Scheduled Monuments, Denton & Haughton
Nature Reserves & Woods
Scheduled Monuments
NameLocationGradeList Entry
Christ ChurchManchester Rd, DentonII1067969
Church of St MaryHaughton GreenII1067968
Lychgate at Church of St MaryHaughton GreenII1356486
Church of St Anne¹St Anne’s Rd, HaughtonI1309251
St Anne’s Church RectorySt Anne’s Rd, HaughtonII*1067970
Lychgate and churchyard wall to Church of St Anne
and Rectory		St Anne’s Rd, HaughtonII1356487
Church of St LawrenceStockport Rd, DentonII*1067971
Lychgate at Church of St Lawrence and churchyard
wall to west and south		Market St & Town Ln, DentonII1309198
Horse mounting block near Lychgate of
Church of St Lawrence		Town Ln, DentonII1356488
St Mary's Church of Our Lady of SorrowsDuke St/Market St, DentonII1448761
Hyde Hall²Town Ln, DentonII*1318129
Quadrangle of farm building at Hyde HallTown Ln, DentonII1067972
Former hat works at 53 and 55 Stockport RdDentonII1163339
Band StandVictoria Park, DentonII1163716
War MemorialVictoria Park, DentonII1430008
Haughton Dale HouseMeadow Ln, Haughton GreenII1309247
Manor FarmhouseHaughton Green Rd, Haughton GreenII1356485
Former domestic hatting workshop (Bow Garret)Market St, DentonII1419033
Section of a boundary ditch known as Nico Ditch³Denton Golf Course, 320m south west of
Lodge Farm		1016197
Tame Viaduct4Reddish ValeII1389626
1St Anne's, Haughton, was designated a Conservation Area, under Section 69 of the Civic Amenities Act 1967, on the 25 Mar 1992.
2Hyde Hall is presently on the Heritage at Risk Register. The roof of this late C16 hall is failing with water ingress threatening the interior.
3The section of Nico Ditch on Denton Golf Course (Grid Ref. SJ 90443 96054) was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 on the 8 Apr 1997. It is a 225-yard-long section of a linear boundary of the Anglo-Saxon period.
4Tame Viaduct is part in Denton, Tameside, and part in Reddish, Stockport. It was first listed as Grade II, List Entry No. 1067190. Later, the part of the viaduct in Denton was listed as Grade II, List Entry No. 1389626.
Bow Garret
Hyde Hall
Farm Buildings at Hyde Hall
Tame Viaduct, Reddish Vale
Lychgate at St Anne's Church, Haughton
St Anne's Church Rectory, Haughton
Manor Farmhouse, Haughton Green
Haughton Dale House

Nico Ditch
Nico Ditch is the only Scheduled Ancient Monument in Denton and it is a linear boundary of the Anglo-Saxon period. It is ‘U’ shaped in section and about 1.64 to 2.19 yards deep by 4.38 yards wide with a bank on the north side about 0.55 yards high by 5.45 yards wide at the base. The ‘U’ section, rather than ‘V’ section of the ditch suggests that it was used as a boundary rather than for defensive purposes.

The ditch was about 7.84 miles long, as the crow flies, between Ashton Moss in Ashton-under-Lyne (Grid Ref: SJ 92141 98816) to Ryebank Fields in Chorlton-cum-Hardy (Grid Ref: SJ 81027 94651) and it may have extended through Stretford for a short distance. It passed through Audenshaw (now below Audenshaw Reservoirs), Denton, Gorton, Levenshulme, Rusholme and Fallowfield (Platt Fields Park).

It was constructed sometime between the end of the Roman Era (Roman Legions were withdrawn in 410AD) and the Norman Conquest of 1066. Its original purpose is unknown but the most likely reason for its construction during the Anglo-Saxon period is that it was an administrative boundary; either a 7th century boundary of Anglo-Saxon expansion or a late 8th to early 9th century boundary between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. One possibility is that it was constructed in the reign of Offa, King of Mercia from 757 until 796AD. In this period the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria struggled for control of North West England aggravated by Danish inroads. Eventually the area became part of Danelaw and the river Mersey was the boundary between Mercia and Danelaw.

In addition to the section on Denton Golf Course another scheduled section of Nico Ditch is situated in Platt Fields, Fallowfield, Manchester, 525 yards SSE of Platt Hall (Grid Ref. SJ 85527 94439). This is List Entry No. 1015132.

At the western end of this 148 yards long section of Nico Ditch in Platt Fields (near the boating lake) there is a stone plaque inscribed:

Part of the Very Ancient Mickle or Great Ditch Sometimes called Nico Ditch Well-known A.D. 1200. Extending over Five Miles from here to Ashton Moss and Bounding several Townships. Described fully in Vol. XXIII. of Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society.

Nature Reserves & Woods in and around Denton & Haughton

These are situated alongside the river Tame and they include:

Whittles Farm Wood between St Lawrence’s Rd and Mill Ln. Glass House Fold, Dan Wood, Gower Hey Wood and Gibraltar Wood between Mill Ln and Gibraltar Ln. Haughton Dale Local Nature Reserve and Apethorn Wood between Haughton Green and the Peak Forest Canal in Hyde. Haughton Dale Wood at the bottom of Meadow Ln. Hulme’s Wood and Hardy Wood to the east of Stockport Rd. Other notable Denton woods are: Horse Close Wood to the south of Hyde Hall. Holt Wood on the north side of Reddish Vale. Denton Wood between Windmill Ln and Ross Lave Ln.


River Tame, Haughton Dale.

Further Reading
Crofton, H T, 1906. Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, Agrimensorial Remains Round Manchester, pp. 112-171, Vol. XXIII. Manchester: Richard Gill.
Nevell, Mike (1992). Tameside Before 1066. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.
Nevell, Mike (1998). Lands and Lordships in Tameside. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council with the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit.