Glossop is a small
market townMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
within the Borough of High Peak in
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the Glossop Brook, a tributary of the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
, about east of the city of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, west of the city of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. Glossop is situated near Derbyshire's county borders with
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and...
,
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
and
West YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. It is between above mean sea level, and uses the tagline "the gateway to the Peak District National Park". Like
BuxtonBuxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
, it differs from other areas of the borough in that it is an
unparished areaIn England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. In some cases, a largely rural district will have one or two unparished areas in it...
, and this distinction defines its boundaries. It has a total resident population of 32,428 according to the 2001 census.
Historically the name Glossop refers to the small hamlet that gave its name to an ancient parish recorded in the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
of 1086, and then the
manorManorialism or Seigneurialism or Feudal Society was the organizing principle of rural economy and society widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe...
given by
William I of EnglandWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
to
William PeverelWilliam Peverel , was a Norman knight said to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
. It refers to the
municipal boroughMunicipal boroughs were a type of local government which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
created in 1866, and the unparished urban area within two local government wards. The area now known as Glossop approximates to the villages that used to be called
Glossopdale, on the lands of the
Howard family, Dukes of NorfolkThe Duke of Norfolk is the Premier Duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the Premier Earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
. Originally known as a centre of wool processing, Glossop rapidly expanded in the late 18th century when it specialised in the production and printing of calico, a coarse cotton. Under the benign patronage of the Howards and other mill owning families the villages became a mill town with many chapels and churches; its fortunes were tied to the
cotton industryWith the establishment of overseas colonies, the British Empire at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century had a vast source of raw materials and a vast market for manufactured goods...
.
Architecturally the area is dominated by buildings constructed of the local sandstone. There remain two significant former cotton mills and the
DintingDinting is a district of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. It is a small village and has no shops; the nearest are in neighbouring Glossop or Hadfield. However, there is a small primary school, Dinting C of E, located near the viaduct. The village is served by Dinting railway station...
railway viaduct. Strong rivalry between various Christian denominations has left a legacy of chapels, churches and their associated schools in the town and associated villages of Glossopdale. Close to the county borders of Greater Manchester, Glossop has transport links to Manchester, making the area popular for commuters. Glossop and the western area of
High PeakHigh Peak is a Non-metropolitan district and borough of the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. Administered from Chapel-en-le-Frith, it is mostly composed of high moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Peak District....
fall within Greater Manchester's sphere of influence by way of some transport being provided by the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport ExecutiveThe Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England....
.
Toponymy and definition
The name Glossop is thought to be of Saxon origin, named during the
AnglesThe Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
' settlement in the 7th century, and derived from
Glott's Hop - where
hop could mean a valley, a small valley in a larger valley system, or a piece of land enclosed by marshes and
Glott was probably a chieftain's name. Because of its size and location, Glossop had many definitions. The village of Glossop is now called Old Glossop. Howard Town and Milltown gained importance. They were named New Town and then Glossop. Local government reorganisations had caused the Glossopdale villages to be promoted to a municipal borough and then have that status removed. Land has been added to Glossop and other lands removed. From a small settlement it became an ancient parish, a manor, a borough, and a township. Currently two county divisions in High Peak Borough, Derbyshire, have Glossop as part of their names.
Roman and Saxon
There is evidence of a Bronze Age burial site on Shire Hill (near
Old GlossopOld Glossop is a Parish village and the original part of the town of Glossop in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England, about 16.5 miles east of Manchester...
) and other possibly prehistoric remains at Torside (on the slopes of
Bleaklow|}Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass , in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop...
). The
RomansRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
arrived in 78 AD. At that time the area was within the territory of the
BrigantesThe Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of Northern England and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom was known as Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
tribe, whose main base was in
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
. The Romans built a road over the Pennines that descended into the Etherow valley along Doctor's Gate, and in the late first century a fort,
ArdotaliaArdotalia is a Roman fort in Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, England .Ardotalia was constructed by Cohors Primae Frisiavonum—The First Cohort of Frisiavones. Evidence for the existence of this unit exists not only from the building stone found at the site but also from various diplomas and...
, on high ground above the river in present day
GamesleyGamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
. The site of this fort was rediscovered in 1771 by an amateur historian, the Rev. John Watson. It subsequently acquired the name "Melandra Castle". The extensive site has been excavated, revealing fort walls, a shrine and the fort headquarters. The area has been landscaped to provide parking and picnic areas. The prehistoric earthworks of Torside Castle are visible on Harrop Moss just north west of Bleaklow Head above the Longdendale Valley.
Medieval
William I of EnglandWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
awarded the manor of Glossop to
William PeverilWilliam Peverel , was a Norman knight said to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
, who began construction of
Glossop CastleGlossop Castle is located North of Glossop, off "Hilltop Road", 14 miles east of Manchester, on the A57. The site is visible from the main road, standing atop a commanding ridge. Some 16 miles South-East is Peveril Castle.-History:...
, but the entire estate was later confiscated. In 1157
Henry II of EnglandHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
gave the manor of Glossop to
Basingwerk AbbeyBasingwerk Abbey is the ruin of an abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, in the care of Cadw .The establishment was founded in 1132 by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester, and monks from Savigny Abbey settled there. In 1147, the abbey became part of the Cistercian Order and therefore a...
. They gained a
market charterMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
for Glossop in 1290, and one for Charlesworth in 1328.
In 1433, the monks leased all of Glossopdale to the Talbot family, later
Earls of ShrewsburyEarl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation:...
. In 1494, an illegitimate son of the family, Dr John Talbot, was appointed vicar of Glossop. He founded a school, and paved the Roman road over the moors; this is known as Doctor's Gate.
At the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
in 1537 the manor of Glossop was given to the Talbot family. In 1606 it came into the ownership of the Howard family, the Dukes of Norfolk, who held it for the next 300 years. Glossop was usually given to the second son of the family.
The land was too wet and cold to be used for wheat, but was ideal for the hardy
Pennine sheepSwaledale is a breed of domestic sheep named after the Yorkshire valley of Swaledale. They are found throughout the more mountainous areas of Great Britain, but particularly in County Durham, Yorkshire, and the lower fells of Cumbria....
, so agriculture was predominantly pastoral. Most of the land was owned by the Howards and was leasehold and it was only in
Whitfield-Places:United States* Whitfield, Florida* Whitfield, Indiana* Whitfield, Pennsylvania* Whitfield County, GeorgiaUnited Kingdom*England**Whitfield, Derbyshire**Whitfield, South Gloucestershire**Whitfield, Herefordshire**Whitfield, Kent...
that there was any freehold land. The few houses were solid, built of the local stone, and allowed for the development of home industries such as wool spinning and weaving.
Industrial and civic history
The medieval economy was based on sheep pasture and the production of wool by farmers who were tenants of the Abbot of Basingwerk and later the Talbot family. During the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
of the 18th century Glossop became a centre for cotton spinning. A good transport network between Liverpool and Glossop brought in imported cotton which was spun by a labour force with wool spinning skills. The climate of Glossopdale provided abundant soft water that was used to power mills and finish the cloth, and also gave the humidity necessary to spin cotton under tension. Initial investment was provided by the Dukes of Norfolk. By 1740, cotton in an unspun form had been introduced to make
fustianFustian is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare....
s and lighter cloths.
Mills
The first mills in Glossop were woollen mills. In 1774,
Richard ArkwrightSir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is usually credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. A self-made man, he was a leading entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution...
opened a mill at
CromfordCromford is a large village in Derbyshire, England,-History:It is one of the significant sites in the development of the Industrial Revolution...
. He developed the
factory systemThe factory system was a method of manufacturing first adopted in England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and later spreading abroad. Fundamentally, each worker created a separate part of the total assembly of a product, thus increasing the efficiency of factories. Workers, paid by...
and patented machines for spinning cotton and
cardingCarding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganized clumps of fiber and then aligns the individual fibers so that they are more or less parallel with each other. These ordered fibers can then be passed on to other processes that are specific to the desired end use of the fiber:...
. In 1785, his patents expired and many people copied Arkwright's system and his patents, exemplified by the
Derwent Valley MillsDerwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for...
. By 1788 there were over 200 Arkwright-type mills in Britain. At the same time there were 17 cotton mills in Derbyshire, principally in Glossop. By 1831 there were at least 30 mills in Glossopdale, none of which had more than 1000 spindles. The mill owners were local men: the Wagstaffs and Hadfields were freeholders from
WhitfieldWhitfield is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located south of Glossop town hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook. The urban area stretches about up the hillside. Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient parish of Glossop, and in the manor...
; the Shepleys, Shaws, Lees, Garlicks and Platts had farmed the dale. The Sidebottoms were from
HadfieldHadfield is a small residential town in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District, and is a residential area/town next to Glossop with many local amenities and services being based in Glossop.-Geography:...
, the Thornleys were carpenters, and John Bennet and John Robinson were clothiers.
John WoodJohn Wood of Marsden came to Glossop from Manchester in 1819 and bought existing woollen mills which he expanded. These were the Howard Town mills...
of
Marsden-As a surname:As a surname, Marsden may refer to:* Betty Marsden , British comedy actress* Brian G. Marsden, British astronomer* Chris Marsden, former Football player* David Marsden, Canadian radio broadcaster...
came from Manchester in 1819 and bought existing woollen mills which he expanded. These were the Howard Town mills.
Francis SumnerFrancis Sumner was the only Roman Catholic mill owner in Glossop. Catholicism was strong in Glossop because of he influence of the Howards and their estate staff, the Ellisons, Francis Hawke and John le Jardins. Sumner was a Whig and thus Liberal. Sumner moved to Glossop in October 1822...
was a Catholic whose family had connections with Matthew Ellison, Howard's agent. He built Wren's Nest Mill. The Sidebottoms built the Waterside mill at Hadfield. In 1825, John Wood installed the first steam engine and power looms. Sumner and Sidebottom followed suit and the three mills, Wren's Nest, Howardtown and Waterside, became very large vertical combines (a vertical combine was a mill that both spun the yarn and then used it to weave cloth). With the other major families, the Shepleys, Rhodes and Platts, they dominated the dale. In 1884, the six had 82% of the spinning capacity with 892,000 spindles and 13,571 looms. Glossop was a town of very large calico mills. The calico printing factory of
Edmund PotterEdmund Potter senior was from a Manchester family and grandfather to Beatrix Potter. He was a unitarian and a Liberal. Potter moved his business to Glossop in 1825, he rebuilt Joseph Lyne's Boggart Mill, and converted it to a printworks. He moved his family to Dinting Lodge in 1842.Originally...
(located in Dinting Vale) in the 1850s printed 2,500,000 pieces of printed calico, of which 80% was for export. The paper industry was created by
Edward PartingtonEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
who, as Olive and Partington, bought the Turn Lee Mill in 1874 to produce high-quality paper from wood pulp by the sulphite method. He expanded rapidly with mills in Salford and Barrow in Furness. He merged with Kellner of
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
and was created
Lord DoverdaleEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
in 1917. He died in 1925; his factories in Charlestown created nearly 1000 jobs.
Religion and benevolence
Lord Bernard Edward Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk
rebuilt the old parish church in 1831, built All Saints Roman Catholic chapel in 1836, improved the Hurst Reservoir in 1837, and built the town hall, whose foundation stone was laid on Coronation Day 1838.
The
Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester RailwayThe Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was an early British railway company which opened in stages between 1841 and 1845 between Sheffield and Manchester via Ashton-Under-Lyne...
came to Dinting in 1842, but it was the
13th Duke of NorfolkHenry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk KG, PC was an English politician.-Biography:In 1814 he married Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, the daughter of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland....
who built the spur line to Howard Town, so that coal could be brought from the colleries at
DukinfieldDukinfield is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in central Tameside on the south bank of the River Tame, opposite Ashton-under-Lyne, and is east of the city of Manchester...
.
Glossop railway stationGlossop railway station serves the town of Glossop in Derbyshire, England and is the busier of the twin termini at the Derbyshire end of the Manchester to Glossop Line, the other being Hadfield station....
bears the lion, the symbol of the Norfolks. Many of the street- and placenames in Glossop derive from the names and titles of the Dukes of Norfolk, such as Norfolk Square, and a cluster of residential streets off Norfolk Street that were named after
Lord Henry Charles Fitzalan Howard, the 13th Duke of NorfolkHenry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk KG, PC was an English politician.-Biography:In 1814 he married Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, the daughter of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland....
, the first Catholic MP since the reformation.
A two-storey Township
WorkhouseUnder the Poor Law systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest reference to a workhouse dates to 1652 in Exeter. There is, however, some written...
was built between 1832 and 1834 on Bute Street . Its administration was taken over by Glossop Poor Law Union in December 1837. The workhouse buildings included a 40-bed infirmary, piggeries, and casual wards for vagrants. The workhouse later became Glossop Public Assistance Institution and from 1948 the
N.H.S.The National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the publicly-funded health care services in Great Britain. In England the name National Health Service is used without further qualification whereas the services in Scotland and Wales are known as NHS Scotland and NHS Wales...
Shire Hill Hospital.
The mill owners, Catholics, Anglican, Methodist and Unitarian, built reading rooms and chapels. They worked together and worshipped together with their workers. The Woods, Sidebottoms and Shepleys were Anglicans and hence Tory, and they dominated every vestry, which was the only form of local government before 1866. They built four churches
St James's, WhitfieldSt. James' Church is an Anglican church in the evangelical tradition located in the town of Glossop, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands of England. Along with St. Luke's Church, it makes up Whitfield Parish within Derby Diocese. Rev Colin Cooper is the present Vicar of Whitfield Parish...
in 1846, St Andrew's Hadfield in 1874, Holy Trinity Dinting in 1875 and St Luke's Glossop. Francis Sumner and the Ellisons and Norfolks were Catholic and built St Charles's Hadfield and St Mary's Glossop. The smaller mill owners were Dissenters and congregated at Littlemoor Independent Chapel built in Hadfield in 1811, but they later built a further eleven chapels.
For decades there was rivalry between
Edward PartingtonEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
, his friend Herbert Rhodes, and the Woods and Sidebottoms. The Woods built the public baths and laid out the park. Partington built the library. Partington built the cricket pavilion, so
Samuel Hill-WoodSir Samuel Hill Hill-Wood, 1st Baronet , born Samuel Hill Wood, was a British businessman, Conservative politician cricketer and football club chairman.-Early life:...
s sponsored the football club that for one season, 1899-1890, played in League Division One. He went on to be chairman of a London club, Arsenal. He was MP for High Peak from 1910–1929. Edward's son,
OswaldOswald Partington, 2nd Baron Doverdale was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom.The son of mill-owner Edward Partington and born in Bury, he was elected at the 1900 general election as Member of Parliament for High Peak constituency in Derbyshire, and held the seat through two further...
, was MP for High Peak from 1900–1910. Ann Kershaw Woods devoted herself to Anglican education and had schools built.
