Affetside is a village in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England.

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

in Lancashire, it is in the Tottington ward of

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Bury Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services ...

and the

Bury North Bury North is a borough constituency in Greater Manchester, created in 1983 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. With a Conservative majority of 105 votes, it was the most marginal constituency for a sitting MP in the Uni ...

parliamentary constituency, in the

West Pennine Moors The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and Reservoir (water), reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The West Pennine Moors are separa ...

History

Toponymy

Affetside is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''ofer'' ("border or boundary") and ''side'' ("hillside"), meaning the ''boundary on the hill'', which is appropriate as its highest point is above sea level. The boundary follows the route of the Roman road known as

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

that ran from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

(

Mamucium Mamucium, also known as Mancunium, is a former Roman fort in the Castlefield area of Manchester in North West England. The ''Castra, castrum'', which was founded c. AD 79 within the Roman province of Roman Britain, was garrisoned by a ...

) to

Ribchester Ribchester () is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The village has a long history w ...

(

Bremetennacum Bremetennacum, (), or Bremetennacum Veteranorum, was a Roman Britain, Roman castra, fort on the site of the present day village of Ribchester in Lancashire, England (). (Misspellings in ancient geographical texts include ''Bremetonnacum'', ''Brem ...

) built in about 72AD. Affetside has been recorded with various spellings since the 16th century: ''Avesyde'', ''Haffetside'', ''Affaitsyde'', ''Offyside'', ''Affetsid''. The present spelling was first recorded in 1504.

History

The village is on the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

between Manchester and Ribchester. The main street was called Watling Street. Development of the village accelerated in the 1700s when it provided grazing, blacksmiths and inns to travellers using the

packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

route. The Pack Horse Inn was built in 1443. A day school opened in Affetside Chapel in 1879. As the building was shared, the congregation put out desks on Monday mornings and removed them on Friday in preparation for the Sunday service and did so until the school closed in August 2003. The village lost 15 church and school members in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The chapel congregation raised funds for a memorial and purchased a new organ which was unveiled in 1920 and is still in use. In 1955 Tottington

Urban District Council In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...

suggested demolishing sub-standard cottages in the village and rehousing the occupants in Tottington. The suggestion was overwhelmingly unpopular. A battle for piped water caused residents to form an action group and piped water was supplied to the village from 1976. Local historian James Francis, and author of ''Affetside, an historical survey'', believes the village's strength shows through its survival. He says: :"The building of the local

turnpike road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and maintenance ...

was the death knell for the packhorse trains, but the Affetsiders showed great resilience in continuing to build up their village, and so the village did not collapse like others, less fortunate. For such a small village, with only about 150 people to still have a church and pub says a lot about the people who live there."

Governance

For many years the road through the village was the boundary between the townships of Bradshaw and Tottington. After local government reform in 1894 the road marked the meeting point of Turton and Tottington urban districts and after reorganisation in 1974, the boundary marked the meeting of

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

and Bury

Metropolitan Borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

s. In 1991 the anomaly was removed by extending the boundary of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury to the west of Watling Street.

Geography

The village lies north west of Tottington, west of Greenmount and Hawkshaw and south of

Edgworth Edgworth is a small village in the civil parish of North Turton, in the borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is between Broadhead Brook on the west (expanded artificially to form the Wayoh Reservoir) and Quarlton Brook in t ...

Economy

The villagers travel to nearby towns for work. In 1921 the first (and last) Holcombe Hunt point to point

steeplechase SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre, ...

was run. An estimated 100,000 visitors arrived to watch. Families turned their houses into shops providing refreshments and farmers sold milk. The steeplechase course over jumps and two brooks was a success but subsequently the event was held at Nab Fold in Harwood.

Landmarks

Affetside Cross

The cross is a grade II listed structure. Its shaft is made from a single piece of

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

on a

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

consisting of two stone steps, one circular, in diameter, and high and a smaller one in diameter and high. The shaft is a pillar with a square base wide tapering to a column high. At there is a collar with a bun-shaped capital. On its top is a socket that may have held the cross head or stone ball. Affetside Cross was damaged in the 1890s by people mistakenly believing it concealed hidden treasure, and was repaired by the

Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

. It marks the supposed halfway point between London and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and Its origin remains a mystery though it is thought to date from

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times or earlier. Its proximity to the Roman road has caused many to speculate it to be Roman but others consider it a medieval route marker for pilgrims en route to

Whalley Abbey Whalley Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in Whalley, Lancashire, England. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey was largely demolished and a country house was built on the site. In the 20th century the house was modified ...

. There is another such cross at Holcombe Moor to the east and one at Bradshaw which has been removed. The theory is plausible as the old east–west

trail was a major route for the passage of goods and people. Another explanation is it is a market cross from Jacobean or Georgian times but Affetside had no market charter though markets did exist without one. It may mark the site of an earlier beacon due to its dominant position. The loss of the cross head is undated and there is no proof it had one.

Community

The Affetside Society is concerned with the appearance and amenities in the village. It lobbied Bury Metropolitan Borough Council to provide traffic calming measures to reduce the number of serious accidents caused by speeding vehicles. In November 2011 the traffic calming work was approved by the council, with a 20 mph speed limit becoming permanent and traffic chicanes and road markings to be implemented in early 2012. In 1981, the society planted daffodil bulbs, shrubs and trees along Watling Street to improve its appearance and built stone signs at each end of the village. It organises social events on the Millennium Green and distributes a newsletter to residents. The Millennium Green Trust, a registered charity, was formed to provide and oversee the "

Millennium Green Millennium Greens are areas of green space for the benefit of local communities in England. 245 were created in cities, towns and villages to celebrate the turn of the millennium. Their creation was funded in part by the National Lottery via the ...

" in an initiative run by the

Countryside Commission The Countryside Commission (formally the Countryside Commission for England and Wales, then the Countryside Commission for England) was a statutory body in England and Wales, and later in England only. Its forerunner, the National Parks Commissi ...

. It created a public open space on the disused bus turn-around next to the cross, which acts as a focal point for village activities. The village green is used for a spring

boules Boules (, ), or ''jeu de boules'', is a collective name for a wide range of games similar to bowls and bocce in which the objective is to throw or roll heavy balls as closely as possible to a small target ball, called the ''jack''. 'Boules' its ...

competition, summer barbecues and the Christmas Carol service. In January 2007, Bury Council considered making the village a conservation area to protect against what some see as misguided refurbishment and extension to old properties built in the pre-1800s Pennine vernacular. In May 2008, the council decided against the proposal after a community consultation in the village church.

References

{{authority control Villages in Greater Manchester Unparished areas in Greater Manchester Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury