Do people from Biddulph Moor have Arab ancestors?
There are various accounts of a distinctive group of families on Biddulph Moor, centred on the Baileys who believed they had Arab ancestors. A story first known to have been published in the 19th century is that a group of captives were brought back from the Middle East by crusaders in the 12th century and given homes on Biddulph Moor. A variant on this is that an individual Arab (“Moor”) was made Bailey (keeper) of the moor in the same period. There are certainly unusual features in the local church which have been influenced by middle eastern traditions, but there is little solid evidence and DNA analysis has been inconclusive. An alternative is that some minority group – perhaps gypsies – lived in this area, (which would have been a tough, marginal environment in pre-industrial times) and retained distinctive physical features which they or their neighbours explained by reference the crusades and captives.