Cotton famine and industrial relations
In 1851, 38% of the men and 27% of the women were employed in cotton; the only alternative employment was agriculture, building, or labouring on the railway. Consequently the town was vulnerable to interruptions in the supply of cotton or the export trade. The
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
caused the cotton famine of 1861–4. The mill owners met together and put in place a relief programme through which they supplied food, clogs and coal to their employees. Howard increased the workforce on his estate, and public works (such as improving the domestic water supply) were undertaken. They provided unsecured loans to the workers until the cotton returned. The relationship between the owners and men was one of paternal benevolence. They lived in the same community and worshipped in the same churches. The mill owners were the local aldermen, the church elders, and led the sports teams. In the
LudditeThe Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested—often by destroying mechanized looms—against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their entire way of...
and
ChartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
times and the period following Peterloo, Glossop was virtually unaffected, despite its proximity to
HydeHyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northwest of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester.-Medieval:...
, a radical hotbed. In the 4s 2d or swing strike it was incomers from
AshtonAshton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
who stopped the Glossop mills. The rivalry in Glossop was not based on class, but on religious groups.
Modern (20th century)
The decline of
cotton spinningCotton-spinning machinery refers to machines which process prepared cotton roving into workable yarn or thread. Such machinery can be dated back centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, as part of the Industrial Revolution cotton-spinning machinery was developed to bring mass production to...
has resulted in the closure of many of the town's mills. The Howard family sold the Glossop Estate in 1925 and donated large areas to the people of Glossop. Manor Park was the location of the family's
Manor HouseA manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the administrative centre of a manor , the lowest unit of territorial organization in the feudal system...
and gardens. The recession of the 1929 hit Glossop very hard. In 1929 the unemployment rate was 14%, and in 1931 it was 55%. In Hadfield it reached 67%. National initiatives to improve housing and employment conditions largely failed, and mills fell empty and decayed. Unemployment remained at 36% in 1938. The
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
changed this: military stores, metals, machine tools, munitions, rubber and essential industries moved into the empty factories and left Glossop with a more diverse range of industries.
In spite of the post-war Barlow Report and government intervention, no significant employer moved into Glossop.
GamesleyGamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
underwent considerable change in the 1960s, when a large council estate was built, mainly to house people from Manchester. These housing areas, called '
Overspill estateAn overspill estate is a housing estate planned and built for the rehousing of people from decaying inner city areas usually as part of the process of slum clearance....
s', were also built in other towns surrounding Manchester.
Plans
Glossop has been included as pilot in the Liveability scheme, and has drawn up the Glossop Vision masterplan for the improvement and gentrification of the town. This is being partially funded by the
Heritage Lottery FundThe Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
. It aims to open up access to the Glossop Brook, coordinate developments in Glossop town centre, enhance the built environment and link the town to its wider setting. As such, the mills have become a retail development with housing, trees are to be planted along the
A57The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
and the market square pedestrianised.
Governance
In the local government reorganisation of 1974 the Borough of Glossop was abolished, and since then the two levels of local government are Derbyshire County Council, based in Matlock, and
High Peak Borough CouncilHigh Peak Borough Council is the second level of local government for residents of the High Peak borough of Derbyshire.-History:The High Peak Borough Council was formed on April 1, 1974 by absorbing the municipal boroughs of Buxton and Glossop, the urban districts of New Mills and Whaley Bridge and...
based in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Glossop was included in the "South East Lancashire Special Review Area" under the
Local Government Act 1958The Local Government Act 1958 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting local government in England and Wales outside London...
, and the
Redcliffe-Maud ReportThe Redcliffe-Maud Report is the name generally given to the report published by the Royal Commission on Local Government in England 1966-1969 under the chairmanship of Lord Redcliffe-Maud.-Terms of reference and membership:...
of 1969 recommended its inclusion in a
South East Lancashire–North East CheshireGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and...
metropolitan area. Glossop was not ultimately included in the Greater Manchester area established by the
Local Government Act 1972The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
. Local people voted to stay within the County of Derbyshire in 1973. The county council, originally based in
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, moved to Matlock in the late 1950s to facilitate easier travelling to the county hall from the northern extremities such as Glossop and the High Peak.
For the county council Glossop is split between the divisions of Glossop South, Glossop North and Rural, and Etherow. Glossop North and Rural also contain the old Charlesworth and Chisworth wards that were collectively known as St John's. Etherow division contains Hadfield North, Hadfield South, Gamesley and the large and sparsely populated Tintwistle ward, which was formerly in Cheshire. These boundaries were set in 2005.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Division
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Etherow
| Cllr Dave Wilcox
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Glossop North and Rural
| Cllr George Wharmby
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Glossop South
| Cllr Jean Wharmby
|-
|}
At the district level, that is High Peak Borough Council, Glossop comprises these wards: Dinting, Gamesley, Hadfield North, Hadfield South, Old Glossop, Padfield, Howard Town, Simmondley and Whitfield. St John's represents the rural area that was formerly Glossopdale RDC and lies within the National Park. These were the wards used in the 2001 Census.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Ward
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Dinting
| Cllr WHARMBY, Jean
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Gamesley
| Cllr MCKEOWN, Anthony Edward
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield North
| Cllr MANN, Victoria Elizabeth
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield South
| Cllr FOOTE, Marie Melita
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield South
| Cllr MCKEOWN, Robert Joseph
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Howard Town
| Cllr WILKINSON, Jacqueline Margaret
Cllr WILSON, Barbara June
|-
! style="background-color: white |
| Old Glossop
| Cllr BELL, Ivan
Cllr WEBSTER, Chris
|-
!style="background-color: " |
| Padfield
| Cllr KAY, Peter James
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Howard Town
| Cllr Tony Ashton
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Simmondley
| Cllr CROMPTON, Matthew James Andrew
Cllr HAKEN, John
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Whitfield
| Cllr OAKLEY, Graham Nigel
|-
|}
Glossop itself does not have a parish council, but Tintwistle and St Johns are parished.
The Member of Parliament for the
High Peak constituencyHigh Peak is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a marginal seat between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party and at present is Labour's 13th most marginal seat.- Boundaries :...
since 1997 has been
Tom LevittTom Levitt is a British politician, and Labour member of Parliament for High Peak.-Early life:Although born in Crewe in 1954, Levitt grew up in Leek, Staffordshire. He was one of the first intake of boys when a girls' grammar school became comprehensive Westwood High...
MP, representing
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
. His majority in the 2005 General Election was 735 over the
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
candidate Andrew Bingham.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Constituency
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| High Peak
| Tom Levitt, MP
|-
|}
Historic Glossop
Historically, the ancient parish of Glossop consisted of the ten townships of the manor: Glossop, Hadfield, Padfield, Dinting, Simmondley, Whitfield, Chunal, Charlesworth, Chisworth, Ludworth and nine more:
MellorMellor is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. Mellor, situated between Marple Bridge and New Mills, runs along a tributary of the River Goyt. It extends from the start of the old turnpike road at the boundary of Marple Bridge to the current county...
, Thornsett,
RowarthRowarth is a hamlet about 2.5 miles north of New Mills in the High Peak borough of Derbyshire, England. It is on the edge of the Peak District, in the hills between New Mills and Marple Bridge. It is within the boundaries of the former town....
,
WhittleNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
BeardNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
OllersettNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
HayfieldHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
,
Little HayfieldLittle Hayfield is a hamlet in the Peak District National Park, in England. It lies on the A624 between Hayfield and Glossop. Its main point of interest is the Lantern Pike pub. Sheepdog trials and fell racing take place there....
,
PhosideHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
,
KinderHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
, Bugsworth, Brownside and
ChinleyChinley is a rural village in High Peak Borough, situated on the western edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, with a population of around 2000. Before the railway, the area was economically dominated by agriculture and quarrying. Three textile mills were established in...
. Within the parish were the chapelries of Hayfield and Mellor.. The ancient parish was in the Hundred of High Peak; it was about in length and wide, with an area of . Beard, Ollerset, Thornsett and Whittle later formed the town of
New MillsNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
, while Hayfield, Little Hayfield, Phoside and Kinder joined the parish of Hayfield. The chapelry of Mellor included Mellor, Chisworth, Ludworth, Whittle and part of Thornsett.
The Manor of Glossop was made up of the territory that includes
HadfieldHadfield is a small residential town in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District, and is a residential area/town next to Glossop with many local amenities and services being based in Glossop.-Geography:...
,
PadfieldPadfield is a small village, near Hadfield in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District National Park, and the nearest town is Glossop where many local amenities and services are based...
,
DintingDinting is a district of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. It is a small village and has no shops; the nearest are in neighbouring Glossop or Hadfield. However, there is a small primary school, Dinting C of E, located near the viaduct. The village is served by Dinting railway station...
,
SimmondleySimmondley is a small village in the Derbyshire town of Glossop,near Manchester. It hosts two pubs, the Hare and Hounds, and the Jubilee. The Hare and Hounds, is situated in the south of the village at the top of Simmondley Lane. The pub is a part of the original farming community with the farm...
,
WhitfieldWhitfield is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located south of Glossop town hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook. The urban area stretches about up the hillside. Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient parish of Glossop, and in the manor...
,
ChunalChunal is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located on the A624 road, 1 mile south of Glossop. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein conducted aeronautical research at Chunal during his time as an engineering research student at Manchester University . He flew kites into the upper atmosphere....
,
CharlesworthCharlesworth is a village in Glossop, Derbyshire, England. It is located 2 miles south-west of Glossop's town centre and very close to the borders of Greater Manchester with the nearby village of Broadbottom in Tameside. The parish church of St John the Baptist was built in 1848-49. The...
,
ChisworthChisworth is a hamlet near Glossop, Derbyshire, England. It is located 3 miles south-west of Glossop's town centre, on the south side of the Etherow valley. The parish of Chisworth was formed in 1896, out of the parish of Chisworth and Ludworth. In 1901, it had a population of 409...
,
LudworthLudworth was a Civil Parish in the county of Derbyshire, in England. It was created in 1896. It was part of Glossop Dale Rural District until 1934 when it was transferred to Chapel En le Frith Rural District. In 1936 it was transferred, along with Mellor to Marple Urban District...
and the village of Glossop, now called
Old GlossopOld Glossop is a Parish village and the original part of the town of Glossop in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England, about 16.5 miles east of Manchester...
. It had an area of , of which more than were classed as moorland.
The Municipal Borough of Glossop (1866–1974) contained the land within two miles of the Town Hall in Howard Town and a slither to the north bounded by the River Etherow, an area of . It is cited as an example of a 'millocracy' as two thirds of the elected councillors were mill owners. The remaining parishes of Charlesworth, Chisworth and Ludworth formed Glossopdale Rural District, which remained in existence till 1934 when they were split, Ludworth going into Marple RDC, Chisworth and the greater part of Charlesworth joining Chapel en le Frith RDC and the smaller part joining Glossop.
The present community of Glossop is centred on Howardtown. It is served by the Glossopdale Area Forum and the Glossop Town Partnership.
The previous hamlet of Glossop is now known as Old Glossop.
Geography
Glossop is north-west of London, east of the city of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, west of the city of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. It nestles in the foothills of the
PenninesThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range in northern England and southern Scotland. They separate the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East....
, with
Bleaklow|}Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass , in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop...
to the northeast and
Kinder ScoutKinder Scout is a moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District and the highest point in Derbyshire...
to the south. It lies on Glossop Brook, a tributary of the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
, in the area of peat moorland commonly known as the
Dark PeakThe Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of impervious millstone grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...
. The moors which rise to over 600m, are cut by many deep V-shaped valleys known as cloughs, each formed by a stream known as a brook. The Shelf Brook passes through Old Glossop where it joins the Hurst Brook to form the Glossop Brook,which passed westward through Milltown, Howard Town and Dinting to the River Etherow, that runs south to join the River Goyt at Marple Bridge. Two other notable brooks are the Padfield Brook and the Gnat Hole Brook.
The Shelf Brook leads from Shelf Moor on Bleaklow down Doctor's Gate through Old Glossop to the Glossop Brook. The valley was used by the
RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
for a road, and currently contains a bridleway. The north slope of Holden Clough and the Hurst Brook is used by the
A57 roadThe A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
known as the
Snake PassThe Snake Pass is the name given to the higher reaches of the A57 road where it crosses the Peak District between Manchester and Sheffield in the north of England....
. The Snake Pass crosses the
Pennine WayThe Pennine Way is a National Trail in England. The trail runs from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park, to end at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border.-History:...
near Doctor's Gate Culvert (512 m above sea level) before descending to the east to
Ladybower ReservoirLadybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir, and finally through Ladybower...
along the northern side of the
River AshopThe River Ashop is a river in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. Its source is on Black Ashop Moor, just east of the Pennine Way, and north of Kinder Scout....
valley. Here a road leads east over Hallam Moor into
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
, and south along the
River DerwentThe Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For most of its length, the river flows through the Peak District....
into
BaslowBaslow is a village in the Derbyshire, England, Peak District, lying between Sheffield and Bakewell. It is situated on the River Derwent just north of Chatsworth House. A seventeenth century bridge spans the river in the village, alongside which is a contemporary toll house...
and Matlock. To the north of Glossop is Tintwistle; the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
is the boundary. Today, the
LongdendaleLongdendale is a valley in the north west of England, north of Glossop and south east of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley".- Geography :...
valley forms a chain of reservoirs that provide drinking water for Manchester. At the head of the valley is
WoodheadWoodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail...
, where the road from
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
joins the road to Sheffield, and a three-mile railway tunnel brought the railway from
PenistonePenistone is a small market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 10,101 at the 2001 census. It lies west of the town of Barnsley and north east of Glossop, in the foothills of the Pennines...
.
Geology
Directly beneath Glossop lie areas of
CarboniferousThe Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Ma , to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma ....
Millstone Grit,
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
s and
sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow,...
. Glossop is on the edge of the Peak District Dome, at the southern edge of the Pennine anticline. The
Variscan upliftThe Variscan orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.-Naming:...
has caused much faulting and Glossopdale was the product of glacial action in the last glaciation period that exploited the weakened rocks. The steep-sided valleys of the cloughs cause significant erosion and deposition. The layers of sandstone, mudstones and shale in the bedrock act as a
aquiferAn aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
to feed the springs. The valley bottoms have a thin deposit of
Boulder ClayBoulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America. Boulder clay is variously known as till...
. The brooks are fed by the
peatPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetlandbogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests...
y soils of the moors thus are acid (pH5.5–7.0); this means the instream wildlife is dependent on food sources from outside the channel.
Climate
Glossop experiences a
temperateIn geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. But in continental areas, such as central North America the variations between summer...
maritime climateAn oceanic climate is the climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, and in southeastern Australia...
, like much of the
British IslesThe British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain, Ireland and numerous smaller islands. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland...
, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. Glossop has a history of flash flooding, the
most recent being in 2002 when High Street West was flooded to a depth of , but climate change means floods may become more severe and frequent.
