Glossop (All Saints), a market-town, a parish, and the head of a union (though a portion of the parish is in the union of Hayfield), in the hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby. This parish comprises the chapelries of Chinley-with Bugsworth and Brownside, Hayfield, and Mellor; the townships of Chisworth, Chunall, Dinting, Glossop, Hadfield, Ludworth, Newmills, Padfield, Simmondley, and Whitfield; and the hamlets of Beard, Charlesworth, Ollersett, Thornsett, and Whittle; the whole containing 22,898 inhabitants, of whom 3548 are in the township of Glossop, 10 miles (N.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith, 50 (N. N. W.) from Derby, and 176 (N. N. W.) from London. It forms the north-west extremity of Derbyshire, the river Etherow having its rise in the Alpine ridges here, and separating it from Cheshire. The Derwent, also, has its source at the north extremity, where for some distance it is called the Wrongsley river, and separates the parish and county from Yorkshire, after which, entering the chapelry of Derwent, it takes that name. The Goyt, which rises from Axe Edge, near Buxton, washes the south-west side of the parish; the Etherow has its confluence with the Goyt near Marple bridge, and flows to Stockport. Glossop is one of the most romantic parishes in the county, particularly the wild mountainous district on its eastern side, of which a considerable portion is moorland; its western side is a highly flourishing district, and by far the most important seat of the cotton manufacture in the county, owing chiefly to which the population within the last fifty years has increased more than twofold. There are about fifty cotton-mills, several extensive establishments for calico-printing, two clothing-mills, a manufactory for cloth, and three considerable paper-mills. Before the introduction of the cotton-trade the manufacture of woollens had made great progress, but it has since declined. The parish is very extensive, comprising 49,960 acres of land, mostly pasture; it abounds in clay, stone, slate, and coal, with valuable falls of water: in the township of Glossop, which is situated in a beautifully romantic dale surrounded by lofty hills, are 4816 acres.

The Old Town of Glossop is irregularly built, but many improvements have taken place within the last few years, including some new roads, a street, &c. Mill Town connects itself with Howard Town on the Sheffield road leading to the Old Town, so called in contradistinction to New Town or Howard Town, which forms the great focus of improvements, and is 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. A branch of the Manchester and Sheffield railway was opened to the town in the last mentioned year: the line is a little more than a mile long. The market was established under an act of the 7th of Victoria; it was commenced in July 1845, and is 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, form a noble range of building, in the Italian style. The market is 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. Petty-sessions are held in the town-hall every fourth Thursday. The powers of the county debt-court of Glossop, established in 1847, extend over the greater part of the registration-district of Hayfield and Glossop.

The Living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 18. 9.; net income, £300; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Norfolk. The church, situated in Old Glossop, is a neat structure, consisting of a nave, chancel, aisles, and tower and spire; it was partly rebuilt in 1831, and enlarged by the erection of two galleries, by which 800 sittings were obtained. The cost, £2000, was raised by subscription, aided by a grant of £200 from the Incorporated Society; the chancel was repaired at the expense of the Duke of Norfolk. In the churchyard is a very ancient yew-tree; also two sun-dials. At Mellor, Newmills, Hayfield, Charlesworth, and Whitfield, are other incumbencies. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, and other congregations of dissenters: the Roman Catholic chapel, a handsome structure of the Tuscan order, standing on an eminence overlooking the Old Town, was built by the late Duke of Norfolk, at a cost of £3000. One of the schools is endowed with £37.10. per annum; and among other useful institutions is a savings' bank, commenced in April 1844. Joseph Haigh, Esq., who died in March, 1786, left the interest of £1000 to be annually laid out in clothing poor men and women; and there are several minor charities. The poor law union of Glossop comprises a portion of the parish, and contains a population of 10,322. On the south side of the Etherow, near Woolley Bridge, are vestiges of a Roman station, measuring 122 yards by 112, and called Melandra Castle; the moat towards the south-east, the four entrances, the ramparts, about nine feet in thickness, and the site of the praetorium, 25 yards square, are still discernible, as are also the Roman road from Brough to this place, and that to Buxton.

Beard, a hamlet, in the parish of Glossop, union of Hayfield, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 4½ miles (N. W. by N.) of Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 290 inhabitants. - See New-Mills.

