Heywood & Hopwood Feb 2020

bring along buckets to ease the burden of
heating water at home for washing. He
also permitted them the use of the mill
drying rooms to dry blankets or other
heavy items. Coal was in ready supply for
both mill and village use and came down
on the Ariel cable track from East Knowl
Colliery.
James also cared about the social aspects
of their lives, supported local events and
provided a reading room and a daily
newspaper. A year before his death, in
1867, he fulfilled his long held wish of
providing a school for the education of
the children of his workforce.
Greenbooth School was said to be built in
a ‘neat gothic style’ and to accommodate
500 persons. It was opened on 27th May
1867. On the first week there was in
attendance 119 boys, girls and short
timers, this figure increasing to 124 by the
fourth week. The school was to remain
open and in constant use both as an
educational establishment, community
venue and meeting hall for many
community and church events until 1931.
Following James’ death in 1868 his
daughter Mary Hutchinson, who became
notorious for inflicting her rigorous
standards of cleanliness on the village and
its people, took over the sole running of
the Mill, the School and the village itself.
Mary, was an extremely competent
woman and James’ faith in his daughter’s
business ability is borne out by the legacy
in his Will, leaving Mary in sole charge
of his business empire. Mary’s husband,
Robert Hutchinson, was the wealthy mill
owner of Nova Scotia Mill in Blackburn
and each ran their businesses
independently.
I finally managed to trace the original
school records, and had the privilege of
handling these important documents.
These books have revealed so very much
more of the day to day life of Greenbooth
than could have been read in any
history book. I hope at some point in the
future to produce a written document on
my findings which will hopefully give a
greater insight into life in the village of
Greenbooth and perhaps give a voice to
its inhabitants. I will follow up with
some of the content in a future issue
of the magazine.
In the meantime, there is a public display
of photos and researched material in the
Old Library, produced by fellow historian,
Chris Verey. Chris produced this material
to accompany my Greenbooth talk to
Norden & District Local History Society
back in November. Feel free to pop in,
have a coffee or merely browse the display
boards and learn a little more about
such an important part of our history.
Val Corns
valcorns@hotmail.co.uk
40
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