Demography
Glossop has been subject to frequent boundary changes, so different analyses can be made of the same raw datasets depending on how the 'equivalent' area is interpreted, which may or may not bear the same name.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:70%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1801
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1811
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1821
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1831
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1839
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1851
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1861
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1871
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1881
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1891
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population Glossop
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 3,625
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,012*
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 6,212
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 9,631
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 14,577
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,587
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,000
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 20,673
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,574
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 22,416
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Glossop and Charlesworth
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 2,759
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,012*
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 5,135
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 7,897
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 12,569
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,454
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,126
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 18,508
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,393
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 23,493
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Source:A Vision of Britain through TimeSource:Small Town Politics, 1959, A.H.Birch. pub OUP * Data set includes Chisworth and Ludworth
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:70%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1901
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1911
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1921
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1931
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1939
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1951
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1961
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1971
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 2001
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,520
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,688
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 20,531
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,509
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | estimate 23,500
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 18,994
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,500
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 24,272
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 32,428
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Source:A Vision of Britain through Time
|}
Economy
Glossop was a product of the wealth of the cotton industry. Glossop's economy was linked closely with a spinning and weaving tradition which had evolved from developments in
textile manufacture during the Industrial RevolutionWith the establishment of overseas colonies, the British Empire at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century had a vast source of raw materials and a vast market for manufactured goods...
. Before the first world war, Glossop had the headquarters of an international paper empire, the largest calico printworks in the world, a large
bleachA bleach is a chemical that removes colors or whitens, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household "chlorine bleach", a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite , and "oxygen bleach", which contains hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound such as sodium...
works, and six spinning
weavingWeaving is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, called the warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a fabric or cloth...
combines with over 600,000 spindles and 12,000 looms and two niche manufacturers:
grindstoneMillstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called buhrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s and
industrial beltA belt is a looped strip of flexible material, used to mechanically link two or more rotating shafts. They may be used as a source of motion, to efficiently transmit power, or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys...
s. In the 1920s, these firms were refloated on the easily available
share capitalShare capital or issued capital or capital stock refers to the portion of a company's equity that has been obtained by trading stock to a shareholder for cash or an equivalent item of capital value...
—thus were victims of the stockmarket crash. Their product lines were vulnerable to the new economic conditions.
Glossop is a small
market townMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
within the Borough of High Peak in
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the Glossop Brook, a tributary of the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
, about east of the city of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, west of the city of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. Glossop is situated near Derbyshire's county borders with
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and...
,
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
and
West YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. It is between above mean sea level, and uses the tagline "the gateway to the Peak District National Park". Like
BuxtonBuxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
, it differs from other areas of the borough in that it is an
unparished areaIn England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. In some cases, a largely rural district will have one or two unparished areas in it...
, and this distinction defines its boundaries. It has a total resident population of 32,428 according to the 2001 census.
Historically the name Glossop refers to the small hamlet that gave its name to an ancient parish recorded in the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
of 1086, and then the
manorManorialism or Seigneurialism or Feudal Society was the organizing principle of rural economy and society widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe...
given by
William I of EnglandWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
to
William PeverelWilliam Peverel , was a Norman knight said to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
. It refers to the
municipal boroughMunicipal boroughs were a type of local government which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
created in 1866, and the unparished urban area within two local government wards. The area now known as Glossop approximates to the villages that used to be called
Glossopdale, on the lands of the
Howard family, Dukes of NorfolkThe Duke of Norfolk is the Premier Duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the Premier Earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
. Originally known as a centre of wool processing, Glossop rapidly expanded in the late 18th century when it specialised in the production and printing of calico, a coarse cotton. Under the benign patronage of the Howards and other mill owning families the villages became a mill town with many chapels and churches; its fortunes were tied to the
cotton industryWith the establishment of overseas colonies, the British Empire at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century had a vast source of raw materials and a vast market for manufactured goods...
.
Architecturally the area is dominated by buildings constructed of the local sandstone. There remain two significant former cotton mills and the
DintingDinting is a district of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. It is a small village and has no shops; the nearest are in neighbouring Glossop or Hadfield. However, there is a small primary school, Dinting C of E, located near the viaduct. The village is served by Dinting railway station...
railway viaduct. Strong rivalry between various Christian denominations has left a legacy of chapels, churches and their associated schools in the town and associated villages of Glossopdale. Close to the county borders of Greater Manchester, Glossop has transport links to Manchester, making the area popular for commuters. Glossop and the western area of
High PeakHigh Peak is a Non-metropolitan district and borough of the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. Administered from Chapel-en-le-Frith, it is mostly composed of high moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Peak District....
fall within Greater Manchester's sphere of influence by way of some transport being provided by the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport ExecutiveThe Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England....
.
History
Toponymy and definition
The name Glossop is thought to be of Saxon origin, named during the
AnglesThe Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
' settlement in the 7th century, and derived from
Glott's Hop - where
hop could mean a valley, a small valley in a larger valley system, or a piece of land enclosed by marshes and
Glott was probably a chieftain's name. Because of its size and location, Glossop had many definitions. The village of Glossop is now called Old Glossop. Howard Town and Milltown gained importance. They were named New Town and then Glossop. Local government reorganisations had caused the Glossopdale villages to be promoted to a municipal borough and then have that status removed. Land has been added to Glossop and other lands removed. From a small settlement it became an ancient parish, a manor, a borough, and a township. Currently two county divisions in High Peak Borough, Derbyshire, have Glossop as part of their names.
Roman and Saxon
There is evidence of a Bronze Age burial site on Shire Hill (near
Old GlossopOld Glossop is a Parish village and the original part of the town of Glossop in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England, about 16.5 miles east of Manchester...
) and other possibly prehistoric remains at Torside (on the slopes of
Bleaklow|}Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass , in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop...
). The
RomansRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
arrived in 78 AD. At that time the area was within the territory of the
BrigantesThe Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of Northern England and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom was known as Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
tribe, whose main base was in
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
. The Romans built a road over the Pennines that descended into the Etherow valley along Doctor's Gate, and in the late first century a fort,
ArdotaliaArdotalia is a Roman fort in Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, England .Ardotalia was constructed by Cohors Primae Frisiavonum—The First Cohort of Frisiavones. Evidence for the existence of this unit exists not only from the building stone found at the site but also from various diplomas and...
, on high ground above the river in present day
GamesleyGamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
. The site of this fort was rediscovered in 1771 by an amateur historian, the Rev. John Watson. It subsequently acquired the name "Melandra Castle". The extensive site has been excavated, revealing fort walls, a shrine and the fort headquarters. The area has been landscaped to provide parking and picnic areas. The prehistoric earthworks of Torside Castle are visible on Harrop Moss just north west of Bleaklow Head above the Longdendale Valley.
Medieval
William I of EnglandWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
awarded the manor of Glossop to
William PeverilWilliam Peverel , was a Norman knight said to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
, who began construction of
Glossop CastleGlossop Castle is located North of Glossop, off "Hilltop Road", 14 miles east of Manchester, on the A57. The site is visible from the main road, standing atop a commanding ridge. Some 16 miles South-East is Peveril Castle.-History:...
, but the entire estate was later confiscated. In 1157
Henry II of EnglandHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
gave the manor of Glossop to
Basingwerk AbbeyBasingwerk Abbey is the ruin of an abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, in the care of Cadw .The establishment was founded in 1132 by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester, and monks from Savigny Abbey settled there. In 1147, the abbey became part of the Cistercian Order and therefore a...
. They gained a
market charterMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
for Glossop in 1290, and one for Charlesworth in 1328.
In 1433, the monks leased all of Glossopdale to the Talbot family, later
Earls of ShrewsburyEarl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation:...
. In 1494, an illegitimate son of the family, Dr John Talbot, was appointed vicar of Glossop. He founded a school, and paved the Roman road over the moors; this is known as Doctor's Gate.
At the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
in 1537 the manor of Glossop was given to the Talbot family. In 1606 it came into the ownership of the Howard family, the Dukes of Norfolk, who held it for the next 300 years. Glossop was usually given to the second son of the family.
The land was too wet and cold to be used for wheat, but was ideal for the hardy
Pennine sheepSwaledale is a breed of domestic sheep named after the Yorkshire valley of Swaledale. They are found throughout the more mountainous areas of Great Britain, but particularly in County Durham, Yorkshire, and the lower fells of Cumbria....
, so agriculture was predominantly pastoral. Most of the land was owned by the Howards and was leasehold and it was only in
Whitfield-Places:United States* Whitfield, Florida* Whitfield, Indiana* Whitfield, Pennsylvania* Whitfield County, GeorgiaUnited Kingdom*England**Whitfield, Derbyshire**Whitfield, South Gloucestershire**Whitfield, Herefordshire**Whitfield, Kent...
that there was any freehold land. The few houses were solid, built of the local stone, and allowed for the development of home industries such as wool spinning and weaving.
Industrial and civic history
The medieval economy was based on sheep pasture and the production of wool by farmers who were tenants of the Abbot of Basingwerk and later the Talbot family. During the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
of the 18th century Glossop became a centre for cotton spinning. A good transport network between Liverpool and Glossop brought in imported cotton which was spun by a labour force with wool spinning skills. The climate of Glossopdale provided abundant soft water that was used to power mills and finish the cloth, and also gave the humidity necessary to spin cotton under tension. Initial investment was provided by the Dukes of Norfolk. By 1740, cotton in an unspun form had been introduced to make
fustianFustian is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare....
s and lighter cloths.
Mills
The first mills in Glossop were woollen mills. In 1774,
Richard ArkwrightSir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is usually credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. A self-made man, he was a leading entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution...
opened a mill at
CromfordCromford is a large village in Derbyshire, England,-History:It is one of the significant sites in the development of the Industrial Revolution...
. He developed the
factory systemThe factory system was a method of manufacturing first adopted in England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and later spreading abroad. Fundamentally, each worker created a separate part of the total assembly of a product, thus increasing the efficiency of factories. Workers, paid by...
and patented machines for spinning cotton and
cardingCarding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganized clumps of fiber and then aligns the individual fibers so that they are more or less parallel with each other. These ordered fibers can then be passed on to other processes that are specific to the desired end use of the fiber:...
. In 1785, his patents expired and many people copied Arkwright's system and his patents, exemplified by the
Derwent Valley MillsDerwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for...
. By 1788 there were over 200 Arkwright-type mills in Britain. At the same time there were 17 cotton mills in Derbyshire, principally in Glossop. By 1831 there were at least 30 mills in Glossopdale, none of which had more than 1000 spindles. The mill owners were local men: the Wagstaffs and Hadfields were freeholders from
WhitfieldWhitfield is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located south of Glossop town hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook. The urban area stretches about up the hillside. Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient parish of Glossop, and in the manor...
; the Shepleys, Shaws, Lees, Garlicks and Platts had farmed the dale. The Sidebottoms were from
HadfieldHadfield is a small residential town in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District, and is a residential area/town next to Glossop with many local amenities and services being based in Glossop.-Geography:...
, the Thornleys were carpenters, and John Bennet and John Robinson were clothiers.
John WoodJohn Wood of Marsden came to Glossop from Manchester in 1819 and bought existing woollen mills which he expanded. These were the Howard Town mills...
of
Marsden-As a surname:As a surname, Marsden may refer to:* Betty Marsden , British comedy actress* Brian G. Marsden, British astronomer* Chris Marsden, former Football player* David Marsden, Canadian radio broadcaster...
came from Manchester in 1819 and bought existing woollen mills which he expanded. These were the Howard Town mills.
Francis SumnerFrancis Sumner was the only Roman Catholic mill owner in Glossop. Catholicism was strong in Glossop because of he influence of the Howards and their estate staff, the Ellisons, Francis Hawke and John le Jardins. Sumner was a Whig and thus Liberal. Sumner moved to Glossop in October 1822...
was a Catholic whose family had connections with Matthew Ellison, Howard's agent. He built Wren's Nest Mill. The Sidebottoms built the Waterside mill at Hadfield. In 1825, John Wood installed the first steam engine and power looms. Sumner and Sidebottom followed suit and the three mills, Wren's Nest, Howardtown and Waterside, became very large vertical combines (a vertical combine was a mill that both spun the yarn and then used it to weave cloth). With the other major families, the Shepleys, Rhodes and Platts, they dominated the dale. In 1884, the six had 82% of the spinning capacity with 892,000 spindles and 13,571 looms. Glossop was a town of very large calico mills. The calico printing factory of
Edmund PotterEdmund Potter senior was from a Manchester family and grandfather to Beatrix Potter. He was a unitarian and a Liberal. Potter moved his business to Glossop in 1825, he rebuilt Joseph Lyne's Boggart Mill, and converted it to a printworks. He moved his family to Dinting Lodge in 1842.Originally...
(located in Dinting Vale) in the 1850s printed 2,500,000 pieces of printed calico, of which 80% was for export. The paper industry was created by
Edward PartingtonEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
who, as Olive and Partington, bought the Turn Lee Mill in 1874 to produce high-quality paper from wood pulp by the sulphite method. He expanded rapidly with mills in Salford and Barrow in Furness. He merged with Kellner of
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
and was created
Lord DoverdaleEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
in 1917. He died in 1925; his factories in Charlestown created nearly 1000 jobs.
Religion and benevolence
Lord Bernard Edward Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk
rebuilt the old parish church in 1831, built All Saints Roman Catholic chapel in 1836, improved the Hurst Reservoir in 1837, and built the town hall, whose foundation stone was laid on Coronation Day 1838.
The
Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester RailwayThe Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was an early British railway company which opened in stages between 1841 and 1845 between Sheffield and Manchester via Ashton-Under-Lyne...
came to Dinting in 1842, but it was the
13th Duke of NorfolkHenry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk KG, PC was an English politician.-Biography:In 1814 he married Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, the daughter of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland....
who built the spur line to Howard Town, so that coal could be brought from the colleries at
DukinfieldDukinfield is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in central Tameside on the south bank of the River Tame, opposite Ashton-under-Lyne, and is east of the city of Manchester...
.
Glossop railway stationGlossop railway station serves the town of Glossop in Derbyshire, England and is the busier of the twin termini at the Derbyshire end of the Manchester to Glossop Line, the other being Hadfield station....
bears the lion, the symbol of the Norfolks. Many of the street- and placenames in Glossop derive from the names and titles of the Dukes of Norfolk, such as Norfolk Square, and a cluster of residential streets off Norfolk Street that were named after
Lord Henry Charles Fitzalan Howard, the 13th Duke of NorfolkHenry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk KG, PC was an English politician.-Biography:In 1814 he married Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, the daughter of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland....
, the first Catholic MP since the reformation.
A two-storey Township
WorkhouseUnder the Poor Law systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest reference to a workhouse dates to 1652 in Exeter. There is, however, some written...
was built between 1832 and 1834 on Bute Street . Its administration was taken over by Glossop Poor Law Union in December 1837. The workhouse buildings included a 40-bed infirmary, piggeries, and casual wards for vagrants. The workhouse later became Glossop Public Assistance Institution and from 1948 the
N.H.S.The National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the publicly-funded health care services in Great Britain. In England the name National Health Service is used without further qualification whereas the services in Scotland and Wales are known as NHS Scotland and NHS Wales...
Shire Hill Hospital.
