All Roads Lead to (or perhaps through) Marsden? Tucked away in the Pennine hills at the head of the Colne Valley, Marsden, like many remote highland places has more than its fair share of legends. Those that have survived into the present day suggest a more prominent place in history than its designation as "the back o' beyond" might suggest. First there was the Marsden Cuckoo! Back in the mists of time, so the story goes, the inhabitants of Marsden realised that when the Cuckoo arrived from Africa each year, the good weather came too. "If we could keep the Cuckoo here all year", they reasoned, "perhaps we could have continuous Summer and avoid the hard Winters". So they built a wall around the Cuckoo's nest, but came July away the bird flew. Each year they built the wall higher, but every time the bird flew away. Unfortunately they forgot to put a roof on and drew the conclusion that the wall was only one course of stone too low! Dry stone walls and slabs of rock (suitable for roofs!) abound in the landscape around Marsden even to-day. Every Spring the Marsden Cuckoo Festival celebrates the legend. (See the picture above). Then there was the Roman Legionary pay that went missing! The road between the Romans' two main military bases in the North of England, the XX Legion at Deva (Chester) and the IX Legion at Eboracum (York) originally passed through Marsden. The story goes that the pay for the York garrison was being transferred from the Treasury in Chester and reached the fort at Castleshaw just "over the top" of Standedge to the west of Marsden. However, neither the money chests nor the detachment of legionaries transporting them reached Slack, the next fort on the road to York at Outlane on the western outskirts of Huddersfield. Shortly after, the forts at Castleshaw and Slack were abandoned by the Romans and a new road between Chester and York was built by the Emperor Hadrian via Blackstone Edge. Local suspicions were aroused, when shortly after the privatisation of Yorkshire Water, the company embarked on an experimental programme of mains replacement in the village that entailed digging a very large number of holes . . . . Then there was the clothes line and the Olive Branch! During the nineteenth century Marsden was on the route taken by many migrants fleeing economic oppression and political persecution in Europe in search of a new life in America. Having sailed the North Sea they walked across England at its narrowest point between the Humber and the Mersey estuaries. The hostelries of Marsden were renowned as resting-places before tackling the crossing of the Pennine watershed, and one in particular was known never to say that there was "no room at the inn". When all the beds were full it was the custom of this establishment to invite their guests to take off their jackets and string them onto washing lines fixed between the beams in the loft. Then all the weary traveller had to do was put his arms back into his jacket sleeves - and there you have the origin of the saying "I'm so tired I could fall asleep on a clothes line"! The story continues that one such asylum seeker who had fled the pogroms against Jews in post Napoleonic Poland continued his journey from Marsden to New York where he made his fortune. Years later he returned to Marsden to thank the host for his hospitality and suggested that he rename his inn "The Olive Branch" as a symbol of peace. And there you could say the legends end and history begins. You can discover some of that history by visiting our "Useful Web Sites". You may even find that "The Olive Branch" is now a highly recommended restaurant with rooms and a bar. To discover whether they still have clothes lines in the loft and to see how history has shaped the Marsden of today, you really need to come and be our guests at Pear Tree Cottage!