Clegg Hall

Last updated

Clegg Hall
Clegg Hall restored - geograph.org.uk - 336925.jpg
Clegg Hall following restoration
Greater Manchester UK location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Greater Manchester
General information
Town or city Littleborough, Greater Manchester
CountryEngland
Coordinates 53°37′36″N2°07′03″W / 53.626605°N 2.117423°W / 53.626605; -2.117423
Completed1610
ClientTheophilus Ashton (1584–1621)
Designations
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameClegg Hall
Designated9 August 1951
Reference no. 1309615

Clegg Hall is a Grade II* listed 17th-century hall in Littleborough, Greater Manchester, England (grid reference SD92231448 ). [1] It is situated just outside Smithy Bridge.

Contents

History

The "Clegg" in the name of the current hall refers to the location (Little Clegg or Great Clegg) rather than the local family by the same surname – the house was built by Theophilus Ashton (1584–1621) in the early 17th century, and it has never been suggested that the house has been lived in by Cleggs. [2] [3] It appears to be on the site of an earlier Clegg Hall(s) whose occupants were Cleggs.

According to Oakley's highly romanticised version, [4] the first known Cleggs, Bernulf (and his wife Quernilda) de Clegg were in the Domesday book, though they are more commonly said to date to King Stephen's reign (1135–1154). That would seem sensible dating from the names, as they are all Anglo Saxon apart from the "de" which is a Norman addition, typical of the period before Norman Christian names became common.

Clegg Hall was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1951. [5]

Boggart

The hall is reputed to be haunted. The Clegg Hall boggart (as the ghost is better known) is usually placed in the 13th century. The longest version is a fictionalised account in a book called In Olden Days written by a local vicar (Revd. Oakley) [4] in the early years of the 20th century. It reckoned that the master of the house went off to France to fight with Henry. While the father was away the wicked uncle killed both his nephews, throwing them over the battlements into the moat of what was presumably a fortified house. Eventually the father returned. His brother crept through a secret passage from a nearby hall (possibly Stubley Old Hall - although somewhat unlikely as they are 2 miles (3.2 km) apart), ready to do away with the distraught father, when one of the children's voices was heard calling out "Father beware!" (or words to that effect) and the father awoke, sending his evil brother running terrified to plunge to his death. Ever since, allegedly, the phantom boy has been heard issuing warnings.

The current building was described in a 1626 survey of Rochdale as "a faire capital messuage built with free stone with all new fair houses of office there-unto belonging with gardens, fishponds and divers closes of land". It also refers to "barns, stables, courts, orchards, gardens, folds and pigeon houses".

At least two books refer to the ghost and later uses of the current building. One is Harland and Wilkinson's Lancashire Legends, originally published in 1873. [6] This says: "After many changes of occupants it is now in part used as a country alehouse; other portions of it are inhabited by the labouring classes, who find employment in that populous manufacturing district. It is the property of the Fentons, by purchase from the late John Entwisle Esq of Foxholes." The other, Lancashire Legends by Katherine Eyre (1972), says that from 1818 to 1869 it was a public house called the Horse and Hounds, but generally known as the Black Sloven, the name of a favourite hunting mare of legendary speed which belonged to the former owner, Mr Charles Turner. He died in 1733. It says that "The Boggart Chamber" became a place to be avoided, although it is not clear if this was in the pre-1620s house or not. It is alleged that a young girl was playing hide-and-seek and she was found dead behind a wall and a curtain. It also says that "during the Commonwealth era, there were hints of counterfeiting activities in the vaults and cellars of Clegg Hall"; it was common for smugglers and counterfeiters of the period to use tales of ghosts to scare off locals.

Ruin and restoration

Clegg Hall as it appeared in 1999 Clegg Hall.jpg
Clegg Hall as it appeared in 1999

Some time in the 1950s there was a fire at the hall which caused severe damage. A picture in Oakley's 1910 edition of In Olden Days shows it as a complete building. [4] However, the text of a 1920s edition describes it as "a ruined hall", and in fact the hall was in such poor condition in the 1840s, when it was used as a public house, that it had its licence removed because of the dangerous condition and decay of the building. Sam Garside who was born in the hall in 1917 moved out in 1939. It was left in ruins until its 20th-century restoration. A local resident remembers playing there in the 1950s, when the upper floors were still present, and a farmer [Sam Garside] used the ground floor to house his chickens. Some time between the 1970s and 1999, the most impressive external feature – the portico from the front door – fell down and was removed.

