The Folklore of Tameside: Myths and Legends

Folklore, Annual, 1999 by Andrew F. Bennett

The Folklore of Tameside: Myths and Legends (inside, called The Folklore of Tameside: The Ashton and Longdendale Lordships). By John Walker and Michael Nevell. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council with the Manchester University Archaeological Unit, 1998. ISBN 1 871324 21 1

The constituency I represent roughly follows the course of the River Tame beginning in the centre of Stockport, then crossing into Tameside, and ending almost in Stalybridge. The Borough of Tameside was created in 1974 out of eight-and-a half small towns--the local joke is that each township considers itself to be the half--and locals still consider themselves to be residents of Ashton-under-Lyne or Dukinfield, or one of the other townships, rather than Tameside. This has been a problem for planners and the providers of services; so, to try to get people thinking corporately and create a unified sense of place, the Borough Council commissioned a set of local histories.

This volume is the last in the series, and the only one with overtly folkloric contents. Earlier volumes covered subjects such as: Tameside Before 1066; Tameside 1700-1930; The People Who Made Tameside; Buildings of Tameside; and so on.

The Folklore of Tameside is a nicely produced book which collects together a great deal of folkloric material. Ironically, however, the volume undermines the aim of the series as a whole. Almost every account refers, not to Tameside, but to one of the eight-and-a half towns, so there is no sense of a common culture. This is because much of it is drawn from earlier sources such as Harland and Wilkinson's Folklore and Legends of Lancashire (1867) and Butterworth's Historical Account of the Towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge and Dukinfield (1842) which were written in the days before the borough came into existence.

Maybe it would have been preferable for the Council to have commissioned a folklorist to do some fieldwork in the area, rather than digging out old stories from books. A researcher would have easily found urban legends, jokes about the Council and the way the area is perceived by outsiders that might have done much more to foster a sense of place.

However, for local people who don't have easy access to relevant regional folklore compilations, this is a readable, and nicely produced, collection of local material.

Andrew F. Bennett MP