Tweedales, etc.

My Tweedale Ancestors

My  Grandfather's parents were Robert Platt (1847-1912) and Ellen Tweedale (1850-1932).  Robert Platt came from Saddleworth.  His wife, Ellen came from Bury, Lancs., but her Tweedale ancestors have a long pedigree in Rochdale.  Joan Bardick, who now lives in Australia, generously gave me with a wealth of information on this family.  She is also a descendant of one of these Tweedales, so she must be something like an umpty third cousin, I guess!  The majority of the information on this web page has been supplied by 'cousin' Joan.  This web page just deals with my ancestors, there are far more family lines. As always, if you have any corrections or further information for this page, please contact me on the E Mail address displayed at the foot of the page.

Some background.... Rochdale is an ancient town in the valley of the River Roch in south east Lancashire and NNW of Manchester. (see map left).  It has a beautiful historic 12th C. Church, dedicated to St. Chad.  Historically, the parish of Rochdale was huge, even spreading into Yorkshire, and included the townships of Todmorden &  Walsden, Spotland, Saddleworth, Blatchinworth & Calderbrook, Wuerdle & Wardle, Castleton and Butterworth.  Rochdale is famous, amongst many things,  as the 'home' of the Co-operative Movement and the birthplace of the singer and film actress, Gracie Fields.  (Grace Stansfield, as she was really called, is rumoured to be a distant relation of mine, but I have found no connection yet!) My Tweedale ancestors were originally from Almondbury, near Huddersfield in Yorkshire and came to Rochdale via Oldham.  They married into members of other Rochdale families, like the Deardens, Hopwoods and Chadwicks, (families of some substance, it would appear).   Later my Tweedale folks lived at Bury, west of Rochdale where Ellen Tweedale was born and then moved North to Newchurch in Rossendale, where Ellen met and married my Great Grandfather, Robert Platt.

Tree No1 shows the Chadwick connection, the ancestry of Roger Chadwick, whose Great Great Grand-daughter, Isobelle Hopwood, married Abraham Tweedale.  The Chadwicks were a long established land owning family in the Rochdale area. They lived at Chadwick Hall, (which used to be near the present B6222, Bury Road at OS Grid Ref. SD 877 128).

Roger Chadwick and his wife Isabelle Ashton are now at the top of Tree No2.  They lived at Chadwick Hall and their grand-daughter Margaret Chadwick married John Chadwick of Ellenrod, (perhaps a cousin).  Ellenrod Farm still exists and the present building may have been a part of the Ellenrod where John and his Father, also John, lived.  (It's OS Grid Reference is SD874146 and according to English heritage is a "Mansion, probable 16thC".  It is close to the Caldershaw Road at Shawfield, Rochdale).  John and Margaret's daughter Isobelle married a Rochdale man called James Hopwood and their daughter, also Isobelle, married Abraham Tweedale. The Tweedales had originated at Almondbury, just outside Huddersfield in Yorkshire.  John Tweedale was born in 1586 in Oldham, but most of his children were born in Almondbury.  His son, Abraham Tweedale, who married Isobelle Hopwood was one of these.  (Abraham died at Woodhouselaw, which I equate to Woodhouse Lane, a hamlet which is in the area now called Norden on the A689 which is 2-3 miles ENE of Rochdale going towards Ramsbottom).  Abraham and Isobelle had at least 5 children, one of whom was also called Abraham.  This Abraham was born c.1667 in Oldham but by 1675 the family were in Rochdale.  Abraham married Elizabeth Earnshaw there on 4 Nov 1700, they had six children, one of whom was Jacob, b.1715, where Tree 2 ends.  Elizabeth died in 1718, Abraham married again to Sarah and had six more children, .  Abraham died, at a place called Blagden "within the township of Spotland", in 1735.  Joan Bardick tells me Blagden was on Rooley Moor, she also has a copy of his will.  He left £149 8s. 6d., this was the value of animals, looms, goods, bills, bonds and cash, etc. and the remainder of a lease in land worth £40.  (£150 in 1735 would equate to about £20,000 now).

Again, all this Dearden information comes from Joan Bardick.  The furthest she has got back is Edmund Dearden who died in 1631and his wife mary who died in 1634 in Rochdale. Their grandson William was born in 1630 at Marland Mill, which was a Corn Mill.  He married Jane Levthwaite (or Linthwaite).  Their grand-daughter Elizabeth married Jacob Tweedale.

Jacob Tweedale married Betty Dearden in St Chad's Church, Rochdale in 1739.  They had at least nine children, one of whom was my ancestor, another Jacob, who was born c.1760 at Hollows.   From around the mid 1700's, an extended Tweedale family appeared to live at the farmstead called Hollows, (Grid Ref SD886146), which was at Shawclough, a mile north of the centre of Rochdale, off Shawclough Road.    The house is no longer in existence.    When Betty died in 1765, the elder Jacob did not take to being a widower, he married Mary Fielden the next year, 1766 and they had five more children.  The 3rd son by Betty Dobson was Abraham who was a Weaver in Bury.  Abraham and Rachel's Bury address in 1851 was 18 Compulsion Street!!!  Their son Jacob, was a Cotton Spinner in Bury, but in about 1856, when my Great Grandmother, Ellen Tweedale was about 6, he moved to Newchurch in Rossendale where he was an Overlooker (Cotton).

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Last modified:  3rd April 2008