In the late 1980s, following the building's purchase by the environmental organisation Pennine Heritage, rumours of a large-scale theme park centred on the hall led to the formation of a local residents' group to petition councillors for assurances their properties would not be compulsorily purchased. At one point there was a suggestion that Clegg Hall, which is near the Rochdale Canal, could be turned into a museum, but this proved too expensive. Pennine Heritage Trust protected and saved the hall from demolition until a new owner who would sympathetically rebuild and restore the hall could be found.

Clegg Hall was restored to its pre-1608 condition between 2005 and 2011 during the ownership of Jason Stead who also restored another large mansion in Rochdale, Healey Hall, from 2000 to 2005. He owned both buildings at the same time. [7] The work was started in February 2005 and completed by September 2009, leaving only kitchen and bathrooms, decoration and furnishings to complete. After receiving heritage awards and having been removed from the English Heritage Buildings at Risk register in 2007, the hall was opened to the public for heritage weekends raising money for a multiple sclerosis charity throughout the restoration. Due to private ownership, it is no longer open to the public but videos and photos of the restoration are available. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

A boggart is a supernatural being from English folklore. The dialectologist Elizabeth Wright described it as 'a generic name for an apparition'; folklorist Simon Young defines it as 'any ambivalent or evil solitary supernatural spirit'. Halifax folklorist Kai Roberts states that boggart ‘might have been used to refer to anything from a hilltop hobgoblin to a household faerie, from a headless apparition to a proto-typical poltergeist’. As these wide definitions suggest boggarts are to be found both within and out of doors, as a household spirit or a malevolent genius loci inhabiting fields or other topographical features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochdale</span> Town in Greater Manchester, England

Rochdale is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the 2021 census the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wider borough. Rochdale is in the foothills of the South Pennines and lies in the dale (valley) of the River Roch, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Oldham, and 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milnrow</span> Human settlement in England

Milnrow is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines, and forms a continuous urban area with Rochdale. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Rochdale town centre, 10 miles (16.1 km) north-northeast of Manchester, and spans from Windy Hill in the east to the Rochdale Canal in the west. Milnrow is adjacent to junction 21 of the M62 motorway, and includes the village of Newhey, and hamlets at Tunshill and Ogden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleton, Greater Manchester</span> Town in Greater Manchester, England

Middleton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Rochdale and 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Manchester. Middleton had a population of 42,972 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the northern edge of Manchester, with Blackley to the south and Moston to the south east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Littleborough, Greater Manchester</span> Town in Rochdale, England

Littleborough is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Roch Valley by the foothills of the South Pennines, 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Rochdale and 13 miles (20.9 km) northeast of Manchester; Milnrow and the M62 motorway are to the south, and the rural uplands of Blackstone Edge to the east. According to the 2001 census, Littleborough, and its suburbs of Calderbrook, Shore and Smithy Bridge, had a population of 13,807.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heywood, Greater Manchester</span> Human settlement in England

Heywood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of Lancashire. It had a population of 28,205 at the 2011 Census. The town lies on the south bank of the River Roch, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Bury, 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Rochdale, and 8 miles (12.9 km) north of Manchester. Middleton lies to the south, whilst to the north is the Cheesden Valley, open moorland, and the Pennines. Heywood's nickname is Monkey Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Towneley Park</span> Historic site in Burnley, Lancashire

Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, covering an area of some 180 hectares. At the southern end of the park is Towneley Hall, a grade I listed building housing Burnley's art gallery and museum. To the north are golf courses and playing fields and to the south 24 acres of broadleaf woodland. On the southern boundary is a working farm called Towneley Farm with pastures and plantations extending eastwards into Cliviger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorton</span> Area of Manchester, England

Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, North West England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitworth, Lancashire</span> Human settlement in England

Whitworth is a town and civil parish in Rossendale, Lancashire, England, amongst the foothills of the Pennines between Bacup, to the north, and Rochdale, to the south. It had a population of 7,500 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Spodden</span> River in North West England

The River Spodden is a watercourse in North West England, one of two major tributaries of the River Roch. It rises in the Lancashire South Pennine hills north of Whitworth and flows south through what is now known as the Whitworth Valley to Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where the river merges with the River Roch. Nestled within the picturesque wooded valley is Healey Dell Nature Reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newhey</span> Human settlement in England

