Longdendale Tales

It’s the final instalment of the bard of Longdendale’s story about a group of day trippers (and their plentiful hamper) travelling the region in June 1867. Actress Cordelia Howard completes the tale of the party’s return journey from Crowden to Manchester.

The Longdendale Tales project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District National Park’s Longdendale Environmental Centre in Tintwistle. 

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk to see our digital interactive map. 

Special thanks to Holly Close (assistant producer), Harry Heart (series the...

Nanny Greenteeth and Nell Nettlespike, Baron de Morland and Sir Mottram De Mossland…some of the characters presented in the myths and legends about the Longdendale Valley. In particular, they feature in many of the explanations of how a hairpin along Woodhead Head earned the title ‘devil’s elbow’.

Walking from The Peels Arms in Padfield to Peak Naze, Clare Savory is joined by Glossop-based science-fiction writer Matt Hill (M. T. Hill). Together they talk about how the landscape inspires their work, and savour a precious moment to welcome the lapwings back to fields surrounding Padfield.

Links...

Whilst recording this podcast series, Clare Savory met retired-clergy-now-fellow-Hadfield-ers Janet Lees and Bob Warwicker. As passionate long-distance walkers, they’ve explored many of the corners and paths of the Longdendale Trail (and much of the country by foot). 

During lockdown their observational rambles inspired their prayers to fall in the form of poetry, which are published on one of their many blog sites and have been mapped out as walking trails along the valley.

In this episode, the three Hadfield musketeers walk along the Transpennine trail, south of Rhodeswood Reservoir and finish taking shelter inside ‘The O...

From the Bulls Head in Tintwistle to Arnfield Farm; Clare Savory walks along the boundary of the Peak District National Park with Cora Glasser and David Ball of Glassball Studio.

Their latest project, GUIDEline, explores the nature of the park’s boundary, its history and how it was formed from Glossop to Diggle.

Together they share some of the work and research they’ve uncovered over the last 4 years, whilst collaborating with artists Alison Lloyd and Dr Tony Hall.

From politics, to airshafts, to memorials and brambles…there’s plenty to notice if you look...

Enjoy a windy walk with Clare Savory along the northern path of Torside Reservoir; taking time to notice the colours, the patterns, shapes and lines through an artists’ lens.

Local painter Liz Armstrong from Glossop Art Society offers tips to get started sketching when out on your walks. Plus, they share the story behind the idea of open air painting, also known by the Italians as ‘pro loco’ (of and on location).

Visit https://hadfieldhall.wordpress.com/art-show/ for information about Hadfield Open Art Show and contact Glossop Art Society via their Facebook page: https://www.fa...

From wool to cotton; Kate Raine paints a picture of how the area surrounding Bottoms Reservoir looked before and during the building of the reservoirs. Including Crowden Bleach Works, Bottoms Lodge and the mystery behind Torside Paper Mill…was it actually a pub?!

And - what connects Rhodeswood Reservoir with the Victoria Hall in Glossop? Spoiler alert: It’s Herbert Rhodes, one of the owners of the many mills in Hadfield and Padfield, and once mayor of Glossop.

Plus, how did the reservoirs get their names? Your daily dog walks will never be the same agai...

Sped up, slowed down, turned round and round - today’s Sunday soundscape is recorded walking along Crowden weir. Enjoy listening to the sound of the gushing fast flowing stream as Clare Savory turns in circles, allowing the water to move all around us. (Best listened wearing headphones!)

The week’s conversations about adopting a sense of play with the children in the brook; to the issues around safety in encouraging more women to enjoy walking the park have been rumbling around Clare’s mind. Something she ponders over, with the wise words of Dr Kerri Andrew’s book ‘...

The party has opened and indulged in the hamper’s delights, what next for Thomas Barlow’s day-trippers enjoying a wet and wild summer’s day out in Woodhead? Cordelia Howard provides the third instalment of ‘A Picnic At Woodhead’.

The Longdendale Tales project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District National Park’s Longdendale Environmental Centre in Tintwistle. 

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk to see our digital interactive map. 

Special thanks to Holly Close (assistant producer), Harry Heart (series theme music ‘Begging’), Owain...

Listen closely as the year 6 pupils of Parochial Primary School in Ashton Under Lyne find their feet walking in wellies along Crowden Brook! Peak District National Park community ranger/oracle Matt Ross returns to the podcast to tell us how he inspires the future generation using stories of stoneflies and nymphs.

