A Walk with Gillian Greenwood
Gillian greeted 17 members and guests outside Trawden Community Hall. She pointed out the Community Shop and Library next door – all three staffed by volunteers. The new buildings stand on the site of streets of back-to-back houses demolished in the middle of the 20th century, opposite the ‘Trawden Arms’ still referred to as ‘The Rock (Hotel)’.
Gillian informed us that the village of Trawden has changed enormously in the last 70 years. Up to the 1950s, there were over 40 shops, 7 mills, 3 chapels and St Mary’s Church. Today, the shops and mills have gone. The chapels have closed down and been demolished, or converted into houses.
We began our tour by walking down to the impressive war memorial, unveiled in 1922, opposite Chapel House, an old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and a former junior school, until the present school was opened on Dean Street in 1910. The new houses next door stand on the site of Forest Shed Mill. Retracing our steps up Church Street, we turned right and descended past a house that has had many previous uses, including the Ambulance Hall and a poultry collection centre.
This area, known as Chelsea, was the historic village centre, dominated by Chelsea House, an ancient building, currently undergoing major restoration. We took a footpath past the house and ascended steps onto Back Lane, admiring the weavers’ cottages at the rear of the old ‘Sun Inn’ (now converted into 4 houses). Passing the site of the former Pave Shed, replaced by the modern houses of Weavers’ Court, Gillian showed us the only remaining true back-to-back dwellings in the village.
Turning right up Colne Road, Gillian led us up to Hill Top, where some of the village’s oldest buildings are to be found, including Old Joseph’s Farmhouse (1620), Dent House, dating back to at least 1603 and Trawden Hall, built by the Foulds family in 1900 – now 2 dwellings.
With time inevitably running short, we walked down Colne Road past the Co-op building on the corner, opposite St Mary’s Church, to re-join Church Street, where we returned to the Community Centre.
The group then travelled by car to the Lakeside Café, on the site of Ball Grove Tannery, now a public park. There, we enjoyed tea and cake before thanking Gillian for a most interesting and informative afternoon’s stroll.
