Ramsbottom Online

Ramsbottom – It’s Surroundings and our Heritage, Lost?

Within the heart of the industrial north-west lie many towns founded and developed during the Industrial boom of the late eighteenth century onwards, including my home town Ramsbottom. I have lived here for the vast majority of my twenty-seven years and have witnessed its ever developing growth. However, as a passionate classicist, pre-historian and archaeologist, it is my intention to unearth and further understand the alternative history of Ramsbottom and its surroundings. This is the history not taught in our local primary and high schools, but rather a long forgotten period which I intend to highlight to you – the resident community and local readers. This is a period that harks back well over 2,000 years before the late eighteenth, early nineteenth centuries’ industrial recreation of Ramsbottom.

Those who dwell within this haven like valley are well aware of the towns foundations and its heritage; many a school-child are informed of the momentous exploits of the Peel and the Grant families to assure Ramsbottoms’ place as a successful industrial town rivalling any within the Irwell Valley basin. Such grand reminders pepper our landscape sporting the success and civil reforms of the Industrial era: monuments like Peel Tower (built in 1852), perched proudly astride Holcombe Hill – a landmark in its self; the less renowned but equally once prominent ruins that are Grants Tower (built in 1828), built to honour the valleys primary pioneers and benefactors, William, Daniel, John and Charles respectively.

This form of reinvention took place throughout many small scale farming communities and mill villages/towns and helped propel Britain to a status of world domination, heralding with it, as it did in many small north-western towns, a new era of identity, pride and heritage made within the very fabric of the Industrial Revolution. On several occasions I have found myself within one of the public houses scattered throughout Ramsbottom’s centre and beyond, gazing at a picture depicting the era of industry, that great time of ‘prosper’ for Ramsbottom and its town folk; those grainy black and white images recording the ever growing, grandiose exploits of land owners, town developers and factory owners that one could almost forget that this landscape holds a key to a more ancient, settled people, living in a time not often synonymous with Ramsbottom…the Stone Age!

To be more precise I refer to the era known as Prehistory – a time before the historical accounts and authors of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Many of us forget, or are simply unaware, that a whole nation of tribes and communities spread throughout Britain well before the ideal of ‘civilization’ was compelled upon this island by the Roman Empire after their invasion of AD 43. This was a land of well established cultures, traditions and spiritual belief that connected way back to a time before people dwelled in what we now understand to be towns or cities. Many of us are familiar with the physical mark left by these people on the landscape throughout Britain (one thinks of Stonehenge or Maiden Castle as good examples), but what of the prehistory of Ramsbottom, the Irwell-valley basin and its surrounding areas? Why would our humble valley not offer safety, comfort, and shelter from the world outside? Could such people have lived here and built wonders to rival Stonehenge? Surely not!

Throughout my forthcoming articles I aim to offer a series of facts, opinions, interpretations and concepts about prehistoric Ramsbottom and the surrounding areas. I would be most encouraged if this would spark a lively debate within the community in general and particularly, here online. Although I can offer a certain amount of information, it is always a pleasure to exchange knowledge and ideas with other local enthusiasts, so please, feel free to comment or get in touch. Part two coming soon…!

Article by Rob Greenhalgh