Charlesworth, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby; containing 2856 inhabitants, of whom 1732 are in the township of Charlesworth, 3½ miles (S. W.) from Glossop. This district, which comprises, the townships of Charlesworth, Chisworth, and Simmondley, is about 3½ miles in length and a mile and three-quarters in breadth. The soil is chiefly light; the land pleasingly wooded; and there is much hill and dale, intersected with many rivulets, by which seven mills of various kinds are worked. The river Etherow separates the district from the parish of Mottram, in the county of Chester and the Etherow viaduct on the Manchester and Sheffield railway, unites it with that parish. Several cotton-mills ore in operation, and an extensive coal-trade is carried on. The houses of the upper town of Charlesworth are very old, many of them having been built in the 16th and 17th centuries; but the new town, or rather village, is quite modern. The district was constituted in June, 1845, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37; and a room has been licensed for divine service. The oldest place of worship here, is one for Independents; it was once a chapel of ease under Glossop church, but in some way, now unknown, fell into the hands of the Independents, who still retain it : the churchyard, however, is the burial-place of the inhabitants. There are, also, another place of worship for Independents, one for Baptists, and three for Methodists.

Chinley, a township, in the parish of Glossop, union of Chapel-en-le-Frith, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 2½ miles (N. by W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing, with the hamlets of Brownside and Bugsworth, 996 inhabitants. It comprises 3707 acres, of which 98 acres are waste and roads. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £63. 9., and the vicarial for £11. 5. There is a place of worship for dissenters.

Chisworth, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 9 miles (N. N. W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 532 inhabitants. It comprises 844 acres, and has an old romantic village, seated about four miles south-west of Glossop. There are a colliery, a cotton-spinning factory, and an establishment for candle-wicks. A Methodist place of worship was built in 1831. The ruins of an old chapel and monastery still exist at this place.

Chunall, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 7½ miles (N. by W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 111 inhabitants.

Dinting, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 1 mile (W.) from Glossop; containing 387 inhabitants. It comprises 586 acres; and has a small scattered village of the same name, on a fine eminence which commands a rich view of the vale here and the surrounding district. The principal part of the inhabitants are at Dinting-Vale, a village that connects itself with Green-Vale at the Junction Inn. A viaduct of the Sheffield and Manchester railway, 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 was laid by William Sidebottom, Esq., of Etherow House, and the erection cost £42,000. The Dinting station is at a short distance from the viaduct, and joins the branch line to Glossop. In the vale are a paper manufactory and extensive calico print-works. A school established about nine years since by Messrs. Edmund Potter and Company, proprietors of the print-works, is attended by about sixty children.

Great-Hamlet, a hamlet, in the township Hayfield, parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, county of Derby, 3½ miles (N. by W.) from Chapel en le Frith, containing 929 inhabitants.

Hadfield, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 11 miles (N. by W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 1499 inhabitants. About 50 years since, this district, which is bounded on the north by the river Etherow, and comprises 357 acres of land, was almost entirely agricultural, and thinly inhabited; but now there are many flourishing cotton-factories, some of them on a large scale, which afford employment to nearly the whole of the population. There are also several good stone-quarries. The Sheffield and Manchester railway crosses the township a little to the south of the village; and about one mile west-by-south from Hadfield, is a bridge over the Etherow, at the junction of three roads, connecting Manchester, Stockport, and Yorkshire, with Glossop Dale. Cattle-fairs are held on May 9^th and October 15^th. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Hayfield, a chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Glossop, hundred of high peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 4½ miles (N. by W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; comprising the townships of Brownside, Bugsworth, Chinley, and Hayfield; and containing 2711 inhabitants, of whom 1715 are in the township of Hayfield. This place is situated on the river Kinder, and among the lofty mountains of the High Peak: the village and neighbourhood are lighted with gas, under an act in 1836. The cotton manufacture is extensively carried on, and there are also calico-printing works and some paper-mills, together affording employment for about 600 persons; several coal-mines in the vicinity are in operation, and stone of good quality for building is quarried. The Peak canal passes through part of the chapelry. Fairs chiefly for cattle are held on the 12^th of May, and are very numerously attended. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £96; patrons, the Freeholders; impropriator, the Duke of Norfolk. The chapel, a handsome structure in the later English style, was built in 1819, by subscription of the inhabitants, and contains a handsome monument, with a bust by Bacon, to the memory of Joseph Hague, Esq., who bequeathed £1000, the interest to be appropriated towards clothing 24 poor men and women. There are places of worship for Independents at Chinley, and for Methodists at Hayfield and Chinley. The free school, held in the ancient grammar school-house, was endowed in 1604, by John Hyde, with an annuity of £10; the income, with augmentations, amounts to £20. 6. The poor-law union of Hayfield comprises a considerable portion of the parish of Glossop, together with the chapelry of Distley, in the parish of Stockport, county of Chester ; and contains 9516 inhabitants.

Kinder, a hamlet in the chapelry of Hayfield, parish of Glossop, union of Hayfield, hundred of High Peak, county of Derby, 4½ miles (N.) from Chapel en le Frith, containing 130 inhabitants. Kinder Scout, in the vicinity, is said to be the highest hill in the county.