The mill owners, Catholics, Anglican, Methodist and Unitarian, built reading rooms and chapels. They worked together and worshipped together with their workers. The Woods, Sidebottoms and Shepleys were Anglicans and hence Tory, and they dominated every vestry, which was the only form of local government before 1866. They built four churches
St James's, WhitfieldSt. James' Church is an Anglican church in the evangelical tradition located in the town of Glossop, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands of England. Along with St. Luke's Church, it makes up Whitfield Parish within Derby Diocese. Rev Colin Cooper is the present Vicar of Whitfield Parish...
in 1846, St Andrew's Hadfield in 1874, Holy Trinity Dinting in 1875 and St Luke's Glossop. Francis Sumner and the Ellisons and Norfolks were Catholic and built St Charles's Hadfield and St Mary's Glossop. The smaller mill owners were Dissenters and congregated at Littlemoor Independent Chapel built in Hadfield in 1811, but they later built a further eleven chapels.
For decades there was rivalry between
Edward PartingtonEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
, his friend Herbert Rhodes, and the Woods and Sidebottoms. The Woods built the public baths and laid out the park. Partington built the library. Partington built the cricket pavilion, so
Samuel Hill-WoodSir Samuel Hill Hill-Wood, 1st Baronet , born Samuel Hill Wood, was a British businessman, Conservative politician cricketer and football club chairman.-Early life:...
s sponsored the football club that for one season, 1899-1890, played in League Division One. He went on to be chairman of a London club, Arsenal. He was MP for High Peak from 1910–1929. Edward's son,
OswaldOswald Partington, 2nd Baron Doverdale was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom.The son of mill-owner Edward Partington and born in Bury, he was elected at the 1900 general election as Member of Parliament for High Peak constituency in Derbyshire, and held the seat through two further...
, was MP for High Peak from 1900–1910. Ann Kershaw Woods devoted herself to Anglican education and had schools built.
Cotton famine and industrial relations
In 1851, 38% of the men and 27% of the women were employed in cotton; the only alternative employment was agriculture, building, or labouring on the railway. Consequently the town was vulnerable to interruptions in the supply of cotton or the export trade. The
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
caused the cotton famine of 1861–4. The mill owners met together and put in place a relief programme through which they supplied food, clogs and coal to their employees. Howard increased the workforce on his estate, and public works (such as improving the domestic water supply) were undertaken. They provided unsecured loans to the workers until the cotton returned. The relationship between the owners and men was one of paternal benevolence. They lived in the same community and worshipped in the same churches. The mill owners were the local aldermen, the church elders, and led the sports teams. In the
LudditeThe Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested—often by destroying mechanized looms—against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their entire way of...
and
ChartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
times and the period following Peterloo, Glossop was virtually unaffected, despite its proximity to
HydeHyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northwest of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester.-Medieval:...
, a radical hotbed. In the 4s 2d or swing strike it was incomers from
AshtonAshton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
who stopped the Glossop mills. The rivalry in Glossop was not based on class, but on religious groups.
Modern (20th century)
The decline of
cotton spinningCotton-spinning machinery refers to machines which process prepared cotton roving into workable yarn or thread. Such machinery can be dated back centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, as part of the Industrial Revolution cotton-spinning machinery was developed to bring mass production to...
has resulted in the closure of many of the town's mills. The Howard family sold the Glossop Estate in 1925 and donated large areas to the people of Glossop. Manor Park was the location of the family's
Manor HouseA manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the administrative centre of a manor , the lowest unit of territorial organization in the feudal system...
and gardens. The recession of the 1929 hit Glossop very hard. In 1929 the unemployment rate was 14%, and in 1931 it was 55%. In Hadfield it reached 67%. National initiatives to improve housing and employment conditions largely failed, and mills fell empty and decayed. Unemployment remained at 36% in 1938. The
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
changed this: military stores, metals, machine tools, munitions, rubber and essential industries moved into the empty factories and left Glossop with a more diverse range of industries.
In spite of the post-war Barlow Report and government intervention, no significant employer moved into Glossop.
GamesleyGamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
underwent considerable change in the 1960s, when a large council estate was built, mainly to house people from Manchester. These housing areas, called '
Overspill estateAn overspill estate is a housing estate planned and built for the rehousing of people from decaying inner city areas usually as part of the process of slum clearance....
s', were also built in other towns surrounding Manchester.
Plans
Glossop has been included as pilot in the Liveability scheme, and has drawn up the Glossop Vision masterplan for the improvement and gentrification of the town. This is being partially funded by the
Heritage Lottery FundThe Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
. It aims to open up access to the Glossop Brook, coordinate developments in Glossop town centre, enhance the built environment and link the town to its wider setting. As such, the mills have become a retail development with housing, trees are to be planted along the
A57The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
and the market square pedestrianised.
Governance
In the local government reorganisation of 1974 the Borough of Glossop was abolished, and since then the two levels of local government are Derbyshire County Council, based in Matlock, and
High Peak Borough CouncilHigh Peak Borough Council is the second level of local government for residents of the High Peak borough of Derbyshire.-History:The High Peak Borough Council was formed on April 1, 1974 by absorbing the municipal boroughs of Buxton and Glossop, the urban districts of New Mills and Whaley Bridge and...
based in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Glossop was included in the "South East Lancashire Special Review Area" under the
Local Government Act 1958The Local Government Act 1958 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting local government in England and Wales outside London...
, and the
Redcliffe-Maud ReportThe Redcliffe-Maud Report is the name generally given to the report published by the Royal Commission on Local Government in England 1966-1969 under the chairmanship of Lord Redcliffe-Maud.-Terms of reference and membership:...
of 1969 recommended its inclusion in a
South East Lancashire–North East CheshireGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and...
metropolitan area. Glossop was not ultimately included in the Greater Manchester area established by the
Local Government Act 1972The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
. Local people voted to stay within the County of Derbyshire in 1973. The county council, originally based in
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, moved to Matlock in the late 1950s to facilitate easier travelling to the county hall from the northern extremities such as Glossop and the High Peak.
For the county council Glossop is split between the divisions of Glossop South, Glossop North and Rural, and Etherow. Glossop North and Rural also contain the old Charlesworth and Chisworth wards that were collectively known as St John's. Etherow division contains Hadfield North, Hadfield South, Gamesley and the large and sparsely populated Tintwistle ward, which was formerly in Cheshire. These boundaries were set in 2005.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Division
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Etherow
| Cllr Dave Wilcox
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Glossop North and Rural
| Cllr George Wharmby
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Glossop South
| Cllr Jean Wharmby
|-
|}
At the district level, that is High Peak Borough Council, Glossop comprises these wards: Dinting, Gamesley, Hadfield North, Hadfield South, Old Glossop, Padfield, Howard Town, Simmondley and Whitfield. St John's represents the rural area that was formerly Glossopdale RDC and lies within the National Park. These were the wards used in the 2001 Census.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Ward
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Dinting
| Cllr WHARMBY, Jean
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Gamesley
| Cllr MCKEOWN, Anthony Edward
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield North
| Cllr MANN, Victoria Elizabeth
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield South
| Cllr FOOTE, Marie Melita
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield South
| Cllr MCKEOWN, Robert Joseph
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Howard Town
| Cllr WILKINSON, Jacqueline Margaret
Cllr WILSON, Barbara June
|-
! style="background-color: white |
| Old Glossop
| Cllr BELL, Ivan
Cllr WEBSTER, Chris
|-
!style="background-color: " |
| Padfield
| Cllr KAY, Peter James
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Howard Town
| Cllr Tony Ashton
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Simmondley
| Cllr CROMPTON, Matthew James Andrew
Cllr HAKEN, John
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Whitfield
| Cllr OAKLEY, Graham Nigel
|-
|}
Glossop itself does not have a parish council, but Tintwistle and St Johns are parished.
The Member of Parliament for the
High Peak constituencyHigh Peak is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a marginal seat between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party and at present is Labour's 13th most marginal seat.- Boundaries :...
since 1997 has been
Tom LevittTom Levitt is a British politician, and Labour member of Parliament for High Peak.-Early life:Although born in Crewe in 1954, Levitt grew up in Leek, Staffordshire. He was one of the first intake of boys when a girls' grammar school became comprehensive Westwood High...
MP, representing
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
. His majority in the 2005 General Election was 735 over the
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
candidate Andrew Bingham.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Constituency
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| High Peak
| Tom Levitt, MP
|-
|}
Historic Glossop
Historically, the ancient parish of Glossop consisted of the ten townships of the manor: Glossop, Hadfield, Padfield, Dinting, Simmondley, Whitfield, Chunal, Charlesworth, Chisworth, Ludworth and nine more:
MellorMellor is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. Mellor, situated between Marple Bridge and New Mills, runs along a tributary of the River Goyt. It extends from the start of the old turnpike road at the boundary of Marple Bridge to the current county...
, Thornsett,
RowarthRowarth is a hamlet about 2.5 miles north of New Mills in the High Peak borough of Derbyshire, England. It is on the edge of the Peak District, in the hills between New Mills and Marple Bridge. It is within the boundaries of the former town....
,
WhittleNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
BeardNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
OllersettNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
HayfieldHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
,
Little HayfieldLittle Hayfield is a hamlet in the Peak District National Park, in England. It lies on the A624 between Hayfield and Glossop. Its main point of interest is the Lantern Pike pub. Sheepdog trials and fell racing take place there....
,
PhosideHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
,
KinderHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
, Bugsworth, Brownside and
ChinleyChinley is a rural village in High Peak Borough, situated on the western edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, with a population of around 2000. Before the railway, the area was economically dominated by agriculture and quarrying. Three textile mills were established in...
. Within the parish were the chapelries of Hayfield and Mellor.. The ancient parish was in the Hundred of High Peak; it was about in length and wide, with an area of . Beard, Ollerset, Thornsett and Whittle later formed the town of
New MillsNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
, while Hayfield, Little Hayfield, Phoside and Kinder joined the parish of Hayfield. The chapelry of Mellor included Mellor, Chisworth, Ludworth, Whittle and part of Thornsett.
The Manor of Glossop was made up of the territory that includes
HadfieldHadfield is a small residential town in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District, and is a residential area/town next to Glossop with many local amenities and services being based in Glossop.-Geography:...
,
PadfieldPadfield is a small village, near Hadfield in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District National Park, and the nearest town is Glossop where many local amenities and services are based...
,
DintingDinting is a district of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. It is a small village and has no shops; the nearest are in neighbouring Glossop or Hadfield. However, there is a small primary school, Dinting C of E, located near the viaduct. The village is served by Dinting railway station...
,
SimmondleySimmondley is a small village in the Derbyshire town of Glossop,near Manchester. It hosts two pubs, the Hare and Hounds, and the Jubilee. The Hare and Hounds, is situated in the south of the village at the top of Simmondley Lane. The pub is a part of the original farming community with the farm...
,
WhitfieldWhitfield is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located south of Glossop town hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook. The urban area stretches about up the hillside. Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient parish of Glossop, and in the manor...
,
ChunalChunal is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located on the A624 road, 1 mile south of Glossop. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein conducted aeronautical research at Chunal during his time as an engineering research student at Manchester University . He flew kites into the upper atmosphere....
,
CharlesworthCharlesworth is a village in Glossop, Derbyshire, England. It is located 2 miles south-west of Glossop's town centre and very close to the borders of Greater Manchester with the nearby village of Broadbottom in Tameside. The parish church of St John the Baptist was built in 1848-49. The...
,
ChisworthChisworth is a hamlet near Glossop, Derbyshire, England. It is located 3 miles south-west of Glossop's town centre, on the south side of the Etherow valley. The parish of Chisworth was formed in 1896, out of the parish of Chisworth and Ludworth. In 1901, it had a population of 409...
,
LudworthLudworth was a Civil Parish in the county of Derbyshire, in England. It was created in 1896. It was part of Glossop Dale Rural District until 1934 when it was transferred to Chapel En le Frith Rural District. In 1936 it was transferred, along with Mellor to Marple Urban District...
and the village of Glossop, now called
Old GlossopOld Glossop is a Parish village and the original part of the town of Glossop in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England, about 16.5 miles east of Manchester...
. It had an area of , of which more than were classed as moorland.
The Municipal Borough of Glossop (1866–1974) contained the land within two miles of the Town Hall in Howard Town and a slither to the north bounded by the River Etherow, an area of . It is cited as an example of a 'millocracy' as two thirds of the elected councillors were mill owners. The remaining parishes of Charlesworth, Chisworth and Ludworth formed Glossopdale Rural District, which remained in existence till 1934 when they were split, Ludworth going into Marple RDC, Chisworth and the greater part of Charlesworth joining Chapel en le Frith RDC and the smaller part joining Glossop.
The present community of Glossop is centred on Howardtown. It is served by the Glossopdale Area Forum and the Glossop Town Partnership.
The previous hamlet of Glossop is now known as Old Glossop.
Geography
Glossop is north-west of London, east of the city of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, west of the city of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. It nestles in the foothills of the
PenninesThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range in northern England and southern Scotland. They separate the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East....
, with
Bleaklow|}Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass , in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop...
to the northeast and
Kinder ScoutKinder Scout is a moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District and the highest point in Derbyshire...
to the south. It lies on Glossop Brook, a tributary of the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
, in the area of peat moorland commonly known as the
Dark PeakThe Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of impervious millstone grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...
. The moors which rise to over 600m, are cut by many deep V-shaped valleys known as cloughs, each formed by a stream known as a brook. The Shelf Brook passes through Old Glossop where it joins the Hurst Brook to form the Glossop Brook,which passed westward through Milltown, Howard Town and Dinting to the River Etherow, that runs south to join the River Goyt at Marple Bridge. Two other notable brooks are the Padfield Brook and the Gnat Hole Brook.
The Shelf Brook leads from Shelf Moor on Bleaklow down Doctor's Gate through Old Glossop to the Glossop Brook. The valley was used by the
RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
for a road, and currently contains a bridleway. The north slope of Holden Clough and the Hurst Brook is used by the
A57 roadThe A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
known as the
Snake PassThe Snake Pass is the name given to the higher reaches of the A57 road where it crosses the Peak District between Manchester and Sheffield in the north of England....
. The Snake Pass crosses the
Pennine WayThe Pennine Way is a National Trail in England. The trail runs from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park, to end at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border.-History:...
near Doctor's Gate Culvert (512 m above sea level) before descending to the east to
Ladybower ReservoirLadybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir, and finally through Ladybower...
along the northern side of the
River AshopThe River Ashop is a river in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. Its source is on Black Ashop Moor, just east of the Pennine Way, and north of Kinder Scout....
valley. Here a road leads east over Hallam Moor into
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
, and south along the
River DerwentThe Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For most of its length, the river flows through the Peak District....
into
BaslowBaslow is a village in the Derbyshire, England, Peak District, lying between Sheffield and Bakewell. It is situated on the River Derwent just north of Chatsworth House. A seventeenth century bridge spans the river in the village, alongside which is a contemporary toll house...
and Matlock. To the north of Glossop is Tintwistle; the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
is the boundary. Today, the
LongdendaleLongdendale is a valley in the north west of England, north of Glossop and south east of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley".- Geography :...
valley forms a chain of reservoirs that provide drinking water for Manchester. At the head of the valley is
WoodheadWoodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail...
, where the road from
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
joins the road to Sheffield, and a three-mile railway tunnel brought the railway from
PenistonePenistone is a small market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 10,101 at the 2001 census. It lies west of the town of Barnsley and north east of Glossop, in the foothills of the Pennines...
.
