Topographical Dictionaries - Glossop Parish Analysis.

The 1831 Dictionary tells us that Glossop was "a parish in the hundred of High Peak, county of Derby", containing 13,766 inhabitants, of which 1351 lived in the township of Glossop itself. Apart from Glossop township the parish included the chapelries of Charlesworth, Chinley-Bugsworth with Brownside, and Mellor; the townships of Chunat (sic), Dinting, Glossop, Great-Hamlet, Hadfield, Ludworth with Chisworth, Padfield, Simondsley (sic), and Whitfield; the hamlets of Beard, Kinder, Olerset, Thornsett, and Whittle; and the liberty of Phoside. Mellor chapelry comprised the townships of Mellor and Ludworth, and the hamlet of Whitle. Hayfield was not included in the list of chapelries but a separate entry described Hayfield as "a chapelry in the parish of Glossop". Also not mentioned in the list is New Mills, again the subject of a separate entry (categorised as a manufacturing district rather than township etc.).

By 1849, Glossop wasn't just a parish but also a market-town and the head of a Poor Law union. Significantly, part of the parish was in a separate Poor Law union based on Hayfield, which was now included in the list of chapelries (which included the townships of Brownside, Bugsworth, Chinley, and Hayfield). Other differences were that Charlesworth was described as a hamlet rather than a chapelry and Chisworth and Ludworth as separate townships. However, Charlesworth had also become an ecclesiastical district (which included the townships of Chisworth and Simmondley as well as the hamlet (or township) of Charlesworth itself). New Mills was now described as a township and manufacturing district (comprising the hamlets of Beard, Ollersett, Thornsett, and Whittle) but Kinder wasn't mentioned in the general description. Great-Hamlet was not listed, having become a hamlet within Hayfield township, rather than a township in its own right. The population of the parish was then 22,898 inhabitants, of whom 3548 lived in the township of Glossop. Cotton manufacture is given as the main reason why the population had increased more than twofold within the previous fifty years.

Glossop becomes Old Glossop

The 1849 dictionary tells us that the Old Town of Glossop was irregularly built, but many improvements had taken place within the previous few years, including some new roads, a street, &c. It goes on to say that Mill Town was connected with Howard Town on the Sheffield road leading to the Old Town, so called to distinguish it from New Town or Howard Town, which formeds the great focus of improvements, and was three-quarters of a mile west from Glossop. In 1837 an act was passed for obtaining a more regular supply of water, by constructing reservoirs upon the tributary streams of the river Etherow, in the parish; and an act for lighting the place with gas was passed in 1845.

In 1831 it was reported that a fair for cattle, and wooden and tin ware, was held on the 6th of May, in the township of Glossop. In 1849 no fair is mentioned but the town had a market which commenced in July 1845, and was held on Saturday. A handsome town-hall and market-house, with a prison, and an office for the agent of the Duke of Norfolk, lord of the manor, formed a noble range of building, in the Italian style. The market was a covered one, behind the town-hall, with shops for butchers, greengrocers, and other traders; and the New Town being for the most part neatly built of stone, and the shops in general respectable, “the whole presents a thriving and handsome appearance”. By contrast the cattle fairs of Hadfield, reported in 1831 as being held on the 9th May and 15th October, were still in operation in 1849.

In 1831, Glossop was in the honour of Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster, and within the jurisdiction of a court of pleas held at Tutbury every third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under 40s. By 1849, petty-sessions were held in the town-hall every fourth Thursday. The powers of the county debt-court of Glossop, established in 1847, extended over the greater part of the registration districts of Hayfield and Glossop.

Development in Hayfield

The village and neighbourhood of Hayfield were lighted with gas, under an act in 1836. In 1831, fairs were held on May 11th, for horses and cattle, and July 23rd for sheep and wool. By 1849 fairs, chiefly for cattle, were held on the 12th of May "and are very numerously attended".

The Development of New Mills

The change of major significance had already taken place much earlier but, for completeness, the information from the 1831 dictionary is worth including here. The original name of the area was Bowden-Middle-Cale. Situated along the north bank of the Goyt, and reaching from Kinder-Scout to Mellor it formerly comprised seven hamlets but, about a century previously, it was subdivided, three of the hamlets remaining attached to Hayfield, and the other four, Beard, Ollerset, Whitle, and Thornset, being formed into a "township". Formerly all of the inhabitants of the hamlets included in Bowden-Middle-Cale ground their corn at a common mill in Hayfield but, when the subdivision occurred, a new mill was erected on the river Kinder, in the hamlet of Ollerset, and the name of New Mills was conferred on the four hamlets, the inhabitants of which ground their corn there. The name of New Mills was more definitely applied to a cluster of factories and houses, which rose one above another from the brink of the river to the summit of the Crags, and also extended along the turnpike-road, as far as London Place. There is no mention of lighting in 1831 but, by 1849, the whole was lighted with gas.

