For the want of some water....

I was saddened to hear recently that another of Marple's historic buildings is in danger of being demolished. True, it is nothing on the grand scale of Marple Hall or Brabyns Hall, it isn't even that old having been built in 1903 but it has stories attached to it that any of these other illustrious buildings would have been proud of.

A number of years ago the gentleman who at that time lived at Field House told me a story of how he had uncovered a large lead pipe and hand valve in the garden. Field House, as already stated, was built in 1903 but this story begins in 1790 when Samuel Oldknow built his Mellor Mill, and it is all to do with what appears to be the ornamental lake in the garden of the house.

Oldknow was a man of great vision and when he had the Mill built he considered what precautions he could take in the event of a fire. The system on which he settled involved the digging of a large pool on top of the adjacent hillside. This pool was eventually to be topped up by a feeder from the newly constructed Peak Forest Canal and a 4 inch, lead pipe would connect it to the Mill. The idea was that should there ever be a fire in the Mill a large hand wheel, fitted at the top, would be opened up allowing the water contained in the pool to race down through the pipe. The water would gather pressure as it plummeted downwards to the mill to charge some kind of sprinkler system, thus quenching the flames. It is a sad historical fact that it was to be 102 years, in 1892, before the feared conflagration took hold of the Mill and by that time nobody could remember where the hand wheel was! The result was that the Mill burned to the ground, the hand wheel however, remains.

On Oldknow's death his properties and land came into the possession of the famous Arkwright family to whom he was deeply in debt, and as far as our story is concerned that is how it was until the turn of the century.

In 1901, Will Buck, a retired engineer, came to live in the Manchester area. Along with his son, George and daughter Flora, they acquired the land in Marple where 'Oldknow's Pool' stood and proceeded to plan the building of a new family home. 'Field House' was to be at the cutting edge of design at that time with many features that we now take for granted. Buck was a meticulous diary keeper and his diary tells us of his move to Marple and observations of his new environment.

"George left his lodgings in Herbert Street close to Whitworth Park and came to live with us (at 169 High Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock). We had our own furniture from Worcester and made the house as home-like as possible, but George was not satisfied with the place and forthwith began to draw plans for building a house in the country original in design and without consulting an architect.

After much discussion the plans were finished, a site chosen in a picturesque part of Marple and the building put in hand. The contractors for the work were honest and did their work well and by the autumn of 1903, eighteen months after we came to live in Manchester, the house was ready for occupation.

Frontispiece from the
original design sketches.

We went to Marple occasionally to inspect the building of our new house. George of course giving particular attention to matters of detail on the spot. I was opposed at first to this venture in bricks and mortar, but after a time was more favourable to the project and eventually helped with the drawings and went about the city with George to select various materials and fittings for the building.

Field House has many good features and is convenient and comfortable inside but much exposed to wind and weather outside. It stands on sloping ground and though there are no cellars the ground floor is about 4ft. above the rock which forms the foundation of the walls. The outside walls are double and are faced with hard red bricks from Accrington. There are no signs of damp anywhere. The windows are large with light steel frames. Water service, gas and drainage are satisfactory.

The upper part of the house is warmed by hot water pipes and radiators which start from a small furnace in the coal cellar and pass through the conservatory. The roof was first covered with 1 inch boards grooved and tongued then with Graves' Tarred Felt and slated in a novel manner by the "Dublin Slating Company".

It has not proved altogether satisfactory. The domestic offices will I hope be enlarged and arranged differently. The conservatory is not a success. Being level with the first floor it seems too dry and does not get enough sun consequently plants do not thrive. A lobby is required for the front door.

When I first arrived at the (completed) new home I found the rooms completely furnished and everything very comfortable and pretty well in working order. The ground outside was in a very rough state, just as the builders had left it.

