pleasant to
remember, however, that forty years later Wrigley would have been
delighted to have heartily supported his old opponent when as Bishop of
Chichester, Lake stood out as one of the "Seven Bishops" for
English liberties in 1688. Wrigley became High Sheriff of Lancashire in
1651, and was one of the largest employers of labour – agricultural,
textile and colliery – for many miles around. He was for many years
the most influential man in Oldham. He was one of the executors of the
will of Humphrey Chetham, and so concerned in the foundation of the very
earliest public library in England – that of Chetham’s Hospital,
still so full of interest and beauty.
His granddaughter, Martha, married Joseph Gregge,
Esq., of Chester, in 1680, and until quite recently the Hall remained in
that line. The name "Gregge Street" - now renamed Grange
Avenue – commemorated those owners. Captain Benjamin Gregge became
High Sheriff in 1722, and of Mrs Gregge it is recorded that she was
"beautifully fair" as well as distinguished by "ornaments
of mind".
The front of the Hall was rebuilt, probably in
Captain Gregge’s time, and is a good example of early Georgian
domestic architecture. The old oak from the interior has largely
disappeared.
The Boggart
Mr James Dronsfield has told us in "Ouselwood"
the story of the famous boggart, the tradition having been a live one in
his infancy, a hundred years ago. The boggart used to play all sorts of
noisy pranks on the inmates of the Hall. Food had to be placed for it
each night to keep it from being too troublesome.
One night a new maid to whom the task was allotted,
tempted by the daintiness of the titbits left over from a dinner-party,
ate them herself, then, saying "Churn milk and barley bread is good
enough for boggarts" left only the latter in their place, in a
bowl. Then she finished her ironing and went to bed. A few minutes later
terrified shrieks came from her room. The boggart had appeared and
repeating the scornful words "Churn milk and barley bread" had
indelibly branded her with the hot smoothing iron. The story of the
"flitting" abandoned when the boggart promised to accompany
his hosts, is told of this as well as of other boggarts. After all, why
should they not act in the same way under similar conditions?
At last it became necessary to exorcise the intruder.
After prayer and fasting the boggart consented to be removed,
stipulating only that a live game-cock should be buried with him beneath
the doorstone. This granted after the final "Amen" the
doorstone suddenly cracked right through the middle, and a sepulchral
voice declared
So long as hollins and ivvens are green
Chamber Ha’ Boggart will ne’er more be seen
It is only fair to the boggart, however, to add that
only three years ago I was told by the lady of the house that mysterious
noises, sometimes like the sound of a loud insistent knock, were still
heard in the dead of night in its old abode!
The boggart was also said to sit sometimes upon a
rail under a large thornbush on the opposite side of the lane, and old
inhabitants tell how in their childhood very few Oldham people would
have dared to go along Chamber Lane after nightfall.
A suggested practical use for the historic buildings
is that the Hall should become a Branch Library and Reading Rooms: the
Barn a "Regional Museum" for larger historic objects such as
looms, e.g. : and the smaller range a Museum which could easily be put
into shape in order to relieve the congestion in the present Municipal
Museum.
W.A.W.