Biddulph & District Historical & Genealogy Society
Meetings in 2012
The History of Mow Cop - 16th April 2012
Mr. John Whitehurst - 20th March 2012
The Limestone Workings at Newbold - 20th February 2012
Wharf Road, Biddulph - 16th January 2012
Bridges of Biddulph - 19th December 2011
The History of Mow Cop - 16/04/2012
A packed Library was welcomed by Mr. Roland Machin, who introduced Mr. Philip Leese, local author and historian, who presented a talk on the History of Mow Cop. Mr. Leese has written two books on Mow Cop but as he explained it was really one book which the publisher asked him to split into two halves. The first was Mow Cop – A Living Village and the second the recently released Living on the Hill. The first looked at how the villagers earned a living and the second concentrated on social history of Mow Cop. As Mr. Leese explained as soon the books were published a number of new and interesting information appeared – two C18th watercolour prints, the historical record in the photographs of Mr. Frank Sanderson and more memories of local people. Whilst the books included the mining, millstone and fustian industries; the story of Hannah Dale and recollections of Mr. David Oakes and many other local people they could not be described as a history of Mow Cop. When he was asked by the BDGHS to do a talk on Mow Cop Mr. Leese decided to try and collate all the historical data he could to present a chronological review. However, as with all historical research the further back you go in time the greater the gaps between the pieces of information.
In early pre-Roman history it was believed that Mow Cop had a burial chamber similar to the Bridestones and this was the border between two ancient tribes. There is mention of quarrying for stone and mining for coal in the Roman period but it isn’t until 1586 there is a detailed mention of millstone mining and a description of the area as comprising waste and common land farmed as smallholdings with a large area of woodland, for example, Roe Park Wood.
In 1692 the local families the Wilbraham’s and Sneyd’s on the Staffordshire and Cheshire side of Mole Hill are mentioned. There are large gaps however in the historical record at this point and the research at Cheshire Record Office would be an interesting project for a history society but is not the sort of research that Mr. Leese enjoys. For example, although the ‘Castle’ at Mow Cop exists and there are a number of often quoted stories about its building and preservation there are no documents at all to give a definitive history. It is believed that Mow Cop Castle was built as a summerhouse in 1754 for Randle Wilbraham of Rode Hall allegedly to have been built to enhance the view from the newly constructed Rode Hall three miles away. He employed local stonemasons John and Ralph Harding and it was said they were paid 1 shilling a day, paid with leather money and one of the members of the family lost a hand while constructing the castle.
The Wilbraham family are said to have used the summerhouse for picnics but in the mid 1800s, a dispute started with Ralph Sneyd of Keele Hall. Sneyd claimed that part of the summerhouse was built on his land, and that part ownership should therefore fall to him. The court heard that at the turn of the 19th century, the Wilbraham family moved up to Lancashire and when they returned some 50 years later the summerhouse had fallen into a bad state of repair. The court also heard that while the Wilbraham family had been away, Gordon Reece, a steward for Mr. Wilbraham, had maintained the summerhouse as an ornamental ruin. Reece told the court that in 1824 part of the walls had been restored and the door replaced at a cost of £4 4s. It was also worked on in 1841, but it was not until the family returned that the full restoration had taken place, at a cost of £34. It was eventually ruled that because the boundary cut through the land that the summerhouse was built on, both parties should share the building, and the cost of its upkeep.
Perhaps the biggest influence on the development of Mow Cop was the building of the Trent and Mersey Canal (T&M) in 1775. As well as millstones and aggregate the village became a mining settlement with coal being taken by tramways to the wharf on the T&M Canal at Red Bull. Later, when the Macclesfield Canal was completed in 1831, tramways ran down from the outcrop and deep mines on the Staffordshire side of the hill to Astbury and North Rode wharves. In the early 1800s John Gilbert proposed that a block of Limestone be carried up to Mow Cop to be carved as a statue of Admiral Lord Nelson (unfortunately it didn’t occur). However at about the same time a local preacher, Hugh Bourne, had decided that the many ungodly miners between Newchapel and Mow Cop should be saved. Working as a carpenter at Stonetrough Colliery he initially planned a camp meeting at Norton in the Moors but it was held in May 1907 at Mow Cop and many thousands attended. A month later and a second meeting was held and a tabernacle was built for the preachers – interestingly the speakers were only allowed fifteen minutes each. Thus began the close connection between Primitive Methodism and the Mow Cop area. However, it is interesting to note that most of the people attending the camp meetings came from the Cheshire and not the Potteries side of the hill.
