Mid-terraced, stone built weavers cottage reno, Saddleworth
Discussion
Having lived in central London for the best part of 20 years (sometimes being pretty vocal about how much I liked it) we’ve sold up and moved to the countryside. Post covid both me and my partner can work from home with only occasional visits to our respective offices (Chester and London).
After a very difficult sale and purchase process that I won’t relive on here, we are now the proud owners of a Grade II listed, stone built, 5 bedroom, mid-terraced weavers cottage in Saddleworth.
Harry Flashman’s Detached Victorian renovation, London thread from 2017 is the inspiration for this thread. While the house is perfectly liveable it needs updating and quiet a bit of love.
It was built around 1780, the top floor was a loom shop used for cloth production before the industrial revolution with the lower two floors a dwelling.
Weavers cottages often have long rows of windows to provide maximum light for the weaver. It’s been passed down through a single family since it was built. Before we bought it, it’s never been for sale or sold. The previous owners converted a barn out the back into a dwelling and have moved into that, because they are now our neighbours and we own their ancestral home we feel a weight of responsibility to treat it with respect and renovate it sympathetically.
We've been in for six months already, I delayed the rennovation thread so I can regularly drip feed posts to help keep it interesting. I've come to learn that things seem to happen slowly in the countryside.
Here’s the photo’s from the estate agents listing
After a very difficult sale and purchase process that I won’t relive on here, we are now the proud owners of a Grade II listed, stone built, 5 bedroom, mid-terraced weavers cottage in Saddleworth.
Harry Flashman’s Detached Victorian renovation, London thread from 2017 is the inspiration for this thread. While the house is perfectly liveable it needs updating and quiet a bit of love.
It was built around 1780, the top floor was a loom shop used for cloth production before the industrial revolution with the lower two floors a dwelling.
Weavers cottages often have long rows of windows to provide maximum light for the weaver. It’s been passed down through a single family since it was built. Before we bought it, it’s never been for sale or sold. The previous owners converted a barn out the back into a dwelling and have moved into that, because they are now our neighbours and we own their ancestral home we feel a weight of responsibility to treat it with respect and renovate it sympathetically.
We've been in for six months already, I delayed the rennovation thread so I can regularly drip feed posts to help keep it interesting. I've come to learn that things seem to happen slowly in the countryside.
Here’s the photo’s from the estate agents listing
Edited by paralla on Friday 30th August 10:24
Lovely old thing , and you’ve done the right thing by living in it first .
I’m 70% through a renovation on the Wirral and my plans now are nothing like when I bought it . It’s very easy to ruin an old house but it’s also just as easy to end up living in the past , just takes careful consideration but I reckon you already know that .
Good luck
I’m 70% through a renovation on the Wirral and my plans now are nothing like when I bought it . It’s very easy to ruin an old house but it’s also just as easy to end up living in the past , just takes careful consideration but I reckon you already know that .
Good luck
One side of my family all grew up and lived for generations top of Outlane not far away.
Stunning place.
Also - have you started looking at 4x4 Pandas yet? In the really bad winters over a decade ago I used to easily drive my Subaru Forester between Saddleworth/Outlane etc through blizzards. That's another to look at
Stunning place.
Also - have you started looking at 4x4 Pandas yet? In the really bad winters over a decade ago I used to easily drive my Subaru Forester between Saddleworth/Outlane etc through blizzards. That's another to look at
The current layout has a seperate two bedroom flat on the top floor, we plan to reinstate the central staircase from the middle to the top floor then use the middle floor for guest accomodation and the top floor as a primary suite. The view across the valley is the best from the top floor, the bed will be positioned front and centre in front of one of the 5 bay windows to take advantage of it.
Ground floor
Proposed ground floor
Middle floor
Proposed middle floor
Top floor
Proposed top floor
Ground floor
Proposed ground floor
Middle floor
Proposed middle floor
Top floor
Proposed top floor
Hugo Stiglitz said:
One side of my family all grew up and lived for generations top of Outlane not far away.
Stunning place.
Also - have you started looking at 4x4 Pandas yet? In the really bad winters over a decade ago I used to easily drive my Subaru Forester between Saddleworth/Outlane etc through blizzards. That's another to look at
Similarly, the OP’s post is not a million miles from us and I live pretty close to Outlane. I often look at property in Saddleworth, Delph & Denshaw with a view to get that little bit further away from the busier areas. But the commute doesn’t quite work in a practical way. Uppermill & Greenfield are also very nice. Stunning place.
Also - have you started looking at 4x4 Pandas yet? In the really bad winters over a decade ago I used to easily drive my Subaru Forester between Saddleworth/Outlane etc through blizzards. That's another to look at
I can wholeheartedly recommend a Panda 4x4. 😉
Look forward to seeing your progress.
First job was to make it warm. There are two old, non-condensing boilers and a long wheelbase AGA that heats a 250L hot water tank and two old multi-fuel stoves on the ground floor.
The two stoves worked in that it was possible to burn things in them but they didn't work in terms of warming up the house. They looked hot but wern't.
