Bench Wells 3

Harold

I was pleased to see a clear fine day today, so Louisa’s worries about having our fifty odd guests cluttering up the front room can now recede. There are no discernible clouds at all, and the
temperature promises to be in the high 70s – ideal for an al fresco tea party.

 Louisa is all aflutter. She worries that things will not go smoothly, that our neighbours will not be interested in my ideas and might even turn nasty. But I consider myself a good judge of human nature, and I feel that most if not all of my neighbours will see that my suggestions will in the end further their own interests, as well as mine, of course, but they don’t need to know that.

We then got ready for church. We need to get there early as I sing in the choir, and we have a short rehearsal before Mass. When the cabbie arrived and we set out for St. Mary’s Church in Marple Bridge, the gift of which, I reminded myself, was owed to Lord Howard of Glossop, who has been very much in my thoughts of late.

Personally, I would have preferred if we might belong to St. Martin’s Church, as I feel that all together a better class of people attend there, and the organ and choir are quite exceptional, but my wife,
her mother and Alice, the maid, are all determined to keep in their Catholic ways. I converted to please my wife, but don’t really take religion all that seriously. If it weren’t for being the lead
soloist in the choir, I don’t think I could stand to attend regularly.

When I climbed up to the choir loft, I looked twice at the woman who I think must be Helen Morrison, whom we have invited to the party this afternoon. She is a pretty woman, and it is hard to believe she is old enough to be a widow with a school age child. She always smiles at me so sweetly, and I cannot help but think of how pleasant it would be to make her acquaintance more fully, should I say.

Father McSweeney was in good form and his sermon was better and shorter than usual, despite it being Pentecost Sunday. He, too,perhaps has an eye to the nice day and is wanting to have as much free time as possible. The church seems half empty, perhaps many of the families will have gone off for their holidays. The mills tend to give the entire staff their break at the same time, which
generally comes in early August, but this period in late May is also a popular time for breaks, and many prefer taking their holidays when the masses are not also at Blackpool or wherever they chose to go. We go abroad, usually to Brittany, and as we don’t have children or any reason to be tied to school holidays, we prefer to go in early September.

Finally the service ended, and the cabbie has delivered us back home so we could get in some last minute preparations for the party.

The first to arrive were Mrs. Morrison and her daughter, and the whole of the Thornley family. Louisa ushered the big family group into the garden, but I kept Helen to one side. As I shook her hand, I
smiled and said, “I hadn’t realised that you, my fellow songbird, lived in our little lane. So pleased that you could come. And is this lovely girl your daughter? I was only thinking to myself this morning
that you don’t look old enough to have a daughter of that age.”

She seems as pleased to see me as I am to see her. Rich pickings here perhaps.

I had to let her go out into the garden, as she was soon followed closely by others of our neighbours.

Mr. Donaldson was the last to arrive, and I thought he looked very put out at being here at all. He was accompanied by his great niece, Miss Margaret Hammersley and their lodger, Fredrick Hodges who is Belinda’s brother, I am told. She certainly seemed pleased to see him.

A few had sent apologies, but all in all, I am pleased at the attendance – I counted 20 men, 20 women and 15 children.

It was about 3.45, when I judged that the time for the reason for the meeting was made clear. I cleared my throat, and stepping out to address the assembled group, said, “Thank you for graciously taking me up on my invitation this fine afternoon. I know you are all curious as to the reason for the get together, and although I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, I am sure you have suspected that that was not the only reason for my asking you here today. There are
actually two things I want to put to you, and, as the second involves the help of the children, you will see why I asked you to bring them as well.

“First of all, I know that most, if not all of you, are renters of your properties, as am I – and the landlord of all of this land is the very wealthy and very generous Lord Howard of Glossop. You may or
may not know, but it is common knowledge of those who look into these things, that the trend at the moment is for huge land owners, such as Lord Howard, to sell off properties – like yours and mine – so that we ourselves can own where we live.

“I am expecting that most of you had not thought to own your own home – and perhaps you are quite happy to pay rent and not worry about the maintenance problems that owning property no doubt involves. I will tell you honestly, that I am currently paying Lord Howard the rent of £50 a year for my property, which I know to be one of the biggest in the area. So I am expecting yours to be less than that. I have worked out that if I can buy my property from Lord Howard for £500, that as long as I live in it more than 10 years, I will have done better than by renting. As the years go on, I will continue to do better, and when I come to sell, I will have not only saved all that rent, but I will have a capital sum that I will realise from the sale, which will almost without doubt exceed the
price I paid for it.

“So what has this to do with you, you might ask? Well, I know many of you will not have the wherewithal to come up with the money to buy your houses. And I have made an arrangement with a friend of mine, Mr. Robert Taylor from Glossop Road, (some of you may know him, he is
a money lender) that I will act as his agent in this regard and offer you loans, if you wish, to cover the cost of buying your property, at the rate of interest which you will be well able to afford. So what I
hope is that after our meeting today, you will think about my offer,and if we act as a joint neighbourhood, asking Lord Howard for all these lands in common, I think we shall both get them at a reduced rate, and also save on the cost of the conveyancing – in terms of solicitor’s fees.

