Diggle Village

Nestled on the west side of the Pennines, Diggle has a history of both farming, predominately sheep, and weaving..

The village of Diggle originally comprised a series of hamlets accommodating farm workers and loom operatives.  Diglea (just beyond the Diggle Hotel) is the oldest hamlet.  The narrow highway between the houses reflects the age of the area.  The road through Diglea leads to the now-disused Diggle Mill. Built in the 1840s to produce woollen cloth, it was powered by the second largest waterwheel in the United Kingdom, with a diameter of 64 feet 8 inches (just over 20 metres) and an output of 130 horse-power.  The wheel was dismantled in 1924.

Harrop Green is another small hamlet (last turning on the right out of the village towards Huddersfield) where there is a good example of weavers’ cottages with a workshop originally stretching out on the top of 3 floors over what today is more than one house.  The third hamlet is Weakey situated in the centre of the village where the Hanging Gate is located.

The building of the Standedge to Oldham Turnpike Road (now Hudderfield Road) through Diggle in 1792 had little impact on Diggle.  The building of the canal and railway were probably more significant, certainly in the short term in the provision of work for labourers.

The village started to ‘come together’ with the building of the stone houses on Huddersfield Road, built to accommodate mill workers.

Mills were comparatively few when compared with other Saddleworth villages.  four remain today:  Warth Mill situated on the south-east side of Huddersfield Road now accommodates several small firms including two  car maintenance outlets, a carpet firm and a food take away establishment.  Ellis Mill situated nearby at the mouth of the yard entrance to Warth Mill is unoccupied; latterly it was a furniture store outlet but closed in 2005.   The third is Diggle Mill (mentioned above) which is currently unused.

By far the most impressive building in Diggle is the Dobcross Loom Works.  This is the fourth mill. It is located on the Canal side of Huddersfield Road about 300 yards from the junction with Standedge Road.  For 37 years until 2006 it had been the home of Shaw’s Pallet Works, reputedly one of the largest pallet works in Europe.  Known locally as ‘The Cathedral’ the main building housing the clock tower, is a Grade 2 listed building. 

For many years the various parts of Saddleworth celebrated Whitsuntide at difference times of Whit week.  Around 1850 the many separate holidays and processions concentrated on the Friday before Trinity Sunday, with the festivities spilling over the following weekend and into the beginning of the next week.

Henceforth, ‘Whit Friday’ became synonymous with the festivities and the day of the year towards which the most eager anticipation of Saddleworth’s children in particular was directed.  Most villages in Saddleworth on the evening of ‘Whit Friday’ have a band contest.  Diggle has never been part of the band contest although there is currently (2007) a move in the village to look at the possibility.  The Whit walks take place on the morning of Whit Friday when the two village Churches join forces to march through the village.

The significance of the Whit Friday walks is reflected in the photographs with  crowds massed to march round the village.

Flowers and streamers abound in the whit Friday procession of Kiln Green Church as it passes along Huddersfield Road in Diggle in 1924.

A scene in about 1910 at Lee Side, a little above Kiln Green on the road towards Saddleworth Church.  The attendant brass band is in action and the occasion may well be one of the pauses for music and singing made by many of the processions throughout Saddleworth.

A regimented group of one of the churches filling the lane from Harrop Green to Sam Road around the turn of the century.