Edenfield
Encyclopedia
Edenfield is a village within the Rossendale
borough of Lancashire
, England
. Lying on the River Irwell
, it is around 1.25 miles (2 km) north of Ramsbottom
, 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Rawtenstall
, and 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Norden
, and has a total population of 2,080.
Edenfield village centre lies at the intersection of three A roads; the A676 from Bolton
, the A680 from Accrington
and Rochdale
and the A56
from Rawtenstall
and Bury
. The M66 motorway
terminates its course at Edenfield.
The village has recently seen growth as a commuter settlement
for the Greater Manchester
and East Lancashire areas of the North West
.
) + "tun" (farmstead) + field; in other words, the land belonging to the farmstead by the river (Irwell).
Edenfield Chapel of Ease (the precursor of the parish church and part of the benefice of Bury) is extensively mentioned in 16th-century documents.
It probably had its own curate before the Reformation.
A deed of 1564 mentions one Ralph Nuttall making payments to Richard Nuttall for a land settlement
and that these payments were to take place "in Edenfield Chapel".
A century later there were "aboute foure and twenty tenements and
houses w th in Shuttleworth in the Lordshippe of Burghe [Bury],
beinge all the houses w th in Shuttleworth afforesaid who are
appointed by the said Orders to' pay theire tyths to Bury,
who are much nearer to the Chapel of Aydenfield [Edenfield]
afforesaid, and vsually repaire thither to the ordinances when
they have a mister".
Like other villages in Rossendale, Edenfield later became involved in industry and some quarrying activities still continue.
Britain's largest onshore wind farm
was controversially built in 2007-08 on Scout Moor above Edenfield.
of Ramsbottom
, in the administrative county boundaries
of Lancashire.
Edenfield is part of the Rossendale and Darwen Parliamentary Constituency, with the current M.P. being Jake Berry
.
, within the Rossendale valley
. The landscape of the area is dominated by Dearden Moor and Scout Moor directly to the east and Holcombe Moor with the Peel Monument
, across the valley of the River Irwell to the west. The M66 motorway
terminates its course at Edenfield.
The number and type of shops in the village has varied over recent years, with an overall decline due to the increased mobility of the population and competition from nearby supermarkets, but mainstays have been an independent baker (Sixsmith's), butcher, pharmacy, post office, newsagent and fish and chip shop.
A number of mills sprang up during the industrial revolution from the 1760s onwards - not without the usual Luddite
unrest. A once-famous 19th-century novel refers to a character "who crossed the hills to preach at Edenfield on Sunday [saying] that machines were broken on Saturday". The mills, built particularly alongside Dearden Brook which provided the water power, are now closed but some remains can be seen in Dearden Clough.
That the main route north from Manchester runs through the village explains the many coaching houses, of which only three public houses survive - The Rostron Arms, The Horse and Jockey and the Coach and Horses. During the second half of the nineteenth century Edenfield had its own brewery, the products of which were not entirely popular: due its their purgative effect the ale was known as "Sh-t-n Br-ches". An article published in 1983 described a ghostly headless horseman who allegedly haunts the main road but this "legend" is not widely known elsewhere.
(who was organist there as a child). The former Wesleyan Chapel on the junction between Market Street and Rochdale Road was demolished in 1960, but there is still an imposing Primitive Methodist church, built in 1881 at the junction of Bond Street and Rochdale Road.
.
Another popular walk is Dearden Clough to 'Plunge' - the ruined site of Plunge Mill, where there is an imposing pit wheel housing for a waterwheel. One approach to the Clough is from Michael Wife Lane, named after Mary Nuttall, wife of Michael Nuttall, who was fined in 1618 for not maintaining the road and, finally, put in the stocks in 1624 for still not carrying out this work.
The village is home to Edenfield Cricket Club. There is also a recreation ground on Exchange Street which is used by a number of football teams of varying ages. Alongside is Edenfield Community Centre serving a number of uses for different interest groups.
In May 2010 more than 270 sheep, worth a total of £17,000, were stolen from fields behind The Horse and Jockey public house.
In May 2011, Edenfield was again in the news due to a protest regarding the proposed accommodation of sex offenders at Chatterton Hey House.
