Wardle, Lancashire
| Wardle | |
| Lancashire | |
|---|---|
 A view towards Wardle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SD912168 |
| Location: | 53°38’49"N, 2°7’55"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 7,092 |
| Post town: | Rochdale |
| Postcode: | OL12 |
| Dialling code: | 01706 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Rochdale |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Rochdale |
Wardle is a village in Lancashire, amongst the foothills of the southern Pennines, two miles east of Whitworth and two and a half miles north of Rochdale. It lies just beyond at the north-eastern fringe of the conurbation stretching out from distant Manchester.
The village comprises 17th- and 18th-century stone churches, farmhouses and cottages by the hills. The village square is preserved as a place of historic interest.
Many original weavers' cottages stand today in the village, as reminders of the village's past as a small centre of domestic flannel and woollen cloth production, which had been a local industry since the Middle Ages. The cottages today are listed buildings.
Watergrove Reservoir on the northern outskirts of Wardle, is the largest of a series of reservoirs in the hills, serving the industrial towns and cities to the south. It has a storage capacity of 720 million gallons.
Names
The name 'Wardle' is said to be derived from 'Ward Hill', implying a fortified place.
Brown Wardle Hill overlooks the village from the north, the first part of its name being derived from the Old Welsh word bron meaning "round".
History
The hills about Wardle have provided archaeological evidence of Mesolithic activity in the area. During the Middle Ages and into the modern age, Wardle was a small centre of domestic flannel and woollen cloth production, as evidenced by the weavers' cottages surviving today ni the village.[1]
Wardle was anciently linked to Wuerdle and lay within the township of Hundersfield and the Parish of Rochdale. 'Wuerdle and Wardle' would later split from Hundersfield to form a township of itself within the parish of Rochdale.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Wardle, Lancashire) |
References
- ↑ Frangopulo (1977), p. 29.
- Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (n.d.). Metropolitan Rochdale Official Guide. London: Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Limited.