Eccleshill on 1846 Map
The British Ordnance Survey has been publishing high-quality maps of England for many decades. A section of the 1846 “Six-Inch” map1 covering the area around the Grimshaw locaiton is shown at the bottom of this webpage. For scale, the rectangular segment is about 1.4 miles wide and 1.1 miles high. The area is traversed by Hoddleston – Water Side – Grimshaw brook from southeast to northwest. Eccleshill Township is on the west side of this brook, and Yate & Pickup Bank Township is on the east side.
The Grimshaw location is shown in the northwest corner of the map, where Grimshaw Bridge crosses Grimshaw Brook, and Grimshaw Bridge Factory, a cotton mill, is shown on the Yate & Pickup Bank side of the brook. Today’s Higher Grimshaw Farm is shown simply as “Grimshaw’s” on this map, and Lower Grimshaw is across the road leading north and down toward the brook and cotton mill.
On the Yate & Pickup Bank side, Means Brook flows into Water Side (Grimshaw) Brook from the east at Water Side. Belthorn is located just off the edge of the map north of Bank Fold. Similarly, Hoddleston is just off the map south of Vale Rock Mill. A comparison with the currentOrdnance Survey map in other website is useful at this point.
Other noteworthy features on this old map are the collieries (Brocklehead and Closes) and coal pits and the many cotton mills (Grimshaw Bridge, Water Side, Cote, Scrapings, Dick Bridge, Vale Rock). Ooze Castle Wood is south of Means Brook and north of Shooters Hill, near the east edge of the map. These features are discussed in other webpages.
British Ordnance Survey, 1846, Sheet No. 70 (Lancashire Sheet), Scale 6″ = 1 mile, 1 sheet
The figure below, from the British Ordnance Survey map of 1846, shows Eccleshill and Yate & Pickup Bank area. Note the Grimshaw location in northwest (upper left) corner. Other noteworthy features are the collieries, cotton mills and Ooze Castle Wood (above “Bank” in “Pickup Bank” on east side of map.) The map is purposely presented oversize so that the necessary detail can be seen.
Webpage posted July 2000