With the population growing there is the first mention of William Jamieson who owned most of the quarries. As well as millstones there was a need for stone block for building houses which explains the large number of stone cottages on the hillside. Some of the stone was ground down by ‘sand punners’ to a fine powder used in the pottery industry. By 1840 there is a large population of people living and working at Mow Cop and the neighbouring pits. Chapels and a church are built and amenities – pubs and shops develop – followed closely by education for both adults and children. There is also some tourism – the arrival of the railway at the foot of the hill in 1848 led to visitors – very fit visitors – climbing the steep hill to take in the view of the Cheshire Plain afforded by the Castle Hill. In 1851 a large plantation is chopped down to provide space for additional housing. So what is the population of Mow Cop at this time – unfortunately it is very difficult to say exactly. Peter Hill in his book Urban Villages in the North Staffordshire Coalfield produces a large number of figures but Mr. Leese has researched some of the statistics and it is difficult to be certain as the population was recorded from 3 sides of the hill – Odd Rode, Briaryhurst and Biddulph. It is however possible to show between 1841 and 1871 the population of miners seems to increase at the expense of agricultural workers, for example in 1861 the roll of students at Woodcock’s Well School all 109 children had parents working at three local pits. Just to muddy the water there are many verbal records of the miners spending time getting in crops on a good summer’s day instead of digging for coal.
Young women were also gaining employment in the textile mills and everything looked well until the 1870s when a number of problems hit the main industries. Milling stones were no longer required for local mills – imported grain being milled by roller mills at the ports and guaranteed employment in the local small mines was hit by imported coal and this led to a series of long and expensive strikes. By 1881 the conditions are so bad in the local economy that for the first time the census mentions empty houses at Mow Cop. Being a hardy and resilient people the population recovers – fustian mills arrive and bicycles allow the miners to cycle down to Black Bull, Birchenwood and Talke. Another setback is the 1893 Moss Pit explosion which sees 300 miners losing there jobs. However as the roads get better, using aggregate from the quarries, Frederick Harper’s bread van appears in the village in 1907 just in time for the Centenary Primitive Methodist camp when more that 100,000 people turn up for three days of celebrations. Post cards and celebration plates are sold in the thousands. The depression years see an end to many of the small shops in the village, an end to all of the local collieries as Robert Heath amalgamates only the largest producers to supply his furnaces, and textiles particularly fustian goes out of style to be replaced by artificial fibres. The National Trust is given the Castle to care for in 1937 and pays for some large scale restoration work to the base of the monument. Mow Cop becomes a dormitory village with just a couple of shops, a church and a chapel. By the time of the 2007 ‘Camp’ at Mow Cop the crowd is measured in 100s. People travel to the Potteries, Macclesfield and Manchester for work.
This is just a summary of a talk packed with anecdotes and observations which the packed audience in the Library was privileged to hear. Mr. Leese answered a number of questions and led a discussion of some them before the meeting chairman, Mr. Roland Machin, thanked him on behalf of the BDGHS for such an interesting talk.
Mr. John Whitehurst - 20/03/2012
A packed Library was welcomed by Mr. Roland Machin, who introduced Mr. Ian Doughty from Congleton Museum with a talk illustrated by slides on the local polymath Mr. John Whitehurst.
Born on the April 10th 1713 he was the eldest son of John Whitehurst who was a clock maker and prominent citizen of Congleton. John Whitehurst (Senior) held many local positions in the town and also founded a successful clock-making business. His father also fostered an interest in geology when taking him for long walks in the Derbyshire Peak District. He was also interested in the sources of copper, an essential mineral for the brass used in clocks and heavier bearings as many brass founders had to move premises as local sources were depleted.