I know you will not be able to make a decision now, but I will leave you all with my card, and I look forward to hearing from you over the next month if you are interested in hearing more about this. I will
take questions on this in a moment.

“Now I come to the second half of my reason for inviting you here today. You may or may not know, but my work is to do with importing and exporting goods. I myself am very interested in the money that can be made from very old items, and I mean very old.

“Now, to the best of my knowledge and sources of information, I feel that this road we live on was the main way from Mellor Church – which was a Roman Camp to another Roman settlement, Melandra Castle at Glossop. And there is also speculation that this route was used long before, in pre-historic times by the Saxons as they travelled from place to place. I also have had information that tells me that the many wells in this area were used as they stopped along this route.

“I am sure that many of us, if not all of us, might have within our fields and gardens, under the soil, items that might well be of interest and value. I am talking about things like coins, Roman coins
perhaps, but those from later or earlier times would also be of interest. I am talking about pottery which might be broken, but might not, jewellery from olden times which might appear dirty and
tarnished, but in terms of its antiquity value, might surprise you. So I am asking you farmers, as you plough your fields, and you children and women as you dig in your gardens and vegetable patches,
to collect anything you might find of interest. I will either buy it from you, or will act as an agent on your behalf to find out what it might be worth, taking a small percentage for my troubles of course.

“So those are my two propositions. Are there any questions? t I would ask you to identify
yourselves and say where you live when you put your question."

“My name is Squire Higgenbottom and I have a farm at Low Hey. Why should Lord Howard want to be rid of these properties anyway?”

“I have been told that he is very interested in selling the properties that he owns, while keeping overall control of the land through it being leased to the buyer on a 99 year contract. My sources tell me he is putting much money into building a Catholic Cathedral in Norwich.”

“Are you working for him?” asked another man.

“No, I am not. But you didn’t tell us your name.”

“John Lively from Lane Ends.”

“What other costs are involved in owning our own house? I am Herbert Steward from the Lane Ends Pub as I’m sure you all know and you certainly should know, Mr. Warrington, as we are next door
neighbours but two.”

“Well, there will be rates to pay - for the services such as street lighting, drains, and so on.”

“Will they be putting gas lights out here, then? I am William Goodwin from Low Hey.”

“Well, Mr. Goodwin, I’m sure I couldn’t say about that, but eventually it is bound to come.”

“What sort of prices do you think our smaller houses would cost to buy? I’m Charles Oldfield and I own a farm off Lane Ends.”

“Just guessing, of course, I would think a two bedroomed terraced house might be as inexpensive as £120. Those of you with large acreages would expect to have to pay more.”

“What benefit is it to us to do this with you rather than on our own? I’m Jack Salt from the Stirrup.”

“Well, I am offering my services as a money lender, along with my friend, Robert Taylor. And, of course, it is always easier for a group to do things together and save on solicitor’s fees, things
like that.”

“How much do the solicitors and others like them take?” piped up another man.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“John Warnall from Low Hey farm.”

“Well, to answer your question, it is usually a fraction of the selling price, one percent perhaps, but these things can often be negotiated.”

“Have you actually talked to Lord Howard? I am Mrs. Morrison from Bench Wells.

“Not personally, no, Mrs. Morrison, and may I say how pleased I am that a woman is taking part in this discussion. I hope you have an interest in buying your house.”

“Well, I am not sure,” she said.

“What will happen if we don’t choose to buy our houses? I am Mrs. Thornley and also live at Bench Wells.”

It amused me that she must have been made bold by her neighbour’s comments and didn’t want her singled out as the only woman who was willing to speak.

“Well, somebody else may choose to buy them and then they might or might not let you continue as tenant in them.”

“Would you be buying the houses off these people? And you know very well who I am and I own my house already.”

“Yes, Mr. Donaldson, I do know who you are and that you come from Ivy Cottage. That is not likely as I am just happy to be buying my own home at the moment.”

“I’m Harry Oldfield and I farm with my father at Lane Ends. I am more interested in the coins and such. When you say there are likely to be some of these, have you found some already?”

“I found a coin and a dagger head in my garden. I have had them evaluated and they are worth a considered amount of money.”

“How much is that when it's at home?” asked Herbert Steward.

“I don’t really wish to discuss those details at this time.”

“What makes you think this is a place where they stopped? What makes you think that Mellor Church was a place where the Romans had a fort anyway? I’m Joseph Jackson and I farm at Stirrup.”

“Well, I have been doing my research. In 1861 there was a man called Mr. Bateman and he investigated what are called Barrow Burials, those which were done by the Angles in very ancient times. He investigated the barrows on Mellor Moor and amongst his finds there was a 6th Century square hooked broach, some spear heads, a circular copper alloy pendant, and a Celtic head."

(to be continued)