Geology
Directly beneath Glossop lie areas of
CarboniferousThe Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Ma , to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma ....
Millstone Grit,
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
s and
sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow,...
. Glossop is on the edge of the Peak District Dome, at the southern edge of the Pennine anticline. The
Variscan upliftThe Variscan orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.-Naming:...
has caused much faulting and Glossopdale was the product of glacial action in the last glaciation period that exploited the weakened rocks. The steep-sided valleys of the cloughs cause significant erosion and deposition. The layers of sandstone, mudstones and shale in the bedrock act as a
aquiferAn aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
to feed the springs. The valley bottoms have a thin deposit of
Boulder ClayBoulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America. Boulder clay is variously known as till...
. The brooks are fed by the
peatPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetlandbogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests...
y soils of the moors thus are acid (pH5.5–7.0); this means the instream wildlife is dependent on food sources from outside the channel.
Climate
Glossop experiences a
temperateIn geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. But in continental areas, such as central North America the variations between summer...
maritime climateAn oceanic climate is the climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, and in southeastern Australia...
, like much of the
British IslesThe British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain, Ireland and numerous smaller islands. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland...
, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. Glossop has a history of flash flooding, the
most recent being in 2002 when High Street West was flooded to a depth of , but climate change means floods may become more severe and frequent.
Demography
Glossop has been subject to frequent boundary changes, so different analyses can be made of the same raw datasets depending on how the 'equivalent' area is interpreted, which may or may not bear the same name.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:70%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1801
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1811
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1821
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1831
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1839
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1851
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1861
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1871
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1881
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1891
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population Glossop
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 3,625
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,012*
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 6,212
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 9,631
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 14,577
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,587
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,000
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 20,673
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,574
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 22,416
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Glossop and Charlesworth
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 2,759
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,012*
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 5,135
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 7,897
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 12,569
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,454
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,126
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 18,508
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,393
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 23,493
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Source:A Vision of Britain through TimeSource:Small Town Politics, 1959, A.H.Birch. pub OUP * Data set includes Chisworth and Ludworth
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:70%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1901
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1911
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1921
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1931
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1939
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1951
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1961
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1971
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 2001
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,520
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,688
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 20,531
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,509
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | estimate 23,500
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 18,994
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,500
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 24,272
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 32,428
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Source:A Vision of Britain through Time
|}
Economy
Glossop was a product of the wealth of the cotton industry. Glossop's economy was linked closely with a spinning and weaving tradition which had evolved from developments in
textile manufacture during the Industrial RevolutionWith the establishment of overseas colonies, the British Empire at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century had a vast source of raw materials and a vast market for manufactured goods...
. Before the first world war, Glossop had the headquarters of an international paper empire, the largest calico printworks in the world, a large
bleachA bleach is a chemical that removes colors or whitens, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household "chlorine bleach", a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite , and "oxygen bleach", which contains hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound such as sodium...
works, and six spinning
weavingWeaving is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, called the warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a fabric or cloth...
combines with over 600,000 spindles and 12,000 looms and two niche manufacturers:
grindstoneMillstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called buhrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s and
industrial beltA belt is a looped strip of flexible material, used to mechanically link two or more rotating shafts. They may be used as a source of motion, to efficiently transmit power, or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys...
s. In the 1920s, these firms were refloated on the easily available
share capitalShare capital or issued capital or capital stock refers to the portion of a company's equity that has been obtained by trading stock to a shareholder for cash or an equivalent item of capital value...
—thus were victims of the stockmarket crash. Their product lines were vulnerable to the new economic conditions.
Glossop is a small
market townMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
within the Borough of High Peak in
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the Glossop Brook, a tributary of the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
, about east of the city of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, west of the city of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. Glossop is situated near Derbyshire's county borders with
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and...
,
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
and
West YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. It is between above mean sea level, and uses the tagline "the gateway to the Peak District National Park". Like
BuxtonBuxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
, it differs from other areas of the borough in that it is an
unparished areaIn England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. In some cases, a largely rural district will have one or two unparished areas in it...
, and this distinction defines its boundaries. It has a total resident population of 32,428 according to the 2001 census.
Historically the name Glossop refers to the small hamlet that gave its name to an ancient parish recorded in the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
of 1086, and then the
manorManorialism or Seigneurialism or Feudal Society was the organizing principle of rural economy and society widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe...
given by
William I of EnglandWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
to
William PeverelWilliam Peverel , was a Norman knight said to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
. It refers to the
municipal boroughMunicipal boroughs were a type of local government which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
created in 1866, and the unparished urban area within two local government wards. The area now known as Glossop approximates to the villages that used to be called
Glossopdale, on the lands of the
Howard family, Dukes of NorfolkThe Duke of Norfolk is the Premier Duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the Premier Earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
. Originally known as a centre of wool processing, Glossop rapidly expanded in the late 18th century when it specialised in the production and printing of calico, a coarse cotton. Under the benign patronage of the Howards and other mill owning families the villages became a mill town with many chapels and churches; its fortunes were tied to the
cotton industryWith the establishment of overseas colonies, the British Empire at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century had a vast source of raw materials and a vast market for manufactured goods...
.
Architecturally the area is dominated by buildings constructed of the local sandstone. There remain two significant former cotton mills and the
DintingDinting is a district of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. It is a small village and has no shops; the nearest are in neighbouring Glossop or Hadfield. However, there is a small primary school, Dinting C of E, located near the viaduct. The village is served by Dinting railway station...
railway viaduct. Strong rivalry between various Christian denominations has left a legacy of chapels, churches and their associated schools in the town and associated villages of Glossopdale. Close to the county borders of Greater Manchester, Glossop has transport links to Manchester, making the area popular for commuters. Glossop and the western area of
High PeakHigh Peak is a Non-metropolitan district and borough of the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. Administered from Chapel-en-le-Frith, it is mostly composed of high moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Peak District....
fall within Greater Manchester's sphere of influence by way of some transport being provided by the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport ExecutiveThe Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England....
.
History
Toponymy and definition
The name Glossop is thought to be of Saxon origin, named during the
AnglesThe Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
' settlement in the 7th century, and derived from
Glott's Hop - where
hop could mean a valley, a small valley in a larger valley system, or a piece of land enclosed by marshes and
Glott was probably a chieftain's name. Because of its size and location, Glossop had many definitions. The village of Glossop is now called Old Glossop. Howard Town and Milltown gained importance. They were named New Town and then Glossop. Local government reorganisations had caused the Glossopdale villages to be promoted to a municipal borough and then have that status removed. Land has been added to Glossop and other lands removed. From a small settlement it became an ancient parish, a manor, a borough, and a township. Currently two county divisions in High Peak Borough, Derbyshire, have Glossop as part of their names.
Roman and Saxon
There is evidence of a Bronze Age burial site on Shire Hill (near
Old GlossopOld Glossop is a Parish village and the original part of the town of Glossop in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England, about 16.5 miles east of Manchester...
) and other possibly prehistoric remains at Torside (on the slopes of
Bleaklow|}Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass , in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop...
). The
RomansRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
arrived in 78 AD. At that time the area was within the territory of the
BrigantesThe Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of Northern England and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom was known as Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
tribe, whose main base was in
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
. The Romans built a road over the Pennines that descended into the Etherow valley along Doctor's Gate, and in the late first century a fort,
ArdotaliaArdotalia is a Roman fort in Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, England .Ardotalia was constructed by Cohors Primae Frisiavonum—The First Cohort of Frisiavones. Evidence for the existence of this unit exists not only from the building stone found at the site but also from various diplomas and...
, on high ground above the river in present day
GamesleyGamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
. The site of this fort was rediscovered in 1771 by an amateur historian, the Rev. John Watson. It subsequently acquired the name "Melandra Castle". The extensive site has been excavated, revealing fort walls, a shrine and the fort headquarters. The area has been landscaped to provide parking and picnic areas. The prehistoric earthworks of Torside Castle are visible on Harrop Moss just north west of Bleaklow Head above the Longdendale Valley.
Medieval
William I of EnglandWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
awarded the manor of Glossop to
William PeverilWilliam Peverel , was a Norman knight said to have fought in the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
, who began construction of
Glossop CastleGlossop Castle is located North of Glossop, off "Hilltop Road", 14 miles east of Manchester, on the A57. The site is visible from the main road, standing atop a commanding ridge. Some 16 miles South-East is Peveril Castle.-History:...
, but the entire estate was later confiscated. In 1157
Henry II of EnglandHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
gave the manor of Glossop to
Basingwerk AbbeyBasingwerk Abbey is the ruin of an abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, in the care of Cadw .The establishment was founded in 1132 by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester, and monks from Savigny Abbey settled there. In 1147, the abbey became part of the Cistercian Order and therefore a...
. They gained a
market charterMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
for Glossop in 1290, and one for Charlesworth in 1328.
In 1433, the monks leased all of Glossopdale to the Talbot family, later
Earls of ShrewsburyEarl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation:...
. In 1494, an illegitimate son of the family, Dr John Talbot, was appointed vicar of Glossop. He founded a school, and paved the Roman road over the moors; this is known as Doctor's Gate.
At the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
in 1537 the manor of Glossop was given to the Talbot family. In 1606 it came into the ownership of the Howard family, the Dukes of Norfolk, who held it for the next 300 years. Glossop was usually given to the second son of the family.
The land was too wet and cold to be used for wheat, but was ideal for the hardy
Pennine sheepSwaledale is a breed of domestic sheep named after the Yorkshire valley of Swaledale. They are found throughout the more mountainous areas of Great Britain, but particularly in County Durham, Yorkshire, and the lower fells of Cumbria....
, so agriculture was predominantly pastoral. Most of the land was owned by the Howards and was leasehold and it was only in
Whitfield-Places:United States* Whitfield, Florida* Whitfield, Indiana* Whitfield, Pennsylvania* Whitfield County, GeorgiaUnited Kingdom*England**Whitfield, Derbyshire**Whitfield, South Gloucestershire**Whitfield, Herefordshire**Whitfield, Kent...
that there was any freehold land. The few houses were solid, built of the local stone, and allowed for the development of home industries such as wool spinning and weaving.
Industrial and civic history
The medieval economy was based on sheep pasture and the production of wool by farmers who were tenants of the Abbot of Basingwerk and later the Talbot family. During the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
of the 18th century Glossop became a centre for cotton spinning. A good transport network between Liverpool and Glossop brought in imported cotton which was spun by a labour force with wool spinning skills. The climate of Glossopdale provided abundant soft water that was used to power mills and finish the cloth, and also gave the humidity necessary to spin cotton under tension. Initial investment was provided by the Dukes of Norfolk. By 1740, cotton in an unspun form had been introduced to make
fustianFustian is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare....
s and lighter cloths.
Mills
The first mills in Glossop were woollen mills. In 1774,
Richard ArkwrightSir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is usually credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. A self-made man, he was a leading entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution...
opened a mill at
CromfordCromford is a large village in Derbyshire, England,-History:It is one of the significant sites in the development of the Industrial Revolution...
. He developed the
factory systemThe factory system was a method of manufacturing first adopted in England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and later spreading abroad. Fundamentally, each worker created a separate part of the total assembly of a product, thus increasing the efficiency of factories. Workers, paid by...
and patented machines for spinning cotton and
cardingCarding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganized clumps of fiber and then aligns the individual fibers so that they are more or less parallel with each other. These ordered fibers can then be passed on to other processes that are specific to the desired end use of the fiber:...
. In 1785, his patents expired and many people copied Arkwright's system and his patents, exemplified by the
Derwent Valley MillsDerwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for...
. By 1788 there were over 200 Arkwright-type mills in Britain. At the same time there were 17 cotton mills in Derbyshire, principally in Glossop. By 1831 there were at least 30 mills in Glossopdale, none of which had more than 1000 spindles. The mill owners were local men: the Wagstaffs and Hadfields were freeholders from
WhitfieldWhitfield is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located south of Glossop town hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook. The urban area stretches about up the hillside. Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient parish of Glossop, and in the manor...
; the Shepleys, Shaws, Lees, Garlicks and Platts had farmed the dale. The Sidebottoms were from
HadfieldHadfield is a small residential town in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District, and is a residential area/town next to Glossop with many local amenities and services being based in Glossop.-Geography:...
, the Thornleys were carpenters, and John Bennet and John Robinson were clothiers.
John WoodJohn Wood of Marsden came to Glossop from Manchester in 1819 and bought existing woollen mills which he expanded. These were the Howard Town mills...
of
Marsden-As a surname:As a surname, Marsden may refer to:* Betty Marsden , British comedy actress* Brian G. Marsden, British astronomer* Chris Marsden, former Football player* David Marsden, Canadian radio broadcaster...
came from Manchester in 1819 and bought existing woollen mills which he expanded. These were the Howard Town mills.
Francis SumnerFrancis Sumner was the only Roman Catholic mill owner in Glossop. Catholicism was strong in Glossop because of he influence of the Howards and their estate staff, the Ellisons, Francis Hawke and John le Jardins. Sumner was a Whig and thus Liberal. Sumner moved to Glossop in October 1822...
was a Catholic whose family had connections with Matthew Ellison, Howard's agent. He built Wren's Nest Mill. The Sidebottoms built the Waterside mill at Hadfield. In 1825, John Wood installed the first steam engine and power looms. Sumner and Sidebottom followed suit and the three mills, Wren's Nest, Howardtown and Waterside, became very large vertical combines (a vertical combine was a mill that both spun the yarn and then used it to weave cloth). With the other major families, the Shepleys, Rhodes and Platts, they dominated the dale. In 1884, the six had 82% of the spinning capacity with 892,000 spindles and 13,571 looms. Glossop was a town of very large calico mills. The calico printing factory of
Edmund PotterEdmund Potter senior was from a Manchester family and grandfather to Beatrix Potter. He was a unitarian and a Liberal. Potter moved his business to Glossop in 1825, he rebuilt Joseph Lyne's Boggart Mill, and converted it to a printworks. He moved his family to Dinting Lodge in 1842.Originally...
(located in Dinting Vale) in the 1850s printed 2,500,000 pieces of printed calico, of which 80% was for export. The paper industry was created by
Edward PartingtonEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
who, as Olive and Partington, bought the Turn Lee Mill in 1874 to produce high-quality paper from wood pulp by the sulphite method. He expanded rapidly with mills in Salford and Barrow in Furness. He merged with Kellner of
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
and was created
Lord DoverdaleEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
in 1917. He died in 1925; his factories in Charlestown created nearly 1000 jobs.
Religion and benevolence
Lord Bernard Edward Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk
rebuilt the old parish church in 1831, built All Saints Roman Catholic chapel in 1836, improved the Hurst Reservoir in 1837, and built the town hall, whose foundation stone was laid on Coronation Day 1838.
The
Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester RailwayThe Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was an early British railway company which opened in stages between 1841 and 1845 between Sheffield and Manchester via Ashton-Under-Lyne...
came to Dinting in 1842, but it was the
13th Duke of NorfolkHenry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk KG, PC was an English politician.-Biography:In 1814 he married Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, the daughter of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland....
who built the spur line to Howard Town, so that coal could be brought from the colleries at
DukinfieldDukinfield is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in central Tameside on the south bank of the River Tame, opposite Ashton-under-Lyne, and is east of the city of Manchester...