One of the first questions Mr. Ian Doughty asked was “Why didn’t John take over the family business in Congleton letting his younger brother James run the firm?” Instead, he set up in Derby about 1736 where he presented a turret clock to the corporation for installation in the new Guildhall thus gaining his freedom to trade as a burger living and working in Iron Gate. He married Elizabeth Gretton in 1745 and worked as Church Warden of All Saints in 1761-62 and continued to live in Derby until 1780.
He was one of the foremost scientists of his day, father of modern geology and founder member of the Lunar Society along with Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgewood, James Watt and others (see below). This raised Mr. Doughty’s second question “Why did so many young men from the Midlands become the Elite of the Age?” Closely followed by a third question “Why did the Lunar Society feature so many men we can describe as polymaths?” As a clock maker and engineer, Whitehurst’s innovations included the round dial long case clock, a standardisation of parts and the manufacture of components to very high tolerances. He also made compasses, way-wisers, timers for pottery kilns, pyrometers and barometers. One of Whitehurst’s most important achievements was in geology; in 1763, he sent Benjamin Franklin (an occasional visitor to his Derby house) an outline of his theory on the origin and formation of the earth, which was later published.
John Whitehurst painted by his friend Joseph Wright The links to other members of the Lunar Society can be seen from his inventions. His work on strata facilitated the prospecting and mining of minerals such as coal, lead and copper and he had a stake in the extraction operations of Anthony Tissington, proprietor of a very prosperous mining company which owned mines not only in Derbyshire but also in Yorkshire, Durham and Scotland.
Another area of further research which can be added to the first three questions is “Why do the Cheshire families have such strong links to Ireland?” It is believed, for example, that between leaving Congleton and setting up in Derby John worked in Ireland probably with the Parnell family.
In 1799 John Whitehurst was elected as a Member of the Royal Society, which was given its Charter by Charles II in 1666 and he obtained the position of Stamper of the Money Weights at the Royal Mint under an Act of 1780, finally leaving Derby for London. He died in 1788 leaving his property and clock making business to his nephew, John Whitehurst young son of his brother James who had succeeded to his father’s firm in Congleton. In a sense this closed a circle back to his roots.
John Whitehurst was a founder member of the Lunar Society which met on the first Monday after the full moon so there was moonlight for the journey home across the rutted roads. The Lunar Society would meet in Birmingham and become the main intellectual powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in England. So who were some of the other members of the Lunar Society?
William Bloye’s statue Boulton, Watt and Murdoch, in central Birmingham. 1. Matthew Boulton, FRS (September 3rd 1728 – August 17th 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
2. Erasmus Darwin, who wrote “A fool you know, is a man who never tried an experiment in his life” was one of the greatest polymaths. George III asked him to be his personal physician but he declined, preferring to stay where he had settled in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
3. Thomas Day of London was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford from the age of 16 where he met Richard Lovell Edgeworth, during a vacation. They were influenced by the work of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who denounced corruption and endeavoured to return to the simplicity of nature. Although Day studied law and was called to the bar in 1775 he never practiced. He spent his life as a philanthropist, writer and political essayist.
4. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass armonica. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania. He also had time to visit England and attend a meeting of the Lunar Society.
5. Samuel “John” Galton Jr. FRS was born in Duddeston, Birmingham and despite being a Quaker he was an arms manufacturer and lived at Great Barr Hall.
6. Richard Lovell Edgeworth born in Bath in Somerset and died at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland. An Anglo-Irish inventor his mechanical inventions included possibly the first attempt at telegraphic communication, the creation of various sailing carriages, a velocipede (cycle), a perambulator (land measuring machine), a turnip cutter, a one-wheeled chaise, and a phaeton (a four-wheeled open carriage). Edgeworth also wrote Practical Education (1798), written in collaboration with his daughter, which argued that children should be given a strong motive to learn and that the pace should be adjusted to the child’s age and ability discouraging learning by rote. Four times married, Edgeworth had 22 children!
