Haslingden Grane is the glaciated upper portion of the valley of the
River Ogden
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
, which lies west of
Haslingden
Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,96 ...
and is in the north east section of the
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and Reservoir (water), reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The West Pennine Moors are separat ...
. To the north is
Oswaldtwistle
Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the s ...
Moor, and to the south Musbury Heights. It was once the home of Grane village, and is easily accessible via the B6232/A6077 Grane Road which links to the
M65 motorway
The M65 is a motorway in Lancashire, England. It runs from just south of Preston through the major junction of the M6 and M61 motorways, east past Darwen, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Brierfield, Nelson and ends at Colne.
History
The ...
and the
A56. Grane valley is dominated by its three reservoirs, Holden Wood, Calf Hey and Ogden.
The village
Almost nothing now remains of Grane village. Yet before the construction of the reservoirs in the 19th century, the settlement of Haslingden Grane had a population of over 1,300. It had a church, a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
chapel, three mills and a school. Many of the inhabitants combined mill-work with small-scale farming. Quarrying was also an important activity, with the village being situated immediately to the north of the workings on Musbury Heights. There was also a
brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...
in the village. The people were considered locally to be independent and frugal, and spoke with a strong, distinctive accent. Grane produced many local 'characters', such as the headmaster of Grane School, J.T. Pilling, who left the school to go gold prospecting in the
Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
. Grane was strongly
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, whereas most neighbouring communities were
nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
in their religious beliefs. Haslingden stone was used as a building and paving material, and a lot of it was quarried above Grane from Musbury Heights quarry. A special
narrow-gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...
connected the quarry to Grane.
The historian
Chris Aspin notes in his book 'Haslingden', co-authored with Derek Pilkington, that the Grane community would 'almost certainly have objected' to being included under the Haslingden banner, and would have preferred to be considered as an independent community.
Whisky distilling
Grane was notorious as the centre of an illegal
whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
distilling
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...
industry. Locally this was known as 'whisky spinning'. Great ingenuity was displayed in covering traces of the distilling operations, and many of the successful prosecutions appear to be the result of 'tip-offs' after village disputes.
Excise
file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...
officers, police and Inland Revenue raided Grane on 3 April 1857. At first they found nothing, but eventually - after three days - they uncovered hidden rooms and underground chambers and pipework dedicated to the distilling. There is a story that the daughter of a weaving family often delivered Grane whisky to a Haslingden hotel by donkey. She would fill a hollow metal saddle with three or four gallons of the liquid concealed beneath bales of woven cloth. Something similar was used by a man at Haslingden Fair, where he wore a metal waist coat containing a quantity of Grane whisky. In spite of the prosecutions, whisky distilling continued until the early 19th century.
Reservoirs and depopulation
The valley now contains three reservoirs: (west to east)
Calf Hey Reservoir
Calf Hey Reservoir is a reservoir in Haslingden Grane, close to the town of Haslingden, in the Borough of Rossendale
Rossendale () is a district with borough status in Lancashire, England, located along the River Irwell and spanning a large ...
, constructed 1860;
Ogden Reservoir, 1912; and
Holden Wood Reservoir, 1842. The construction of Ogden Reservoir to provide a reliable water supply to the rapidly expanding industrial populations by the Bury & District Joint Water Board in 1900, which required the purchase of land, mills and homes began the virtual depopulation of the village. At first, despite the village being deserted, St. Stephens Church remained in use. In 1925 it was decided to move the church stone by stone to Three Lanes End on the outskirts of Haslingden, where a temporary church had already been erected. Most of the community had moved to Haslingden, and in March 1926, a crowd of 400 attended the stone-laying for the new site of the church.
Grane today
The Grane area with its
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
scenery has made it a popular place for
walking
Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults o ...
. There is an information centre, parking and cafe at Clough Head, from which several walking routes radiate. Remains of some buildings in the area can still be seen, including a small graveyard. The walk around Ogden Reservoir is particularly popular, with a dedicated car-park, a surfaced path and information boards explaining the existing ruins. One example of this is the ruined Hartley House, about three hundred yards west of the village, and on the circular footpath. A 1798 survey indicates that it was made up of two farmhouses and four cottages. Three of the cottages were occupied by weavers. The farm had about 40 acres of land, which included 30 acres of pasture, six acres of meadow, three acres of woodland, and one and a half acres of arable land. By 1827 there were four farms at Hartley House along with six other dwellings. Space had been made to accommodate weaving by adding loom shops to two of the farmhouses.
Jamestone Quarry, below Clough Head, is tightly secured, but still draws young people to it in the summer, to swim in its water despite this being dangerous. Troy Quarry, nearby, is popular with climbers and has been used as a location for the filming of Peaky Blinders.
St. Stephens Church is now a Grade II listed building, and the home of Holden Wood Antiques, with a cafe and large antique shopping area.
Wildlife
Reptiles and amphibians recorded on Grane are Common Frog, Common Toad, Palmate Newt and Adder.
Grane is a good place to see butterflies. Peacock, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell are common, but there also Gatekeeper, Comma, Common Blue, Wall Brow. One of the rarest species is the Green Hairstreak, which feeds on the crowberry, which is abundant on the nearby moorland. 44 species of moths have also been recorded.
Grane is also rich in birdlife, with at least 78 breeding species. A bird hide with disabled access is situated at the Clough Head parking and cafe area.
References
External links
Abandoned communities ... Haslingden Grane
{{Rossendale
West Pennine Moors
Geography of the Borough of Rossendale