in size by 1851 and later a separate outbuilding was added.20

SHS Archives H/HOW/107 SHS Archives H/HOW/107

Figure 3. Plan of The Moorcock in 1832 and c.1915

Outdoor entertainments included quoits and wrestling. The use of the tea room as a ‘large dancing shed’ did not meet with the approval of all visitors but the promise of music and dancing provided a further reason for people to make the journey to Greenfield.21 This investment should be seen as a response to the changing world of commercialised leisure in northern industrial towns. Historians have examined in considerable detail the rise of Lancashire’s seaside resorts in the nineteenth century but less discussed has been the opening of smaller businesses such as tea gardens in or close to the textile towns, places that provided workers with the opportunity for less expensive day and afternoon trips out. Strawberry Gardens in Glodwick was one local example of such an enterprise. Its attractions included a gymnasium, tea garden and an aviary, the latter featuring in John H. Hague’s painting ‘Strawberry Gardens’ (in Gallery Oldham).22 Millcroft Tea Gardens in Norden became a Rochdale favourite.23 Such businesses competed with much larger local leisure enterprises, of which those located at Hollingworth Lake - the ‘Weighvers Seaport’ - was among the best-known.24 None of these places, of course, had the notoriety associated with Bill’s o’ Jack’s, but they represented competition, alternative places to spend a day or afternoon out. Prominent among the landlords of the Moorcock were Joseph and Martha Waterhouse in the 1860s and 1870s, with Martha Waterhouse in sole control from 1864 to 1876, following her husband’s death.25 The inn was subsequently taken over by James and Jane Schofield from the late 1870 to the

20 OS 1854 and 25 inch to 1 mile, 1892-4 (surveyed earlier) both published in Mapping Saddleworth I, pp. 70 & 195. 21 Joseph. Bradbury, Saddleworth Sketches, (Hirst & Rennie, 1870), p. 11. 22 Oldham Chronicle, 12 December 1853; Worrall’s Directory of Oldham, (1875), p. 130. 23 Photographs of tea gardens in Rochdale Local Studies Library. Norden was also to be the location of the Riveria on Edenefield Lane, a leisure complex that included an outdoor heated swimming pool, Rochdale Observer, 15 October 1966. 24 A.W. Colligan, The Weighver’s Seaport, (George Kelsall, 1977). 25 Martha was landlady recorded as in Worrall’s Directory of Oldham, (1871), p. 309. She died at Mossley in 1888.

39 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

1890s, once again the wife continuing to run the business after the death of her husband.26 By 1891 for example, Jane Schofield, now a widow, ran the inn with the help of her son Mars and adopted daughter Annie. Harry and Sarah Pilling, both Saddleworth born, were running the pub in 1911, the eldest of their three children, Jane, 14, also working at the inn.

Saddleworth Museum Archives

Figure 4. The earliest photograph of Bill’s o’ Jack’s taken c.1860 with presumably the landlord Joseph Waterhouse and his wife Martha in the doorway

Saddleworth Museum Archives

Figure 5. The pub and associated buildings taken between 1902-09.

26 Worrall’s Directory of Oldham (1880) for James; Worrall’s Directory of Oldham, (1888-9), p. 501, and (1891), p. 318, for Jane only.

40 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

There is no long-run information on the numbers who visited Bill’s o’ Jack’s but newspaper reports indicate that it became a popular destination for trips arranged by friendly societies, mechanics’ institutes, temperance groups and the like. By the early 1850s Sunday school parties from as far away as Manchester were making their way in Whit week to Greenfield. Works outings were also common, arranged either by the workers themselves or by paternalistic employers.27 A trip for employees at Thomas Wrigley’s factory in Lydgate prompted the approving comment in these post-Chartist years that ‘such friendly bearing between employers and employed cannot be too much applauded, as it tends to create the feeling of mutual respect which it is desirable should prevail for the welfare of both parties’.28 Numbers in these parties varied but could be in their hundreds rather than scores: in 1857 Holmfirth Secular Society accompanied by Holmfirth Temperance Brass Band proceeded to Bill's o' Jack’s to meet with contingents from Hyde, Ashton, Oldham, Stalybridge, Rochdale, Honley and Huddersfield, whilst a party of scholars and teachers who came in wagons and carts from Meltham in 1868 numbered over 300.29 Some brought their own food and even entertainments in the form of a brass band or choir. Other visitors made use of the inn, purchasing what in Victorian journalese was referred to as its ‘toothsome repasts’. An idea of the facilities can be gauged from frequent press reports of the visits of larger groups - a Primrose League party numbering 140 from Meltham sitting down to a ‘knife and fork tea’ in August 1890.30 Easter marked the opening of the holiday season for the inn. It was an especially busy period, landlords reputedly making enough money to cover costs for the rest of the year.31 A trip to Bill’s o’ Jack’s became a regular part of the holidays in many surrounding communities, not least in Saddleworth itself where the last day of the August wakes became known as Bill’s o’ Jack’s day.32 By the 1890s the numbers travelling by train continued to increase: in March 1894 over 3000 people had booked to travel by train from Oldham to Greenfield, most of whom went on to Bill’s o’ Jack’s. Greenfield overflowed with visitors: It was ‘just one continuous stream of men, women and children making their way in the direction of Bill’s o’ Jack’s and the Chew valley’.33

Saddleworth Museum Saddleworth Museum

Figure 6. Souvenir crockery celebrating Bill’s o’ Jack’s

27 For example the trip organized for J. and H. Pontefract’s millworkers from Honley, Huddersfield Chronicle, 7 September 1867. 28 Huddersfield Chronicle, 25 August 1855. 29 Edward Royle, Victorian Infidels: The Origins of the British Secularist Movement, 1791-1866, (Manchester University Press, 1974), p. 189; Huddersfield Chronicle, 18 July 1868. 30 Huddersfield Chronicle, 6 August 1890. 31 Mossley and Saddleworth Reporter, 11 April 1936. 32 Huddersfield Chronicle, 1 September 1860 & 26 August 1892. 33 Oldham Chronicle, 31 March 1894.