7. William Murdock was born in Old Cumnock near Ayr and died in Birmingham. A Scottish inventor, the first to make extensive use of coal gas for illumination and a pioneer in the development of steam power. He worked for the engineering firm of Matthew Boulton and James Watt in their Soho works at Birmingham. In Cornwall to superintend the fitting of Watt’s steam engines he experimented in distilling coal and in 1792 lighted his cottage and offices with coal gas. Returning to Birmingham about 1799, he perfected further practical methods for making, storing, and purifying gas. He also made important improvements in the steam engine including and various modifications to the arrangements of shafts and flywheel. He experimented with compressed air and in 1803 constructed a steam gun and he retired from business in 1830.
8. Joseph Priestley was one of the most remarkable thinkers of the 18th century. Best known today as the scientist who discovered oxygen, he also made major contributions in the fields of education, politics, philosophy, and theology.
9. William Small was born in Forfarshire, Scotland in 1734 and attended Marischal College, Aberdeen and was awarded his MD in 1765. At the age of 23 he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at William and Mary College, Virginia, then one of Britain’s American colonies. One of his students was Thomas Jefferson. In 1764 Small returned to Britain armed with a letter of introduction to Matthew Boulton from Benjamin Franklin where he established a medical practice in Birmingham. Between 1765 and 1775 he acted as Boulton’s doctor and became a close friend of other members of the Lunar Society. His knowledge of mathematics, mechanics and chemistry provided him with an important intellectual role, advising on the development of the steam engine, engaging in chemical experiments alongside Boulton and Keir and designing clocks. He also involved himself in cultural activities helping to bring the Theatre Royal to Birmingham in 1774.
10. James Watt was sent to Glasgow to learn the trade of a mathematical-instrument maker and established his business there. He developed a reputation as a high quality engineer and was employed on the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Caledonian Canal. In 1763 Watt was sent a Newcomen steam engine to repair and noted a way of making it more efficient. He sought a partner with money and asked John Roebuck to provide financial backing for the project and went into partnership with him.
11. Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his “Am I Not A Man And A Brother?” anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin-Wedgwood family and grandfather of Charles and Emma Darwin.
12. William Withering was born in Wellington, Shropshire, trained as a physician and studied at the University of Edinburgh. He worked at Birmingham General Hospital from 1779. He treated a patient with dropsy (swelling from congestive heart failure) and noted the remarkable improvement that the taking of a traditional herbal remedy had. He identified that the active ingredient in the mixture came from the foxglove plant now known as digitalis, after the plant’s scientific name. In 1785 he published An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses.
Sun dial on St. Peter’s Church, Congleton presented by John Whitehurst. The links between all these men point to a joint interest in medicine, manufacturing and geology and the use of the most accurate measurements possible. For example, as Mr. Doughty stated, when Mr. Wedgwood was inventing glazes the temperature of firing is critical and Mr. Whitehurst could provide an accurate measurement.
Mr. Doughty answered a number of questions before the Meeting Chairman, Mr. Roland Machin, thanked him on behalf of the audience for such an interesting talk.
The Limestone Workings at Newbold - 20/02/2012
A packed Library was welcomed by Mr. Roland Machin, who introduced Mr. Len Kirkham with a video presentation and information about the limestone workings at Newbold. To coincide with the talk the BDGHS has produced its sixth Transaction bringing together all the information the Society has on the mining of limestone in the Astbury area.
The video explained the layout of the Limeworks before going underground into the shafts and tunnels of the area. The map below shows the tunnel and the two shafts used to access the tunnel complex are just above Limekiln Farm. The heavily contoured area into which the tunnel appears to end is now the flooded lake – see the diagram below.