The house stood on a plot of land owned by F. W. Arkwright Esq., of Cromford near Matlock, a descendant of Richard Arkwright the inventor of the Spinning Frame. "Chief' rent Ł10 a year. The piece of ground looked rather small and was far from being level. It was surrounded by an iron fence and barbed wire to keep the cattle off. Material and labour were required to form the garden. Trees and shrubs were planted but they do not seem to take kindly to the soil and grow slowly. Flowers are often spoiled by the strong winds that prevail on our hill-side 500 ft above sea level. Nevertheless the situation is a healthy one for the dwellers in Field House and the air pure though not always clear of mist.

The view from the house, past the
lake to the hills of Mellor beyond.

The small lake on the land above the railway is getting quite ornamental. Shrubs, flowers, reeds and rushes having been planted on its banks. Water lilies are beginning to make a show in the middle of a bed of green duckweed.

It was not until two years after coming to Marple that the interior of our house was finished off. The work was given to a local contractor who, taking one room at a time completed the decorating very satisfactorily in four or five weeks without putting us to much inconvenience.

Marple is divided into two parts, upper and lower with the river and its steep bank between. Our house stands on high and open ground and we get plenty of bracing air, though the nights and early mornings are frequently damp and foggy, consequently rheumatism is rife among all classes of people.

Since 1905 our family party has included one of my nephews, Mr. Wells' eldest son, John Stanhope Collings-Wells, commonly called Jack. Being of a lively and sociable disposition he has become quite a favourite in Field House and a welcome addition to our family circle. He joins most heartily in all our entertainments. Our George and he are like two brothers and though engaged in different businesses in Manchester they go by train every morning to the city. At our 7 o'clock dinner Jack invariably relates the events or adventures he has met with during the day and afterwards talks "shop" with George for the rest of the evening. He does not stay with us all the year though, he frequently visits his home at Caddington Hall and besides travelling occasionally here and there on his father's business he is away for a month in the summer camping out in Hatfield Park with the Hertford Militia in which he holds the rank of Captain. Jack's mother is my niece being the eldest daughter of my sister Mrs. Eisdell of Reading, a connection which has been a bond of friendship between the Caddington family and ourselves for many years.

Jack is really very useful in our garden where he may often be seen in his shirt sleeves building stone walls, making rockeries or forming flower beds in odd places, all of course with George's approval who, on the other hand works mostly on the turf. He is getting both lawns in very nice order after much levelling and exterminating of weeds and daisies...."

Will Buck died on June 8th. 1908 aged 74 and is buried in All Saints Churchyard, Marple.

However, this was not the last we were to hear of Bucks nephew, John S Collings-Wells. On the outbreak of war on 4th August 1914 he left Field House and returned to his home in Caddington. Being an experienced officer, by the 22nd August he found himself in the front line in France with the 2th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. Wells went on to win the DSO in 1917 and served with distinction until March 1918 when the Germans launched their major Spring offensive. The enemy had developed a new offensive technique and on 21st March began to batter the defending forces with such force that in only a few days they recovered land that it had taken the Allies two years to capture. The British began a fighting retreat and Collings-Wells, who was by then Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the 4th Battalion, was personally involved in the fighting. Leading a small body of volunteers he held up the enemy with a rearguard action that lasted seven days.

On March 27th he was ordered to command a counter attack on Bouzincourt Ridge near Albert and despite the exhaustion of the previous days he, as usual, led his men from the front. Although he was personally wounded twice they achieved their objective, the Germans were driven back and Wells was able to retire to a bunker to have his wounds dressed. Moments later the bunker received a direct hit from a mortar shell and Wells, his second in command and two other officers, including the medic were killed outright.

For his actions between the 21st and 27th March 1918 John S Collings-Wells was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross which was received at Buckingham Palace by his parents in June of that year. He is buried at Bouzincourt Ridge cemetery, France. Quite rightly he is also commemorated on, amongst other places, Marple War Memorial.

Throughout the duration of the war Flora Buck worked as a nurse at the Brabyns Military Hospital at Brabyns Hall. From the hospital's inception until its closure in 1919 she kept a scrapbook giving information about the comings, goings and happenings around Marple. This scrapbook is now regularly on display in the heritage section of Marple library.

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