41 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

Catering for such numbers, even those who had brought their own provisions and only wanted to purchase hot water, could be a challenge, and it was not unknown for the inn to run out of food.34 Such crowds helps to explain the description of the scene outside the ‘far famed Bill’s o’ Jack’s’ when at the height of the season ‘some fifty or sixty conveyances of all kinds, shapes, and colours, and laden with happy pleasure parties, deposit their burdens at this lonely inn’.35 Another day on which a large number of conveyances could be seen outside the inn was on the opening of the grouse shooting season, possibly a day when people were more likely to recall the legal name on the signboard rather than its nickname.36 The inn was also a regular meeting place for the Saddleworth hunt.37 What is evident is that a trip to Bill’s o’ Jack’s was increasingly for pleasure; one went there with family and friends to enjoy the scenery, to eat, play games, dance and to ramble. The murders, as the sale of souvenir crockery indicates, were not forgotten, but over time they became less important (Figure 6). A wagonette trip to the ‘far-famed Bill’s o’ Jack’s’ was itself one of the thrills of a day out, though the return journey down what became known as Bill’s o’ Jack’s hill was not without its dangers.38 By the end of the century Bill’s o’ Jack’s became a favourite destination for many Lancashire and Yorkshire cycling groups, of which the best documented are the socialist Clarion Clubs.39 Motorists followed cyclists, the challenge of Bill’s o’ Jack’s hill attracting Edwardian Manchester’s motorocracy.40 For some visitors the inn was the starting and finishing point for a walk. A popular short ramble was towards the Ashway Gap, whilst more determined walkers may have gone on much further, possibly even as far as the Bilberry reservoir, which became a place of mournful interest following its catastrophic collapse. By the late Victorian period, however, the landscape closer to Bill’s o’ Jack’s was changing as the Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge and Dukinfield Districts Water Board (ADWB), which had acquired the land in 1875, began building reservoirs. The Yeoman Hey reservoir was completed in 1880, the smaller Greenfield Reservoir in 1902. During their construction the landscape was scarred, but by the time the Chew Valley reservoir was finished, these man-made features were beginning to be seen as complementing the natural beauty of the moorland. Visitors to Bill’s o’ Jack’s appear to have been generally well behaved, though on occasions the ‘beer- crated revelry’ might get out of hand.41 However, as the numbers of visitors continued to increase, disputes over damage to the surrounding land and trespassing increased. As in other parts of the Pennines, landowners, particularly those with shooting estates, became more active in restricting access across their land. Moreover, local gamekeepers, understandably concerned about disturbances to game, came to regard the inn not just as a place that attracted respectable day-trippers but as a meeting place for poachers.42 Rights of access became an important public question. The Northern Districts and Peak District Footpaths Preservation Society was in demand to assist in defining and keeping open rights of way. In Saddleworth the issue of access to the moorlands was particularly highlighted in the District Council’s negotiations to open up to the public the land around Pots and Pans.43

34 ‘A visit to Bill’s o’ Jack’s’, Halifax Courier, 27 April 1889. 35 Bradbury, Saddleworth Sketches, p. 11. 36 Oldham Standard, 16 August 1890. 37 Huddersfield Chronicle, 11 March 1854. 38 Report of accident involving Ashton wagonette party, Mossley and Saddleworth Reporter, 9 July 1902. 39 Both the Manchester Guardian and Manchester Courier published weekly list of trips organised by different local cycling groups. On the Clarion Cycle Clubs see Denis Pye, Fellowship is Life: The National Clarion Cycling Club 1895-1995, (1995). 40 Manchester Courier, 1 August 1907. 41 Huddersfield Chronicle, 13 June 1857. 42 Case of Thomas Shaw, hostler at Bill’s o’ Jack’s against Alfred Warren, gamekeeper, Oldham Chronicle, 7 June 1894. 43 Oldham Chronicle, 12 August 1902.

42 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

Figure 7. Bill’s o’ Jack’s shown on the 1854 6 in to 1 mile OS map

Figure 8. Bill’s o’ Jack’s shown on the 1894 25in to 1 mile OS map

43 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S”

But it was not just private landowners who, by the closing decades of the century, were looking to take action against walkers. Water companies also became involved in defending their reservoirs and catchment areas from what was they regarded as problems caused by walkers. In the case of Bill’s o’ Jack’s it was to be the decisions taken in the inter-war years by the ADWB that were to prove decisive in its history. By the early 1930s the ADWB was carrying out further construction work near the inn, building a flood channel from the Greenfield reservoir to below the Yeoman Hey reservoir.44 By this date the number of ramblers using Bill’s o’ Jack’s was regarded by the ADWB as a problem, not least when opposition was raised against their proposals to alter footpaths. This was the case in 1932 on the line of a new path between Greenfield Farm and Bill’s o’ Jack’s. But more decisive action was to be taken by the ADWB. In the spring of 1936 it announced that Bill’s o’ Jack’s was to close because of ‘contamination of the sub-soil’ around the Yeoman Hey reservoir. No specific evidence of ‘water contamination’ in the gathering ground was provided to the public, but this was at a time when water boards had become more concerned about contamination of supply, concerns heightened by incidents such as a typhoid outbreak at Denby Dale in 1932.45 However, in the case of Bill’s o’ Jack’s, according to the ADWB it was not only the sanitary arrangements at the inn that were at fault, as it had been ‘felt for some time it was a source of pollution and a source of trespass’. Closing the inn would clearly reduce these problems.46 A flurry of articles and letters in the local newspapers followed the announcement to close Bill’s o’ Jack’s. These included protests from the Ammon Wrigley Fellowship, including from Ammon Wrigley himself.47 Around the same time but apparently not directly in response to the closure, the Oldham Cine Society began making a film of the Bill’s o’ Jack’s murders, shooting scenes at the inn.48 The ADWB decided to reconsider its decision to immediately close the inn but the reprieve was to prove temporary. The Moorcock was closed in April 1937. This was soon followed by blocking the access roads, and then demolishing the inn and surrounding buildings. Ammon Wrigley was by no means alone in believing that the ADWB had no evidence of the inn polluting the water catchment area, concluding his verse obituary: An’ folk ‘at come hereafter, They’ll pass an’ never know. That where good men wur singing An’ merry tales went reaund, There’s nowt but bits o’ mortar An’ joy forsaken greaund.49 No history of Saddleworth could be considered complete without a reference to the murder of the Bradburys, but, as this essay argues, even had the murder not occurred, Bill’s o’ Jack’s would still warrant a place in Saddleworth history. The Moorcock Inn contributed to keeping green the memory of the mystery of who killed William and Tom Bradbury far longer than otherwise would have been the case, but it is its role as a centre of recreation that is of far greater historical significance than an unsolved crime. Its appeal as a tourist destination was to change over time: visitors who came in 1830

44 Completed in 1934. It was a reminder of the ongoing economic crisis in the textile industries that the stone used in its construction came from a demolished cotton mill in Mossley. The Greenfield and Yeoman Hey reservoirs covered an area of 1170 acres, see Souvenir prepared to commemorate the official opening of Ashway Gap and Brushes filter extensions, (1951), p. 26, available at https://www.doveheritage.com/souvenir-booklet-4/ 45 Maintaining water purity was also the reason given by the ADWB to close the North Britain farm in the Swineshaw valley, near Glossop. 46 Mossley and Saddleworth Reporter, 23 April 1937. The licence had not been renewed for a short time in 1915 but this was soon corrected, Manchester Evening News, 21 May 1915. 47 Mossley and Saddleworth Reporter, 30 May 1936; Oldham Chronicle, 7 July 1936. The Fellowship had a special Bill’s o’ Jack’s grace. 48 Oldham Chronicle, 17 July 1936. No copy of this film is known to have survived. 49 Ammon Wrigley, Saddleworth Chronological Notes from 1200-1900, (1941), p. 71.

44 LOCATING THE FAR-FAMED “BILL’S O’ JACK’S” did so for different reasons than those who visited in 1880 or 1930.50 As such, Bill’s o’ Jack’s represents one of the earliest and by far the most well-known part of a tourist sector that was to become of more obvious importance to the Saddleworth economy in the second half of the twentieth century. Understandably, if unfortunately, it has been the murders at Bill’s o’ Jacks that has continued to spark the imagination of local writers.51 In doing so it has had the effect of drawing attention away from other aspects of the district’s history, some of which were discussed by Burgess in his novel of 1902. Should a historical plaque ever be displayed at or close to the site of the ‘far-famed Bill’s o’ Jack’s’, it should refer to more than just the murders of Bill’s o’ Jacks and Tom’ o’ Bills.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks to Neil Barrow for reading and making suggestions to improve this article and to Peter Fox for providing illustrations.

