A brief description of Mossley and Saddleworth

Mossley is a former mill town in the Tame Valley on the edge of the Pennines around 10 miles from the centre of Manchester. The town spreads out on both sides of the valley from Bottom Mossley to the residential areas of Mickehurst and Roaches on the east side of the river and up to Top Mossley, Quickwood and Roughtown on the slopes to the west and north.

Along the valley run the River Tame, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Trans Pennine railway from Manchester to Leeds. Higher up the fields and hills rise to around 300m/1000 feet to the west including the tower at Hartshead Pike, beyond which lie the towns of Oldham to the west and Ashton Under Lyne just over the hill to the south. Heading a few miles down the valley towards Manchester is the larger town of Stalybridge, to the east are the Pennine moors rising to 450 metres and more while the Saddleworth district borders Mossley to the North - more of which below.

Like many similar Pennine towns many of the buildings of Mossley are built of stone with with lots of terrace houses dating from the mid 1800s - early 1900s constructed to serve the mills, much of the housing climbs steep narrow streets up the valley sides. There are also a few rows of older former weavers cottages dating back to the 1700s and various farms and larger houses dotted around the area plus a lot of more modern housing including post war council estates such as Micklehurst and other areas of development from the 1970s/80s. But like many northern mill towns Mossley suffered a decline in the second half of the 20th centuary with closure of many of the mills though there are still a number of factories and local businesses operating in the town.

But much is changing, some of the old mills are being converted into apartments while most have been demolished and the land is being used for the construction of new housing as the town becomes an increasingly popular commuter area for Manchester. There are two 'high streets', with both Bottom Mossley and Top Mossley having a few small shops (and plenty of takeaways!) plus a supermarket in Top Mossley, though the town is not a great shopping area and there are a number of empty shops though hopefully that will change. There are also many pubs in and around Mossley of varying quality.

Mossley now has a population of around 10,000 and comes under the Greater Manchester Borough of Tameside but in earlier times it was divided between the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire - the part of town I live in was once in West Yorkshire - there are 3 churches in the town, one for each of the former counties.

Saddleworth The district of Saddleworth covers a number of small Pennine villages surrounded by hills and moorland, the largest ones being Uppermill (the main tourist village of Saddleworth), Greenfield (the only one with a railway station) and Delph with smaller villages including Dobcross, Diggle (at the head of the valley where the canal and railway enter the tunnel to Yorkshire) and Denshaw high up on the moors. The area also contains the residential area of Grasscroft and many smaller settlements such as Lydgate, Scouthead and Grotton among others.

The area has long been a popular place to live meaning even traditional terrace houses are not cheap (which is why I live in Mossley!) plus there are various new developments and some very nice (and expensive) large older houses. It is also a busy tourist destination with the canal, museums and outdoor pursuits though there are still many local businesses providing employment.

Saddleworth is in the Greater Manchester district of Oldham, but was until 1974 in West Yorkshire and many people still claim it to be part of Yorkshire, some local road signs have unofficially altered to claim the region is still in the West Riding - I can certainly see why people brought up in Saddleworth when it was part of Yorkshire want it to stay that way and the typical Pennine villages and scenery of Saddleworth has much in common with communities on other side of Pennines, but then again having the border along the Pennine watershed also makes sense. Not being a native I'll stay on the fence!

The border with Yorkshire now lies to the north and east of Saddleworth upon up on the higher ground which includes the infamous Sadleworth Moor where the many miles of bleak moorland reach over 500 metres/ 1700 feet above sea level. Besides the villages down in the valleys there are many farms, large houses and hamlets up in the hills and a number of reservoirs including the 3 reservoirs in the valley at Dovestone near Greenfield, a popular visitor destination and Chew Reservoir up on the moors, the highest reservoir in England.

Lower down the Huddersfield Narrow Canal climbs through a series of locks until reaching Diggle where it enters Standedge tunnel, over 3 miles long and the longest canal tunnel in the country. The railway also burrows under the Pennines here and emerges in Marsden, West Yorkshire. The main road A62 climbs over the top of Standedge, while other routes to Yorkshire are the A635 to Holmfirth and the A640 from Denshaw to Huddersfield, both crossing higher moorland.

JSH - 2006