History
HEALEY HALL.
The year 1250 probably refers to the first house known to be built upon the site by the Heleys; the second is Presumably meant for Crede Mi/u, Believe in me. “I.C.1483” shows when Healey Hall and the lands attached came to Jordan Chadwycke ;and “I.C. 1800” means John Chadwick, by whom the stone was cut and the year this was done.
The oldest genuinely dated stone has upon it:
CC: DOC: T: RC: IC: AC: RB
ANO. DOMI. 1618.
This stone was taken from the house, which had succeeded one of wood, and which was pulled down in 1773 to make way for the present building, over the north entrance of which it was placed. Corry, in his “History of Lancashire,” interprets the lettering to represent:
Charles Chadwic~ke, Doctor of Divinity, the younger brother of Robert.
Robert Chadwicke the owner and builder of the house.Jordan Chadwicke son and heir of Robert.Alice Chadwicke wife of Robert and daughter of Butterworth of
Belfelde (Belfield).Robert Bathe Vicar of Rochdale from 1635 to 1662.
Ano Domi 1618, the year the house was built.
Charles Chadwicke, who heads the list, was the Senior Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, at the time of its foundation in 1585; was Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth “when he preached in Rochdale Church” and also to King James I.
Robert Chadwicke was the son of John Chadwicke, “who had died at Healey in 1615 at the great age of 103 years, and was buried upon the south side within the Quyre in the Parish Church of Rochdale, where the family sat to hear divine service, and in which place his ancestors had been accustomed to be buried.”
I do not, however, understand why Corry brings in Robert Bathe. I hesitate to question such an authority, particularly as it might seem ungracious as I have drawn freely from his pages for historical information, but the facts are, that Bathe was born in Kent in 1604, was therefore only fourteen years old in 1618, and did not become Vicar of Rochdale until seventeen years after this date, and I have not met with his name in association with the Chadwickes in any way.
I should think the “R. B.” more probably refers to the wife’s name of Butte~rorth, as it is stated in the Chadwicke pedigree under the name of this Robert that he cut upon the stone the initials of his own name and those of his nearest relatives ; and it is not unlikely he would wish his wife’s name to be so associated. A Robert Butterworth appears in the records of the family and the Butterworth Arms are quartered upon those of Chadwicke. IC: 1MO: and IC. 1778:
These inscriptions are upon two stone balls upon posts at the entrance gates to the drive the one of 1640 is that of John Chadwicke, the grandson of Robert Chadwicke, the builder of the house, who at the age of eighteen married his kinswoman, Catherine Chadwicke, aged fifteen, whereby he brought the Malvesyn-Ridware estate in Staffordshire into his branch of the family, which will be referred to later.
We next come to the building of the present house in 1774 by John Chadwick (for now the name is so spelled) of the 1778 stone given above, who was born in 1719-20, having succeeded his father, Charles Chadwick, in 1756,and who has left so many records on stone.
The first is over the front entrance and is
XIV.
G 111 R
E.C.D. Pr~fecReg. C.P.L.
Nosce Teipsum.
Nihil Supra deos lacesses
Virtute Nihil Majus.
(The Crest kFleur de Lys
1774
This maybe rendered except as to the letters “E.C.D”.and “C.P.L.,” of which presently; The 14th year of George ther third, King, Prefect of the King ; Know thyself: Importune the Gods for nothing more than you possess: (that is, be content with what you have: from Horace, Book II. Ode 18) and, There is nothing greater than virtue.
With regard to the Chadwick Crest of Fleur de Lys this John Chadwick assumed in 1791 the Tà1bot’~ Head, the ancient crest of the Malvesyns, which is perpetuated locally in the Inn of that name at Shawclough with the painted sign of the Talbot’s Head, or “Th’ Tobe’s Yed,” as it is called in the native dialect. The Talbot was the earliest of the breed of slow hounds, and probably the original stock of the bloodhound.