.
Glossop railway stationGlossop railway station serves the town of Glossop in Derbyshire, England and is the busier of the twin termini at the Derbyshire end of the Manchester to Glossop Line, the other being Hadfield station....
bears the lion, the symbol of the Norfolks. Many of the street- and placenames in Glossop derive from the names and titles of the Dukes of Norfolk, such as Norfolk Square, and a cluster of residential streets off Norfolk Street that were named after
Lord Henry Charles Fitzalan Howard, the 13th Duke of NorfolkHenry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk KG, PC was an English politician.-Biography:In 1814 he married Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, the daughter of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland....
, the first Catholic MP since the reformation.
A two-storey Township
WorkhouseUnder the Poor Law systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest reference to a workhouse dates to 1652 in Exeter. There is, however, some written...
was built between 1832 and 1834 on Bute Street . Its administration was taken over by Glossop Poor Law Union in December 1837. The workhouse buildings included a 40-bed infirmary, piggeries, and casual wards for vagrants. The workhouse later became Glossop Public Assistance Institution and from 1948 the
N.H.S.The National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the publicly-funded health care services in Great Britain. In England the name National Health Service is used without further qualification whereas the services in Scotland and Wales are known as NHS Scotland and NHS Wales...
Shire Hill Hospital.
The mill owners, Catholics, Anglican, Methodist and Unitarian, built reading rooms and chapels. They worked together and worshipped together with their workers. The Woods, Sidebottoms and Shepleys were Anglicans and hence Tory, and they dominated every vestry, which was the only form of local government before 1866. They built four churches
St James's, WhitfieldSt. James' Church is an Anglican church in the evangelical tradition located in the town of Glossop, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands of England. Along with St. Luke's Church, it makes up Whitfield Parish within Derby Diocese. Rev Colin Cooper is the present Vicar of Whitfield Parish...
in 1846, St Andrew's Hadfield in 1874, Holy Trinity Dinting in 1875 and St Luke's Glossop. Francis Sumner and the Ellisons and Norfolks were Catholic and built St Charles's Hadfield and St Mary's Glossop. The smaller mill owners were Dissenters and congregated at Littlemoor Independent Chapel built in Hadfield in 1811, but they later built a further eleven chapels.
For decades there was rivalry between
Edward PartingtonEdward Partington was an English industrialist.-Biography:Partington was born in Bury, England and arrived in Glossop in 1874. He, with his partner William Olive, bought the Turn Lee Mill from Thomas Hamer Ibbotson. He bought it to try out a modern method of paper manufacture using the sulphite...
, his friend Herbert Rhodes, and the Woods and Sidebottoms. The Woods built the public baths and laid out the park. Partington built the library. Partington built the cricket pavilion, so
Samuel Hill-WoodSir Samuel Hill Hill-Wood, 1st Baronet , born Samuel Hill Wood, was a British businessman, Conservative politician cricketer and football club chairman.-Early life:...
s sponsored the football club that for one season, 1899-1890, played in League Division One. He went on to be chairman of a London club, Arsenal. He was MP for High Peak from 1910–1929. Edward's son,
OswaldOswald Partington, 2nd Baron Doverdale was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom.The son of mill-owner Edward Partington and born in Bury, he was elected at the 1900 general election as Member of Parliament for High Peak constituency in Derbyshire, and held the seat through two further...
, was MP for High Peak from 1900–1910. Ann Kershaw Woods devoted herself to Anglican education and had schools built.
Cotton famine and industrial relations
In 1851, 38% of the men and 27% of the women were employed in cotton; the only alternative employment was agriculture, building, or labouring on the railway. Consequently the town was vulnerable to interruptions in the supply of cotton or the export trade. The
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
caused the cotton famine of 1861–4. The mill owners met together and put in place a relief programme through which they supplied food, clogs and coal to their employees. Howard increased the workforce on his estate, and public works (such as improving the domestic water supply) were undertaken. They provided unsecured loans to the workers until the cotton returned. The relationship between the owners and men was one of paternal benevolence. They lived in the same community and worshipped in the same churches. The mill owners were the local aldermen, the church elders, and led the sports teams. In the
LudditeThe Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested—often by destroying mechanized looms—against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their entire way of...
and
ChartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
times and the period following Peterloo, Glossop was virtually unaffected, despite its proximity to
HydeHyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northwest of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester.-Medieval:...
, a radical hotbed. In the 4s 2d or swing strike it was incomers from
AshtonAshton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
who stopped the Glossop mills. The rivalry in Glossop was not based on class, but on religious groups.
Modern (20th century)
The decline of
cotton spinningCotton-spinning machinery refers to machines which process prepared cotton roving into workable yarn or thread. Such machinery can be dated back centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, as part of the Industrial Revolution cotton-spinning machinery was developed to bring mass production to...
has resulted in the closure of many of the town's mills. The Howard family sold the Glossop Estate in 1925 and donated large areas to the people of Glossop. Manor Park was the location of the family's
Manor HouseA manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the administrative centre of a manor , the lowest unit of territorial organization in the feudal system...
and gardens. The recession of the 1929 hit Glossop very hard. In 1929 the unemployment rate was 14%, and in 1931 it was 55%. In Hadfield it reached 67%. National initiatives to improve housing and employment conditions largely failed, and mills fell empty and decayed. Unemployment remained at 36% in 1938. The
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
changed this: military stores, metals, machine tools, munitions, rubber and essential industries moved into the empty factories and left Glossop with a more diverse range of industries.
In spite of the post-war Barlow Report and government intervention, no significant employer moved into Glossop.
GamesleyGamesley is a residential area within the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England, west of Glossop and north of New Mills. It lies close to the River Etherow which is the boundary with Tameside in Greater Manchester.-Early:...
underwent considerable change in the 1960s, when a large council estate was built, mainly to house people from Manchester. These housing areas, called '
Overspill estateAn overspill estate is a housing estate planned and built for the rehousing of people from decaying inner city areas usually as part of the process of slum clearance....
s', were also built in other towns surrounding Manchester.
Plans
Glossop has been included as pilot in the Liveability scheme, and has drawn up the Glossop Vision masterplan for the improvement and gentrification of the town. This is being partially funded by the
Heritage Lottery FundThe Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
. It aims to open up access to the Glossop Brook, coordinate developments in Glossop town centre, enhance the built environment and link the town to its wider setting. As such, the mills have become a retail development with housing, trees are to be planted along the
A57The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
and the market square pedestrianised.
Governance
In the local government reorganisation of 1974 the Borough of Glossop was abolished, and since then the two levels of local government are Derbyshire County Council, based in Matlock, and
High Peak Borough CouncilHigh Peak Borough Council is the second level of local government for residents of the High Peak borough of Derbyshire.-History:The High Peak Borough Council was formed on April 1, 1974 by absorbing the municipal boroughs of Buxton and Glossop, the urban districts of New Mills and Whaley Bridge and...
based in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Glossop was included in the "South East Lancashire Special Review Area" under the
Local Government Act 1958The Local Government Act 1958 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting local government in England and Wales outside London...
, and the
Redcliffe-Maud ReportThe Redcliffe-Maud Report is the name generally given to the report published by the Royal Commission on Local Government in England 1966-1969 under the chairmanship of Lord Redcliffe-Maud.-Terms of reference and membership:...
of 1969 recommended its inclusion in a
South East Lancashire–North East CheshireGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and...
metropolitan area. Glossop was not ultimately included in the Greater Manchester area established by the
Local Government Act 1972The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
. Local people voted to stay within the County of Derbyshire in 1973. The county council, originally based in
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, moved to Matlock in the late 1950s to facilitate easier travelling to the county hall from the northern extremities such as Glossop and the High Peak.
For the county council Glossop is split between the divisions of Glossop South, Glossop North and Rural, and Etherow. Glossop North and Rural also contain the old Charlesworth and Chisworth wards that were collectively known as St John's. Etherow division contains Hadfield North, Hadfield South, Gamesley and the large and sparsely populated Tintwistle ward, which was formerly in Cheshire. These boundaries were set in 2005.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Division
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Etherow
| Cllr Dave Wilcox
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Glossop North and Rural
| Cllr George Wharmby
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Glossop South
| Cllr Jean Wharmby
|-
|}
At the district level, that is High Peak Borough Council, Glossop comprises these wards: Dinting, Gamesley, Hadfield North, Hadfield South, Old Glossop, Padfield, Howard Town, Simmondley and Whitfield. St John's represents the rural area that was formerly Glossopdale RDC and lies within the National Park. These were the wards used in the 2001 Census.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Ward
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Dinting
| Cllr WHARMBY, Jean
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Gamesley
| Cllr MCKEOWN, Anthony Edward
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield North
| Cllr MANN, Victoria Elizabeth
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield South
| Cllr FOOTE, Marie Melita
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Hadfield South
| Cllr MCKEOWN, Robert Joseph
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Howard Town
| Cllr WILKINSON, Jacqueline Margaret
Cllr WILSON, Barbara June
|-
! style="background-color: white |
| Old Glossop
| Cllr BELL, Ivan
Cllr WEBSTER, Chris
|-
!style="background-color: " |
| Padfield
| Cllr KAY, Peter James
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Howard Town
| Cllr Tony Ashton
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Simmondley
| Cllr CROMPTON, Matthew James Andrew
Cllr HAKEN, John
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Whitfield
| Cllr OAKLEY, Graham Nigel
|-
|}
Glossop itself does not have a parish council, but Tintwistle and St Johns are parished.
The Member of Parliament for the
High Peak constituencyHigh Peak is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a marginal seat between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party and at present is Labour's 13th most marginal seat.- Boundaries :...
since 1997 has been
Tom LevittTom Levitt is a British politician, and Labour member of Parliament for High Peak.-Early life:Although born in Crewe in 1954, Levitt grew up in Leek, Staffordshire. He was one of the first intake of boys when a girls' grammar school became comprehensive Westwood High...
MP, representing
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
. His majority in the 2005 General Election was 735 over the
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
candidate Andrew Bingham.
{|
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Constituency
! Holder
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| High Peak
| Tom Levitt, MP
|-
|}
Historic Glossop
Historically, the ancient parish of Glossop consisted of the ten townships of the manor: Glossop, Hadfield, Padfield, Dinting, Simmondley, Whitfield, Chunal, Charlesworth, Chisworth, Ludworth and nine more:
MellorMellor is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. Mellor, situated between Marple Bridge and New Mills, runs along a tributary of the River Goyt. It extends from the start of the old turnpike road at the boundary of Marple Bridge to the current county...
, Thornsett,
RowarthRowarth is a hamlet about 2.5 miles north of New Mills in the High Peak borough of Derbyshire, England. It is on the edge of the Peak District, in the hills between New Mills and Marple Bridge. It is within the boundaries of the former town....
,
WhittleNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
BeardNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
OllersettNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
,
HayfieldHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
,
Little HayfieldLittle Hayfield is a hamlet in the Peak District National Park, in England. It lies on the A624 between Hayfield and Glossop. Its main point of interest is the Lantern Pike pub. Sheepdog trials and fell racing take place there....
,
PhosideHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
,
KinderHayfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak, in the county of Derbyshire, England.The civil parish includes Hayfield village itself, along with Little Hayfield and part of Birch Vale.-Location and geography:...
, Bugsworth, Brownside and
ChinleyChinley is a rural village in High Peak Borough, situated on the western edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, with a population of around 2000. Before the railway, the area was economically dominated by agriculture and quarrying. Three textile mills were established in...
. Within the parish were the chapelries of Hayfield and Mellor.. The ancient parish was in the Hundred of High Peak; it was about in length and wide, with an area of . Beard, Ollerset, Thornsett and Whittle later formed the town of
New MillsNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
, while Hayfield, Little Hayfield, Phoside and Kinder joined the parish of Hayfield. The chapelry of Mellor included Mellor, Chisworth, Ludworth, Whittle and part of Thornsett.
The Manor of Glossop was made up of the territory that includes
HadfieldHadfield is a small residential town in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District, and is a residential area/town next to Glossop with many local amenities and services being based in Glossop.-Geography:...
,
PadfieldPadfield is a small village, near Hadfield in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District National Park, and the nearest town is Glossop where many local amenities and services are based...
,
DintingDinting is a district of Glossop in Derbyshire, England. It is a small village and has no shops; the nearest are in neighbouring Glossop or Hadfield. However, there is a small primary school, Dinting C of E, located near the viaduct. The village is served by Dinting railway station...
,
SimmondleySimmondley is a small village in the Derbyshire town of Glossop,near Manchester. It hosts two pubs, the Hare and Hounds, and the Jubilee. The Hare and Hounds, is situated in the south of the village at the top of Simmondley Lane. The pub is a part of the original farming community with the farm...
,
WhitfieldWhitfield is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located south of Glossop town hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook. The urban area stretches about up the hillside. Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient parish of Glossop, and in the manor...
,
ChunalChunal is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located on the A624 road, 1 mile south of Glossop. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein conducted aeronautical research at Chunal during his time as an engineering research student at Manchester University . He flew kites into the upper atmosphere....
,
CharlesworthCharlesworth is a village in Glossop, Derbyshire, England. It is located 2 miles south-west of Glossop's town centre and very close to the borders of Greater Manchester with the nearby village of Broadbottom in Tameside. The parish church of St John the Baptist was built in 1848-49. The...
,
ChisworthChisworth is a hamlet near Glossop, Derbyshire, England. It is located 3 miles south-west of Glossop's town centre, on the south side of the Etherow valley. The parish of Chisworth was formed in 1896, out of the parish of Chisworth and Ludworth. In 1901, it had a population of 409...
,
LudworthLudworth was a Civil Parish in the county of Derbyshire, in England. It was created in 1896. It was part of Glossop Dale Rural District until 1934 when it was transferred to Chapel En le Frith Rural District. In 1936 it was transferred, along with Mellor to Marple Urban District...
and the village of Glossop, now called
Old GlossopOld Glossop is a Parish village and the original part of the town of Glossop in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, England, about 16.5 miles east of Manchester...
. It had an area of , of which more than were classed as moorland.
The Municipal Borough of Glossop (1866–1974) contained the land within two miles of the Town Hall in Howard Town and a slither to the north bounded by the River Etherow, an area of . It is cited as an example of a 'millocracy' as two thirds of the elected councillors were mill owners. The remaining parishes of Charlesworth, Chisworth and Ludworth formed Glossopdale Rural District, which remained in existence till 1934 when they were split, Ludworth going into Marple RDC, Chisworth and the greater part of Charlesworth joining Chapel en le Frith RDC and the smaller part joining Glossop.
The present community of Glossop is centred on Howardtown. It is served by the Glossopdale Area Forum and the Glossop Town Partnership.
The previous hamlet of Glossop is now known as Old Glossop.
Geography
Glossop is north-west of London, east of the city of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, west of the city of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. It nestles in the foothills of the
PenninesThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range in northern England and southern Scotland. They separate the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East....