50 It should be noted that for such a popular leisure destination only a small number of photographs of the inn and visitors are to be found in public collections. We might have expected a commercial photographer to have set up at the inn, especially on the busiest spring and summer days. 51 Henry Livings, The Moorcock performed at Oldham Coliseum 23 January-13 February 1982; James Davenport, The murders at Bill’s O’ Jack’s: A fictional account of the murders at the Moorcock Inn, Saddleworth in 1832, (Neil Richardson, 1985).

45 SHSB, VOL. 50, NO. 2, 2020

THE SCHOFIELDS OF HOLLINGREAVE (PART 3 - A POSTSCRIPT)

Phil Wild Following the studies of the Schofield family of Hollingreave published in earlier Bulletins,1 details of two items of material culture relating to the occupants of the hamlet have subsequently come to light and a better understanding of the evolution of the Schofield homestead, now Holly Grove Cottage, has emerged. DISCOVERY OF TWO ITEMS FOUND DURING STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS Discussions with a former owner of Holly Grove Cottage have revealed that during their ownership a number of historic artefacts were discovered. Particularly significance was the discovery, during an earlier refurbishment project, of items found next to a large boulder located in the east gable wall of the house (Figure 1). Beside the boulder lay a button, made from bone and showing some indication of natural discolouration, and two small fragments of fabric, joined by hand stitching; one a kind of sacking, or coarse linen, (perhaps interlining) and one a black, fairly coarse wool with evidence of button holes (Figure 2). The owners consulted an expert curator at Whitworth Gallery Costume Museum in Manchester, who dated this button from around 1630, identifying a style that would have adorned a contemporary jerkin before the English Civil War.

Figure 1. Overview plan of

Holly Grove Cottage, based on a conveyance plan from 1919, depicting where the seventeenth century button and fabric fragment were found

Mike Buckley

The owners had assumed that the material may have been ripped from a garment, perhaps during construction, but the fact that the items were found in the gable wall foundation supports an alternative explanation that the deposit was intentional (the material appears to have been cut rather than torn) perhaps indicating an apotropaic motivation in concealing an item of apparel as a form of charm against malevolent forces. Shoes and other items have been found concealed in this superstitious practice.2 Whilst the reason they were lost or it was

1 SHS Bulletin (SHSB), Vol. 43, No. 4 and Vol. 44, No. 2. 2 Molly Lamourne, The Mystery of Concealed Shoes, (National Museum of Scotland, 2019). available on-line at https://blog.nms.ac.uk/20129/07/07/concealed-shoes. (accessed 2 August 2020). See also Ceri Houlbrook, ‘The Other Shoe: Fragmentation in the Post-Medieval Home’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Vol. 27(2), (December 2016), pp. 261-274.

46 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT) placed in the foundation is speculative, the materials themselves remain significant, as they may be the oldest extant examples of local woven Saddleworth fabrics. It was noted in a previous study that an early occupant of Holly Grove cottage, John Schofield (d.1707), described himself as a ‘cloth-maker’, and his inventory revealed evidence of producing worsted as well as woollen yarns.3 By the time Saddleworth acquired international renown for fine broadcloths, its clothiers were using imported fleeces from other regions of England and the processing of the finest broadcloths involved extensive fulling and finishing. Clothiers in Saddleworth in the seventeenth century, however, would have more likely used fleeces from hardy local breeds of sheep, comprising wool of rougher texture and shorter staple. From other contemporary Saddleworth sources, such as the will of Isaac Broadbent,4 we also know that the weaver probably supplied material in unmilled form. Close examination of the fibres of the black dyed woven cloth suggest it may not have been fulled (Figure 2).

Paul Knox Paul Knox Figure 2. Material fragments and button found in gable wall foundation at Holly Grove cottage

Linen material was also woven in Saddleworth. Elizabeth Paget has produced an account of linen production in Saddleworth in the seventeenth century, drawing attention to the fact that the inventories of local clothiers often contained flax and linen yarn.5 The provenance of this locally woven fabric material, apparently dating back some 400 years, is an important element to a full appreciation of its value within the heritage of Saddleworth. Its remarkable survival, affords an opportunity to examine the history and evolution of Holly Grove cottage.

EVIDENCE OF THE SITE OF THE ORIGINAL SCHOFIELD RESIDENCE AT HOLLINGREAVE Holly Grove cottage now comprises: Lower House, situated on what is believed to be the original footprint of the cottage associated with manorial estate 123,6 and Upper House, formerly an attached shippon/barn, adjacent to the cottage. (Figure 3).

3 P. Wild, ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave -1’, SHSB, Vol. 43, No.4, (2013), p. 99; P. Wild, ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave -2’, SHSB, Vol. 44, No.2, (2014), p. 58-9. 4 Lancashire Archives (LA), WCW Supra, 1698. 5 E. Paget, ‘No longer a singularity’: linen production in Saddleworth in the seventeenth century’, in N. Smith (ed.), History in the South Pennines: The Legacy of Alan Petford, (Hebden Bridge, 2017), pp. 283-304. 6 The number is from the map and survey of the inclosures in the Parish of Saddleworth belonging to James Farrar, Esq, 1770, (published in M. Buckley et al. (eds), Mapping Saddleworth II, (S.H.S., 2010), pp. 22-95.

47 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT)

Lower House is a single bay cottage of the type described by W. John Smith in Saddleworth Buildings. John Smith cites several other examples of such cottages in Saddleworth.7 Common features, also shared with larger cottages, are rows of mullioned windows on the southern elevations, a fireplace on one of the gable walls, a single entrance on the gable, alongside and to the north of the fireplace, a relatively plain north wall with few or no windows and in many cases an attached shippon and barn. The cottage is listed on the National Heritage List for England, and described as follows: ‘Holly Grove Cottage (Southern-Most Building in Group of 3) G.V. II House. Mid to late C18. Hammer-dressed watershot stone with graduated stone slate roof. l-bay 2-storey plan with gable entrance. Quoins and projecting plinth. South elevation has a 6-light recessed cavetto-moulded stone mullion window on each floor. Gable chimney stack. 2-light windows (with mullion removed) and later inserted windows to gable. Door in left gable with dressed surround.’8

Mike Buckley, 2020

Figure 3. Southern view of Holly Grove Cottage. To the right the single-storey extension of Upper House which facilitated the linkage with Lower House. The modern kitchen extension with skylights has been added beyond the porch

Beyond the listing description of Lower House, the adjoining Upper House is an early nineteenth century shippon/barn converted to domestic use in about 1930.9 It seems likely that this nineteenth century shippon replaced an earlier one in the same location. The two dwellings were converted into one house in the 1960s when access from Lower House was provided via a new doorway in the east gable. The floor level of Upper House is significantly higher than that of Lower House and this necessitates a stairway between the two. The 1960s renovations also involved adding a small single storey extension across the front of Upper House over the barn doorway, which led to the button and fabric discovery

7 W. John Smith, Saddleworth Buildings, (Saddleworth Historical Society, 1987), pp. 109-116. 8 Historic England, Listing 1068183, first listed 3 July 1986. 9 Information supplied to former owner Judy Humphrys.