The letters “E.C.D.’’ and ‘‘C.P.L.” I have so far failed to interpret, but they may be in connection with John Chadwick’s Magisterial, Militia or other offices, and it may be mentioned with regard to such, the milestone which was brought to light during excavations for building near
Birches, a short distance away, in the year 1911, upon which is
Milliariis
Primo me—
tatis et
Milliarihus
Erectis
Anno 1782.
J ohanne
Chadwick
de Healey Hall
Armigero
Thesaurio.
[The mile distance first measured and the milestone erected in 1782. John Chadwick of Healev Hall, Armour bearer (the right to bear arms equivalent to the esquire of (to-day) Treasurer (or Steward or Bailiff of the district).]
The milestone, which is the second from Rochdale, has been built into a new wall near where it was found.
To return to the house, the builder’s fondness for inscriptions is seen in the principal staircase, which is of stone, being dated January 27th, 1778, and in the flight of steps at the front entrance February 18th, 1778. Over this entrance at the Apex or Pediment of the building is a very large stone, which it is said took seven horses to bring from Blackstone Edge, and upon it there was an inscription of about four hundred words in Latin. A copy, so far as was possible owing to the weather-worn conditions, was taken by the late Mr. Robert L. Tweèdale when he lived at the house, which is considered to be a résumé of the history of the family. This copy I possess, but I cannot make any connected record out of it, and now every letter upon the stone has crumbled away.
Two stones have now to be dealt with together: one over a doorway facing the west with this inscription: “Cedes paternis sallibus quam Roche quam Spodden lavit Cedes Ildece demo quam non imber edax”; the other, over the north entrance, ‘‘non aquito impotens possit diruere I.C.CC:MC: MDCCLXXIV :“ the letters denote John Chadwick the father, Charles Chadwick his son and heir, and Mary Chadwick his daughter.
The quotation is a free adaptation from Horace, Ode 30, Book III., and the translation is “ You must leave this paternal estate washed by the Roche and the Spodden, you must leave this house which neither the corroding rain nor the impotent north wind
can destroy.”
The first inscription faces the river Spodden and the second meets the north wind.
The application is that generations may come and go, but this strong edifice shall stand and defy time and the elements.
Corry, in his History, says with regard to what is described as “this uncommonly strong edifice” ‘‘It is vaulted throughout chiefly with stone and rises a solid pile. The pediment over the door and its cornice are of one piece, eeach of the pillars that support it are the same; window bottoms extend through walls where they are a yard thick; one cornice stone extends eight feet and two others full eleven feet without a joint; the pediment and cornice, ten yards in length, are composed of three stones only, the centre one [that upon which the long inscription was cut and which came from, Blackstone Edge] 6 feet 8 inches high, 10 feet11 inches long, and 13~ inches thick, which was calculated by the Architect to weigh before it was worked 8 tons 6 or 7 cwt., being full as large as the largest block of stone that had been used in forming Plymouth Breakwater in 1818.
Its massive walls, not usual in a private Mansion, are formed in general of ponderous stones cramped with iron and lead and bound together with grout-work.”
As the rivers Roche and Spodden are brought into the records, it may be mentioned that three centuries ago Michael Drayton in his “Poetic topography of England” thus wrote of them:First Roch, a dainty nil, which Spodden from her spring A pretty rivulet, as her attendant brings.”
So far the carved quotations have all been in Latin, but over the east door there is one, and it is the only one, in French: En ben fey: In good faith.
There are other inscriptions about the grounds, but the only ones that need be noticed are three let into the wall at the entrance gates, which have obviously been taken from buildings that have been demolished; they are, “IC. 1799: CC: HMC,” representing three generations of the family:John Chadwick the father and builder of the house, CharlesChadwick his only son, and the latter’s only son, Hugo Malvesyn Chadwick.
Since this paper was read an addition has had to be made. About the year 1883 an outbuilding adjoining the south entrance to the coach-house was pulled down which had upon it a stone with this inscription:
Hoc Stabulu
Fundabat. IC.
2nd die Maii 1775.
*
[John Chadwick founded this establishment
[stable?] the second day of May, 1775.]
Mr. Robert ~Stott, contractor for the demolition, had permission to take away the stone, which through the courtesy of Mrs. G. N. Stott I have now been able to restore to the site of its original home.
