Wardle and Smallbridge History Group share Jim Tweedale articles: A Memory of Old Smallbridge

The Wardle and Smallbridge History Group (WASHG) have shared three excerpts about Wardle and Smallbridge from their collection of reporter Jim Tweedale’s articles: “The flying machine that closed the mills”, “A matter of honour 'Roses' Match played in ancient style” and “A Memory of Old Smallbridge.”

Jim was born in 1901 on Halifax Road, Smallbridge, and lived there throughout his childhood. He married Winifred Tattersall in 1928 and went to live in Elm Grove, Wardle where he stayed until his death in 1986 at the age of 84. He always worked in the cotton industry and finished his working life at Walsden Bleaching and Dying Company.

His father was Percival Tweedale and his mother was called Mary. Percival, a licenced beerhouse keeper living at 356 Halifax Rd. The houses on either side in the original are numbers 360 and 352 but the address on the original document was Hare and Hounds, Smallbridge.

Jim was also the Wardle and Smallbridge columnist for the Rochdale Observer for many years. After retirement, he wrote many articles on local life and history for the newspaper and also gave talks to local groups.

A Memory of Old Smallbridge

“In the 1950s, my father Eric Meeks owned a Greengrocers shop at 393 Halifax Road, Smallbridge. In addition to fruit and vegetables, he sold fish, rabbits and at Christmas time turkeys. It was a business that naturally created waste from perishable goods and the preparation of fish and other carcasses. As you will gather, the `swill bin` as it was known, could have presented quite a problem.

“If my memory serves me right, there was one refuse collection each week and I've no idea if there was any alternative means of disposal. At any rate, it didn't matter as my father and one or two other shopkeepers with similar problems had the answer more or less on their doorsteps.

“On the south side of Halifax Road, practically opposite my father's shop was a stretch of open ground that eventually narrowed into a dirt track leading down to Dye House Lane. This path had been used by generations of Smallbridgers making their way to work at the various manufacturing premises in the vicinity of the lane.

“As they left Halifax Road to cross the spare land, they passed a circular red brick wall about eight metres diameter and two metres high. It surrounded a disused mineshaft from the former Smallbridge Colliery. Local children; myself included, would often throw things over the wall and as we never heard them hit the bottom, we assumed that it was a bottomless pit. An assumption made also, I presume by my father and his like-minded fellow shopkeepers.

“When I was in my early teens, a tremendous fire destroyed the Clover Mill, off Entwisle Road. It was a spectacular event to watch and hundreds of people gathered in the fields at the back of the mill on the opposite bank of the River Roch.

“Subsequently, the remains of the mill had to be demolished and tons of masonry and other materials had to be disposed of. That's when Smallbridge lost its own refuse disposal system. Thousands of tons of waste from the fire were transported by wagon and tipped down the shaft until it was level with the surrounding area. The surface was levelled off and that should have been the end of the matter.

“Some years later a local resident went to get his car from one of a number of wooden lock up garages erected on the area. It was dusk and as he looked in the direction of his path for reversing, the ground looked darker than normal. He made a closed inspection and found himself looking down into a dark void seemingly without end. It seemed impossible to believe but water flowing through the old mine workings had slowly carried away a substantial amount of the debris tipped in the abyss.

“In due course with a view to ensuring the safety of the area, a steel framework was inserted a short distance down the shaft and then topped with concrete. That should be the end of the matter – but who knows?”