48 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT)

(See Figures 1 and 3). Further alterations in the 1980s added a single storey kitchen extension which was accessed by knocking through the west gable wall. The kitchen extension has subsequently been replaced and enlarged. Holly Grove cottage, although generally conforming to John Smith’s standard model has nevertheless some differing and unique features. Firstly, prior to recent alterations, the main doorway is understood to have been on the opposite gable to the fireplace, in a logical position next to the lane, the east gable being attached to the shippon. It is not clear why was the fireplace was not positioned alongside the doorway on the west gable as was usual. Secondly, it is clear that the present mid-to-late eighteenth-century house replaced an existing smaller stone built house, the gable of which was retained and increased in height as part of the new house (see Figure 4). The doorway with dressed surround described in the listing was in this older part of the gable. In part one of this study, I identified a fine door lintel inscribed with the year 1696 and bearing the initials of John Schofield and his wife, Anne (Figure 5).10 This is now on a nineteenth century shippon at Field Top, but evidently must have come from the old farm at Hollingreave. The original siting of the 1696 date-stone remains a conundrum. John Schofield (d. 1707) and his wife Anne were probably married before that date, so the stone must presumably have marked the occasion of some form of re-build or extension. During the alterations of the 1960s the owners identified the access doorway as rather small, at 5 feet high, and decided to infill and replace with a window. We might speculate that the reason for this is that the doorway had been rendered small following historic improvements to add floorboards over the original earth floor, thus raising the internal floor height? Nevertheless neither its site, nor the quality of old masonry still visible on that gable wall, seems consistent with the juxtaposition of such a fine lintel as the 1696 date-stone.

Mike Buckley, 2020

Figure 4. West gable end wall of Holly Grove Cottage, showing evidence of the gable

of an earlier Lower House apparently of single storey construction. Foreground, right, Modern single storey kitchen extension Another puzzle is the height and size of the original house that was replaced in the late eighteenth century. The shape of the original gable would imply a much smaller house, possibly single storey. The 1770 manorial survey undertaken by James Farrar described the

10 P. Wild, ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave-1’, SHSB, Vol. 43, No.4, (2013), pp. 99-100.

49 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT) messuage on Estate 123 as ‘an old House, barn and Cowhouse.’11 In 1789 it was further described as: ‘a very ancient House in indifferent repair, a Barn and Shippen whose roof is in bad repair.’12 The map accompanying the 1770 survey indicates a single building in the present position of Holly Grove Cottage consistent with a single bay dwelling and attached shippon/barn. This description is consistent perhaps with the surviving old gable but is hard to reconcile with a rebuilding by John and Anne Schofield, a few decades earlier in 1696 involving the addition of the fine lintel and datestone. It also raises the question of why the lintel and datestone were removed to Field Top, presumably during the late eighteenth century rebuilding. At the auctions of Saddleworth Manor, in 1791, Estate 123 (along with its sister-estate 122) was sold to financier John Harrop.13 In view of the general dilapidation recorded as late as 1789, it seems reasonable to assume that the property was refurbished under the ownership of John Harrop, soon after he purchased it in 1791. Within a decade, or so, Harrop had also built ‘Field Top’ for the leaseholders of Estate 122, and presumably the lintel with datestone was removed to Field Top at this time, perhaps from an earlier barn and shippon whose roof was in ‘bad repair’ in 1770, on the site now occupied by Upper House. Supporting this theory, Radcliffe in his survey of Saddleworth datestones in the 1890s sketched the datestone and commented that it had formerly been part of a shippon at Holly Grove.14 But why the datestone was removed rather than reused on site remains unclear.

Phil Wild Figure 5. Lintel dated 1696 now on a nineteenth century shippon at Field Top

This eighteenth-century rebuilding also raises unanswered questions. The cavetto-moulded stone mullions are typical of the period up to about 1780. By 1791 square mullions were more typically used in Saddleworth buildings of this era, as evidenced by the refurbishment of the shippon, now Upper House, and indeed by the construction of the adjacent early nineteenth-century Sykes Cottage. It is extremely unusual, if not unprecedented, for this style of window to be used as late as the 1790s.

11 M. Buckley, D. Harrison, V. Khadem, A. Petford and J. Widdall, Mapping Saddleworth, Vol. II, (Saddleworth Historical Society, 2010), p. 87. 12 Ibid. 13 Saddleworth Historical Society Archives (SHSA), Sale of the Saddleworth Manor Catalogue, 1791, H/DX/5. 14 J. Radcliffe, Saddleworth Datestones, Hewkin Collection, Oldham Local Studies and Archives.

50 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT)

The positioning of the three-story domestic loom shop in the fold, later known as Sykes’, juxtaposed in such a dominant position to the north of Holly Grove Cottage seems curious. It was built following woollen manufacturer, John Buckley’s, amalgamation of the Lower Hollingreave farms into a combined estate under his ownership.15 Indeed in 1822, the same year as Buckley’s bankruptcy, Baines’ Directory described ‘Hollin Groves’ as ‘2 small manufacturing hamlets’.16 Two farms in 1791 had become a hamlet. John Buckley’s ambition was clearly more the creation of a large manufacturing capacity rather than enhancing the aspect or maintaining a reasonably sized curtilage of each dwelling. The evidence of the 1770 manorial map confirms that there was no historic footprint of a building on the Sykes’ Cottage site. It does not even seem to have been constructed by the time of the 1822 township map, as only a single small unit consistent with Holly Grove cottage is shown.17 Its later construction and domination of the northerly aspect of Lower House also implies that there was no primary access or source of light for Holly Grove cottage from any windows in its north-facing aspect. One of the themes of parts 1 and 2 of this study of the Schofields of Hollingreave was the long and continuous occupation of the estates by a single family since at least the late sixteenth century. In part 2 one branch of the family was shown to have established itself at Field Top, a new property built on estate 122. There is also evidence that the Schofield family continued to occupy Holly Grove cottage on estate 123 before and after the manorial sale. After his bankruptcy was declared in May 182218 John Buckley’s creditors broke up the amalgamated estate and re-sold the individual tenements and parcels of land. Although presumably renovated whilst in the tenure of Harrop, Holly Grove cottage was then described as ‘…. that old messuage or tenement situate etc. and commonly called or known by the name of Hollingreave’, and was sold to John Shepherd, of Harrop Green, along with nine acres of the lands associated with the former estate 123.19 Its tenanted occupants were Joseph Schofield and James Schofield Senior, who were the sons of John Schofield (1737-1802).20 In conclusion, it seems clear that Lower House was built on the footprint of an earlier single bay, single-storey, Schofield tenement, long established on Estate 123; financier John Harrop being responsible for the late eighteenth-century rebuild. The main entrance was on the western gable and the northern wall fronted on to a much larger fold which was later reduced in size by the building of the adjoining Sykes’ Cottage, built at a time when the buildings were in a common ownership. The cottage appears to fit into a standard pattern with an adjoining shippon/barn but was atypical in that the main entrance was on the opposite gable to the fireplace.

15 The property was probably named after Benjamin Sykes, woollen manufacturer, and his son John Sykes, woollen manufacturer, employing 26 persons recorded in the hamlet; Census 1861, RG, 9, 3241, The National Archives (TNA). 16 Edward Baines, History, Directory, and Gazeteer of the County of York, Vol. III, (Leeds, 1822), pp.263-71. 17 There is anecdotal evidence from the late Lorna Gartside of Hollingreave Farm, to support a hypothesis that Sykes’ Cottage was built before 1822. She stated that when the owners of Sykes’ Cottage built their own kitchen extension in the late twentieth century evidence emerged of an old lock-up, which is consistent with John Buckley’s identification, in the 1822 edition of Baines’ Directory, as ‘Chief Constable’ of Saddleworth, as well as a Woollen Manufacturer and Church Warden, prior to his bankruptcy in 1822. 18 London Gazette, 25 May 1824. 19 West Riding History Centre, Registry of Deeds, Wrigley to Shepherd, 13 December 1823, HW 418 364. 20 P. Wild, Schofield Pedigree B, ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave-1’, SHSB, Vol. 43, No. 4, (2013), p. 109.