The Healey Hall farm buildings which adjoin the stables have upon them “IC.1775,” showing that they were built the year after the house, but judging from the state of decay
of some large oak beams I have had removed from the barn they must have originally been in a much older building.
We have now to go to the meadow to the east of the Shawciough Road, where is placed Healey Hall Cottage, formerly known as “The Lodge.” This meadow was from early days known as The High Field, but after tenter frames were put there for the purposes of the Healey Hall Flannel Mill it acquired the name of the Tenter Field. ‘V
Here there is an upright stone, and carved upon one side is
Misce Stult
itiam : Consil
us brevem.
Dulce est
desipere in
loco.
VI Non (?) Oct
M D C C L XXV
Meus est
Natalis.
C.C.
Upon the reverse side is
Who hope the palm of Swiftness to obtain stand forth and bear these prizes from the plain.
The translation of the first is
Mingle brief folly with your wisdom, it is sweet to play the fool at times.
6th. October 1775, is my birthday: Charles Chadwick.
The quotation is from the 4th Book and 12th Ode of Horace.
The stone is said to mark the place where foot races were run, and also that one or more racehorses were buried near the spot, Charles Chadwick keeping racers and had them trained in this field.
It will be remembered that the father the year previously had such excellent maxims inscribed upon the house as:
“There is nothing greater than virtue” ; ‘‘Be content with what you have”; and now we have the son commemorating his twenty-second birthday by answering his father and meeting him upon his own ground, quoting from his favourite Horace: “Mingle brief folly with your wisdom : It is sweet to play the fool at times,” and placing this where his horses are trained, and where foot-races are run, of which he was probably the leading spirit.
The last of these records to be dealt with is in the same field, but in the higher part of it. It is a massive stone table with flag supports and a stone seat, and upon the side of the table is the date “18th April, 1778,” and beneath it “Healey Hall, Specula, 1784.” John Chadwick was Colonel of Militia, and his men were at times encamped in the field, when the table was used for payment purposes.
Healey Hall, Specula, means Healey Hall Prospect or View, and from here this is extensive. When the table was erected there was an uninterrupted view in every direction, but about this time the owner planted trees to the north, now known as Gandy Brow Wood, and as these grew they interfered with the outlook. It has been handed down, that “old” Colonel Chadwick, for so he is still spoken of, said that he would return in a hundred years to see how the trees had grown; if he did he would see that they have not only ceased growing, but are decaying, and that it is only a question of time before the northerly prospect is uninterrupted again.
I do not attribute this entirely to the atmosphere, but think it may be to some extent owing to the rocky nature of the ground, for a quarry adjoins, and a point of interest in connection with it is, that some of the stone has been found of exceptionally fine quality for the Rochdale district, as can he seen at the Parish Church, the chancel extension of which, in 1885, was built of this stone.
Colonel John Chadwick was the last of his family to live at Healey. It has been seen that he built the house, that he had the records of the family cut upon the large frontal stone, and was also responsible for many of the smaller inscriptions.
Reference to this phase of his character was included in some lines written in Memoriam when he died in the year 1800 at the age of 80:
All business done, he sat with pleasure down
To note from history what deserves renown:
From parchment deed, or antiquated page
Recalled events that mark some feudal age:
Of ancient race was proud, of ancient lore
And for high lineage regardment bore.
Who lived esteemed as rich and poor can tell,
Now bids old Healey and the world farewell.”
Charles Chadwick, the son and successor, let Healey Hall and made his principal home at Malvesyn-Ridware, now abandoned by his descendants and become a farm house, but when he came to visit his Lancashire property, the Healey and Sladen (nr. Littleborough) estates, he claimed board and lodging of the occupier of Healey, as was then the custom in such circumstances. In his later years he seems to have c become a poet in a small way, possibly his racing days were then over, and in one of his poems he touches upon his various residences, concluding with:
“Or brace your limbs on Healey’s mountain scene, And range through Saxon wilds in Healey Dene, Like summer breezes fanning Alpine snow Fresh as the morn, the gales of Healey blow."