Ludworth, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 9½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith containing 1476 inhabitants. It lies on the road from Glossop to Marple, in Cheshire, and has a scattered village of the same name.

Mellor, a chapelry, in the parish of Glossop, union of Hayfield, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 8½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 2015 inhabitants. Here are extensive cotton-works, which afford employment to a considerable portion of the population. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £136; patrons and impropriators, the Trustees of the late John Thornton, Esq. The chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, is very ancient, and contains a pulpit formed out of an old oak-tree, and a font rudely carved. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Independents and a free school, built about the year 1639, is endowed with £25 per annum.

New-Mills, a township and manufacturing district, in the parish of Glossop, Union of Hayfield, hundred of High peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 8 miles (E. S. E.) from Stockport, and 170 (N. W. by N.) from London; comprising the hamlets of Beard, Ollersett, Thornsett, and Whittle, and containing 3595 inhabitants. It is situated on the north bank of the Guyt, and reaches from Kinder-Scout to Mellor. Formerly, the inhabitants were accustomed to grind their corn at a common mill in Hayfield; but about a century since, when the township was formed, a mill was erected upon the river Kinder, in the hamlet of Ollersett, and the name of New-Mills was, in consequence, conferred on the township, the inhabitants of which ground their corn here. The appellation is more definitely applied to a cluster of factories and houses, which rise one above another from the brink of the river to the summit of the Crags, a height of several hundred feet, and also extend along the turn pike-road, as far as London Place: the whole is lighted with gas. The Kinder derives its source from the mountain of Kinder-Scout, and, separating the county of Derby from that of Chester, falls into the river Guyt at a place called the Tor. The original branches of manufacture in the district were those of paper and cloth, which have been superseded by cotton, calico-printing, and bleaching works, &c.: coal-mines abound in the neighbourhood, which contains also some veins of lead-ore. The township comprises by measurement 5030 acres, of which 4345 are meadow and pasture, 360 arable, and 199 woodland: the soil is various; some small plantations, in different districts, add to the picturesque scenery of the neighbourhood. The great tithes have been commuted for £92. 10., and the vicarial for £15. A local subscription amounting to £1000 having been raised towards the erection of a district church, the sum of £2500 was granted by the Parliamentary Commissioners in aid of the expense, and a piece of ground was given by Lord George Cavendish, for the site. The church is a handsome structure in the pointed style, with a nave, chancel, and aisles, and contains 500 free sittings: it is dedicated to St. George. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £150; patron, the Vicar of Glossop; impropriator, Earl Fitzwilliam. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists; and the Roman Catholics have a chapel in the decorated style, a perfect revival of an ancient parish church. Several bequests have been made for instruction, and for distribution among the poor.

Ollerset, a hamlet, in the township of New-Mills, parish of Glossop, union of Hayfield, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby; containing 257 inhabitants.

Padfield, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 1½ mile (N. W.) from the town of Glossop; containing 1656 inhabitants. It comprises 643 acres of land; and has a pleasant village, overlooking the river Etherow, and through which runs the Sheffield and Manchester railway. Here are three factories. The Independents and Methodists have places of worship.

Phoside, a hamlet, in the parish of Glossop, union of Hayfield, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 4 miles (N. by W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 656 inhabitants.

Simmondley, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop. hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 8 miles (N by W.) from Chapel-en-le-Frith; containing 592 inhabitants.

Thornsett, a hamlet, in the district of New-Mills, parish of Glossop, union of Hayfield, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby; containing 764 inhabitants. It extends north-east from the thriving village of Newmills.

Whitfield, a township, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 1 mile (S.) from Glossop containing 3044 inhabitants. It comprises 1577 acres, mostly freehold; and contains, besides the pleasant village of Whitfield, the villages of Charlestown, Green-Vale, and Littlemoor. Green-Vale is connected with Howard-Town, or New Glossop, on the road to Woolleybridge: Littlemoor joins Howard-Town near the market-place, on the eastern side; and nearer to Whitfield is Charlestown. The population has increased very much of late years, through the extension of the cotton-trade. The ecclesiastical district of Whitfield was constituted in July 1845, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap, 37; and became a parish, conformably with the provisions of this act, on the consecration of the church, in September 1846. It is six miles in length and two miles and a half in breadth, including part of Whitfield and parts of other townships. The edifice, dedicated to 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 is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately; net income, £150. There are places of worship for Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. In Whitfield township is a school, built about 1786 by Joseph Haigh, Esq., who endowed it with land and houses of the present value of £40; he also left the interest of £1000 to be expended in clothes for 34 poor men and women.