Rossendale
Rossendale is a local government district with borough status. It is made up of a number of small former mill towns in Lancashire, England centered around the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West...
borough of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Lying on the River Irwell
River Irwell
The River Irwell is a long river which flows through the Irwell Valley in the counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester in North West England. The river's source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup, in the parish of Cliviger, Lancashire...
, it is around 1.25 miles (2 km) north of Ramsbottom
Ramsbottom
Ramsbottom is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on the course of the River Irwell, in the West Pennine Moors. Historically within Lancashire, it is located north-northwest of Bury, and north-northwest of Manchester...
, 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Rawtenstall
Rawtenstall
Rawtenstall is a town at the centre of the Rossendale Valley, in Lancashire, England. It is the seat for the Borough of Rossendale, in which it is located. The town lies 18 miles north of Manchester, 22 miles east of the county town of Preston and 45 miles south east of Lancaster...
, and 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Norden
Norden, Greater Manchester
Norden is a suburban village within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on the western edge of Rochdale....
, and has a total population of 2,080.
Edenfield village centre lies at the intersection of three A roads; the A676 from Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
, the A680 from Accrington
Accrington
Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn...
and Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
and the A56
A56 road
The A56 is a road in England which extends between the city of Chester in Cheshire and the village of Broughton in North Yorkshire. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections, and traverses environments as diverse as the dense urban sprawl of inner city Manchester and the...
from Rawtenstall
Rawtenstall
Rawtenstall is a town at the centre of the Rossendale Valley, in Lancashire, England. It is the seat for the Borough of Rossendale, in which it is located. The town lies 18 miles north of Manchester, 22 miles east of the county town of Preston and 45 miles south east of Lancaster...
and Bury
Bury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
. The M66 motorway
M66 motorway
The M66 is a motorway in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is long and provides part of the route between the M62 and M60 motorways and the M65, with the rest being provided by the A56.-Route:...
terminates its course at Edenfield.
The village has recently seen growth as a commuter settlement
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
for the Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
and East Lancashire areas of the North West
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
.
History
The origins of the Edenfield place name are not entirely clear, but it seems extremely unlikely that it derives from "fields of Eden" or similar. Given the large number of Norse-derived place names in Rossendale and bearing in mind that documents from the 17th century and older spell the name as Aydenfield or some variant of this, a likely etymology is the Norse "øy" (riverside ground/island; see for instance the village of ØyerØyer
Øyer is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tingberg....
) + "tun" (farmstead) + field; in other words, the land belonging to the farmstead by the river (Irwell).
Edenfield Chapel of Ease (the precursor of the parish church and part of the benefice of Bury) is extensively mentioned in 16th-century documents.
It probably had its own curate before the Reformation.
A deed of 1564 mentions one Ralph Nuttall making payments to Richard Nuttall for a land settlement
and that these payments were to take place "in Edenfield Chapel".
A century later there were "aboute foure and twenty tenements and
houses w th in Shuttleworth in the Lordshippe of Burghe [Bury],
beinge all the houses w th in Shuttleworth afforesaid who are
appointed by the said Orders to' pay theire tyths to Bury,
who are much nearer to the Chapel of Aydenfield [Edenfield]
afforesaid, and vsually repaire thither to the ordinances when
they have a mister".
Like other villages in Rossendale, Edenfield later became involved in industry and some quarrying activities still continue.
Britain's largest onshore wind farm
Scout Moor Wind Farm
Scout Moor Wind Farm is the largest onshore wind farm in England. The wind farm, which was built for Peel Wind Power Ltd, produces electricity from 26 Nordex N80 wind turbines. It has a total nameplate capacity of 65 MW of electricity, providing 154,000 MW·h per year; enough to serve...
was controversially built in 2007-08 on Scout Moor above Edenfield.
Governance
Since 1974, Edenfield has formed part of the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, having previously formed part of the urban districtUrban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
of Ramsbottom
Ramsbottom
Ramsbottom is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on the course of the River Irwell, in the West Pennine Moors. Historically within Lancashire, it is located north-northwest of Bury, and north-northwest of Manchester...
, in the administrative county boundaries
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...
of Lancashire.
Edenfield is part of the Rossendale and Darwen Parliamentary Constituency, with the current M.P. being Jake Berry
Jake Berry
James Jacob Gilchrist Berry is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Rossendale and Darwen, having won the seat at the 2010 UK General Election when he beat Labour Party MP Janet Anderson by a majority of 4,000 votes.-Personal life:Berry was born in...
