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HIGHER
AND LOWER DYCHES
HIGHER
INCHFIELD
WALSDEN
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Perched
high on Inchfield stand two separate farms, Higher Dyches and Dyches,
later known as Lower Dyches. Lower Dyches appears to be the earlier
of the two. |
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Higher
Dyches |
Higher Dyches sits on the
edge of the moor at the very end of the unmade road that services
the Inchfield farms. Beyond that is the old packhorse track that
leads over the moor to Moorcock, Vicarage, Top of All and beyond
to Hades. One side faces an old reservoir, which is now empty. |
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Dyches is at the end of a long, straight track that leads off the
unmade road, lying in a hollow between the moor and Ramsden. It
is possibly nearer to Ramsden North farm than it is to Higher Dyches.
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Lower
Dyches |
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Lower
Dyches is very ancient. It first gets a mention in the parish registers
in 1669 when “a little infant of Anthony Crossley of Dyches” was
buried. Later entries show that in 1688 Susan Roberts was born there,
in 1707 Sarah Rhodes was born there, and in 1715, Mary daughter
of Henry Halliwell, yeoman of Ditches, was baptised. It is 1800
before Upper Ditches gets a mention. |
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Lower
Dyches |
Samuel
Cudworth, possibly a native of Spotland, settled at Dyches with
his wife Elizabeth in the late 1700's. In 1784 he was paying land
tax of 7 shillings, which had reduced to 6s.3d
by 1794. |
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The
surrounding farms were, at that time, a stronghold of the Jackson
family, and Samuel's three children married Jacksons. Joshua Cudworth
married Amelia Jackson of the neighbouring Potoven farm, and Ann
Cudworth married Abraham Jackson. This saw the coming together of
the two families that dominated Dyches for many years to come. |
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Joshua Cudworth and Amelia
took over the farming at Dyches after his father died, and sister
Ann and her husband Abraham Jackson took on the new Higher Dyches
farm after a cousin, Thomas Jackson, vacated. Each farm had one
attached cottage, which became the homes of various relatives. Thomas
Jackson's daughter, Alice, and her husband Richard Pearson lived
in the cottage at Higher Dyches from 1815 to after 1822. Richard
was a banksman at the nearby coal mine. |
Higher
Dyches |
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By
1826, Joshua Cudworth was paying rent of 6s 9d to a William Crossley
for his tenement at Dyches, and Abraham Jackson was paying rent
of 6s. to a Mr. Hardman for his farm at Higher Dyches. |
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| Lower
Dyches |
Abraham Jackson died in 1833,
leaving Higher Dyches to his wife, Ann. Despite her age of 72, she
was still recorded as the farmer in 1841. Joshua Cudworth died in
1838 and his family left the area. That is apart from his son Samuel,
who continued to live at Lower Dyches with the new farmer, working
as a labourer. |
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The
new farmer at Lower Dyches was William Crowther. He married a distant
cousin Grace Haigh in 1835. In 1837, he fathered a son by Betty
Crabtree. However, he and Grace continued at Dyches until she died
in 1856. He then married Betty, mother of his natural son, John
Crabtree. He continued at Lower
Dyches until his death in 1877. Meanwhile, at Higher Dyches, the
Jacksons continued to rule.
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Higher
Dyches |
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1883
saw a massive change to the scenery at both the Dyches farms. Although
the farmhouses survived, much of the land was sold off to a newly
formed company, known as Todmorden Water Works Company. Despite
it name, this was a private concern owned by shareholders and run
by a Board of Directors. There was no municipal water supply and
people used wells and springs for their water. This company built
a reservoir on the land immediately adjacent to the two Dyches farms,
providing a different view for the residents.
The
ceremony of “cutting the first sod” was performed on site on 10th
May 1883, and the next 5 years saw the emergence of the water works.
It became known as Ramsden Clough Reservoir. The Local Board of
Todmorden spent the next 15 years wondering whether to buy out the
private company, and when they eventually made the decision to acquire
the water works and reservoir, it was too late. In December 1898,
Rochdale Corporation stepped in and bought it for the people of
Rochdale. As Todmorden did not have a safe public water supply,
it was agreed with Rochdale that the people of Todmorden and Walsden
could be supplied with water from Ramsden Clough pending the construction
of their own reservoir a few years later at Gorpley. |
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It was described as a reservoir
with running water, a mire, broad leaf woodland and acid grassland.
Yorkshire Water Authority used the reservoir, area 1.5 acres, as
a water collection and storage reservoir for Calderdale. There was
a year round fishery there, plus a small picnic site. |
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A few years ago the reservoir
was de-commissioned due to too much peat in the water. It was drained
and left an empty, muddy mess, a blot on the landscape. Attempts
were made to landscape the mess, and the area was sprayed with wild
flower seeds. |
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By
1891, the occupier of Higher Dyches was incomer John Williams,
employed as caretaker of the adjacent water works. By 1901, both
farms were the homes of “excavator navvies”, presumably employed
by the water company. There were no longer any farmers at Dyches.
DYCHES
LINKS
COMPLETE
CENSUS TRANSCRIPTION FOR DYCHES 1841 to 1901
BACK
TO TOP
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