51 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT)

The homestead has evidently undergone a great many alterations over centuries, both during and subsequent to its long occupation by the Schofield family. Some of its history and evolution has been revealed in this study but other significant features of the building remain unresolved. CONTEMPORARY MEMORIAL POEM DEDICATED TO THE PARENTS OF A YOUNG GIRL A second item has recently emerged which perhaps has significance in the Hollingreave Schofield narrative. This is a poem attributed to Samuel Bottomley author of Greenfield a Poem.21 At a lecture - ‘Folklore, Landscape and Society in Bottomley's Greenfield; a Poem’ - by Victor Khadem in April 2015, and hosted by Saddleworth Historical Society, Viv Fry, a Society member, brought a handwritten manuscript copy of the poem. Bound with this manuscript copy was a single sheet, in a separate hand, which contained lyrical verses addressed to the parents of a young girl named Anna who had recently died. That same Society member, Viv Fry, had previously been the source of a number of nineteenth century artefacts, which provided, in large part, the context for part 2 of this study on the Schofields of Hollingreave, from which she is descended.22 In view of the common provenance of the unpublished poem and the other artefacts, a hypothesis was formed that its subject may also have had links to the same Schofield family. The timing of this copy of Greenfield and the poem bound with it is not clear, although the family’s manuscript contains stanzas omitted in later editions and appears to be a copy of the first version of Greenfield, which was published in various forms in the eighteenth century before Bottomley’s death.23 Stylistically the hand writing dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century but is not necessarily in the hand of Bottomley himself.

Viv Fry

Figure 6. Manuscript version of eighteenth century edition of Greenfield by Samuel Bottomley, left, bound with private manuscript poem, right

The supplementary poem is written or copied onto different, finer paper to that containing the family’s copy of the epic, Greenfield (Figure 6) and at first sight the family poem appears to be in a different hand, although there are similarities.

21 In asserting the attribution of this poem to Samuel Bottomley, I am indebted to Victor Khadem, author of ‘Folklore, Landscape and Society in Bottomley's Greenfield; a Poem’ published in N. Smith (ed.), History in the South Pennines: The Legacy of Alan Petford’ (Hebden Bridge, 2017). 22 ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave-2’, pp. 36-60. 23 V. Khadem, ‘Landscape, history and folklore in Samuel Bottomley’s Greenfield; A Poem’, p. 342.

52 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT)

In his study ‘Landscape, history and folklore in Samuel Bottomley’s Greenfield; A Poem’ Khadem explores in detail Bottomley’s quest to portray the local landscape through verse, using landscape as a medium for animating traditional moralising folklore in epic narrative form, as well as representing a universal, timeless order.24 The short unpublished poem adopts a more meditative lyric tone, being for private consumption. Nevertheless, it evokes a picturesque scene of nature, firmly rooted in a Saddleworth landscape, likening the short life of the deceased to the natural beauty and transience of spring flowers adorning the banks of the river Tame. It draws on a pastoral literary tradition of portraying rustic innocence, expressing grief and consolation at loss through the soothing prism of nature, whilst reflecting on the inevitability of death and the enduring comfort of faith in divine providence and heavenly afterlife. Khadem records an extract from an obituary published in the Manchester Mercury, noting Bottomley as the ‘author of various other valuable unpublished poetical pieces’, and observes, in particular, that his writing extended to epitaphs for local families, written for private comfort.25 Khadem identifies a wide range of cultural influences encountered by Bottomley, and considers a context for his private epitaphs in the form of the contemporary literary genre, later denoted ‘Graveyard Poetry’, a style of elegy that focussed on themes of mortality, religion and melancholy and heralded the later Romanticism movement.26 The simple, contemplative characteristics of the unpublished poem share common elements with the genre, although its mood is less foreboding and the unequivocal expression of a natural order and Christian consolation in death dominates. Such evidence is consistent with Samuel Bottomley being the common author of both the epic, Greenfield, and the bound private lyrical poem dedicated to Anna’s memory. However, a number of other factors facilitate its attribution to Bottomley. First, at the simplest level, the style and rhythm is consistent with his other poetry. Also, miscellaneous pieces discovered after Bottomley’s death, feature in the recently re-published version of Greenfield, based on the edition published in 1816.27 Amongst these ancillary poems is a memorial verse, On the Death of a Child that was Drowned, in which Bottomley laments a similar loss, meditating on mortality with similar metaphors for fragile youth and offers comfort in a divine purpose behind premature death:28 ‘Dark and unlonely was the hour That gave her blossom to the grave By cropping of a transient flower She plung’d into the fatal wave But blind to heaven’s all-wise decrees, We mourn the child’s untimely fate. Whilst she secure in glory sees The dangers of our mortal state.’ Another short piece, Epitaph, also reflects on mortality and aspiration for blissful spiritual existence beyond the mortal realm and, for the purposes of this study, this verse is usefully dated to 1786.29 Particularly telling is that unpublished poem identifies the River Tame using the same distinctive metaphor, ‘Silver Tame’, as Bottomley used in Greenfield’ and another poem, Enigma.30

24 Ibid, pp. 305-42. 25 Ibid, pp.312-3. 26 Ibid. 27 S. Bottomley, Greenfield, A Poem with a Historical Sketch of Saddleworth, (Uppermill, 2012), pp. 56-64. 28 Ibid, p. 63. 29 V. Khadem, ‘Landscape, history and folklore in Samuel Bottomley’s Greenfield; A Poem’, p. 312. 30 S. Bottomley, Greenfield, pp. 11&58.

53 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT)

Samuel Bottomley was the son of the licensee at Gravemakers (the Cross Keys Inn), and died there on 26th June 1795, indicating that the personal dedication must have been penned before that date, for the hypothesis underpinning the attribution to stand any scrutiny.31 Although Gravemakers is relatively close to the hamlet of Hollingreave, there is some evidence that James Schofield (1745-1829) and his wife, Sarah (née Whewell, alias Buckley) took up residence in the close vicinity of Gravemakers soon after their marriage in 1775, possibly because there was insufficient housing at Lower Hollingreave to accommodate the couple and their prospective family. The baptism record at St Chad of their first son, James (1777-1853), indicates his birth at Pob Green.32 The family’s later association with the non- conformist Delph Independent Chapel suggests that subsequent children would have been baptised there. Unfortunately the chapel’s surviving early register records are incomplete and partially illegible. Nevertheless baptism records of several subsequent children have been identified there. One of potential significance, records the baptism on 3rd February 1782 of a son, John to ‘James Schofield of Saddleworth near Mr Bottomley's.’33 This was probably John Schofield (1782-1852), whose letter to his mother from New York, and trading ledger with his bankrupt brother, James, were the subject of detailed account in Part 2 of the study.34 Another child, Martha was also baptised in the chapel on 16th May 1784, the family’s abode being given as ‘Saddleworth Church’, probably Bank Top in the vicinity of Gravemakers.35 No trace has been found of a contemporary baptism for a girl, Anna, although if she had been baptised in Delph Independent in, say, the early 1780s, this would not be surprising as the records are very defective at this period. Indeed, baptism records of several other children, known to belong to the family of James and Sarah Schofield, remain unaccounted for. However, a burial record at St Chad’s, dated 13th May 1789, notes the death of ‘Annah, daughter of James Scholefield, of Top o’th’ Field.’36 It is noteworthy that this particular death occurred in spring, which would fit with seasonal imagery used in the poem. The location has not been identified definitively as it is not mentioned again within the eighteenth century registers of St Chad. Based on trade directory entries in the 1850s Top o’th’ Field might, however, be tentatively associated with Field Top at Hollingreave, although surely too early for the present substantial property now known by that name, which was built for the Schofield family shortly after the break-up of Lordsmere Manor by auction in 1791.37 The choice of burial plot at St Chad for a child of the Schofield family appears problematic in view of the family’s evident association with the Independent Chapel which had its own burial ground. The most likely explanation for this would seem to be the utilisation of an existing family grave at St Chad. Whoever commissioned the manuscript copy of Greenfield was presumably literate, and there is some evidence of literacy for James Schofield, who was able to sign as witness the will of Abel Buckley in 1775.38. However, it is not known whether the private elegy was commissioned by the family or a spontaneous gesture by a friend and former neighbour. In the context of the family’s alignment to the non-conformist Delph Independent Chapel over the Anglican affiliated Church of St. Chad, it is easy to understand why Schofield may have

