Glossop (All Saints)

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

The Old Town of Glossop is irregularly built, but many improvements have taken place within the last few years, including some new roads, a street, &c. Mill Town connects itself with Howard Town on the Sheffield road leading to the Old Town, so called in contradistinction to New Town or Howard Town, which forms the great focus of improvements, and is three-quarters of a mile west from Glossop. In 1837 an act was passed for obtaining a more regular supply of water, by constructing reservoirs upon the tributary streams of the river Etherow, in the parish; and an act for lighting the place with gas was passed in 1845. A branch of the Manchester and Sheffield railway was opened to the town in the last mentioned year: the line is a little more than a mile long. The market was established under an act of the 7th of Victoria; it was commenced in July 1845, and is held on Saturday: a handsome town-hall and market-house, with a prison, and an office for the agent of the Duke of Norfolk, lord of the manor, form a noble range of building, in the Italian style. The market is a covered one, behind the town-hall, with shops for butchers, greengrocers, and other traders; and the New Town being for the most part neatly built of stone, and the shops in general respectable, the whole presents a thriving and handsome appearance. Petty-sessions are held in the town-hall every fourth Thursday. The powers of the county debt-court of Glossop, established in 1847, extend over the greater part of the registration-district of Hayfield and Glossop.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 18. 9.; net income, £300; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Norfolk. The church, situated in Old Glossop, is a neat structure, consisting of a nave, chancel, aisles, and tower and spire; it was partly rebuilt in 1831, and enlarged by the erection of two galleries, by which 800 sittings were obtained. The cost, £2000, was raised by subscription, aided by a grant of £200 from the Incorporated Society; the chancel was repaired at the expense of the Duke of Norfolk. In the churchyard is a very ancient yew-tree; also two sun-dials. At Mellor, Newmills, Hayfield, Charlesworth, and Whitfield, are other incumbencies. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, and other congregations of dissenters: the Roman Catholic chapel, a handsome structure of the Tuscan order, standing on an eminence overlooking the Old Town, was built by the late Duke of Norfolk, at a cost of £3000. One of the schools is endowed with £37. 10. per annum; and among other useful institutions is a savings' bank, commenced in April 1844. Joseph Haigh, Esq., who died in March, 1786, left the interest of £1000 to be annually laid out in clothing poor men and women; and there are several minor charities. The poor law union of Glossop comprises a portion of the parish, and contains a population of 10,322. On the south side of the Etherow, near Woolley Bridge, are vestiges of a Roman station, measuring 122 yards by 112, and called Melandra Castle; the moat towards the south-east, the four entrances, the ramparts, about nine feet in thickness, and the site of the prætorium, 25 yards square, are still discernible, as are also the Roman road from Brough to this place, and that to Buxton.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.