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DYKE
GREEN
(Moorside
Farm)
Sourhall,
Todmorden |
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This
small hill top farm was also known as Moorside, an appropriate name
as it sits on the edge of the moor at Sourhall. It is a desolate
and primitive spot on land originally owned by the Crossley family
of Scaitcliffe Hall, and later by James Taylor of Todmorden Hall.
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The farm should not be confused with its close neighbour Dyke Farm. The two are only a couple of hundred yards apart and were both strongholds of the Law family. Dyke
Green Farm was a small affair of just over 9 acres and was the home of the Law family for over 160 years. |
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| Robert Law, apparently known
as Rough Robin, moved to live at Dyke Green farm probably after
his marriage to Betty Ormerod about 1728. He farmed this land, supplementing
his income by hand weaving. With such a small farm, situated as
it is on top of the moor, it would have been a meagre living without
a secondary occupation. |
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photo
by kind permission of Frank Haylett |
Robert
must have endowed his sons with a degree of education, as they all
became extremely successful in life. His eldest son, John, became
the Bridge Master for the Salford Hundred and was an eminent engineer.
His full story can be read from the link below. |
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Two
other sons, Robert and Samuel, were amongst the first to gamble
their savings on the emerging cotton industry by investing in an
enterprise to convert an old corn mill at Lumbutts to a cotton-spinning
mill. Their stories are also to be found from the links below. |
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Robert died at Dyke Green in
1770. His son Robert took over the tenancy, although his main occupation
was that of stonemason. On his death in 1790, his wife Mally took
over. She is noted in the land tax assessments as "widow Law". At
that time, the annual land tax on Dyke Green was 4s 6d. When she
died, Mally's estate was "under £40". |
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Robert
and Mally's son John was the next tenant, followed by his son
Robert, who lived and farmed at Dyke until he died aged 90 in
1891. In 1871 he declares he is farming 20 acres. It is likely
he rented extra land from a neighbouring farm, possibly Gibbet,
which did not have a farmer in occupation in that year. By 1881
he is back down again to 8 acres. Robert was the last of the Laws
to occupy the farm, which had been tenanted by 4 successive generations
of his family. |
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view of the inhospitable moor and dyke
from Dyke Green |
The
farm was completely rebuilt in 1893. At that time there was still
a plane tree growing in front of the house planted in 1770 by Rough Robin's
son, Samuel. A date stone at the farm bears the inscription 1893 JHO. The initials belong to John Howarth Ormerod
who bought the land from the Taylor family.
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