Timings For Saddleworth Rushcart Weekend
The Saddleworth Morris Men in Dobcross Square on Good Friday.
The major Saddleworth events are coming thick and fast. We’ve barely recovered from Yanks last weekend, and it’s already time for another summer highlight, the Saddleworth Rushcart.
As usual, the Saddleworth Morris Men will be appearing with the Rushcart around the villages throughout Saturday, before moving it up to the Church Inn above Uppermill for another packed day of events on Sunday.
If you’d like to see the Rushcart on Saturday, it’s due at the following locations (timings are approximate):
9:45am: Uppermill Square
10:45am: Greenfield King Bill
Keep an eye out for parking restrictions in the various villages.
12 noon: Uppermill Museum
2:15pm: Delph Garside Street
4:15pm: Dobcross Square
5:30pm: Dobcross Navigation
Sunday’s timetable is as follows:
10am: Rushcart leaves Uppermill Square
11am: Service at St Chad’s
12 noon to 5:30pm: All sorts of fun and games in and around the Church Inn and Cross Keys, including the not-to-be-missed wrestling competition!
The tradition of rushbearing is an ancient one, and involves collecting rushes to put on a church floor as insulation for the winter. It was revived in Saddleworth in the mid-1970s, and is now one of the most memorable weekends of the year.
If you’ve not seen the Rushcart before, you can get an idea of what’s involved by watching some of the videos from last year’s festivities on the Dobcross Diary website here.
More details of the festival and its history are also available from the Saddleworth Morris Men website here. The Wikipedia article on the general tradition of rushbearing is also worth a read here.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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Thank you for the timings ?
These timings aren’t for this year. We’ll publish those for this year later today. Thanks!
where is the best place to park and start if we are joining the rushcart festivities tomorrow? we won’t be arriving until around 1pm will we still be able to see the rushcart?
Thank you 🙂
The Rushcart will be at Saddleworth Church by 1 so I’d suggest you either park behind the sports centre and walk up, or drive up Church Rd and park on the road (likely to be rammed). Walking will be necessary. These are timings for a few yrs ago. But the Rushcart will be up at the Church after 12, if they make it on time!