Newhey is a village near the town of Milnrow in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the foot of the South Pennines, by Junction 21 of the M62 motorway and on the River Beal, 3 miles (4.8 km) east-southeast of Rochdale, 10 miles (16.1 km) northeast of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterworth (ancient township)</span> Ancient township in England

Butterworth was a township occupying the southeastern part of the parish of Rochdale, in the hundred of Salford, Lancashire, England. It encompassed 12.1 square miles (31 km2) of land in the South Pennines which spanned the settlements of Belfield, Bleaked-gate-cum-Roughbank, Butterworth Hall, Clegg, Haughs, Hollingworth, Kitcliffe, Lowhouse, Milnrow, Newhey, Ogden, Rakewood, Smithy Bridge, Tunshill and Wildhouse. It extended to the borders of Crompton to the south, and to the highest points of Bleakedgate Moor and Clegg Moor, up to the ridge of Blackstone Edge, to the east, where its boundary was the old county boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckley, Greater Manchester</span> Human settlement in England

Buckley is a suburban area within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the northern fringe of Rochdale, along the course of Buckley Brook, "upon an eminence of ground" by the South Pennines. It is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south-southwest of the village of Wardle and 1.3 miles (2.1 km) north-northeast of Rochdale's town centre. Buckley spans a watercourse, a prison, farmland and residential properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healey Dell Viaduct</span> Viaduct in Rochdale, England

Healey Dell Viaduct is a viaduct situated in Healey Dell Nature Reserve in the Spodden Valley, on the outskirts of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. It is 2.5 mi (4.0 km) from Whitworth, Lancashire. It was built in 1867 and carried the Rochdale to Bacup Railway Line, opening to passengers on 1 November 1870. It operated until 1949, and carried coal trains until into the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Roby</span>

John Roby was an English banker, poet, and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manor Mill, Chadderton</span> Cotton mill in Greater Manchester, England

Manor Mill, Chadderton is an early twentieth century, five storey cotton spinning mill in Chadderton, Oldham, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1906. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production finished in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochdale Cenotaph</span> War memorial in Rochdale, Greater Manchester

Rochdale Cenotaph is a First World War memorial on the Esplanade in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in the north west of England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is one of seven memorials in England based on his Cenotaph in London and one of his more ambitious designs. The memorial was unveiled in 1922 and consists of a raised platform bearing Lutyens' characteristic Stone of Remembrance next to a 10-metre (33 ft) pylon topped by an effigy of a recumbent soldier. A set of painted stone flags surrounds the pylon.

Milnrow is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, and it is unparished. The town, with its suburb of Newhey and the surrounding countryside, contains 49 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. Until the Industrial Revolution the area was rural and agricultural and most of the earlier listed buildings are houses and associated structures, farmhouses and farm buildings. When the textile industry arrived, it was initially carried out in domestic premises, and many of the listed buildings of this time are houses, often with three storeys and rows of multi-light mullioned weavers' workshop windows in the upper floors. Later came mills, one of which has survived and is listed. The other listed buildings include a public house, a bridge, churches and items in churchyards, a library and a war memorial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Chad's Church, Rochdale</span> Church in Greater Manchester, England

St Chad's Church is the Church of England parish church of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. It forms part of the Diocese of Manchester. It is an active place of worship and community hub for the town and outlying suburbs around the town. It is a grade II* listed building and sits at a high elevation above both Rochdale Town Hall and the town centre.

References

  1. ↑ "Clegg Hall". Pastscape.org.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  2. ↑ Eyre, K. (1972). Lancashire Legends. Dalesman Publishing.
  3. ↑ Farrer, W.; Brownbill, J., eds. (1911). "Townships: Butterworth". A History of the County of Lancaster. Vol. V. London. pp. 213–22 – via British History Online.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 3 Oakley, Rev. G.F. (1911). In olden days: Lancashire legends, Rochdale and neighbourhood. Edwards & Bryning. ASIN   B00GTM4T14.
  5. ↑ Historic England. "Clegg Hall (Grade II*) (1309615)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  6. ↑ John Harland and Turner Wilkinson: "Lancashire Legends". EP, 1973
  7. ↑ "Manor (2004)". 4 February 2004. Archived from the original on 12 June 2009.
  8. ↑ "Clegg Hall Restoration". Healey Hall Developments. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.