The Astbury Hydraulic Limestone Works was an example of small-scale mining for minerals that local industry and agriculture was once based upon and was just over the border in Cheshire. The folded nature of the geology along the Congleton Edge produced a ready supply of limestone and clay just below the surface. No mine plans are known to exist, there is a paucity of documentary evidence and most surprisingly, given the unique nature, no geological survey of the mine is known. The Lime Works lie on land farmed by the Potts family at Limekiln Farm since circa 1880. Both land and mineral rights of the area have been in the ownership of two distinct estates up to the 20th century. Limekiln Farm and adjacent lands were in the ownership of the Egerton’s, Dukes of Bridgwater, and the Cheshire land owning family of Shakerly-Ackers. It was with cooperation of Mr. Potts that the exploration of the shafts and tunnels took place.
A brief history of Limetone mining can be divided into three phases. Phase 1 was surface working at the northeast end of the site and appears to be the earliest area worked, and when surface working was exhausted due to the increase of cover, the stone was mined directly below the quarry from drawing shafts and a shallow drainage adit. The shafts were driven southeast approximately 150 yards from a stream gully into the limestone, probably circa1750. The works when exhausted are likely to have remained idle for some years, possibly due to the considerable capital investment required to re-site the kilns and to strip surface rock to reveal the limestone for quarrying. In 1805 the powerful industrialist family of Gilberts, agents for the Egerton’s, Dukes of Bridgwater (Lead 1989), took over the Newbold Astbury Limeworks in partnership with the Williamson’s who were related by marriage and were business partners of James Brindley. Three years after the purchase, the limekilns were described as supplying a large district to the south east of the county with this lost valuable commodity. By 1808, Gilbert and Williamson offered the lease to persons able to superintend the whole concern, presumably after development of the big open cut, now the lake. The period 1808 to the 1870s was likely to have been the most profitable phase, due to the low cost of large-scale surface extraction.
The third and final phase of working was a much more ambitious undertaking which involved a large financial investment and the whole infrastructure above ground was rebuilt below Baytree Farm adjacent to the brick and pipe works. A 560-yard long adit level of a section big enough to take horse-drawn wagons was driven from Baytree to the new workings under the quarry (now the lake), with three vertical shafts that drop down onto the level.
Mr. Len Kirkham in one of the brick-line tunnels. The shafts identified by Mr Kirkham and his team were the No. 1 shaft midway up the level collapsed in recent times but is known to have been of square section and brick-lined at the top, 4ft square by 50ft deep. This was clearly an air-shaft, and would have allowed the adit level to be driven both ways. Access to the tunnel was made through No. 2 shaft, nearly 90ft deep by 4ft in diameter may have been driven at a later date, to accommodate a pumping mechanism. The third shaft is 120ft deep by 8ft in diameter, brick-lined to the bottom, and was proved to go deeper by probing. It was probably a pumping sump while double-driving the adit, a theory supported by the direction of the few shot holes to be seen. Having accessed the tunnel and drained the partly flooded section between No. 2 and No. 3 shafts Mr. Kirkham could confirm that the No. 3 shaft was completely blocked with rubbish, including an old motorcar. Mr. Kirkham’s survey established the in-fill to total 16ft or 9ft above the roof of the level. To gain access Mr Eric Potts volunteered to 'haul up the rubbish' with his vintage tractor using a headgear and 300ft of old SRT rope which was duly threaded over the pulley. An escape way was then excavated up through the rubbish and a ladder placed for the bag fillers to descend while winding full bags up. Access beyond the big shaft was made to a major collapse on the Triassic / Lower Limestone unconformity just short of the lake-edge, above the workings. Further exploration was not possible. Further thoughts of digging through into the workings evaporated. The blockage has to be substantial, as the water make throughout is only a gallon per minute.
At the foot of the unusual shaped No. 2 shaft, an equally curious working was discovered by enlarging a small hole in the side of the level, and in line with the curve of the shaft bottom high up in the side of the main pony-level. One hundred feet down at dip-bottom, a small-section, hand-picked level was revealed in the roof, and after much pumping access was gained into a trial. The film detailed the work undertaken to try and gain access to these underground workings.
