Talk:Friezland

Is Friezland a Village?
Is Friezland a village? I thought it was a Church of England Parish that incorporates sections of Greenfield and Grascroft villages as well as part of the Tameside town of Mossley.

The name was first applied to a small area around the Royal George Mill in Greenfield during the 1800s because of the large number of Dutch immigrants that were living and working there (you may notice a similarity in the name to Friesland, a province in the Netherlands). Some time after the name had begun to take hold, the owners of the Royal George Mill, the Whitehead family, built a small church in the area of Greenfield just below Grascroft, which they named Friezland Church. This then gave rise to the area's official title as the Parish of Friezland.

The area of Friezland Parish has never been officially signed like the villages of Saddleworth (unless a sign has been put up in the last couple of years). I am also unaware of it being described as a village in any official records.

Does anyone have any evidence to verify its status as a village? Thanks. Road Wizard 18:26, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Here are two sources that support my view that Friezland is not a village:
 * 1) The address of Friezland school listed in the village of Greenfield.
 * 2) A document from the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, which lists Friezland as an Ecclesiastical parish. (PDF file) Road Wizard 20:02, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

In this instance, given the evidence, I think Friezland should be called a hamlet rather than a small villiage. I'll alter the article to reflect these outcomes, but please feel free to speak out if anyone objects to this strongly. Thanks Jhamez84 19:06, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

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Wow, this is really interesting for me. I grew up in Friezland. I have read this discussion with interest and these are my comments - hope they are helpful:

Everyone I knew in Friezland always gave their address as Greenfield. You would only ever refer to Friezland if you were talking to other people from Saddleworth. My feeling was that it was always a hamlet, although I remeber when I was younger someone telling me that Friezland couldn't be a hamlet because it had a church. I was never sure if this was an accurate definition of what a hamlet was. On the subject of the Church, for some years, as far as I know, it has shared a vicar with Lydgate Parish Church (Lydgate is at the top of Grasscroft, and looks down into the valley where Friezland is).

Anyway, more memories of Friezland - perhaps these should be entered to the main page but this is my first contribution to Wikipedia so I wasn't sure of the etiquette:

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal running through Friezland was for many years out of action. During the seventies and eighties the locks were filled in and the water cascaded down steps. I was always told as a child that this was because of the risk of children falling in to the locks and drowning. I'm not sure if this was actually the case, but any way, in the late eighties and early nineties, work began to convert them back to working locks, and now the canal operates all the way through Saddleworth.

I think of Friezland as comprising of the following roads: Church Road, Armit Road, Hollin Crescent, Park Cottages, Church Meadows, Well-i-Hole Road, Burn Bank, Oaklands Road, Shaw Hall Bank Road (although by the end of that road it feels more like Greenfield than Friezland to me), High Grove Road, Elsted Road, and I think there are a couple of new developments off High Grove Road. High Grove Road is interesting because at some point it stops feeling like Friezland and starts to feel like "Old" Grasscroft. Although Friezland sits next to Mossley, I never thought of Friezland as being in Mossley. A good part of this was because Friezland was part of Greenfield which in turn was part of Saddleworth, which in turn was part of Oldham. Our schools, roads, and bin collections were funded by Oldham Borough Council. Mossley was Tameside. That was that. Kids that lived in Friezland went to Saddleworth Secondary School. Kids in Mossley went to Mossley Hollins. There were exceptions to this, but generally it felt like the law. Another reason was the shape of the River Tame and some overgrown grassy areas and roads that, certainly as kids, marked out where Freizland began and ended.

I was always very proud of coming from Friezland, and it felt like it's own separate place. For a very very small area with a tiny population as a child I always felt that there was a lot going on. There was the Royal George Mill (a felt mill), a farm (Well-i-hole Farm - dairy and sheep), a canal, the River Tame, two fishing ponds, a church, a church hall, a vicarage, some tennis courts, a cricket pitch, and a bowling club, a field that was used by a pony and horse club and a primary school, where all of the kids went. There was for many years at the top of High Grove Road a shop (Harold Hague and Sons) that sold bread, milk, fruit and veg, meat, that kind of thing. I suppose that this was more Grasscroft than Friezland though. The felt mill was a great place, and once a year or so, out of nowhere, and fleet of shiny black cars would swoop down Park Cottages. The cars usually had USSR or Japanese flags on the front, and they were visiting the felt mill to close big deals on piano felt. The mill has recently been turned into apartments and no longer functions as a felt mill, I understand. In the eighties we used to play in a derelict mill called McArdles (not sure of spelling) that was just off High Grove Road. For me, it always felt clear when you had strayed into Greenfiled or Mossley, but it was less clear when you had strayed into Old Grasscroft.

I had been completely unaware of any links to Dutch immigrants and do not recall any Dutch surnames at school.

Interestingly, when you click on the map link on the main article, the green arrow points at Friezland Lane, which in my opinion, and I feel certain in the opinion of anyone from that area, is absolutely not in Friezland and absolutely in Greenfield. This is hair splitting at its finest, and I'm sure no one will ever read these comments, but there you have it, for what it's worth. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.130.15.240 (talk) 16:58, 27 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Well what insightful thoughts you have shared. I was always from outside Friezeland but agree with your idea of the boundaries. I knew Friezeland as a child in the 80s or 90s due to school friends and live here now. Nobody really calls it Friezeland and it is addressed as Greenfield but I feel the church and hall are helping to hold onto that name, as well as the annual brass band contest stage held here. As you say Friezeland Lane and the tag on the map is not at all Friezeland, it’s too far out. I would love to know more about Hollin Hall and the land prior to the building of Low Grove Lane but can not find much info. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hope mine are seen too. 92.7.248.9 (talk) 22:43, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.215.149.99 (talk) 14:59, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

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Fair use rationale for Image:Greater Manchester County Council Arms.png
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BetacommandBot (talk) 06:44, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Greater Manchester County Council Arms.png
Image:Greater Manchester County Council Arms.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 06:23, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Saddleworth Parish council list Friezland as a village on their website. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PeterWerneth (talk • contribs) 01:42, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

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