Holcombe is a village in Ramsbottom ward, Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. It is situated south of Haslingden, east of

Edgworth Edgworth is a small village within the borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is north east of North Turton between Broadhead Brook on the west (expanded artificially to form the Wayoh Reservoir) and Quarlton Brook in the sout ...

, west of

Ramsbottom Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the River Irwell in the West Pennine Moors, northwest of Bury, a ...

, and north of Tottington. The name comes from the Celtic ' meaning valley, and the Old English ', meaning deep or hollow. Holcombe hill1

The village is located on the slopes of Holcombe Moor. Much of the moorland around the village is in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and is popular with walkers, cyclists and bird watchers. The buildings in the area are made up predominantly of stone cottages and farms. There is a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

called the Shoulder of Mutton, a restaurant, church, and primary school. At one time the village also had a shop, post office, a lock-up, and a regular bus service linking it to Holcombe Brook, a neighbouring village in the valley bottom one mile to the south. Holcombe is the home of the Holcombe Hunt. This pack of Harrier's, which has been kennelled at Holcombe for over 200 years, is one of the oldest in the country. The Hunt was granted a

Coat of Arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

in 1985 the motto being "Hunting and conserving". Holcombe also gives its name to an Annual Gamecock Show, held on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

. Since 1973 Holcombe has been home to

Darul Uloom Al-Arabiyyah Al-Islamiyyah Darul Uloom Al-Arabiyyah Al-Islamiyyah ( ar, دار العلوم العربية الإسلامية), better known as Darul Uloom Bury, was established in 1979 and is the oldest Islamic seminary in the United Kingdom. Located in Holcombe, Bury, i ...

, the first Islamic

Darul uloom Darul uloom (), also spelled ''dar-ul-ulum'', is an Arabic term that literally means "house of knowledge". The term generally means an Islamic seminary or educational institution – similar to or often the same as a madrassa or Islamic school � ...

school of higher-education in the United Kingdom.

Local radio station

Holcombe Brook and Holcombe Village are served by local community radio station "TOWER FM" 107.4fm".

History

Shoulder of Mutton Holcombe Village 444148

During the Middle Ages Holcombe hosted the regular

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

sessions of the

Royal Manor The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

of Tottington. In 1617 the Holcombe Pack was taken to Hoghton Tower on the occasion of the King

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

visit, when he granted the Royal Warrant to hunt over 12 townships, and the privilege of wearing the scarlet livery of the King. During the evening of 25 September 1916, Holcombe was subjected to one of the first aerial offensives in history. L21, a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

commanded by

Oberleutnant () is the highest lieutenant officer rank in the German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. Austria Germany In the German Army, it dates from the early 19th century. Trans ...

Kurt Frankenburg of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

, dropped five bombs on the village on its way to Bolton. The post office and village school were damaged, as was the Shoulder of Mutton public house, where villagers took cover in the cellars. Three of the bombs fell close to the church, which suffered some damage to its windows. In the 1980s and 1990s the television series ''

The Krypton Factor ''The Krypton Factor'' is a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on ...

'' used the British Army Rifle Range training course at Holcombe Moor in one of its contestant rounds.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

Summerseat Views
is a resident's blog which aims to provide a photographic diary of life and the seasons in the village and the surrounding area. {{authority control Villages in Greater Manchester West Pennine Moors Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury Ramsbottom

Local radio station

History

See also

References

External links