The following information was put together as an original piece of research back in the 1970s by Warwick Burton, who was at that time a young student of Archaeology, influenced and encouraged by Maurice Beresford, John Hurst, Christopher Taylor and David Diamond who were Landscape Archaeologists and Local Historians of the area. Many years later he kindly presented it to a meeting of the Trust.

As a member of the Antiquarian Society, he came to the conclusion that Mellor had been an Ancient Settlement. He felt that the unusual oval shaped Churchyard seemed to have its shape constrained by features that were not visible in the modern landscape and furthermore that it was remote from the main part of the settlement, leading him to believe that the Church had been positioned on a christianised pagan site and that this influenced the later development of the Parish. A theory dismissed at the time as fanciful.

Warwick was interested to see if the historic documents tied in with any of the physical features which can be seen in the modern landscape, particularly with regard to the enclosures. Unfortunately, however, although the earliest map of 1585 showed several recognisable features and names to work with, many others were too imprecise. The Mellor Church being an example of this, drawn as it was with a spire.

When Charles the First decided to enclose and sell off parts of the Commons he comissioned two surveyors, Hibbert and Barton, to survey the land and draw up plans for the Acts of Enclosure.

Their purpose was to make it easier to gather the livestock off the higher common land to the farmsteads at the end of the summer although they also gave access to travelers crossing the moors, tracks worn by generations of people walking or riding to market, to worship or to visit their neighbours and packhorse trains crossing the Pennines.

Ridge and furrow fields can be seen near Moor End, possibly farmed first during the Napoleonic wars, at a time when food was scarce that so much more marginal land was used.



Cannon Hill Farm was built in 1816 within a generation of the final division of the land.

The narrowest part of the enclosure, at half a mile wide, is at Canon Hill farm, the widest is a mile wide.

The circular Assart of Birchenough, also mentioned in the Historic Landscapes of Mellor, has over fifty per cent of its walls following the original boundary. The site was mentioned in documents of the Royal Forest of the peak in 1285 ( At that time spelt Birchenhalge) An Assart was cut or created out of land which had been set apart for hunting, not necessarily forested. Assarting could be carried out by the payment of a fee, with permission, or a fine if done without.

Either way it was encouraged as the land was otherwise not much use. The bigger tenants would club together to get Act of Enclosure through Parliament. Initially the boundaries would be marked with a bank and hedge, dry stone walls were constructed later in the nineteenth century.












Many of the farms such as Spring Bank Farm, north of the Moorfield Arms on Shiloh Road/ Gun Road, fit in nicely with the 18th Century dates, at 1735.









There were previously many more crosses on the moors than there are now such as the missing Briargreve and Mishaw Crosses indicated on the Jowett map.

Complete crosses can still be seen standing elsewhere in open moorland or as waymarkers such as the ones to the right.




At Brook Bottom Farm, east of or above Mill Brow, where the farmhouse is again just inside the enclosure, a good example can be seen of a Hollow way, formed by the passage of a great number of livestock over the centuries, which in this case has worn the pathway down in places to the natural bedrock.

At Lee Farm the wall can also be seen following line of enclosure, north of Chatterton Lane.



Finally where Mellor Ridge can be seen from Hilltop Farm are further good examples of enclosure roads.