, with
Bleaklow|}Bleaklow is a high, largely peat covered, gritstone moorland, just north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass , in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop...
to the northeast and
Kinder ScoutKinder Scout is a moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District and the highest point in Derbyshire...
to the south. It lies on Glossop Brook, a tributary of the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
, in the area of peat moorland commonly known as the
Dark PeakThe Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of impervious millstone grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...
. The moors which rise to over 600m, are cut by many deep V-shaped valleys known as cloughs, each formed by a stream known as a brook. The Shelf Brook passes through Old Glossop where it joins the Hurst Brook to form the Glossop Brook,which passed westward through Milltown, Howard Town and Dinting to the River Etherow, that runs south to join the River Goyt at Marple Bridge. Two other notable brooks are the Padfield Brook and the Gnat Hole Brook.
The Shelf Brook leads from Shelf Moor on Bleaklow down Doctor's Gate through Old Glossop to the Glossop Brook. The valley was used by the
RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
for a road, and currently contains a bridleway. The north slope of Holden Clough and the Hurst Brook is used by the
A57 roadThe A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
known as the
Snake PassThe Snake Pass is the name given to the higher reaches of the A57 road where it crosses the Peak District between Manchester and Sheffield in the north of England....
. The Snake Pass crosses the
Pennine WayThe Pennine Way is a National Trail in England. The trail runs from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park, to end at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border.-History:...
near Doctor's Gate Culvert (512 m above sea level) before descending to the east to
Ladybower ReservoirLadybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir, and finally through Ladybower...
along the northern side of the
River AshopThe River Ashop is a river in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. Its source is on Black Ashop Moor, just east of the Pennine Way, and north of Kinder Scout....
valley. Here a road leads east over Hallam Moor into
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
, and south along the
River DerwentThe Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For most of its length, the river flows through the Peak District....
into
BaslowBaslow is a village in the Derbyshire, England, Peak District, lying between Sheffield and Bakewell. It is situated on the River Derwent just north of Chatsworth House. A seventeenth century bridge spans the river in the village, alongside which is a contemporary toll house...
and Matlock. To the north of Glossop is Tintwistle; the
River EtherowThe River Etherow is a river in the north west of England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. It formed the boundary between the traditional counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale...
is the boundary. Today, the
LongdendaleLongdendale is a valley in the north west of England, north of Glossop and south east of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley".- Geography :...
valley forms a chain of reservoirs that provide drinking water for Manchester. At the head of the valley is
WoodheadWoodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail...
, where the road from
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
joins the road to Sheffield, and a three-mile railway tunnel brought the railway from
PenistonePenistone is a small market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 10,101 at the 2001 census. It lies west of the town of Barnsley and north east of Glossop, in the foothills of the Pennines...
.
Geology
Directly beneath Glossop lie areas of
CarboniferousThe Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Ma , to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma ....
Millstone Grit,
shaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable...
s and
sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow,...
. Glossop is on the edge of the Peak District Dome, at the southern edge of the Pennine anticline. The
Variscan upliftThe Variscan orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.-Naming:...
has caused much faulting and Glossopdale was the product of glacial action in the last glaciation period that exploited the weakened rocks. The steep-sided valleys of the cloughs cause significant erosion and deposition. The layers of sandstone, mudstones and shale in the bedrock act as a
aquiferAn aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
to feed the springs. The valley bottoms have a thin deposit of
Boulder ClayBoulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America. Boulder clay is variously known as till...
. The brooks are fed by the
peatPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetlandbogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests...
y soils of the moors thus are acid (pH5.5–7.0); this means the instream wildlife is dependent on food sources from outside the channel.
Climate
Glossop experiences a
temperateIn geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. But in continental areas, such as central North America the variations between summer...
maritime climateAn oceanic climate is the climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, and in southeastern Australia...
, like much of the
British IslesThe British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain, Ireland and numerous smaller islands. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland...
, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. Glossop has a history of flash flooding, the
most recent being in 2002 when High Street West was flooded to a depth of , but climate change means floods may become more severe and frequent.
Demography
Glossop has been subject to frequent boundary changes, so different analyses can be made of the same raw datasets depending on how the 'equivalent' area is interpreted, which may or may not bear the same name.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:70%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1801
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1811
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1821
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1831
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1839
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1851
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1861
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1871
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1881
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1891
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population Glossop
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 3,625
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,012*
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 6,212
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 9,631
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 14,577
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,587
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,000
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 20,673
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,574
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 22,416
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Glossop and Charlesworth
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 2,759
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,012*
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 5,135
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 7,897
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 12,569
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,454
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,126
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 18,508
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,393
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 23,493
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Source:A Vision of Britain through TimeSource:Small Town Politics, 1959, A.H.Birch. pub OUP * Data set includes Chisworth and Ludworth
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:70%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1901
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1911
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1921
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1931
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1939
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1951
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1961
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1971
! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 2001
|- Align="center"
! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,520
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 21,688
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 20,531
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 19,509
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | estimate 23,500
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 18,994
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,500
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 24,272
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 32,428
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Source:A Vision of Britain through Time
|}
Economy
Glossop was a product of the wealth of the cotton industry. Glossop's economy was linked closely with a spinning and weaving tradition which had evolved from developments in
textile manufacture during the Industrial RevolutionWith the establishment of overseas colonies, the British Empire at the end of the 17th century/beginning of the 18th century had a vast source of raw materials and a vast market for manufactured goods...
. Before the first world war, Glossop had the headquarters of an international paper empire, the largest calico printworks in the world, a large
bleachA bleach is a chemical that removes colors or whitens, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household "chlorine bleach", a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite , and "oxygen bleach", which contains hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound such as sodium...
works, and six spinning
weavingWeaving is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, called the warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a fabric or cloth...
combines with over 600,000 spindles and 12,000 looms and two niche manufacturers:
grindstoneMillstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called buhrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s and
industrial beltA belt is a looped strip of flexible material, used to mechanically link two or more rotating shafts. They may be used as a source of motion, to efficiently transmit power, or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys...
s. In the 1920s, these firms were refloated on the easily available
share capitalShare capital or issued capital or capital stock refers to the portion of a company's equity that has been obtained by trading stock to a shareholder for cash or an equivalent item of capital value...
—thus were victims of the stockmarket crash. Their product lines were vulnerable to the new economic conditions.
The main street comprises a variety of shops, restaurants and food outlets.
Glossop is located close to the border of the Peak National Park, and to the east are the open moorlands of the
Dark PeakThe Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of impervious millstone grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...
. The local economy benefits from the many thousands of tourists who visit the Park each year and who use Glossop as the
gateway to the Peak.
The town has a permanent
Tourist Information Centre, which is currently located on Henry Street, sharing the Glossop Heritage Centre.
Landmarks
Wren's Nest Mills
Wren's Nest Mills on High Street West were built c. 1800–10, with further extensions in 1815 and 1818, the latter incorporating an octagonal tower. The present building is a small part of the original complex, that in its heyday employed 1,400 workers operating 123,000 spindles and 2541 looms. It ceased trading in 1955.
Wood's Mill, Howardtown Mills, Milltown Mills
From a group of small mills at Bridge End, John Wood built a complex of mills. Bridge End Mill was originally built in 1782 as a fulling mill. Today one mill building is being restored, and the Milltown mills lie idle.
Town Hall
Glossop Town Hall and Market House was designed in Italianate style by Sheffield architects Weightman and Hadfield. The foundation stone was laid on 28 June 1838, the Coronation Day of Queen Victoria. The buildings were opened on 10 July 1845. Cost of construction exceeded £8,500. The facilities included a lock-up with four cells heated by hot water.
Dinting Viaduct
The viaduct was built in 1845, and later reinforced with additional piers. An accident occurred in 1855, when an MS&LR passenger train was stopped by signalling on the viaduct at night. Two men and a woman mistook the parapet of the viaduct for the station platform at Hadfield, alighted from the train and fell 75 feet to their deaths.
Parish Church of All Saints
The present-day (2008) fabric of the parish church of
All SaintsAll Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honor of all the saints, known and unknown.In terms of Western Christian theology, the day...
is mostly of the 20th century; very little remains of the previous churches on this site.
The first mention of a church in Glossop is in the charter of 1157 conferring the manor of Glossop on Basingwerk Abbey. Although the dedication of the church to All Saints may indicate an Anglo-Saxon origin, no trace of such a church has been found. The first recorded vicar is William, of 1252. At this time the church was probably aisleless. It was altered in the 15th century when the nave was rebuilt with arcades, aisles and a still extant (2008) arch at the east end of the north aisle. In 1554 a new and taller tower with a broach spire was built 3 feet west of the old tower, incorporating the east wall of the previous tower. The nave was completely rebuilt in 1831, with removal and replacement of much of the old fabric including the tracery of the aisle windows. The work was carried out by the firm of E.W.Drury of Sheffield, the cost far exceeding the initial estimate of £700. When the nave was rebuilt in 1914 it was discovered that the arch leading to the chancel had been partly made up of plaster, the wall supported by this arch had not been bonded into the existing chancel walls, and the "oak" roof bosses were also plaster. Between the pillars of the nave sleeper walls had been built to a higher level than the pillar bases. These walls appear to have been needed to counteract the effects on the church structure of a combination of excess drainage from the nearby hillside and the numerous burials inside the church. The pillars of the new nave of 1914 were superimposed on the bases of the old pillars, and the floor built up to cover the sleeper walls.
The tower and chancel were demolished and rebuilt in 1853-55, the new tower also having a broach spire. The chancel was again rebuilt in 1923, completing the architect C.M. Hadfield's plan of 1914. The present church has a nave of 5 bays, 74 feet long by 48 feet wide, with north and south aisles, and a chancel of 40 feet by 20 feet with a north aisle dedicated as St Catherine's Chapel.
Open Spaces
Two public open spaces in Glossop have been given the
Green Flag awardThe Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up by Mark Davis in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards. It is seen as a way of encouraging others to aim for...
.
Manor Park is close to the town centre, and commands spectacular views of the surrounding countryside.
Howard Park was described by the Award organisation as "a good example of visionary layout from the Victorian era retaining many original features".
Harehills Park, with its riverside footpath and mature trees has been identified by Glossop Vision as a strategic open space. The Park was donated by the 2nd Lord Howard of Glossop as a Great War memorial.
Transport
Roads
The main road through Glossop is the
A57The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, via Warrington, Irlam, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass , around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop.Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the A57...
. To the west, this road (with the parallel
M67 motorwayThe M67 is a five mile urban motorway in Greater Manchester, England which heads east from the M60 motorway passing through Denton and Hyde before ending near Mottram. It had originally conceived as the first part of a trans-Pennine motorway between Manchester and Sheffield connecting the A57...
) leads to
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, while
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
lies to the east, via the
Snake PassThe Snake Pass is the name given to the higher reaches of the A57 road where it crosses the Peak District between Manchester and Sheffield in the north of England....
. The B6105 leads north then east, along the
Woodhead PassLongdendale is a valley in the north west of England, north of Glossop and south east of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley".- Geography :...
and eventually to the
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
town of
BarnsleyBarnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...
and the
M1 motorwayThe M1 is a major north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
.
Chapel-en-le-FrithChapel-en-le-Frith is a small town in Derbyshire, England, on the edge of the Peak District near the border with Cheshire, and within commuting distance of the city of Manchester. Dubbed "The Capital Of The Peak District", Chapel-en-le-Frith was established by the Normans in the 12th century,...
and
BuxtonBuxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
lie to the south, along the A624.
Public transport
Public transport is coordinated by Derbyshire County Council, with rail travel and some bus services being subcontracted out to the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport ExecutiveThe Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England....
(GMPTE).
Rail
There are regular half-hour train services from
Glossop railway stationGlossop railway station serves the town of Glossop in Derbyshire, England and is the busier of the twin termini at the Derbyshire end of the Manchester to Glossop Line, the other being Hadfield station....
to
Manchester Piccadilly stationManchester Piccadilly station is the principal railway station of Manchester in England. It serves intercity routes to London Euston, Birmingham New Street, South Wales and the south coast of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central in Scotland, and routes throughout northern England...
and
Hadfield railway stationHadfield railway station serves the village of Hadfield in Derbyshire, England. The station is one of the twin termini at the Derbyshire end of the Manchester-Glossop Line, the other being Glossop. It was opened by the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway in 1844.The line formerly...
along the remaining stub of the former
Woodhead LineThe Woodhead Line was a railway line linking Sheffield, Penistone and Manchester in the north of England. A key feature of the route is the passage under the high moorlands of the northern Peak District through the Woodhead Tunnels...
.
A user group, the
Friends of Glossop Station, are working to make the station more attractive and to encourage greater use of public transport. The trains operated on the line are 3 car
Class 323The British Rail Class 323 electric multiple units were built by Hunslet TPL from 1992-93. Forty-three 3-car units were built for inner-suburban services around Birmingham and Manchester...
Electric Multiple Units built in 1992 - 1993 by
Hunslet TPLThe Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...
.
Buses
There are regular bus services running to towns in
TamesideThe Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after the River Tame which flows through the borough and consists of the eight towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge....
, to
BuxtonBuxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
,
New MillsNew Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately 8 miles south-east of Stockport. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town is situated at the north western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of...
and
Whaley BridgeWhaley Bridge is a small town and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England, situated on the River Goyt. Whaley Bridge is approximately south of Manchester, north of Buxton , east of Macclesfield and west of Sheffield, and had a population of 6,226 at the 2001 census. This...
, and an infrequent service to
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
via
Ashton-under-LyneAshton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
. There are infrequent services running to other towns and cities such as
MacclesfieldMacclesfield is a market town within the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, with a population of about 50,688...
,
HolmfirthHolmfirth is a small town located on the A6024 Woodhead Road in the Holme Valley, within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Centred upon the confluence of the Holme and Ribble rivers, Holmfirth is 6 miles south of Huddersfield and broadly consists of stone-built...
and
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
.
The majority of bus services in Glossop are run by Stagecoach Manchester,
SpeedwellbusSpeedwellbus is a bus operator based in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. It operates a fleet of 37 buses on commercial and contracted services. Operations commenced in 2002 with a service between Glossop and Tintwistle, and were expanded with the addition of contracts from Derbyshire County...
and
Bowers CoachesBowers Coaches is a bus and coach operator in the High Peak district of Derbyshire in the United Kingdom, operating local bus services centered around the towns of Buxton, Glossop and New Mills...
.
There are infrequent Sunday bus services to local tourist attractions such as
Chatsworth HouseChatsworth House is a large country house at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, England 3½ miles north east of Bakewell . It is the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, and has been home to their family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...
and nearby towns and villages.
Schools and further education
It will be noticed that a large proportion of the primary education is provided by the faith schools.
