Author: Peter Fox

By Peter Fox  ON 1 May 1851 the ‘Great Exhibition’ was opened at Crystal Palace in London and was the first in a series of…

THERE HAVE survived a number of photographs of a memorial that stood in The Square in Uppermill, with many people wondering where it went. The…

THE ‘BLACKOUT’ now associated more with the Second World War came about at the beginning of the First World War with the threat of bombing…

LAST MONTH we looked at the idea of taking current modern-day photographs from the same vantage point and proved how it was not quite as…

                I HAVE been collecting old photographs of Saddleworth for over 40 years and one thing I am…

            THE FOCUS of the Whitsuntide processions is the banners proudly announcing the name of the church or Sunday School…

AS CURATOR of the Saddleworth Museum I am asked many questions and try to find an answer to them all – but I was asked…

By Peter Fox DURING THE Second World War, Saddleworth was lucky that being just five miles from Oldham and approximately 13 miles from Manchester it wasn’t targeted with bombs –particularly…

History by Peter Fox MUCH-LOVED pubs can be found far and wide across Saddleworth, some dating back as far as the nineteenth century – but many more…

By Peter Fox IN THIS second article on Saddleworth’s railways we look at the demise of the network that served the area – prompted by the fact…

History by Peter Fox  THE HILLS and moorlands of Saddleworth are covered with many large boulders and rock outcrops which may appear only of interest to…

By Marjorie Stephinson “By the way,” said Ken as we walked up the drive, “I forgot to mention it’s a railway station with real trains.”…

HISTORY – By Peter Fox It’s August and I have to be careful what I say but there are people of a certain age who…

NEXT YEAR sees a century since the start of the ‘Great War’ that was to last for a period of four years and was at…

THE NAVVIES first came to Saddleworth with the building of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at the turn of the nineteenth century; it was from digging…

IT WAS Fred Dibnah who as a steeplejack in his series on television, with his enthusiasm for mill chimneys, made people look above eye level…

HISTORY – BY PETER FOX IN NOVEMBER 1908 Saddleworthians were treated to a visit by a famous person – his full title at the time…

THERE ARE many Saddleworth people who are aware of who Ammon Wrigley was and what he did and having died over 67 years ago I’m…

SADDLEWORTH CAN lay claim to the origins of ‘Platt’s of Oldham’, which claimed to be the largest establishment in the world producing textile machinery and…