The tranquil lake which sits on what was a source
of limestone for hundreds of years.Mr. Roland Machin then thanked Mr. Kirkham for showing the film and then invited the audience to ask questions about the Limestone works and Mr. Kirkham’s experiences underground in the area, including Mow Cop tunnel. Copies of the video and other filmed explorations underground in the area are available by contacting the Society.
Wharf Road, Biddulph - 16/01/2012
A packed Library was welcomed by Mr. Roland Machin, who introduced Mr. Michael Turnock with an illustrated talk on Wharf Road, Biddulph. Mr. Turnock has photographed the changing face of Biddulph over many years but started his talk with some early maps of the Biddulph area.
The 1759 map includes a Ford Farm, sited just behind the now demolished Labour Club, which was one of the few buildings in this area. The field names used reflect how extensively it was used for coal mining and Ford Farm was bought in 1838 by John Bradbury. By 1840 Wharf Road appears as one of the first roads that left the Turnpike Road at Bradley Green (the other being the road now called Station Road). However, by 1876 you walked from the Oddfellows Hall on the High Street past the houses on the left (now Plimbley's Insurance and Mrs. Bailey's house), then past the Yew Tree Farm estate, then past Bradley Green farm with the brickworks behind and on towards Bradbury's Colliery with open countryside towards Mow Cop. Mr. Turnock's favourite early photograph is of the Bradley Green Motorcycle Club in 1913 – with Wharf Road as an unmade track, Yew Tree cottage and in the distance the Oddfellows Hall. So starting from the present Town Hall on the opposite side of the road is the start of Wharf Road. At the start of the C20th on the right is the Oddfellows Hall built in 1865 as the home of the Oddfellows Society which provided help in times of need for its 1,300 members before the introduction of National Insurance in the 1890s. Originally it had a small stone façade with a lantern but when the newly formed BUDC bought the building in 1896 a new but ugly canopy replaced them to provide shelter for the North Western bus passengers awaiting Service 25 to Congleton. It was renamed the Public Hall and the council offices handled rent collection and rates, and also the registration of births, deaths and marriages. It was used for dances and concerts including skating whilst still being the home of the Library, Food Office and Ambulance station until the Second World War. By the side of the Hall was the entrance to Machin's bake house where the Machin family baked bread for their High Street shop and other shops in the area. Mr. Turnock still remembers the smell of that lovely bread and children eating the corners from the loaf as they walked home. The end of the public hall came in 1969 when it was the demolished, as Mr. Turnock said "the powers of the day deemed regeneration was required for Biddulph".
Re-building started in 1970 on a complex of flats, shops and a supermarket next to the Royal Oak (formerly The Wheel) and the supermarket was originally a Keymarket – then later Gateway, International, Solo, and finally Somerfield. On the left is the Conservative Club built 1907 and funded by Mr. Heath who in 1909 built the Gym which is used today by a martial art group but has been used for dances and other social events for over 100 years. On the left is Plimbley's Insurance, who moved here opposite the Public Hall in the 1960s the house having been the home from 1911 of the Weston family. On the left at the corner of South View, built as homes for the miners at Bradley Green Colliery, is the St. Lawrence Church Hall which was a very popular Sunday School, home of the Ladies Fellowship and one special social event – the Shrove Tuesday Teas. Today it is the home of Saxon Tyres but there is still evidence of the Sunday School and its use between 1930-40 as a clinic where ration books, milk and orange juice were issued and its being the home of the school dentist.
Turning towards the bypass roundabout on the right was Yew Tree House and the adjoining building used before demolition by the Options store. Yew Tree House was a large house with extensive grounds and home to John Bradury, his wife and 7 sons and their many servants. Bradbury was the colliery owner and son William ran the Staffordshire mines whilst his brother John managed the Lancashire interests. In 1875 William died, John took over all the mines but when he retired to Southport, he handed the running of the Collieries to William's son, another John. In 1882 Bradley Green Colliery was sold to Robert Heath but then closed in 1894. Around 1900 John and Annie Heathcote, High Street butchers lived at Yew Tree House with its extensive gardens, pavilion, tennis courts and parkland. A later owner was William Lancaster a developer and builder and another strong Methodist. One feature of the house was the round house used by church ladies for "sewing bees". In later times commercial interests used part of Yew Tree buildings, Barlow's Fireplaces, a fence maker, a furniture restorer, Biddulph timber and blacksmith Peter Shelly.
