If your name is Buckley or Broadbent, Wrigley or Whitehead you may well have Saddleworth roots.  Other local families established here as early as the seventeenth century included Bottomley, Gartside, Kenworthy, Mallalieu, Platt, Rhodes, Schofield and Shaw.  The expanding textile industry and later the building of railways and reservoirs attracted more families into Saddleworth. 

Forced by need or spurred by opportunity there was a steady stream of emigration as families left first for New England and later for other parts of America, Australia and elsewhere.

As well as collections of personal papers from individual families the Museum’s Archives hold parish register and census records, trade directories, voters’ poll lists and church and society membership lists.  We have an extensive collection of family trees and biographies resulting from research by family historians.

Our collection of published books includes autobiographies and biographies as well as works on Saddleworth publicans and emigration to America and to Australia.

Saddleworth Museum is independent and we are reliant on volunteers for a lot of our work. If you want to visit the archive please e-mail us with your enquiry and what you are looking for and we will arrange a time.

At Saddleworth Museum you can also:

VISIT THE FAMILY HISTORY ARCHIVE

DISCOVER THE HISTORY OF SADDLEWORTH'S INDUSTRY

VIEW THE SADDLEWORTH VILLAGES OF OLD

SEE THE ORGANISATIONS OF SADDLEWORTH

MEET THE PEOPLE OF SADDLEWORTH