The Poor Law

As mentioned above, by 1849 the parish was the location of two Poor Law unions, based in Glossop and Hadfield. The Poor Law union of Glossop contained a population of 10,322. That of Hayfield, which included the chapelry of Distley (sic) in Cheshire, contained 9516 inhabitants. This was one of the most significant changes between 1831 and 1849, in national as well as local terms, being a move from the ancient tradition of administrative districts based on land ownership to districts based on population sizes.

The Railway

Simply non-existent in 1831, the Manchester and Sheffield railway ran straight through the northern part of the parish by 1849. The most dramatic section, of course, was the viaduct at Dinting "consisting of sixteen arches, of which five are of wood and stone, and eleven of brick and stone, crosses the valley, and presents a handsome appearance in the scenery". The foundation stone had been laid by William Sidebottom, Esq., of Etherow House, and the cost of building was £42,000. The branch between Dinting and Glossop, a little more than a mile long, was opened in 1845. Dinting viaduct was not the only one to have been newly built in the area. Charlesworth was (as now) separated by the river Etherow from Mottram but was linked by the Etherow viaduct. The railway crossed the township of Hadfield a little to the south of what was then the centre of the village and then ran through Padfield.

Population

Status 1831 1849
Parish 13766 22898
Glossop Township 1351 3548
Beard Hamlet 332 290
Charlesworth Chapelry 1005  
Charlesworth Ecclesiastical District   2856
Charlesworth Township   1732
Chinley Chapelry 1038 996
Chisworth & Ludworth Township 1077  
Chisworth Township   532
Chunal Township 145 111
Dinting Township 152 387
Great-Hamlet Township 705  
Great-Hamlet Hamlet   929
Hadfield Township 659 1499
Hayfield Chapelry Included in parish 2711
Hayfield Township   1715
Kinder Hamlet 129 130
Ludworth Township   1476
Mellor Chapelry 4872 2015
Mellor Township 2099  
New Mills Township ca 5000 3595
Ollerset Hamlet 293 257
Padfield Township 499 1656
Phoside Liberty 504  
Phoside Hamlet   656
Simmondley Township 340 592
Thornsett Hamlet 758 764
Whitfield Township 984 3044
Whittle Hamlet 1696 2284

Industry

In 1831, the township of Glossop had about fifty cotton-mills, five extensive establishments for calico-printing, two clothing-mills, a manufactory for cloth, and another for brown paper. The picture in 1849 was similar but now there were "several extensive establishments for calico-printing and three considerable paper-mills". There is a comment that before the introduction of the cotton-trade the manufacture of woollens had made great progress, but had since declined.

The 1831 dictionary makes no comment on industry in Charlesworth but in 1849 the ecclesiastical district, comprising the townships of Charlesworth, Chisworth, and Simmondley, was home to seven water-worked mills of various kinds. In Charlesworth itself were several cotton-mills and an extensive coal-trade. Chisworth had a colliery, a cotton-spinning factory, and an establishment for candle-wicks.

In Dinting, most of the population lived at Dinting-Vale, the reason being the proximity to a paper manufactory and extensive calico print-works.

Both editions of the dictionary noted that at the beginning of the 19th century, Hadfield was almost entirely an agricultural and thinly inhabited district. By 1831 there were many flourishing cotton factories (some of them on a large scale), employing nearly the whole of the population, plus several good stone quarries. The industrial picture was apparently much the same in 1849, despite the more than doubling of the population.

As with Charlesworth, the 1831 edition made no mention of industry in Hayfield. By 1849, cotton manufacture was extensive and there were calico-printing works and some paper-mills, all together employing about 600 people. There were several coal-mines in the vicinity and quarrying of good quality building stone.

Mellor was another place where manufacturing had apparently not changed. The picture in 1849 was the same as 1831 "extensive cotton works, which, afford employment to a considerable portion of the inhabitants.".

It was similar in New Mills, both editions recording that the original branches of manufacture there were those of paper and cloth, and that they had been superseded by cotton, calico-printing, and bleaching works, &c. There were coal mines abounding in the neighbourhood, some containing some veins of lead-ore.

No comment is made on industry in Padfield in 1831 and little in 1849, simply "Here are three factories.". Similarly with Whitfield. No mention of any industry in 1831 and in 1849 only the fact that the population had increased very much of late years, through the extension of the cotton-trade.

Religion

Both editions of the dictionary mention that the living at Glossop (All Saints) was a discharged vicarage, rated in the King's books at £12. 18s. 9d., and in the patronage of the Duke of Norfolk. In 1831 it was stated that the living was endowed with £400 parliamentary grant and 28 years later the net income was £300. The church had just been partly rebuilt (being enlarged by the erection of two galleries) when the 1831 dictionary was published, an addition of 280 sittings (of which 140 were free) having increased the total to 800. The cost, £2000, was raised by subscription, aided by a grant of £200 from the Incorporated Society; the chancel being repaired at the expense of the Duke of Norfolk. There were already several places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists within the limits of the parish in 1831. By 1849 there was a Roman Catholic chapel, "a handsome structure of the Tuscan order, standing on an eminence overlooking the Old Town" in Glossop, which had been built by the late Duke of Norfolk, at a cost of £3000.