31 J. Radcliffe (ed.), Parish Registers of St Chad, Saddleworth, 1613 to 1751, (Uppermill, 1887), p. 482. 32 Ibid, p. 242. 33 SHS Archives, Delph Independent Chapel Registers, H/D.IND/1. 34 ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave-2’. 35 Delph Independent Registers. 36 J. Radcliffe (ed.), Parish Registers of St Chad. Saddleworth, 1613 to 1751, (Uppermill, 1887), p. 458; see also Pedigree D, ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave-2’, p. 52. 37 ‘The Schofields of Hollingreave-2’, pp. 48 & 56. 38 Ibid., p. 39

54 HOLLINGREAVE - (PART 3 A POSTSCRIPT) obtained more solace from a personal dedication to his daughter Anna’s memory, from an esteemed friend of relative eloquence, to the condolences of an Anglican curate with whom his immediate family may not have been familiar and may have felt little empathy. In summary, the timing of Bottomley’s writings, the Schofields’ neighbourly association with the Bottomleys, the survival of the poem in the Schofield family, the burial of a young girl called Anna the daughter of James Schofield, in May 1789 provide a persuasive case in support of the hypothesis that Anna Schofield, aged probably around seven or eight, was the subject of this poem, a short, personal elegy, penned by Samuel Bottomley to console her grieving parents. The fragile paper, on which the poem was written, sustained some damage when it became torn from the manuscript’s reused hard cover binding, to which it had once been adhered with blobs of sealing wax. Although this impairs legibility, significant parts of it can be clearly read and have been transcribed below. Its literary merit may not be especially noteworthy, but its survival reflects the esteem in which the author was held by a local family. Furthermore, its poignant sentiment and elegiac evocation of the contemporary fragility of a young life in Saddleworth, serves as a useful embellishment to the otherwise limited, dry factual evidence of church registers and its survival provides a valuable contribution to Saddleworth literary heritage. ‘Beauteous [?]..[are?]..the opening blushes On the banks of Silver Tame When the Spring o'er fields and bushes Spread along her Silver train Fair as they did Anna blosom As a flow'r awhile she shone Now each fond Relation's bosom Mourns, for as a flow'r She's gone As a flow'r the blooming stranger, In the silent dust is laid Heaven perhaps foresaw some danger If on Earth she'd longer staid. Soon the awful summons sounded Quite resign’d she clos'd her eyes Guardian Angels that surrounded Bore her to her native skies Cease fond parents cease your weeping Since the good in heaven are crown’d To die like her is only sleeping Death the Bad can only wound’

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to former owner Judy Humphreys and current owner Paul Knox for sharing their knowledge and images of Holly Grove Cottage and artefacts discovered during renovations in the 1970s. I am grateful to Mike Buckley for his assistance in editing an interpretation of these findings. In asserting the attribution of this poem to Samuel Bottomley I am indebted to Victor Khadem, and I am also grateful to Viv Fry for images and other details of her family’s copy of Greenfield, and the poem bound within it.

55 SHSB, VOL. 50, NO. 2, 2020

THE KERNEL [A recently discovered morale boosting pamphlet from a First World War troop ship] An Enterprising Military Journal, of nutty flavour, devoted to the troops on board His Majesty's Transport ‘Avon’, with which is incorporated the ‘Avon Times’, the ‘Fo'c'sle Observer’, and the ‘Poop Echo’. Edited by a select Committee.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th, 1914 Our voyage on the AVON is rapidly approaching the end. Although to many of us it is growing monotonous, yet we shall be sorry to part from our good friends. The Ship's Company, from Captain to cabin boy, have conspired together to make us happy. No reasonable request has been refused by Officers or crew, and we must call them ‘Sports.’ They ought to be terriers. Yesterday, furnished us with a rare sight. Twenty-four ships carrying our Indian brothers to the Front. Bravo! Gourkhas and Sikhs. We hope Kaiser Bill will find you hot as Chutney! Our old friend the MINERVA left us, to lead the Indian Fleet to France, and the WEYMOUTH took us in charge. The MINERVA'S message to all Transports was ‘MINERVA wishes Good Luck to the General, Officers, and men, whom she has had the honour of escorting so far. God Speed the MINERVA!’ We publish in this issue the last scores in Cricket, and results of Tug-of-war. The Select Committee of the Kernel thank all Officers, N.C.O's and men for their cordial support, and wish them Good Luck, and a speedy return home - through Germany.

CLIPPINGS. The new escort is called the WEYMOUTH, 5,250 Tons; 22,000 H.P.; 8′-6″ guns; E 4-3 pounders. She is on the Mediterranean Station, and is commanded by Captain W.D. Church, R.N. Her first commission was in 1911. She was last commissioned at Sheerness October 1913. The DOG WATCH is so called because it is cur-tailed. It is rumoured that the Kaiser has sent all his British uniforms to King George. This must be remembered to his credit. He does not wish to disgrace them. New name for German Troops : ‘The Uhligans.’ People who complain that the Allies are too much on the defensive, should remember it is very difficult to be as offensive as the Germans.

56 THE KERNEL

The Scheldt can easily he dammed - so can the Kaiser. Of Wolves that wear sheep's clothing The World has long been full, But we’ve a special loathing For one in Berlin wool. Although the wool may cover Not more than half the beast, Perhaps when all is over, He'll be entirely fleeced. The custom of kissing when they meet, has been temporarily suspended among some of the European monarchs.

FACTS CONCERNING UNITS ON BOARD H.M.T. AVON. Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry. Previous to 1780 was known as the Bolton Light Horse. Eventually became the D.L.O.Y.. In 1780 the Regiment was at Barrow-in-Furness. Different sections of the Regiment have been stationed in different parts of Lancashire, and at the present time, it has troops in Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool, Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale. Present Headquarters. -Manchester. In South Africa, the Regiment was represented as the 23rd Company of Imperial Yeomanry. The late King Edward was Colonel-in-chief, and King George has further honoured the Regiment by succeeding his Royal father. The present Regiment is up to strength, and sanction has been received to form another regiment for Home Service. The O.C. is Colonel R.H. Tilney, T.D.