Behind Yew Tree House was the builder's yard and workshops of John Edwards. Earlier in 1840 nearby was Bradley Green Farm occupied by Simion Walley, a farmer and local Methodist preacher. The farm's name had changed to Yew Tree Farm after the Great War and became the home of John and Emma Haydon and eventually four sons. The farm of 70 acres covered Haydon Park and Wharf Park and they started a haulage company with horse and carts and in the 1920s they started building a fleet of Albion lorries for nationwide cattle moving. Albion House was on the left built to replace Yew Tree Farm in the 1930s.
On the left after the bypass roundabout was the Staffordshire County Council depot followed by the site of the Bradbury's Colliery with its coal wharf. Here the Council kept snow ploughs, dust or ash carts, a steam roller and tar sprayer. In World War II the fire station housed here, along with the Council store and Mortuary. Next was the railway weighbridge and office for the coal wharf and sidings in use between 1915 and 1930. A siding coming from the Biddulph Valley railway allowed coal trains to be shunted into the coal wharf and then local merchants collected coal with horse and cart to deliver in the district. Before reaching the colliery site on the right was the 3½ acre garden factory of the Emanuel Ice Cream factory where in its heyday 600 galls per day of ice cream was produced. Sadly only a small area of the paddock isn't now covered with houses. The last of the ice cream factory buildings were demolished in 1999 then being the home of Harry Moss Motor Repair. The rails down to the coal wharf have also been removed, probably in the 1930s. Silas Leigh and John Bradbury bought the Bradley Green colliery and some surrounding land in 1838. From the 1820s they already owned 3 collieries in Lancashire, at Clayton. The colliery in Biddulph was known as Bradley Green colliery with four shafts, including the Rover and Boulder. In 1871 the colliery employed 90 men and 30 boys. The site is now flattened but does include a dirt tip which can be seen from the railway bridge which has a track going under the old iron bridge or over the railway track. Further up Wharf Road or Colliery Road from the B.V.R. railway bridge on the right is Whistler's Wood where the old shafts are said to speak.
Next on the right is Woodside Villa once home of the mining engineer, the 32 year old John Gillstaff from Lancashire. A little later, in 1881, it is the home to colliery manager Mr. Chaddock. Further up Colliery road are Woodside cottages again homes for the Bradbury's workers. Wharf Road then stops at Woodside farm but a footpath continues on towards Akesmore Lane.
The final part of Mr. Turnock's talk was a series of photographs showing the most recent change to Biddulph, the demolition of the buildings between the Town Hall and the Relief Road roundabout which are now the new Sainsbury's store and car park.
Mr. Roland Machin thanked Mr. Turnock for his hard work in recording and then creating such an interesting talk on the history and changing face of Biddulph.
Bridges of Biddulph - 19/12/2011
The December meeting was held on Monday December 19th where the Meeting Chairman, Mr. Roland Machin, introduced Mr. John Sherratt whose annual Christmas lecture was a talk with slides on his research into the “Bridges of Biddulph”.
The earliest roads and paths in the Biddulph area were the product of the drover’s roads which passed through the area to the Middlewich salt mines. They preceded the Roman roads and were also used for the driving of cattle, sheep and geese to market. The latter would be given shoes of tar and sand to protect the webbed feet from damage. As well as being marked by stones, for example the Red Cross may be one of these; they also involved early bridges which were usually large single slabs of rock.
