The Saracens of Biddulph Moor (cont’d).

The following account is an extract from a book a friend of mine wrote, it was only published in limited numbers so the majority of people would probably be unfamiliar with its contents, however it does give an alternative viewpoint to the Saracen hypothesis. It is as follows:

The location of the most extreme ethnic and language change was at Biddulph Moor. At school in Congleton in the 1950s the local Congleton boys instantly recognised the Biddulph lads by their physical appearance and had difficulty in understanding their dialect. Even more acute were my Grandmother’s observations. She was a girl at the turn of the 1800s and maintained that Biddle Moor folk spoke a foreign language. This language she insisted was Egyptian. Whatever, she was adamant that the Congleton folk from 2 miles away could not converse with the Biddle Moor lot. W. H. Norbury’s on these peculiar ethnic groups may well solve a series of Peak District mysteries.

The accepted wisdom regarding the anthropology and language of Biddle Moor men relates to the Crusades. The story goes that the local Knight on returning from his crusade to the Holy Lands brought back with him a group of Saracen slaves. This group of Saracens then changed the genetic and linguistic make up of Biddulph. We now get into the numbers game. How many slaves would he have brought back with him considering the size of medieval ships? A reasonable estimate would be no more than ten or twelve. In no way could such a low status group have totally changed the local population of Biddulph Moor. If we consider such influxes as the French presence in Petite France in Leek and indeed the many hundreds of Polish forces who came to Blackshaw Moor and the many who remained after WW11 the logical extension of the Saracen slave story must be that the Leek population would be speaking some hybrid English, French, Polish accent. Obviously not so. The process of ethnic integration and eventual disappearance depends to a large extent on the gender of the incomers. The French and Polish incomers to Leek were largely males who would have married local girls. A child absorbs its language from his or her mother so in one generation the incomer’s language has gone. If we speculate that the Biddulph Moor population may have been influenced by an ancient influx of Mediterranean traders and fixers then such a genetic and linguistic that we see even today in Biddulph Moor we must speculate on large numbers of incomers in olden times including their own woman folk. However there are several historical references to the nature of the Phoenician trading colonies. They were self contained, consisting of merchants and their families and kept to themselves, retaining language and customs and not intermarrying with the surrounding populace. The next question becomes what were a group of international traders doing on Biddulph Moor. My dad always told me that folk don’t do things without a reason.. The reason is not immediately obvious; Biddulph has resources of coal and Ganister which is a mineral useful in lining furnaces. At the time of the “influx” coal and ganister were of no interest. These substances became of great value during the industrial revolution. If Biddulph had no natural resources to an ancient culture then it must be of value owing to its location.

An important clue to the significance of the Biddle Moor men and their location stands in Knypersley church yard where there is a Red Cross; a slab of reddish semi-vitrified sandstone. The cross was moved to Knypersley Church from Red Cross House in 1943. The top of the slab has been modified to produce a circle containing a cross. The message of the stone is obvious by the engraving of a classic sea going anchor and a representation of the efflux of a torrent to the sea.

The River Trent rises in Biddulph and the town is also on the east/ west watershed. To the west is Danenshaw and the River Mersey. To the east are the Rivers Trent and Humber. The Brythonic translation of Trent is that of a rapid flowing torrent; this is the ancient traders gateway to the east coast.

If we can loosen the iron grip of the Anglo Saxon historians the townships of Biddulph and Biddulph Moor can take on a very different aspect. The standard explanation of the Biddulph place name is that it is (OE) “by the delph or by the diggings”. If we consider that this place at the head of the River Trent and on the watershed it would have been of great importance to an ancient race of traders. As an alternative to “by the delph” we may have old British; Bidwal which means an encampment. From the same source how about Bydol meaning worldliness. If ancient international traders had established an east/west trading hub on Biddulph Moor then it would have been an encampment of worldly merchants. Biddulph has an ancient monument in Bailey’s Wood that is described as an Iron Age ring work. Was this a Bronze Age encampment before it was an Iron Age Fort?