Was there a Friar Tuck in Friarmere?

THERE is a school of thought that will have you believe that in times gone by the green hills of Saddleworth echoed to the enchanting chorus of Cistercian monks.

Indeed, in his book, “Oldham Brave Oldham” (commissioned in 1999 by the council to celebrate the modern town’s 150th anniversary), author Brian Law states that there was “an abbey in Friarmere” (Saddleworth).

Now, Alda would love to meander through our local history and bring you tales of a fine abbey which once nestled in a valley beside a babbling brook — but it simply would not be true. There is no substantive evidence that there ever was such a building in Friarmere.

Brian, from Henley-on-Thames, appears to have simply misinterpreted the name Friarmere and assumed an abbey. As explained in my first series, however, place names can be very misleading (remember Abbey Hills?) and it is to the oldest name for a place that you must first look.

Friarmere does not actually get a mention in writing until a 1468 charter. The very earliest known name for this area (originally comprising of roughly present day Castleshaw and Denshaw) is, in fact, Hildebrighthope; a place name which is mentioned in a document from the year 1293.

Not even many Saddleworth folk will have heard of it, I am sure, and the place name has been subject of much debate in the past.

It is probably derived from the Norse, Hildebeorht, with the Anglo-Saxon name of Hildebrighthope being developed over time. Hildebright is possibly a personal name of the original settler with “hope” signifying the “head of the valley”.

What we do know for sure is that the area came into the hands of the de Stapleton’s (the family who established Saddleworth church) and, at the end of the C13th, Robert de Stapleton granted the fee (estate) of Hildebrighthope to the Abbey of Roche near Rotherham.

This was a fine Cistercian monastery, founded in 1147, by monks originating from Northumberland. It is undoubtedly this church ownership which ultimately led to the area becoming known as Friarmere.

The land was actually the subject of a long and fascinating documented dispute between Roche Abbey and Whalley Abbey in the Ribble valley. The latter had control over Saddleworth Church and therefore had the right to collect tithes (10 per cent of the annual produce of land or labour to support the church).

Whether many monks ever actually came to the area is another question altogether. In the Castleshaw valley is a very old hamlet called Grange and this provides us with another important clue. A Grange was a name used to denote an outlying farm or landholding under monastic control — and this eminently describes the Castleshaw valley during the monastic period.

Man’s very long association with this valley has been evidenced via stone age and bronze age finds as well as the building there of the Roman forts.

It is probable that during the monastic period, the area was farmed by local tenant farmers to supply wool, and other produce, to the monastery near Rotherham. Lay brothers may well have farmed the area too.

The Castleshaw valley is stunningly beautiful and it must have remained a hive of agricultural activity until Henry VIII`s notorious dissolution of the monasteries circa 1537.

In 1543 the King himself sold ‘Friar’s Mere’ to Arthur Assheton and Roger Gartside of Rochdale whence the centuries of connection with the monastery was broken.




PS: The Chronicles of Alda are based on historic fact — with a little conjecture and a sprinkling of poetic licence.