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Monkey Town: The History of Heywood

Heywood People in 1825

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The following page is taken from the 'Village Directory of Bury Parish' section of Edward Baines' 1825 publication History, Directory, and Gazetteer, of the County Palatine of Lancaster.

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© and website design: Christopher Dawson MPHA (Qld)

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Ashworth
Ashworth Valley
Bamford
Birtle
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factory conditions
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'The Old Mills of Heywood' Project

Explore the history of Heywood's old workplaces.

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Edwin Waugh's Heywood of 1855

'A living writer has said of the place, that it looks like a great funeral on its way from Bury to Rochdale.' (Edwin Waugh, writing about Heywood, 1855) The following view of Heywood is taken from Edwin Waugh's 1855 book Sketches of Lancashire Life . Following in the footsteps of Edwin Butter worth (1840) and Samuel Bamford (1842), he visited Heywood, took the time to find out what he could about it, and then wrote an engaging portrait of the young town. He was visiting a friend whose home was ‘pleasantly situated in the green outskirts’, but Waugh described the town itself as having a ‘monotonous, cotton-spinning look’. While Waugh lacked the statistical eye of Butterworth and the political zeal of Bamford, he was a dialect writer who vividly depicted the characteristics and quirks of the everyday people he met. As a Rochdalian, he was well acquainted with the district and wrote of the traits of life in South Lancashire with an insider’s knowledge. Heywood was a t

The Devil and the Monkey Puzzle Tree

The Monkey Puzzle tree ( Araucaria araucana ) is not a common sight in Monkey Town. The rather exotic spiked trunk and winding branches always caught the attention of local children, and two in particular that stuck in the memory were the trees in a front garden on Heywood Hall Road (which was on the route to Queen’s Park for many people). One well-remembered aspect of these trees was the superstition surrounding them. Some parents actually told their children to be quiet as they passed the tree, various reasons being that they would have bad luck or lose something, or in some cases even grow a monkey’s tail! This led those children who actually wanted a monkey’s tail to shout out as they passed by the trees. Superstitions about the Monkey Puzzle tree can be found throughout Britain. One widely-shared bit of folklore is that the Devil himself sits in this tree and people have to be quiet when walking past or else they will attract the Devil’s attention and get bad luck. In some

General Timeline of Heywood History

This timeline of the history of Heywood is a work in progress. It is intended to be as accurate as possible, and suggested corrections or additions are welcome. Pre - A.D. 1270 7th century: Middleton is thought to have been settled by this time. 1086: Rochdale recorded in the Domesday Book as Recedham. 1164: Heywood family recorded in local area. 1183: Records for Ashworth start around this time. 1197: Reference to Birtle in records. 12th century: Hopwood family recorded at site of current Hopwood Hall. 1210: Reference to hamlets of Lumhalghs (Lomax) and Hep (Heap) in records. 1260: Land at Pilsworth granted to William de Radcliffe. 1270-1600 1260s-70s: Adam de Bury grants land to Peter de Heywood during this time. 1278: William del Bridge granted land near Bury. 1292: Reference to Hoppewode in records 13th century: Bamford family living in Bamford area. 13th century: Peter de Heywood builds Heywood Hall. 13th century: Woollen mill recorded

The Fall of the Weavers

‘Fifty years ago there lived in this district a goodly number of handloom weavers; a class of men to which Lancashire is indebted for much of its subsequent commercial prosperity. Some of these men had a narrow and stern piety, but their thoughtfulness, good common sense, and general sterling qualities left their mark upon us.’ ( Heywood Advertiser , 1908) ‘The handloom weavers... though they labour 14 hours upwards daily, earn only from five to seven shillings a week. They... are affected by all the causes of moral and physical depression... ill-fed, ill-clothed, half-sheltered and ignorant - weaving in close, damp cellars or crowded workshops.’ (Dr J.P. Kay, 1832) One of the trades worst affected by the onset of the Industrial Revolution during 1760-1840 was handloom weaving, in which cloth was spun and woven inside the home. When it came to weaving, Heywood was exclusively a cotton village (whereas Middleton had a thriving silk industry). Although the weavers were not a wea

A List of Heywood Pubs and Beerhouses

Heywood area beerhouse keepers listed the 'Heap’s Bury Directory' for 1850: John Ashton, 78 Bury Street Ralph Ashton, Church Street Robert Brearley, Bury Street John Butterworth, Ashton’s buildings Thomas Chadwick, Heady Hill Robert Clifton, Miller Street Thomas Clegg, Peel Street John Bradshaw, Brunswick Street Benjamin Dearden, Heady Hill Ann Fitton, 7 Ashton Street Jacob Fitton, 60 Manchester Street William Fitton, Wilton Street James Fletcher, 23 Mount Street Samuel Frankland, Bury Street Alice Gee, 23 York Street Jacob Gee, New field John Glover, Church Street James Grindrod, 77 Bridge Street Robert Hamilton, 49 York Street Luke Helliwell, Church Street James Hilton, Manchester Street Alice Holt, Higher Lomax Hannah Horrox, Charlestown Jane Hutchinson, 44 Bury Street Job Leach, 59 Manchester Street Edmund Lee, 78 Manchester Street Henry McCraith, 64 Bridge Street John Mills, Aspinall Street John Mill, Mount Pleasant Robert Mills, Prettywoo

Early Heywood Pubs: The Curse of the Working Classes

Before the recent spate of pub closures, Heywoodites used to take some pride (rightly or wrongly) in the high number of pubs in the town. It is still a common boast that Heywood was in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most pubs per head of population. There are two things to say about this; Firstly, it is an urban myth simply because the publishers have no record for ‘most pubs’. Secondly, if Guinness did have such record, Heywood would have once had a decent chance of holding it, if the figures in this 2008 BBC article are anything to go by. An unscientific survey for a Radio 4 show asked the question ‘which town has the most pubs for its size?’ and resulted in least 25 places staking their claim. These included ‘Glasgow, Glastonbury, Bewdley, Bollington, Weymouth, Witney, Saffron Walden and St Albans’ Some of the top contenders were: Manningtree, Essex: 5 pubs, 900 people (180 per pub) Otley, West Yorkshire: 21 pubs, 15,000 people (714 per pub) Brighto

Submit a Story

If you have researched any aspect of Heywood history and would like to submit an article to Monkey Town, please contact me.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions:

Michael Baron:

'The Age of the Electric Tram in Heywood'

Neil J Richardson:

'The Story of Michael Rukin and Charles Martin Newhouse'

Alan McCarthy:

'Heywood Spitfires'

This website created by Christopher Dawson.
Member of the Professional Historians Association (Qld).
BA Anthropology (University of Queensland); Grad. Dip. Applied and Local History (University of Queensland).
Back o'th' Moss/Mossfield Primary/Siddal Moor
All original material © C Dawson
dawsonchris@outlook.com

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