Haslingden Grane
Haslingden Grane
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|---|---|
 A view of Ogden reservoir | |
  Haslingden Grane Shown within Rossendale  Haslingden Grane Location within Lancashire | |
| OS grid reference | SD755225 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ROSSENDALE |
| Postcode district | BB4 |
| Dialling code | 01706 |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
Haslingden Grane is the glaciated upper portion of the valley of the River Ogden, lying to the west of Haslingden and in the north east of the West Pennine Moors. The valley is overlooked to the north by Oswaldtwistle Moor and to the south by Musbury Heights. It was once the home of Grane village, and is easily accessible via the B6232/A6077 Grane Road which links to the M65 motorway and the A56. Grane valley is dominated by its three reservoirs, Holden Wood, Calf Hey and Ogden.
The village
Almost nothing now remains of Grane village. Yet before the construction of the reservoirs in the 19th century, the settlement of Haslingden Grane had a population of over 1,300. It had a church, a Methodist chapel, three mills and a school. Many of the inhabitants combined mill-work with small-scale farming. Quarrying was also an important activity, with the village being situated immediately to the north of the workings on Musbury Heights. There was also a brickwork in the village. The people were considered locally to be independent and frugal, and spoke with a strong, distinctive accent. Grane produced many local 'characters', such as the headmaster of Grane School, J.T. Pilling, who left the school to go gold prospecting in the Yukon. Grane was strongly Church of England, whereas most neighbouring communities were nonconformist in their religious beliefs. Haslingden stone was used as a building and paving material, and a lot of it was quarried above Grane from Musbury Heights quarry. A special narrow-gauge railway connected the quarry to Grane. [1]: 33–38
The historian Chris Aspin notes in his book 'Haslingden', co-authored with Derek Pilkington, that the Grane community would 'almost certainly have objected' to being included under the Haslingden banner, and would have preferred to be considered as an independent community. [1]: 33
Whisky distilling
Grane was notorious as the centre of an illegal whisky distilling industry. Locally this was known as 'whisky spinning'. Great ingenuity was displayed in covering traces of the distilling operations, and many of the successful prosecutions appear to be the result of 'tip-offs' after village disputes. Excise officers, police and Inland Revenue raided Grane on 3rd April 1857. At first they found nothing, but eventually - after three days - they uncovered hidden rooms and underground chambers and pipework dedicated to the distilling. There is a story that Grane whisky was regularly delivered to a Haslingden hotel by the daughter of a weaving family. Three or four gallons would fill a hollow metal saddle, concealed beneath bales of woven cloth on a donkey. A similar device was used by a man one night at Haslingden Fair, he wore a metal waist coat containing Grane whisky. [2] In spite of the prosecutions, whisky distilling continued until the early 19th century.[1] : 39
Reservoirs and depopulation
The valley now contains three reservoirs: (west to east) Calf Hey Reservoir, constructed 1860; Ogden Reservoir, 1912; and Holden Wood Reservoir, 1842. The construction of Ogden Reservoir to provide a reliable water supply to the rapidly expanding industrial populations by the Bury & District Joint Water Board in 1900, which required the purchase of land, mills and homes began the virtual depopulation of the village. [3] At first, despite the village being deserted, St. Stephens Church remained in use. In 1925 it was decided to move the church stone by stone to Three Lanes End on the outskirts of Haslingden, where a temporary church had already been erected. Most of the community had moved to Haslingden, and in March 1926, a crowd of 400 attendee the stone-laying for the new site of the church. [1] : 33, 41
Grane today
The Grane moorland scenery makes it a popular place for walking especially through Fairy Glen, and there is an information centre, parking and cafe at Clough Head. Remains of some buildings can still be seen, including a small graveyard. The walk around Ogden Reservoir is particularly popular, with a dedicated car-park, a surfaced path and information boards explaining the existing but ruined houses. One example is Hartley House, which lay about three hundred yards west of the village. A field and rate survey of 1798 indicates that it comprised two farmhouses and four cottages. Three of the cottages were occupied by weavers. The farm had about 40 acres of land, including 30 acres of pasture, six of meadow, three of woodland, and one and a half acres of arable land. By 1827 there were four farms at Hartley House and six other dwellings. Loom shops had been added to two of the farmhouses in order to expand the space for weaving.[4]
Jamestone Quarry, below Clough Head, is tightly secured, but still draws young people to it in the summer, to swim in its water despite this being dangerous. [5] Troy Quarry, nearby, is popular with climbers[6] and has been used as a location for the filming of Peaky Blinders. [7]
St. Stephens Church is now a Grade II listed building, and the home of Holden Wood Antiques, with a cafe and large antique shopping area.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d C. Aspin and D. Pilkington (1979). Haslingden. Helmshore local History Soc. ISBN 0 906881 00 5.
- ^ "Lancashire whisky". Foods of England. The Foods of England project.
- ^ Halstead, Susan (2013). Rossendale Then & Now. The History Press. pp. 22/23. ISBN 978 0 75247144 0.
- ^ Fisk, Stephan. "Haslingden Grane". Abandoned Communities.
- ^ "Teens warned as quarry divers dice with death". Rossendale Free Press. RFP. 10 July 2009.
- ^ "Troy Quarry". UKC logbook. UK Climbing.
- ^ Medd, James. "Where is Peaky Blinders filmed?". CN Traveller.
- ^ "Holden Wood". Holden Wood Antiques.
External links
Media related to Haslingden Grane at Wikimedia Commons