2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons) Regiment formed in I901 under Colonel Burn. Its large headquarters were built near Westminster Abbey by subscription of members. Riding school is the second largest in London. In 1902, the Regiment was granted the use of the Arms of the City of Westminster as the regimental badge, and was appointed the Civic Cavalry Regiment. Subsequently the Regiment was made a Unit of the London Mounted Brigade (Yeomanry) and was placed as Divisional Cavalry to 1st London Division (T.F.) It took part in 1913 Army Manoeuvres, as part of a regular Cavalry Brigade, and was inspected by H.M. The King, gaining special commendation of the Brigadier, General Bingham.Cavalry to 1st London Division (T.F.) It took part in 1913 Army Manoeuvres, as part of a regular Cavalry Brigade, and was inspected by H.M. The King, gaining special commendation of the Brigadier, General Bingham.

The 3rd East Lancashire Service Brigade R.F.A. (Bolton Artillery) The 3rd East Lancashire Service Brigade is composed of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Lancashire Batteries together with an Ammunition Column. War strength : 621 Officers and men, and 558 horses, and it is at present armed with 12 - 15 pounders B.L. (converted) guns. This Unit, prior to the formation of the Territorial Force, was the 9th Lancashire Volunteer Artillery, then armed with the 40 pounder, Armstrong R.B.L. gun ; prior to this the Bolton Artillery formed in 1861 was a single battery station of the old 3rd Lancashire (Blackburn) Volunteer Artillery, but in 1888 a separate brigade was formed in Bolton under the command of Lt.-Col. Charles Ainsworth, V.D. 18th Battery on board H.M.T. ‘Avon.’ 19th Battery on board H.M.T. ‘Neuralia.’ 20th Battery on board H.M.T. ‘Ionian.’ The Ammunition Column on H.M.T. ‘Grantully Castle.’

57 THE KERNEL

The 6th Lancashire Battery. The 6th Lancashire Battery is stationed at Burnley, and is one of the Batteries of the 1st East Lancashire Brigade, R.F.A., which comprises the following head-quarters:- 4th Lancs. Battery at Blackburn, 5th Lancs. Battery at Church, 6th Lancs. Battery at Burnley, Ammunition Column at Blackburn. Up to the change from Volunteers to Territorials, - the Brigade was known as the 3rd Lancashire Volunteer Artillery, which corp was formed in 1861, with headquarters and two Batteries at Blackburn, one Battery at Bolton, and one Battery at Southport. In 1888, the Batteries at Southport and Bolton were transferred to other Units, and further Batteries were formed at Chorley and Church. In 1901 Major F. W. Marsden formed the Burnley Battery, and on the transfer from Volunteer to Territorial, the Chorley Battery was transferred to the West Lancashire Division. Since its formation in 1861, the Brigade has been armed with the following guns :- 60 pounder M.L.; 40 pounder B.L.C.; 4.7 Q.F., and 15 pounder B.L.C., with which better guns the Battery is now armed.

10th Batt. Manchester Regt. It is somewhat difficult to give a correct history of the battalion without any data to refer to. In the early days of Volunteering, the Oldham Contingent along with that from Ashton, formed the 7th Administrative Battalion, but the numbers becoming too great, this was dissolved, and the Oldham Volunteers were formed into a separate unit under the title of the 31st Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, afterwards becoming the 22nd Lancashire Rifle Volunteers. On the formation of Volunteers into Brigades, it became the 6th Batt. Manchester Regiment, and part of the Manchester Brigade, and on the formation of the Territorial Force, the 10th Batt. Manchester Regiment, and part of the East Lancashire Brigade. It furnished, four parties for the South African War, the first being under the command of Major (then Lieut.) Bamford, and the second under Major (then Lieut.) Hardman. The Battalion took part in the King's Review at Worsley and in all the notable events of this kind during recent years, but is now experiencing for the first time duties outside the United Kingdom.

The 3rd East Lancs. Field Ambulance. Originally the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps was formed in 1885, and occupied as headquarters portions of the building now occupied by the 7th Batt. Manchester Regt. (then the 4th V.B.M.R.) in Burlington Street, Manchester. There were two Companies under Surgeon Captain, W. B. Crockwell. The Corps grew, and larger headquarters were taken in old Trafford and lastly New Headquarters were built in 1905 by the energy of Col. W. Coates, C.B., and voluntary subscriptions. A riding school was added this year, which ranks as second in England. It is shared by the D.L.O.Y., and the Royal Engineers. On the formation of the Territorial Force, 8 Companies and Transport, were arranged into 1st, 2nd and 3rd Field Ambulances with their separate Transport Sections. The third is aboard the AVON. We have obtained convincing proof that thousands of Russians actually did pass through Bolton same weeks ago. Our informant has a friend, who is porter at Bolton Station, and he assures us that this porter, although he did not actually see the Russians, yet swept the snow from some of the compartment after the trains’ return to Bolton.

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AN INSULT RETURNED. Sometime ago, when the Germans loved slightly better than now, a German warship lay off Gibraltar. Some of the crew were allowed ashore, and were taken in tow by British Tars, and Tommies. One German sailor had been imbibing freely with an English Tar, but before going back to the ship, proposed ‘The Health of Der Kaiser,’ to which the Bluejackel responded heartily. ‘Now,’ said the latter, ‘just one more, The King.’ ‘Nein, Nein,’ said the German: ‘When I have drunk to the Emperor, I never take another drink that day.’ ‘Come,’ said the Bluejacket, getting angry, ‘certainly we must drink to the King, God Bless Him.’ ‘Nein,’ said the German, ‘I cannot.’ ‘Then, if you won't,’ said Jack, putting his fingers down his throat, ‘Up comes your bloomin’ Emperor.’ (Sent in by Pte. I. W. Wood, 10th Manchesters)

CRICKET FINAL Duke of Lanc. Own Yeo. (1 wkt) 33 Duke of Lanc. Own Yeo. (no wkts) 39 R.A.M.C. No. 2. 31 G Coy. 10th Manchester Reg. 37 Duke of Lanc. Own Yeo. won by 2 D.L.O.Y. won by 2 G Coy. 10th Manch. Regt. (5 wkts) 86 Winning team composed as follows:- 6th Battery R.F.A. 85 1. 2nd Lieut. R. L. Greenshields. G Coy. won by 1 2. Lieut. D. H. Bates. F Coy. 10th Manchester Reg. 52 3. Sergt. Barry. Westminster Dragoons 23 4. Sergt. Hitch. F Coy. won by 29 5. Corp. Smith. E Coy. 10th Manchester Regt. 0 6. Shoeing. Smith Barber. 18th Batt. R.F.A. (no wkts) 3 7. Pte. Smalley. 18th Batt. R.F.A. won by 3 8. Pte. Smalley. 9. Pte. Watson. 10. Pte. Snell. 11. Pte. Binian.