{|
| align="center" style="background:#cedff2;"|
Primary Schools
|-
| All Saints RC Primary School
|-
| Charlesworth C of E School
|-
| Dinting C of E Primary School
|-
| Duke of Norfolk's C of E Primary School
|-
| Gamesley Community Primary School
|-
| Hadfield Infant School
|-
| Hadfield Nursery School
|-
| Padfield County Primary School
|-
| Simmondley Primary School
|-
| St Andrew's C of E Junior School
|-
| St Charles RC Primary School
|-
| St James's C of E Primary School
(formerly Whitfield Primary School)
|-
| St Luke's C of E Primary School
|-
| St Margaret's RC Primary School
|-
| St Mary's RC Primary School
|-
|
|-
| align="center" style="background:#cedff2;"|
Secondary
|-
|
St Philip Howard Catholic SchoolSt Philip Howard Catholic School is a small Roman Catholic comprehensive school in Glossop in northern Derbyshire....
|-
|
Glossopdale Community CollegeGlossopdale Community College is a secondary school in Glossop, Derbyshire, England.-History:The school used to be the Glossop Grammar School from the 1920s, being on Talbot Road since 1959, becoming Glossop Comprehensive School in 1965 when it merged with West End Secondary Modern Glossopdale...
|-
|
|-
| align="center" style="background:#cedff2;"|
Adult Learning
|-
|
Glossopdale Adult Community Education
|-
|
|-
| align="center" style="background:#cedff2;"|
Libraries
|-
| Glossop Library (Victoria Hall, Talbot Street, Glossop)
|-
| Hadfield Library (Station Rd, Hadfield)
|-
| Eric Read Community Library (Gamesley Primary School, Grindleford Grove, Gamesley)
|-
|
|}
Sport
Glossop is the smallest town in England to have had a team in the top tier of the
English football league systemThe English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England...
.
Glossop North EndGlossop North End A.F.C. are an English football club based in Glossop, Derbyshire. Former members of the Football League, they are currently in the North West Counties Football League and are members of the Derbyshire County Football Association. They play their home matches at Surrey Street,...
were members of the Football League between 1898 and 1915, and around the turn of the 20th century played in Division One. The club was the first in the world to play in, and register its strip as, all-white in colour, well before
Real MadridReal Madrid Club de Fútbol is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. It is the most successful team in Spanish football and was voted by FIFA as the most successful club of the 20th century, having won a record thirty-one La Liga titles, seventeen Spanish Cups, a record nine European...
. The team now plays in the North West Counties Football League Premier Division. In the 2008–09 season they reached the final of the
FA VaseThe Football Association Challenge Vase is an annual football competition for teams playing below Step 4 of the English National League System. For the 2008–09 season 514 entrants were accepted, with two qualifying rounds preceding the six proper rounds, semi-finals and final to be played at...
at
Wembley StadiumThe original Wembley Stadium was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007.-History:...
on May 10, 2009. To mark this achievement,
ArsenalArsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London...
(with whom they retain connections due to Arsenal chairman
Peter Hill-WoodPeter Denis Hill-Wood is a British businessman and the current chairman of Arsenal Football Club.-Biography:Hill-Wood was born in Kensington, London. His father, three uncles and grandfather all played first-class cricket for Derbyshire CCC. He attended Eton College where he was a classmate of...
's grandfather Sir Samuel Hill-Wood having owned and bankrolled Glossop during their run in the Football League) invited them to their state-of-the-art
London ColneyLondon Colney is a village in Hertfordshire, England. It is located to the north of London, at Junction 22 of the M25 motorway.It is near St Albans and part of the St Albans District. At the time of the 2001 census the population of London Colney ward was 7,742. It is considered a satellite or...
training ground during their stay in London, to prepare for the final. Glossop lost 2–0 to
Northern LeagueThe Northern League is a football league in North East England for semi-professional and amateur teams. Having been founded in 1889, the Northern League is the oldest surviving league after The Football League....
First Division side
Whitley BayWhitley Bay Football Club is an English football club in the Northern League Division One. They play at the Hillheads Stadium which is adjacent to Whitley Bay ice rink in Whitley Bay. The club spent much of the 1990s in the Northern Premier League, but now play in the Northern League following...
.
Performing arts
The
Partington Players is an amateur theatre with a 120 seat venue in the centre of town. It runs 6 plays each
season and was established in 1954.
Glossop Operatic and Dramatic Society is an amateur musical / drama society established in 1976.
Community events
The Glossop
VictorianThe Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements...
Weekend, Glossop
CarnivalCarnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February...
and
Bank HolidayA bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population not employed in essential services A bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some...
Markets are held annually in the town. The Victorian Weekend is the biggest weekend event in Glossop and was featured on the BBC's
Songs of PraiseSongs of Praise is a BBC television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. With an average of nearly 3 million viewers weekly it is believed to be the most-watched and one of the longest-running religious television programmes in the world...
. The weekend includes many activities, including a Grand Victorian Costume Competition and a Shop Window Competition.
Running parallel with the Victorian Weekend is Glossop
Beer FestivalA Beer Festival is an organised event during which a variety of beers are available for tasting and purchase. Beer festivals are held in a number of countries...
, run by The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and featuring over 30 beers and a barbecue in Glossop's
Labour ClubThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
.
In recent years, Glossop has become quite well known musically for staging
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
and
world musicWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
festivals.
Glossop has a range of other cultural activities including
Peak Film Society, an innovative new film club.
Emergency service provision
Calls for service in the rural areas usually increase during the summer as the population is boosted by approximately twenty million visitors each year to the Peak District and its surrounds. Winter weather on the high ground around Glossop and Kinder Scout can also cause problems for traffic and residents.
State healthcare is provided for in Glossop and District by Tameside and Glossop NHS Trust. This
NHSThe National Health Service or NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system in England...
trust operates
Tameside General HospitalTameside General Hospital is an NHS hospital situated in Ashton-under-Lyne. Run by Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, it serves the surrounding area of Tameside in Greater Manchester, and the town of Glossop in Derbyshire...
, a foundation hospital, in
Ashton-under-LyneAshton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
. The trust serves two separate communities because there are no district general hospitals (hospitals with Accident and Emergency Department) within the borough of
High PeakHigh Peak is a Non-metropolitan district and borough of the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. Administered from Chapel-en-le-Frith, it is mostly composed of high moorland plateau in the Dark Peak of the Peak District....
, and patients would have to travel over 20 miles to another hospital within the county.
The North West Ambulance Service provides
emergency medical servicesEmergency medical services are a branch of emergency services dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency.Emergency...
for the town from its Chapel Street Ambulance Station.
When Glossop was granted Municipal Borough Status in 1867, the Watch committee elected to implement its own police force. Glossop Police remained independent until 1947 when they amalgamated with the
Derbyshire ConstabularyDerbyshire Constabulary is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the county of Derbyshire, England. The force covers an area of over with a population of just under one million.-Organisation and structure:...
. The police station on Ellison Street is staffed by statutory Police Officers from B Division of Derbyshire Constabulary. It has a custody suite, five cells and an incident room. There are also a team of volunteer Special Constables and six Police Community Support Officers.
General
fire and rescueThe fire service in the United Kingdom operates under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales...
cover is provided by the
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue ServiceDerbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of Derbyshire, England-History:The service was formed as a result of the Fire Services Act 1947. In 1974, all of the borough fire services had to be formed into central county services...
. Specialised search and rescue services are provided by the volunteer Glossop Mountain Rescue Team, part of the
Peak District Mountain Rescue OrganisationMountain Rescue services in England and Wales operate under the umbrella association of the MREW - .-Overview:...
. Their remit is to 'save lives in the mountains and moorlands'.
Twin town
Bad VilbelBad Vilbel is a spa town with many mineral waters. Bad Vilbel is the Town with the most inhabitants in the Wetteraukreis district in Hessen, Germany. It is located approximately 8 km northeast of Frankfurt am Main.- History :...
(
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
)
Bad Vilbel is a
spa townA spa town — or simply a spa — is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
in the
WetteraukreisThe Wetteraukreis is a Kreis in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Landkreis Gießen, Vogelsbergkreis, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, district-free Stadt Frankfurt, Hochtaunuskreis, Lahn-Dill-Kreis.- History :...
district of
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, 8 km northeast of
FrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.26 million in 2001...
.
In 1985
The Glossop-Bad Vilbel Twinning Association was established. Its aims are:
To promote and foster friendship and understanding between the people of Glossop and district and those of Bad Vilbel and district in Germany.
To encourage visits by individuals and groups to and from the linked towns, particularly by children and young people, and the development of personal contacts, and by doing so to broaden the mutual understanding of the cultural, recreational, educational and commercial activities of the linked towns.
Source: The Glossop-Bad Vilbel Twinning Association
In 1987 formal twinning ceremonies were held in both towns, with a tree being planted in Norfolk Square. The Twinning Association arranges for visitors to stay with families.
The two signatories of the charter were Cllr Catherine Holtom, the Mayor of High Peak and Herr Gunther Biwer , Bürgermeister of Bad Vilbel.
Literature and the media
Hilaire BellocJoseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century...
wrote about Glossop in a letter to a Miss Hamilton in 1909: "Do you know the filthy village of Glossop? It is inhabited entirely by savages. I tried every inn in the place and found each inn worse than the last. It stinks for miles. Rather than sleep in such a den I started walking back to Manchester with a huge bag...."
Glossop is mentioned in the satirical book,
England, Their EnglandEngland, Their England is an affectionately satirical comic novel of 1920s English rural society by the Scottish writer A. G. Macdonell. It is particularly famed for its portrayal of village cricket.-Social satire:...
by
A. G. MacdonellArchibald Gordon Macdonell was a Scottish writer, journalist and broadcaster, whose most famous work is the gently satirical novel England, Their England .-Life and work:...
. The town and its fictional newspaper, the
Glossop Evening Mail are described as the lowest rung in the journalistic profession. In
The Meaning of LiffThe Meaning of Liff is a humorous dictionary of toponomy and etymology, written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, published in the United Kingdom in 1983, and first published in the USA in 1984.It is a "dictionary of things that there aren't any words for yet"; all the words listed are place names,...
, by
Douglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer, dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a...
&
John LloydJohn Hardress Wilfred Lloyd is a British comedy writer and television producer. He is the great nephew of John Hardress Lloyd.-Early life and career:...
a
Glossop is defined as a globule of hot food which lands on your friend's newly polished solid wood dining table, and in the radio show
Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan PartridgeKnowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge is a British comedy show first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as a six-episode series, which subsequently transferred to BBC Television with a series of six episodes , and a Christmas special in...
the character "Lord Morgan" came from Glossop.
The cult television comedy
The League of GentlemenThe League of Gentlemen may refer to:*The League of Gentlemen, a radio and television series*The League of Gentlemen *The League of Gentlemen , made in the 1960s*The League of Gentlemen...
is filmed in neighbouring Hadfield. Students from Glossopdale Community College have appeared as extras in two shows. In one they were the audience to the Legz Akimbo theatre group in a play about homosexuality, and in the second they appeared as German students on an exchange program with their teacher, Herr Lipp.
Notable persons
- John Aston (b. 1947) — former Manchester United footballer who currently lives in the town and works in the market. He played in United's European Cup-winning team of 1968 under the management of Sir Matt Busby.
- Mark "Bez" Berry (b. 1964) — a British dancer and percussionist; member and the mascot of Manchester band Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are a British alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day , keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
.
- Tony Booth (b.1931) - a British Actor and Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is an English barrister. She is married to the former British Prime Minister and current Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Tony Blair.-Early life:...
's father.
- Eileen Cooper
Eileen Cooper is an English contemporary painter and printmaker, who makes stylised paintings of women or couples, often featuring unexpected animals...
(b. 1953) — an English contemporary painter and printmaker best known for her stylised paintings of women or couples, often featuring animals (particularly tigers)
- Blessed Nicholas Garlick
Blessed Nicholas Garlick was an English catholic priest, martyred in Derby in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.- Early life :...
(c. 1555 – 24 July 1588) was an English priest, martyred in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
- John Goodall
John Goodall was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre-forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903...
(1863–1942) — described as soccer's first star player
- Stuart Hall (b. 1929) — BBC Radio & Television Presenter
- Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mary Mantel CBE is an English novelist, short story writer and critic. Her work, ranging in subject from personal memoir to historical fiction, has been short-listed for major literary awards...
CBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(b. 1952) is a British novelist, short story writer and critic.
- Paul Raymond (b. 1925-2008) — a billionaire English pornographer, property developer and owner of the Raymond Revuebar strip club and several major English erotic magazines such as Razzle
Razzle is a British soft porn magazine, founded in 1983, which currently focuses on amateur style pornography, offering cash for any photos of "readers' wives" printed. In the past, however, several notable glamour models were featured, including minor celebrity Joanne Guest...
and MayfairMayfair is a British adult magazine for men. Founded in 1965, it was designed as a response to U.S. magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse, which had recently launched in the UK. For many years it claimed the largest distribution of any men's magazine in the UK.-Fisk Publishing era:Mayfair was...
.
- Andy Crane
Andy Crane is an English television and radio presenter, best known for his stint in the Children's BBC "The Broom Cupboard" in the 1980s....
(b. 1964) — a television and radio broadcaster
- Malcolm Hebden
Malcolm Hebden is an English television and stage actor best known for his role as Norris Cole in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:...
(b. 1940) — a British actor, best known for playing Norris ColeNorris Benjamin Cole is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Malcolm Hebden, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 11 March 1994 and remained until his departure in 1997, only to return in 1999 and continues...
in Coronation StreetCoronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
.
- John Vernon Lord
John Vernon Lord is an illustrator, author and teacher. He has illustrated many classical texts, including Aesop's Fables , The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear ; the Folio Society's Myths and Legends of the British Isles , and Epics of the Middle Ages...
(b. 1939) — a well known illustratorAn illustrator is a graphic artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and author of children’s books, such as The Giant Jam SandwichThe Giant Jam Sandwich is a children's picture book, with story and pictures by John Vernon Lord and verses by Janet Burroway. The rhyming story tells how the fictional town of Itching Down was invaded by four million wasps. The villagers decide to build a gigantic jam sandwich to trap the pesky...
, and Professor of IllustrationThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
at the University of BrightonThe University of Brighton is a multi-site university based in the city of Brighton & Hove founded in 1859. The university occupies three sites in Brighton — at Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, and Falmer, near the village of Falmer — and several smaller sites in Eastbourne...
. His grandfather and father once owned Lord’s Café at 16, High Street West from 1901 to 1963’.
- Shaun Ryder
Shaun William Ryder is an English vocalist and songwriter and an ex-postman who became famous in the Madchester era.-Happy Mondays era:...
(b. 1962) — an English singer and songwriter; lead singer of Manchester band Happy MondaysHappy Mondays are a British alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day , keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
.
- Kathy Staff
Kathy Staff was an English actress, well known for her work on British television.- Last of the Summer Wine :...
(1928-2008) — a British actress, best known for her portrayal of Nora Batty in Last of the Summer WineLast of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that is broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. Since 1983, Alan J. W. Bell has produced and directed...
.
- Scott Wright (b. 1972) — a British actor, best known for playing Sam Kingston in Coronation Street
Coronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
and the winner of the 2002 'Rear of the YearRear of the Year is a British award for people with a notable posterior. It was created by publicity consultant Anthony Edwards and is organised by Rear of the Year Limited.-History:...
' competition
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language....
(April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951) — Lived in Glossop while studying and working at Manchester University.
- Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(b. 8 April 1941) — fashion designer famous for bringing punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. She was born and lived in TintwistleTintwistle is a village and civil parish in the High Peak district of the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,401. The village is just north of Glossop at the lower end of the Longdendale valley...
and attended Glossop Grammar School.
External links