page_title: Milnrow
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Milnrow / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Two former weavers' cottages in Milnrow, Greater Manchester, as photographed in April 2018.
context_page_description: Milnrow is a suburban town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines, and forms a continuous urban area with Rochdale. It is 1.9 miles east of Rochdale town centre, 10.4 miles north-northeast of Manchester, and spans urban, suburban and rural locations—from Windy Hill in the east to the Rochdale Canal in the west. Milnrow is adjacent to junction 21 of the M62 motorway, and includes the village of Newhey, and hamlets at Tunshill and Ogden.
  Historically in Lancashire, Milnrow during the Middle Ages was one of several hamlets in the township of Butterworth and parish of Rochdale. The settlement was named by the Anglo-Saxons, but the Norman conquest of England resulted in its ownership by minor Norman families, such as the Schofields and Cleggs. In the 15th century, their descendants successfully agitated for a chapel of ease by the banks of the River Beal, triggering its development as the main settlement in Butterworth.
context_section_description: The earliest evidence of human activity comes from the Mesolithic peoples, who left thousands of flint tools on the moorland surrounding Milnrow. A hunter-gatherer site was excavated by the Piethorne Brook in 1982, revealing a Mesolithic camp from which deer were hunted. Neolithic activity is evidenced with a flint axe found at Newhey and a black stone axe found by Hollingworth Lake. Excavations at Piethorne Reservoir in the mid-19th century combined with surveys during the 1990s revealed a spear-head (with a 5-inch (130 mm) blade) and ceramics respectively dated to Bronze Age Britain. A Bronze-Age tumulus, funerary urn, and stone hammer or battle axe were discovered at Low Hill in 1879. They imply the presence of Celtic Britons. During the British Iron Age, this part of Britain was occupied by the Brigantes, but, despite ancient kilns used for dry ironstone smelting found at Tunshill, it is unlikely that the tribe was attracted to the natural resources and landscape of the Milnrow area on a lasting basis. Remains of a silver statue of the Roman goddess Victoria and Roman coins were discovered at Tunshill Farm in 1793, and it is surmised that Romans traversed this area in communication with the Castleshaw Roman Fort. Construction in the Victorian era is likely to have destroyed any other artifacts from the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Roman Britain. 
  The land was delineated during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. It is theorised that this portion of the Manor of Rochdale was a seasonal enclosure for livestock farming and butter production, giving rise to the name Butterworth. The Old English name is interpreted as meaning an "enclosed pastureland that provides good butter", using the suffix -worth typically applied to upland pastures in the South Pennines. Butterworth was applied to a broad area, within which was Milnrow, which also has English toponymy implying Anglo-Saxon habitation. The meaning of the name Milnrow may mean a "mill with a row of houses", combining the Old English elements myne and raw, or myln and rāw, or it may be a corruption of an old pronunciation of "Millner Howe", a water-driven corn mill at a place called Mill Hill on the River Beal that was mentioned in deeds dating from 1568. Another explanation is that it is derived from a family with the name Milne, who owned a row of houses; a map from 1292 shows "Milnehouses" at Milnrow, other spellings have included "Mylnerowe" (1545) and "Milneraw" (1577). Physical evidence of Anglo-Saxons or Norsemen comes from monastic inscribed stones—one of which has Latin text—discovered in 1986 at Lowhouse Farm. The stones were dated to the Viking Age in the 9th-century.
  Seasonal farming practiced in Butterworth during the Early Middle Ages gave way to permanent settlements after the Norman conquest of England in 1066; the Norman families of "de Butterworths", "de Turnaghs", "de Schofields", "de Birchinleghs", "de Wylds" and "Cleggs" were the new keepers of Butterworth, in the hamlets of Belfield, Bleaked-gate-cum-Roughbank, Butterworth Hall, Clegg, Haughs, Lowhouse, Milnrow, Newhey, Ogden, Tunshill, and Wildhouse. Records relating to these hamlets in the High Middle Ages are vague or incomplete, but show land was owned variously by the families, the Elland family, the Holland family, the Byron family, or the Knights Hospitaller. The Byron family were endowed land in Milnrow during Norman times, and their descendants include the Barons Byron in the peerage of England. In 1253, King Henry III granted rights to the Knights Hospitaller to conduct the trials of suspected thieves, regulate the production and sale of food using the Assize of Bread and Ale, and erect a gallows for public executions. Butterworth had no church, it was part of the parish of Rochdale with ties to St Chad's Church in Rochdale. The scattered community in and around Butterworth was primarily agricultural, and centered on hill farming. An oratory was licensed by the Bishop of Lichfield in 1400 for use as a chantry by the Byron family, and a chapel of ease for the wider community followed in 149
caption: Weavers' cottages in Milnrow, built using sandstone in a style typical of the area. Handloom weaving of woollens was the staple industry during the early modern period.
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