This episode includes a cringe worthy joke about the Oasis hit Don’t Look Back In Anger. Sorry. But a cool fact about a stonefly called Yellow Sally...

To find out more information about the school visits Matt runs, email Learning.Discovery@peakdistrict.gov.uk...

Helen Thornhill from Move More Glossop, a community partnership project led by The Bureau, encourages more of us to get fit by building activity into our everyday life.

Clare Savory and Helen take a popular loop around Bottoms Reservoir to talk about who, why and how she helps people get started - no matter their mobility.

Plus, they bump into a local chap called Jimmy by chance - who it turns out used to work on the reservoirs some 30+ years ago. He shares a few tales about climbing down the steps in the valve houses...

Following the medieval trackway from Padfield towards Deep Clough, archaeologist Tim Campbell-Green and Clare Savory sift through the stone mason markings in the tunnels under the Longdendale Trail, as well as spotting two apotropaic markings on a bridge: “two inverted V’s”. These religious markings are believed to have been used to ward off evil or bad luck…and perhaps witches after the reformation?!

Elsewhere, we stumble across some more Victorian pottery, a ‘glacial erratic’ and Tim shares the vision for his Glossop Creates Pairings: ‘A Big Dig’!

Spoiler alert: We end this episode in a tunnel surroun...

8 air crashes; 36 people killed, 2 survivors...That's just in and around the area surrounding Bleaklow moor between the years 1939 and 1956.

Yet most people have only heard of (and visited) the site where the Bleaklow Bomber met its fate - a US Air Force Boeing B29A Superfortress that crashed near Higher Shelf Stones in 1948.

Mountain leader Alan Clark joins Clare Savory for a second podcast episode looking into the many crash sites on the south side of the Longdendale moors. They were recording sat at the memorial site on Bramah Edge.

Interested in aviation...

Glossop Chronicle journalist David Jones walks from Hadfield Train Station along the Longdendale Trail recalling some of the stories he reported for the local newspaper.

From the opening of the trail, to walking the Woodhead train line tunnels to the many paranormal sightings in and around the valley… plus, rowdy football fans and a tale about Dick Turpin!

Many of the articles we talk about during this interview have been pinned to our digital map, available at LongdendaleTales.co.uk

This pilot project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings pr...

For this week’s Sunday Soundscape, we walk beside an almost silent Woodhead Pass - usually filled with the deafening sound of lorries and cars driving all day and all night.

But today, with 7 inches of snow, the area surrounding Rhodeswood Reservoir and Didsbury Intake was filled with nothing but the sounds of long tailed tits, blue tits and great tits. Well, and lots of melting ice falling from the towering trees above...

This week’s poignant words come from the Scottish poet Thomas A Clark’s ‘In Praise Of Walking’.

For photos of Clare’s...

In the second of four storytelling episodes, actress Cordelia Howard continues reading the bard of Longdendale’s retelling of a wild day trip to Woodhead with friends.

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information about our digital map and 28 part walking podcast series.

This pilot project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District National Park’s Longdendale Environmental Centre in Tintwistle.

Special thanks to Holly Close (assistant producer), Harry Heart (series theme music ‘Begging’), Owain Paciuszko (videos and visuals), Lauren Riley (logos an...

It’s the day after the snow drifts arrived across Glossopdale, and Clare is back out walking the Longdendale Trail in its thick snow covered paths.

Along her way she recalls some of the poetry written by former Longdendale stompers: Ammon Wrigley, Thomas Barlow, Thomas Middleton and Ralph Bernard Robinson.

Find more of their poetry, and photos of her walk on our digital map: LongdendaleTales.co.uk 

This pilot was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District National Park’s Longdendale Environmental Centr...

The Sidebottoms, Platts, Thornleys & Turners were big players in the industrial history of Hadfield and the surrounding area. From Station Mill, to Valehouse Mill to Waterside; Kate Raine from the Glossop Heritage Trust digs into what we know about the who, what and where of the cotton mills of yesteryear.

Read more of Kate’s research here: https://glossopheritage.co.uk/ghtarchive/lostmills/ 

Since recording the episode, I have discovered more information about the tragedy of the Bridge Mill fire in 1899. Visit our digital map to see and read more: LongdendaleTales.co.uk 

This...

Medieval track ways, benchmarks, moles and mudlarking…A walk with archaeologist Tim Campbell-Green is always educational and entertaining. (And apparently we need more jingles for this podcast…)

This time we’re walking from the Palantine pub in Hadfield, via Lambgates to Roughfields - keeping our eye out for interesting stone markings, bits of pottery and gateposts.

