Shawclough
The village of Shawclough lies to the north of the town centre on Shawclough Road, which runs parallel with Whitworth Road.
The name goes back as far as Anglo Saxon, "Shaw" meant shaded or wooded area and "clough" was Celtic for woodland and shelter. And as can be seen from the photographs below it is built around a hollow. Being so sheltered and not far from a water source, the river Spodden, seamed to be an obvious choice for a settlement which dates as far back as the Manor Survey of 1626. In the survey, although there is no mention of Shawclough by name, there is mention of two tenements consisting of "arable meadows and pasture of 75 acres, value £30, in the possession of Theophilus Holt".
The two photos above show The Hollows with The hollows Methodist Chapel on the right of each picture. The picture on the left is dated late 19th century and the one on the right is 1999.
These two pictures are looking into the Hollows in the opposite direction. The left one dates late 19th/early 20th century and the right one dated 1999.
This page was last edited 12/01/00