After a lot of reasearch we landed on Barbus Bellfires Box 20 67's to replace the leaky, inneficent, peek-a-boo french door old ones. The Bellfire's have a huge glass window, burn a fraction of the wood the old ones used and they are built like tanks. They weigh 160kg each, when you close the door it feels like you are closing the door of a bank vault. There is one in the dining room that's open to the kitchen and another in the lounge room. The two new wood burning stoves are 10kW each.
https://barbasbellfires.com/uk/box-20-67/
Original dining room multi-fuel stove
Dining room fireplace opening
Dining room
New wood burning stove in dining room
Original multi-fuel stove in lounge room
Lounge room install
Lounge room opening
New wood burning stove in lounge room
The two stoves worked in that it was possible to burn things in them but they didn't work in terms of warming up the house. They looked hot but wern't.
After a lot of reasearch we landed on Barbus Bellfires Box 20 67's to replace the leaky, inneficent, peek-a-boo french door old ones. The Bellfire's have a huge glass window, burn a fraction of the wood the old ones used and they are built like tanks. They weigh 160kg each, when you close the door it feels like you are closing the door of a bank vault. There is one in the dining room that's open to the kitchen and another in the lounge room. The two new wood burning stoves are 10kW each.
https://barbasbellfires.com/uk/box-20-67/
Original dining room multi-fuel stove
Dining room fireplace opening
Dining room
New wood burning stove in dining room
Original multi-fuel stove in lounge room
Lounge room install
Lounge room opening
New wood burning stove in lounge room
Hugo Stiglitz said:
Scouted out any decent pubs yet?
The Cross Keys, Greenfield is our local, propper old fashioned village pub with a hearty, good value Sunday roast.https://crosskeysinn.pub/
The Waaggon Inn Uppermill is a bit fancier, nice for a night out
https://www.thewaggoninn.co.uk/
Welcome to Saddleworth 
I’ve lived here for eight years now, for most of them on the edge of one of the villages and for the last two in one of the tiny hamlets similar to yours. My wife and I both love living here despite the weather which you’ll know by now is pretty s
te!
I’d be interested to know what lead you to move up here from London as it’s a fairly obscure location, and also how you find the locals. I’ve always found them to be very friendly and there’s a real cross section of people from most walks of life.
I’m a fan of The Cross Keys too and you should try The Swan in Dobcross if you haven’t already. It’s very similar to The Keys but even nicer IMO. There’s also The White Hart in Lydgate which is great for a fancier meal and Delve in Delph has just opened and looks cool. I’ll be trying it out next week.
Based on what I’ve seen from your posts over the years you clearly know what you’re doing with renovations etc, but we did a lot of work to our C18 farmhouse and have some great contacts if you need them including an excellent restoration specialist builder who knows how to deal with damp and does amazing lime pointing.
Anyway I look forward to seeing what you do to the house.
I’ve lived here for eight years now, for most of them on the edge of one of the villages and for the last two in one of the tiny hamlets similar to yours. My wife and I both love living here despite the weather which you’ll know by now is pretty s
te!I’d be interested to know what lead you to move up here from London as it’s a fairly obscure location, and also how you find the locals. I’ve always found them to be very friendly and there’s a real cross section of people from most walks of life.
I’m a fan of The Cross Keys too and you should try The Swan in Dobcross if you haven’t already. It’s very similar to The Keys but even nicer IMO. There’s also The White Hart in Lydgate which is great for a fancier meal and Delve in Delph has just opened and looks cool. I’ll be trying it out next week.
Based on what I’ve seen from your posts over the years you clearly know what you’re doing with renovations etc, but we did a lot of work to our C18 farmhouse and have some great contacts if you need them including an excellent restoration specialist builder who knows how to deal with damp and does amazing lime pointing.
Anyway I look forward to seeing what you do to the house.
The Skandi chic vibe of our London flat seems inapropriate out here in the countryside, this time we are going for a more relaxed, easy going feel. The scale of the place means most of our existing furniture won't work.
We saw this 300 year old oak French rectory table at an antique furniture place on the South coast, the dimensions were perfect, we bought it and had them store it for us until we'd moved in. The wishbone chairs are and matching bar stools at the kitchen island are cheap repro's but seem fine.
The candelabra/tealight holder on the table is by Tom Dixon, it's one of my favurite things. It's cast iron and each arm is counter-ballanced and rotates on a bearing so you can configure it however you like.
https://www.tomdixon.net/en_gb/spin-candelabra.htm...
We saw this 300 year old oak French rectory table at an antique furniture place on the South coast, the dimensions were perfect, we bought it and had them store it for us until we'd moved in. The wishbone chairs are and matching bar stools at the kitchen island are cheap repro's but seem fine.
The candelabra/tealight holder on the table is by Tom Dixon, it's one of my favurite things. It's cast iron and each arm is counter-ballanced and rotates on a bearing so you can configure it however you like.
https://www.tomdixon.net/en_gb/spin-candelabra.htm...
Edited by paralla on Tuesday 3rd September 10:45
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