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Diggle
Diggle maps
Historic maps of Diggle and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Diggle maps
Diggle photos
We have no photos of Diggle, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Delph| Denshaw| Grasscroft| Marsden| Mossley| Shaw| Oldham| Slaithwaite| Meltham| Littleborough
Diggle area books
Displaying 1 of 17 books about Diggle and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Diggle
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Lancashire memories
Billy's Greengrocer
Billy's Greengorcer - a small shop on the corner of Hebron Street where you could buy fruit and veg, and almost anything else. In those years there was not an awful lot of choice.. two lots of potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, and lovely spring cabbage (although I hated anything green at that time). Billy Greenwood was a very enterprising older (at least he seemed very old, but probably only about 40 ) purveyor of goods. You could ask for almost anything, if he didn't have it stock he would somehow magically produce the item the next day. Mrs Greenwood boiled beetroots in her tiny kitchen behind a heavy curtain that separated the shop from the living quarters. Her home boiled ham was second to none... Many times my mother would ask for 1/4 lb of boiled ham with some salad, and tomatoes and that was our Sunday tea for 4! No wonder there was never any question of being "overweight". Further up the road was "Alfie's" sweet shop, complete with a small... Read more
Tay Mill And Lodge
As children we used to play in the half demolished Tay Mill, and fish for tiddlers in the mill lodge. Our parents used to tell us to stay away otherwise Granny Green Teeth would get us.
The Knight Family
My grandmother Maria Knight nee Ward born 1888 was brougt up in the Hillgate area of Ashton where her father owned three shops. The eldest of tweve children she rarely went to school her father would rather pay the fines as she was needed to help at home. Eventually she escaped by marrying a customer Harry Knight from Bolton. In 1910 they emigrated to Canada where Harry worked for The Bell Telephone Company. On the outbreak of war in 1914 Harry joined the Canadian Army I remember a huge photograph of a battalion of men plus horses by Niagara Falls taken before they were shipped off to the Western Front. Maria was fortunate that Harry's wage was paid to her throughout the war and on his return in1918 had saved enough money to return to Ashton and buy a business. They opened Knights Fish and Chip Shop in Warrinton street which became a thriving family business. I remember porters from Charlestown Station bringing fish packed... Read more
Ashton 1940 - 1947
I lived in Ashton from 1940 to 1947 when I joined the Royal Air Force. I went to Heginbottom Modern School until 1944 and then became a tool maker apprentice at the Joshua Heap factory. At the same time I became a member of 247 Squadron ATC at the grammar school, as it was war time, we trained ready to enter service. Ashton was then a safe place to walk about, it had plenty of cinemas and I enjoyed dancing or roller skating at the Palais de Dance. I had many good friends, to name a few: Harry Henshaw, Bill Podmore, Albert Henshaw and Norman Carter.
Ken & Margaret Davis.
I remember Smithybridge with great liking and fondness. I was fortunate to have my sister and her husband living there, Ken Davis being an ex police officer who decided to retire there. My visits to them from Tasmania were made in winter, and I remember the snow and seeing fires shining through windows as I went for walks around the lake and through Littleborough.
The great feeling of having lunch in a warm cafe with the smell of the good food still lingers in my memory. I must admit, in many ways my visit there and trips to Hebden Bridge for a bit of site seeing and a meal even though it was overcast and freezing was like stepping back in time into an era when simple things in your life really mattered. Unfortunatly, Ken and Margaret have passed on but I still hanker for a visit and stay in Smithybridge as it has so many happy memories and pleasure for me.
I hope it never changes and becomes... Read more
Smallbridge And All That
The place name comes from a narrow bridge over a stream that forms the boundary between Rochdale and Wardle on Halifax Road, by The Red Lion pub as it was then. Folk who lived in Smallbridge were once called "Sandknockers" apparently from a family called Kitter who knocked the local stone to sand to spread on floors.
We lived on the main road opposite the Congregational church with Kitter Street at the end of our row. My Dad was a cobbler - intially a clogger till shoes became more affordable. In those days you could buy practically everything you needed within about 300 yards from Buckley Lane to Wardle Road, excepting things like clothes, furniture etc, things that you only bought once in a Blue Moon. Now there are no shops at all in Samallbridge.
As a pre-teen us kids could always eat more than we got, not that we were starved. There was no such thing among my friends of refusing food at any time. I... Read more
Around Rochdale
I enjoyed reading Peter Butterworth's memories of Smallbridge. I went to the same school( Halifax Rd), 1937-44. My name then was Sylvia Higgin (now married to Stanley Rudman - since 1959). My younger brother, Trevor Higgin, also went to the same school, and we lived on Albert Royds St. My memories of those days are still strong and vivid. The area then was more rural than now. I remember the beautiful bluebell wood down Buckley Lane. I also remember many of the boys and girls who were in my class at school, including an Amy Butterworth. Later we moved to Syke and I was a pupil at Greenhill, the girls' grammar school in Rochdale. Since I retired I have found that my father's family were farmers in the Burnley area (Cliviger) from the 17th century. He always said, 'Don't confuse Higgin and Higgins!'
