Revival of a tradition
In 1975 the newly formed Saddleworth Morris men, restarted the rush cart festival. It was the first cart to have been built in 50 years and with the help of old plans, books and reports in its traditional location of the Commercial Inn, Uppermill. Each year a different banner is made by the Jockey and the current one is later placed on the mock rush cart found in the museum. Past banners are hung from the balcony inside church and what a splendid sight they make.
This has become a huge annual event on the Saddleworth Calendar, attracting thousands of visitors to the area and finishes with the hay cart being pulled up the very steep hill to the church.
Saddleworth Church is thankful for the continued support of the Morris Men and together we are working hard to protect this cultural event for the next generation.
For more information check out their Facebook group
Interview with Ed Worrall
One of the great successes at Heritage Open Days 2023, was the chance to see the Morris Men perform outside of church. We were also…
Historic Saddleworth Church 
Hi there – my name is Mike Winterbottom from Vancouver Canada. We had the pleasure of visiting St.Chads church above Uppermill in June this year. My relative (4x great uncle) John Winterbottom is honoured by the memorial plaque inside the church. We were very fortunate that the church was open for cleaning just prior to Whitsun. We had a very friendly greeting with two cleaning volunteers and also a church warden. We were given a colour print depicting the Old Saddleworth Church Rushbearing (as per top of this page). My questions are:
Is the church depicted in the print actually St.Chads? Looks quite different from now. Was there a fire at some time? If so, what year is the painting from?
Thank you and kind regards, Mike
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It’s a good question, I am on holiday at the moment but there is some artistic merit. I think it is accurate at the time painting. The church was heavily refurbished and extended during the Victorian period. There are some images showing the different eras of the church building. I haven’t yet created a post with the all on yet. Which I apologise to you, as this may clarify your question. When I return I will certainly create a post and if you subscribe, you will get a link to. Thank you for the query.
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