Saddleworth..  A Place to visit  

 

When you cross the County End leaving Oldham travelling towards Huddersfield or Holmfirth, you travel through, what seems to be a collection of villages or hamlets nestling in the foothills on the west of the Pennines. You would think that it was Lancashire and it is now under the administration of Oldham, Gt Manchester but, geographically, it is in the west Riding of Yorkshire  
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Denshaw was a cluster of houses with a local church and it used to have a small bank but it definitely has, at least, two or three pubs,the central one being the 'Junction Inn'.This was most probably named so because it is at the crossroads of the North to South and East to West roads. Delph was and is one of the main villages in the area and in the times of the woollen trade was of great importance because a lot of the goods were despatched to the cities, first by horse and wagon and, later, by rail, in the form of the 'DELPH DONKEY'. There is a lot of history in the village, and you can spend a pleasant day visiting the art galleries, retail shops and of course the many pubs/restaurants along the main street. At weekends, in the summer, you can watch cricket at the local club or the close neighbouring Friarmere.
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Uppermill

Uppermill is the administrative centre of Saddleworth where you will find, amongst the many attractions, the main bank,swimming pool,museum,cricket club, lots of art galleries and the newly restored Huddersfield canal on which you can travel by narrowboat under the Pennines to Marsden or to Stalybridge the other way. If you turn right up Church Lane, you will find Saddleworth Church to which the Morris men pull their 'Rushcart' every year. Surprise, surprise the church doesn't stand on it's own, there is, not only a pub nearby but a pub which brews it's own ale and if you can make it further up the hill, you will another public house which also serves a good meal.

Word has it that after a funeral service at the church, it continued at the 'Church' and the ones who were capable at the end loaded the ones who were not capable into the hearse to take them home.

  

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Diggle is the furthest east of all the villages and, together with the woollen trade, it had a toll gate where traders had to pay a toll if they wanted to take their goods further into Yorkshire. There is a pub where the toll gate was and it is called the 'Hanging Gate'. Diggle also had an engineering works which made Jacquard looms for the woollen industry,

 

 Greenfield was established around the main thoroughfare over the Pennines to Holmfirth (Last of the Summer Wine) and if you travel along this road you will pass Indian's Head ' an outcrop of rocks', Pots and Pans 'a War memorial' and you're on the Isle of Skye road going up to Saddleworth Moor (yes, the picturesque but, now, infamous one.
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Dobcross is reputedly the crossroads where the carters watered their horses after transporting goods up and down the long hills and there are still numerous three storey weaver's houses in the village.The centre of the square has a War Memorial and the first Saddleworth bank stands nearby but, never fear, there is a pub overlooking them all. I suppose the carters themselves needed a drink. Dobcross was used as one of the locations for the film 'Yanks'.    wpe1.jpg (26691 bytes)

             Painting of St Chads. Uppermill

                by John E P Grice. Lydgate
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                                             SADDLEWORTH NATTERBOX
 

If you like Brassbands, you could choose from between about 17 contests taking place in the area every Whit Friday and most of the top bands in the country, plus some from abroad, take part. The bands travel, by coach, from venue to venue, but there is light refreshment available at all the stopping points. ( and bitter ). There is also a Beer Walk where parties of men and/or women, get into fancy dress, and walk from pub to pub, having a drink at each and collecting for charities. This normally happens on the day after,I think.

That is a brief description of Saddleworth but if you want to know more, I may be able to answer your questions and if I can't, I probably know somebody who will.

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