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NORTH
HOLLINGWORTH
WALSDEN
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North
Hollingworth is high up on the eastern side of the Walsden valley,
reached by a steep and narrow track from the valley bottom at Birks
Mill. A packhorse trail, which follows the shelf line of the hills,
passes through Hollingworth, and is still used today by walkers
and riders. The views from Hollingworth across the Walsden valley
to the Inchfield Moor on the opposite side are magnificent. |
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The
packhorse trail at North Hollingworth |
The
farm has a long and distinguished history, dating back to at least
the 1500's when it was in the hands of a Greenwood family. Martha
Greenwood married Joshua Fielden of Bottomley in 1656, and their
son Thomas lived and farmed at North Hollingworth, which had been
his mother's home. |
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Thomas
became a wealthy yeoman farmer and woollen cloth manufacturer, running
his woollen business from the farm. He died in 1726, leaving his
wife Alice at the farm. His nephew, also Thomas Fielden, moved to
live at the farm in order to continue with the business, and to
care for the widow Alice. He remained at North Hollingworth with
his wife and children for about 10 years. His son John Fielden eventually
inherited the farm and lived there many years, leaving his eldest
son Abraham to continue at the farm after his death. |
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| Abraham,
known as Old Ab., played the bassoon in the choir at St. Mary's
and was also a newspaper reader along with a distant relation, Old
Jim Fielden of Birks. Jim lived nearest the road in the valley bottom
so the papers were delivered to him. After he had read them, Abraham's
grandson (John Crowther) collected them and took them up to Abraham
at North Hollingworth. |
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After
his wife died he gave up the farm at North Hollingworth and went
to live with his daughter Sally and her husband at Square where
he had his own room and continued with some hand weaving and newspaper
reading. Then he moved to a small cottage behind the Hollins Inn.
His nephew John Fielden took over and remained there from about
1830 until his death in 1878, raising a large family. |
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There
were two attached cottages at the farm. John Law occupied one of
them from the late 1830's until his death in 1873, from which time
it was taken over by his daughter Betty and her husband Peter Crossley. |
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John
Law and his wife Betty (Jackson) raised 10 children in this tiny
cottage, funded by their earnings from handloom weaving. Their
youngest child was Robert Law, born in the cottage in 1840. He
was a wayward lad. He had no interest in books or education, and
this worried his parents. At the age of seven he was sent to the
village school for the first time. Robert was a reluctant pupil,
often playing truant to spend his days in the fields and on the
moors collecting stones and studying the wildlife. So disinterested
at school was he that he barely learnt how to hold a pen, and
could neither read nor write by the time he left school 3 years
later at the age of 10.
He
was happy to be at home in the countryside where he took a great
interest in insects, birds and nature in general, collecting stones
and examining them in fine detail. As a teenager, he led a wild
and reckless life with unsavoury companions and his behaviour
was quite notorious throughout the district.
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life turned round suddenly and he ended up a distinguished and much
liked man, and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, still
living at North Hollingworth until his late-in-life marriage in
1886. His full story can be read by clicking on his link below.
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Robert
Law |
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