.
Geography
Edenfield lies above the east bank of the River IrwellRiver Irwell
The River Irwell is a long river which flows through the Irwell Valley in the counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester in North West England. The river's source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup, in the parish of Cliviger, Lancashire...
, within the Rossendale valley
Rossendale Valley
The Rossendale Valley is part of the Forest of Rossendale, an upland area of North West England, in Lancashire. The area is within the Borough of Rossendale...
. The landscape of the area is dominated by Dearden Moor and Scout Moor directly to the east and Holcombe Moor with the Peel Monument
Peel Monument
The memorial tower to Sir Robert Peel high above Ramsbottom was planned and erected at the same time as Bury was preparing its statue to the then recently deceased statesman who was born in Bury....
, across the valley of the River Irwell to the west. The M66 motorway
M66 motorway
The M66 is a motorway in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is long and provides part of the route between the M62 and M60 motorways and the M65, with the rest being provided by the A56.-Route:...
terminates its course at Edenfield.
Economy
The main thoroughfare in the village is Market Street, along which occurs mostly late 19th century terraced housing and a number of shops.The number and type of shops in the village has varied over recent years, with an overall decline due to the increased mobility of the population and competition from nearby supermarkets, but mainstays have been an independent baker (Sixsmith's), butcher, pharmacy, post office, newsagent and fish and chip shop.
A number of mills sprang up during the industrial revolution from the 1760s onwards - not without the usual Luddite
Luddite
The Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanised looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life...
unrest. A once-famous 19th-century novel refers to a character "who crossed the hills to preach at Edenfield on Sunday [saying] that machines were broken on Saturday". The mills, built particularly alongside Dearden Brook which provided the water power, are now closed but some remains can be seen in Dearden Clough.
That the main route north from Manchester runs through the village explains the many coaching houses, of which only three public houses survive - The Rostron Arms, The Horse and Jockey and the Coach and Horses. During the second half of the nineteenth century Edenfield had its own brewery, the products of which were not entirely popular: due its their purgative effect the ale was known as "Sh-t-n Br-ches". An article published in 1983 described a ghostly headless horseman who allegedly haunts the main road but this "legend" is not widely known elsewhere.
Landmarks
The Parish Church is a simple but elegant 18th century building unusual in that it takes its name from the village rather than being dedicated to a particular saint. Despite some 19th-century additions it was famously described in John Betjeman's book as "unspoiled, unspruced Georgian". There is a 1970s photograph of the church, showing part of the main street, village school and the now-demolished Chapel House Farm, on the website of Edenfield-born musician Dr Tim RishtonTim Rishton
Tim Rishton is a classical concert musician, author and broadcaster, known as an advocate for the natural musical qualities of pre-1800 keyboard music and as an innovative thinker regarding music in “ordinary” churches....
(who was organist there as a child). The former Wesleyan Chapel on the junction between Market Street and Rochdale Road was demolished in 1960, but there is still an imposing Primitive Methodist church, built in 1881 at the junction of Bond Street and Rochdale Road.
Present day
The area is popular with walkers and hikers, many stopping to see Waugh's Well, a hillside memorial to the Lancashire Dialect writer and poet Edwin WaughEdwin Waugh
Edwin Waugh , poet, son of a shoemaker, was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, and, after a little schooling, apprenticed to a printer, Thomas Holden, at the age of 12...
.
Another popular walk is Dearden Clough to 'Plunge' - the ruined site of Plunge Mill, where there is an imposing pit wheel housing for a waterwheel. One approach to the Clough is from Michael Wife Lane, named after Mary Nuttall, wife of Michael Nuttall, who was fined in 1618 for not maintaining the road and, finally, put in the stocks in 1624 for still not carrying out this work.
The village is home to Edenfield Cricket Club. There is also a recreation ground on Exchange Street which is used by a number of football teams of varying ages. Alongside is Edenfield Community Centre serving a number of uses for different interest groups.
In May 2010 more than 270 sheep, worth a total of £17,000, were stolen from fields behind The Horse and Jockey public house.
In May 2011, Edenfield was again in the news due to a protest regarding the proposed accommodation of sex offenders at Chatterton Hey House.