In Charlesworth, the Independent Chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene was established well before 1831. By 1849 there were, also, another place of worship for Independents, one for Baptists, and three for Methodists within the ecclesiastical district. The district had been constituted in June, 1845, and a room had been licensed for divine service.

Chinley, in 1831, had a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, described simply as a place of worship for dissenters in 1849. Within the entries for Hayfield, however, both dictionaries say that Chinley was home to a place of worship for Independents.

There is no mention of religion in the entry for Chisworth in 1831 but the 1849 edition says that a Methodist place of worship was built there in 1831.

The 1831 dictionary tells us that there was a neat Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Hadfield, a situation which had not changed by 1849.

Hayfield's living is described, in 1831, as a perpetual curacy, endowed with £600 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £500 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of certain Trustees. The 1849 edition tells us that the net income was £96; the patrons were the Freeholders and the impropriator was the Duke of Norfolk. We are told in 1831 that the chapel was rebuilt in 1420, at the expense of Robert de Kinder. In 1849, though, the entry says that the chapel, a handsome structure in the later English style, was built in 1819, by subscription of the inhabitants, and contained a handsome monument, with a bust by Bacon, to the memory of Joseph Hague, Esq. Hayfield also had a place of worship for Methodists in both 1831 and 1849.

Mellor also had a perpetual curacy. In 1831 it had an endowment of £400 private benefaction and £600 royal bounty. We are told that the net income, in 1849, was £136. At both dates the living was in the patronage of the Trustees of the late John Thornton, Esq. There was also, in both 1831 and 1849, a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, and one for Independents (the latter being at Marple Bridge).

At New Mills, in 1831, a local subscription, amounting to £1000, had just been raised towards the erection of a new church (to contain five hundred free sittings). £2500 had been granted by the parliamentary commissioners and land had been given by Lord George Cavendish. The living was to be a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Glossop. There were already places of worship for Independents, and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. By 1849 the living had a net income of £150; patron was the Vicar of Glossop and impropriator was Earl Fitzwilliam. The places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists; had been joined by a Roman Catholic chapel "n the decorated style, a perfect revival of an ancient parish church".

As with Chisworth, there is no mention of religion in the entry for Padfield in 1831 but the 1849 edition says that the Independents and Methodists had places of worship.

Whitfield, in 1831, had a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The ecclesiastical district of Whitfield was constituted in July 1845 and became a parish on the consecration of the church, in September 1846. The church of St. James, "is in the early English style, and consists of a nave, chancel, aisles, and transepts, with a tower and spire 114 feet high: the cost of the building exceeded £4000". The living was a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately; net income, £150. Places of worship for Independents and Primitive Methodists had joined that for the Wesleyans by 1849.

Education

In 1831, Glossop had a school, where about 40 children were taught. It was supported by a small endowment of unknown origin and by an annual donation from the Duke of Norfolk. In 1849 it is mentioned that "one of" the schools was endowed with £37.10s. per annum.

Chinley, in 1831, had "a trifling endowment" for teaching poor children. In addition, 5 were educated by means of Trickett's charity at Bowden, and others by Jenkinson's, jointly with Brownside. The 1849 dictionary makes no mention of eduction in Chinley.

In 1849, Dinting had a school established about 9 years previously by Messrs. Edmund Potter and Company, proprietors of the print-works, which was attended by about 60 children.

Hadfield was much better off. In 1831, the Wesleyan Methodist chapel had a school attached, in which upwards of 400 children were educated.

The free school at Hayfield, held in the ancient grammar school-house, was endowed, in 1604, by John Hyde, with an annuity of £10. By 1831, the income, with various augmentations, amounted to £20. 6s. 2d and 15 children were instructed. There were also 8 children taught by a schoolmistress, for which purpose Mrs. Dorothy Hague bequeathed £16 per annum.

In Mellor, a free school had built about 1639, and endowed with £160 bequeathed by Thomas Walklate, to which, we are told in 1831, "some trifling augmentations have been made by subsequent benefactors ". The income was £25 per annum, and all the children of the chapelry who applied were educated at a small charge.

The 1831 edition mentions that a charity school in the hamlet of Whitle, erected by subscription, afforded gratuitous instruction to 9 poor children, with the master receiving about £10. 10s. per annum, arising from bequests, by Mary Trickett, in 1712, and Ralph Bowden, in 1730; besides which, on a division of the common lands of Whitle, an extensive allotment was assigned towards the support of the school.

Mary Trickett, in 1712, and John Hague, in 1782, each bequeathed a small sum for teaching poor children in Phoside.

In Whitfield, a school-house was erected, about 1786, by Joseph Hague, Esq., who endowed it with land and houses of the annual value, in both 1831 and 1849, of £40.

Return to Glossopdale & Longdendale in the 19th Century.

Glossop Parish Transcript 1831; Glossop Parish Transcript 1849.

Longdendale Analysis; Longdendale Transcript 1831; Longdendale Transcript 1849.



Return to GJH.me Home Page, Return to Glossop Area Local Histories index.


Last updated: 30 January 2021