The responsibility for repairing highways and bridges originally rested in the area with the landowners, but was probably not easily enforced against them. Parliament placed the upkeep of bridges on local settlements or the containing county under the Bridges Act 1530 and in 1555 the care of roads was similarly devolved to the parishes as statute labour under the Highways Act 1555. Every adult inhabitant of the parish was obliged to work four consecutive days a year on the roads, providing their own tools, carts and horses. The work was overseen by an unpaid local appointee, the Surveyor of Highways. The Surveyor would employ a team of four to six men for four to six days at one shilling a day. Mr Sherratt gave many examples of the costing of this work including the provision of stone from local quarries, its transportation by cart and labour to complete repairs. For example, in 1656 Mr Thomas Stonehewer paid for a new cavell and in 1664 Mr. Gosling paid one shilling for a new gravel raker which was charged to the maintenance of the bridges.
Although not a Bridge this archway view of the Dalhia Walk at Biddulph Grange Gardens is a reminder of the responsibility of the landowners to build and maintain bridges. There are a number of bridges to the north of Biddulph on both the Congleton and Grange Roads which were built by the local land-owners, for example, the Heath or Bateman families. They were also responsible for a number of wooden and stone bridges on the footpaths in the area including what is now the Biddulph Country Park including the Himalayan Bridge.
It was not until 1654 that road rates were introduced. However, the improvements offered by paid labour were offset by the rise in the use of wheeled vehicles which greatly increasing wear to the road surfaces. The government reaction to this was to use legislation to limit the use of wheeled vehicles and also to regulate their construction. A vain hope that wider rims would be less damaging briefly led to carts with sixteen inch wheels. They did not cause ruts but neither did they roll and flatten the road as was hoped. In many cases Mr. Sherratt said these made many roads impassable and a law was introduced to restrict the width of wheels and tyres. Many of Biddulph’s bridges were originally built in the 17th century: examples are Baker Bridge in 1686, Barns and Upper Marsh Bridge in 1699 and Dubb’s bridge in 1701.
Biddulph also had an early turnpike road where travellers paid tolls to be used for road upkeep and the first of these was authorised in 1663. They were initially administered directly by the Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions but an Act of Parliament in 1706 allowed the creation of Turnpike Trusts. The trustees could erect gates as they saw fit, demand statute labour or a cash equivalent, and appoint surveyors and collectors; in return they repaired the road and put up mileposts. Initially trusts were established for limited periods of twenty one years. The expectation was that the trust would borrow the money to repair the road and repay that debt over time with the road then reverting to the parishes. In reality the initial debt was rarely paid off and the trusts were renewed as needed. The system was never properly reformed but from the 1870s Parliament stopped renewing the Acts and roads began to revert to local authorities, the last trust vanishing in 1895. However, some bridges have continued to be subject to tolls.
In 1767 when one of the local bridges was washed away a double ended saw was purchased and a man at Bosley was paid to build a centrum (the wooden frame made to support the arch) and the following men were employed on the rebuilding – Thomas Brammer, John Cotterill, John Nixon and Joshua Stanley.
The Local Government Act 1888 created County Councils and gave them responsibility for maintaining the major roads. The abiding relic of the English toll roads is the number of houses with names like "Turnpike Cottage" or the inclusion of "Bar" in place names and occasional road name. Mr. Sherratt stated that the bridges built by the Council in Biddulph can be identified by the style of stone work and abutments, for example, Fall’s Road bridge. The building of new bridges for the railway route through the valley involved replacing a number of the bridges along Congleton Road. Mr. Sherratt then took the meeting on a slide show tour of the bridges of Biddulph commenting on the style, type and builders of each of the structures.
Perhaps Biddulph’s newest bridge, built as part of the National Cycle Network. Following a question about the gateway bridges of Biddulph the meeting was surprised to find that the railway ‘bridge’ close to the Castle Inn on the access from the north is officially a tunnel. To the south the gateway was the colliery bridge between Brown Lees and Victoria Colliery which led to a discussion about whether a double decker bus could travel under it. Mr. Roland Machin then thanked Mr. Sherratt for his interesting and amusing look at his research into the structures in Biddulph which many take for granted – the bridges. Mr Derek Wheelhouse, Chairman of the Society, then listed the titles of John’s talks since 2002 showing the diversity of Mr. Sherratt’s research and then asked for a further round of applause.