Here’s a link to the National Library of Scotland maps Tim mentions, where you can see all the benchmarks in and around Hadfield, plus what was about in the town back in the 1880s! (Turns out we were wanderin...

When Alan Clark’s mum gave him a copy of Ron Collier’s book about the Dark Peak air crashes as a boy, little did she know she’d be planting a seed that would turn into a lifetime obsession. These days, Alan’s a mountain leader, a published author and runs guided walks investigating the why and what’s left of plane wrecks in present day.

On this episode the snow began to fall, as Clare and Alan - also a volunteer for the Glossop Mountain Rescue Team - visited two of the four crash sites on the moo...

Once upon a time a King’s jeweller and former Lord Mayor of London left in his will a pot of money to build a chapel on the valley near Crowden back in 1487.

Amazingly, a version of that chapel still stands a little further down the hill today. But it’s fallen out of use.

Clare walks with Richard and Meriel, members of Crowden and Woodhead Residents Association, to hear how and why they want to breathe life back into their local church.

To volunteer your skills or time, contact the trustees via thei...

It’s said that the River Etherow is born where Far Small Clough and Salter’s Brook adjoin in a three way meet.

Clare Savory ventures beyond the Woodhead Tunnels to find the river’s supposed source. With her copy of ‘The Living Mountain’ by Nan Shepherd tucked under her arm, she invites you to listen closer to the water - in our first of four soundscapes in the series.

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information about our digital map and 28 part walking podcast series.

This pilot was supported by Glossop Creates as part of...

In the first of four storytelling episodes, actress Cordelia Howard reads Thomas Barlow’s tale of an unforgettable visit to the Longdendale valley via train…on a soggy June day in 1867.

Remembered by his peers as ‘the bard of Longdendale’, Barlow was a calico printer working for Edmund Potter in Dinting, a prominent member of the Co-operative societies and the first working-class magistrate of Glossop. He died in 1904 and is buried in Mottram-in-Longdendale Cemetery.

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information about our digital map and 28 part walking podcast series.

This pilot was supporte...

From coffee shop to church, weavers cottages to an old turnpike road; a mooch about Tintwistle via Bottoms Reservoir with (almost) local Billy Wardle turns out to be a fruitful jaunt.

Our thanks to Beth the cleaner at Tintwistle United Reformed Church for her surprise cameo appearance!

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information about our digital map and 28 part walking podcast series.

This pilot was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District National Park’s Longdendale Environmental Centre in Tintwistle.

...

Mention the word 'traffic' in Glossop, Hadfield or Tintwistle and you’ll likely have your wrist slapped. These days the Woodhead Pass is a busy pass through route for lorries, bikers and cars alike.

But, according to Roger Hargreaves from Glossop Heritage Trust, Longdendale has always been popular with travellers. 

From the turnpikes to the salt path, to the railways and beyond, Clare Savory walks with Roger along the south side of Woodhead Reservoir - starting at where Crowden Train station once stood.

It’s well worth reading Roger’s five part article titled...

99 years ago Ethel Haythornthwaite founded what has now become the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s Peak District and South Yorkshire branch. Yet, unlike the Kinder Mass Trespass, very little is known about her and the role she played in protecting green areas - like Longdendale - from development back in the 1900s.

Today Clare Savory walks along Bottoms Reservoir with Cassa Townsend, engagement lead at the CPRE PDSY.

Together they follow the green circles on fence posts marking the park boundary from Roughfields to Tintwistle.

Maps and directions for all 20 stages of th...

Engine sheds, barn owls to hydro power… Enjoy a walk from the Longdendale Environmental Centre to the Z shaped path where Valehouse dam meets Rhodeswood Reservoir, on the side of the Woodhead Pass.

Clare Savory walks with Matt Ross, Communities & Young People Ranger, Peak District National Park Authority to discuss what the park’s role is, and how much people walking the valley really understand about the reservoirs.

Curious about where Matt works? Read more here: https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/education/our-learning-centres-and-sites 

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information about our digit...

When Clare Savory moved from Manchester to Hadfield just before lockdown little did she know her new back garden would become an outdoor classroom offering hours of entertainment. Frankly, curiosity should be her middle name.

She brings to a close a 6 month pilot project researching the people’s stories, music and poetry of the Longdendale area with 28 visualised walking podcasts and a digital interactive map.

Walk with her from the Woodhead Tunnels, along the River Etherow towards Middle Black Clough waterfalls.

Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information.

This pilot was su...