page_title: Ordsall, Greater Manchester
section_title: Woden's Den
hierarchical_section_title: Ordsall, Greater Manchester / History / Woden's Den
caption_attribution_description: English: Woden's Den in Ordsall, Salford sketched in 1780 by Thomas Barret. Completely destroyed in the early 19th Century
context_page_description: Ordsall is an inner city area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,194. It lies chiefly to the south of the A57 road, close to the River Irwell, the main boundary with the city of Manchester, Salford Quays and Manchester Ship Canal, which divides it from Stretford.
  Historically part of Lancashire, Ordsall was the birthplace of the bush roller chain and is home to Ordsall Hall.
context_section_description: Before the River Irwell was deepened to make it navigable there was an ancient paved ford at Ordsall known as Woden's Ford and nearby, in a lane leading to Ordsall Hall, was a cave known as Woden's Den. The cave was of great interest to 19th-century antiquarians, but their constant trespassing to view the site prompted the landowner to completely destroy it early in the century, and no trace of the feature remains. However, the cave was described and sketched by Thomas Barret in about 1780. He postulated that, as this part of the Irwell was subject to regular flooding, travellers would have made offerings to Odin, the protector of travellers, before attempting the crossing. He also said that there were strong grounds to suppose that Cluniac monks of Lenton Priory, who had a cell called "St Leonards" at nearby Kersal, converted the cave into a Christian hermitage and served as guides to the crossing at Woden's Ford and the surrounding marshes in order to supplant the earlier pagan practices.
caption: Woden's Den in 1780 as sketched by Thomas Barret
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