Reddish Vale - Housing

Housing

There is now very little housing in the vale. There are 12 terraced houses opposite the farm on the road leading down to the vale. At the bottom of the road opposite the visitors centre is a large dwelling known as Tame House. Tame House was once the offices for the Calico print works. At the back of Tame House is a dirt track called Riverview; there are kennels for racing greyhounds halfway down the track. This was once the canteen for the workers at the print works. Adjacent to the canteen was a large Victorian house but this was demolished in the 1960s. Further along Riverview, where the track meets the river, once stood two rows of terraced houses identical to the ones opposite the farm. These were also demolished in the 1960s after being declared 'slum dwellings'. The same fate may have befallen the terraces opposite the farm if not for the intervention of two twin brothers, John and Christopher Byrne, who removed the Compulsory Purchase Orders put on them, and organised the installation of a sanitation system.

There were nine houses situated between the viaduct and the mill ponds, built to house the workers constructing the viaduct. They were later demolished for expansion of the reservoirs. On the opposite side of the river to where Strines Weir once was there were two houses known as Strines Cottages which were farm dwellings. A recent archaeological dig found the foundations of these structures. There was a flour mill situated above Denton Brook not far from Mill Lane. In later years it was used as a school and was known as 'the ark' because of the flowing water visible through the gaps in the floorboards. It appears that there has never been a church in the vale.