TUG OF WAR FIRST ROUND Winner R.A.M.C. (2) v. C Coy. 10th M. C Coy. M. A Coy. v. D Coy. D Coy. M. B Coy. v. H Coy. H Coy. M. 6th Batt. R.F.A. v. F Coy. F Coy. M. 18th Batt. R.F.A. v. D.L.O.Y. 18th Battery G Coy. v. Westminster Drag. W. Dragoons SECOND ROUND R.A.M.C. (1) v. E Coy. R.A.M.C. (1) C Coy. v. D Coy. D Coy. H Coy. v. F Coy. F Coy. 18th Battery R.F.A. v. W. D. W. Dragoons SEMI-FINAL R.A.M.C. (1) v. D Company D Company F Coy. v. W. Dragoons F Company FINAL F Coy. v. D Coy. not finished

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POSTSCRIPT The next day the men would disembark in Alexandra, Egypt and after a short training period they were sent to protect the Suez canal. The 10/Manchesters were a Territorial battalion based at Rifle Street, Oldham and it is likely that they included some Saddleworth men. They had been mobilised on 5th August and had sailed with the other units from Southampton on 9th September as part of a seventeen ship convoy. It was not the first experience of different climate for some of the men, as some, including Bamford and Hardman had served with the unit in the Boer War. Their commanding officer was Lt-Col John Buckley Rye, son of a former mayor of Oldham.1 The two officers mentioned were also members of the Oldham millocracy. Percy Bamford's family owned Willowbank Mill and George Whittaker Hardman's owned Bangor Mill. His sister Ann married F.W. Mallalieu of Bailey Mill, Delph. The 1/Manchesters would later leave Egypt to serve at Gallipolli in 1915 and then on the Somme in 1917.2

1 ‘Lieutenant-Colonel J.B. Rye, V.D. Some Local Men CXII’, Oldham Chronicle, 24 March 1924. 2 Sergeant Maurice Bradbury, M.M., ‘Oldham Terriers - Their Part in the War’ part 1 (of 12), Oldham Standard, Spring 1919, available at http://www.pixnet.co.uk/Oldham-hrg/World- War1/territorials/a-menu.html.

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OBITUARY James Colin Carr (1928-2020)

Born in Farnworth, Jim gained a degree in Classics at Manchester University and served 2 years in the RAF. He died of Coronavirus on 3rd April 2020, after returning from a cruise, aged 91 years old. The family arrived in Saddleworth in 1966. Jim became a member of Saddleworth Historical Society in 1979. He was a committee member from 1982 until 2016 and was chairman from 1989 to 2004 taking over from John Murray and succeeded by Mike Buckley. Some may remember his lectures on coins, the Greek theatre or Roman sites in Europe. He was a volunteer at Uppermill Museum, manning the admissions’ kiosk on Saturdays for many years. Along with Stanley Broadbent he was also on the committee of the Huddersfield Canal Society when it was revived to organise the Canal Festival in 1995 and helped organise the Saturday night Jazz evenings raising money for the Museum. For many years he was also a member of the Saddleworth Parish Council Conservation Advisory Committee. He came to this area when he was appointed Head of Lower School at the Blue Coat School, Oldham, after his first appointment at Haslingden Grammar School, teaching Latin for 12 years. His next job was Deputy Head at Two Trees County Secondary, Denton and then Head of Bishop Greer High School, Gorton for 13 years. This school closed and was replaced by The Trinity C. of E. School in Manchester when Jim took early retirement. During the next few years he enjoyed the freedom of supply teaching in Oldham Secondary Schools. He also taught at night school in Uppermill, with good results at O level English from his students. Jim was always interested in Archaeology. He spent many hours with Dr Pat Stonehouse excavating and finding prehistoric flints in the Pule Hill area and finding evidence of a

61 JAMES COLIN CARR (1928-2020) bloomery above Castleshaw. Until recently he was actively involved with the working party under Norman Redhead of Salford University researching the Castleshaw valley. His favourite period was the Roman era. With Colin Harding he went to the annual Hadrian’s Wall weekend and visited many sites in England, Wales and Scotland as well as sites in Europe on holidays. His other main interest was football which sometimes interfered with his attendance at lectures in the latter years. He was in charge of the under 18s football team for Greater Manchester playing against County teams from all over England and has been able to recognise footballers in the top teams who had started their careers with the County teams. Jim was a dedicated member of Christ Church, Friezland, and served on the P.C.C. in the past. He is remembered for his booming voice when singing or reading as well as his knowledge and dedication. In the 70s he helped run a youth club for teenagers with the Rev. David Hurst. Walking became difficult and Jim had other health problems but was always cheerful and thankful for his long life. He is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren.

A recent picture of Jim with members of the Castleshaw Roman Forts Working Party

62 SHSB, VOL. 50, NO. 2, 2020

OBITUARY Barbara Booth (1932-2020)

Barbara was born in 1932 in Mossley and was very proud of her roots. Her parents were Mary and Harry and Mary Byrom and she was an only child. She attended grammar school and excelled academically. She attended further education classes in the evening and trained as a draughtswoman. Later she obtained an HNC in Electrical Engineering, she was the first woman from Stockport College to do so. She worked for the firm of Francis Shaw and became the chief draughtswoman. Ken and Barbara met at Ashton Technical College in 1955 and were married in September 1956. They set up businesses together. Ken and Barbara enjoyed touring caravan holidays and particularly loved Scotland, Cornwall and Borrowdale. They also enjoyed rock climbing on our local gritstone edges and Barbara could lead some of the hardest climbs. Barbara was a keen and talented photographer. A committee member of Oldham Photographic Society, she particularly loved monochrome photography and won many awards.

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The Saddleworth Historical Society had been founded in 1966, based on some Workers Education Association evening classes held at Saddleworth School and especially the Roman Road Classes and the Industrial Archaeology Classes. Barbara was an active member of the WEA and in 1982 helped Donald Haigh with the production of Saddleworth 712, the booklet on the roman road through Saddleworth. Records show that in 1971 Ken and Barbara Booth had both become members of the Society. The annual subscription then was 50 pence - membership had grown to 63. The following year at the AGM Barbara took over as Hon. Secretary and Ken took over as Treasurer. Barbara loved history and was Hon. Secretary of the Society until 1987. During her time as Secretary, Barbara was involved with all the various SHS activities such as the annual Social Evenings in the Saddleworth Civic Hall, including The Wild West Evening, Medieval Night, Roman Night, The 1914-18 War Evening, Twenties Evening, &c, and a weekend visit to the Lake District including following the Roman Road over High Street, The Weavers Supperin’ Do at Dobcross and a weekend near Goathland. She was involved in the excavation of Jackson’s Barrow, and with re-establishing the historic Road End Fair in Greenfield. Barbara was involved also with Saddleworth Museum, being present at the opening in 1979 of the Art Gallery and the new museum extension when the Duchess Of Gloucester was welcomed at the Museum doors. Manning of the Museum at weekends was also carried out by Barbara, and she and Ken both donated a sum of money to cover the Museum’s heating system. The SHS was involved for several years with rebuilding the Wool Road Warehouse and Barbara applied to several organisations to obtain grants and donations for the high costs of replacing the many timber posts and beams holding up the heavy stone slab roof. In the late 1980s Dr Stonehouse had asked me to help him to edit his book on The Prehistory of Saddleworth and Adjacent Areas and at the same time Ken Booth was finishing his book on Roman Saddleworth. Peter Fox, the curator of Saddleworth Museum, suggested that we should apply for Heritage Lottery Fund Grant to cover the cost of printing the two books. This was successful and the Saddleworth Archaeological Trust was founded to organise the printing of the two books. Barbara spent many long hours with all the photographs that the books contained, improving their quality, and photographing many archaeological specimens, maps and drawings. One hundred copies of the book were given free of charge to Universities, Schools and Local Libraries. Barbara then helped to run the Archaeological Trust over the next few years, the main activity being organising a series of lectures on archaeology. The Trust was later absorbed into the Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts. In later years, Barbara unfortunately developed Altzheimer’s and had a long battle with it. She was cared for at home and even in her final years was happy and well cared for with her husband Ken. Barbara sadly passed away peacefully in her sleep in Greenfield with her husband Ken and Jenny present on the 24th March 2020 aged 88 years. David Chadderton, Mike Buckley, Ken Booth and Jenny Halliday

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