Pots & Pans Cottage is located in Uppermill, in the heart of beautiful Saddleworth.
Saddleworth is a collection of thirteen villages in the Pennine Hills between Lancashire and Yorkshire. Denshaw, Delph, Dobcross, Diggle, Uppermill and Greenfield can be found in the valleys, and towards Oldham, the more urban villages of Scouthead, Austerlands, Friezland, Grasscroft, Lydgate, Grotton and Springhead can be found.
Up until the boundary was moved as a result of the Local Government Act of 1972, Saddleworth was a part of the old West Riding of Yorkshire. Saddleworth became a part of Greater Manchester, falling under the auspices of Oldham Metropolitan Council and many Saddleworthians still dispute the boundary changes, nearly 50 years later.
If you look up at the buildings of Uppermill, you will see many white roses, and the annual celebration of Yorkshire day is proudly carried out in Uppermill on the August 1st every year with a ceremonial reading of the Yorkshire “Declaration of Integrity”. A plaque can be seen at the old historical boundary in Lees on the way to Oldham, and the road signs at the ‘new’ boundary over the moors are still regularly vandalised with the red roses painted white!
Carolyn Franc suggests in her book ‘Musards, Staveleys and Shaws, An early history of Saddleworth Forest’ that the name Saddleworth is actually a derivation of three Anglo Saxon words: Shaw-dale-worth. ‘Shaw’ meaning a flat area at the bottom of a hill, ‘dale’ meaning a valley, and ‘worth’ deriving from the Anglo Saxon word for work. Shawdaleworth, eventually mutated into Saddleworth over the years.
Prior to the 18th Century, Saddleworth was a poor pastoral community, because the soil is largely unsuitable for farming, small scale weaving was carried out in all the villages. The traditional three-storied weavers cottages, with 7 windows on the upper two floors are present all over the borough. However, Saddleworth was to grow in importance during the industrial revolution as hundreds of water-powered textile mills were established along the River Tame.
There is a lot going on in Saddleworth all year round, with plenty of events and festivals such as the world-famous Whit Friday Band Contest. Further details on some of the festivals can be found on our website.
Saddleworth Historical Society has a host of interesting information about Saddleworth, and the Saddleworth Museum and Gallery on the High street in Uppermill contains interesting exhibits explaining the history of the parish of Saddleworth.
