GLOSSOP, Derbyshire

Census

• The parish was in the Hayfield sub-district of the Hayfield Registration District.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

Return to top of page

Church History

• There was a church here in 1157.
  
  
• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to All Saints.
  
  
• The church was rebuilt in 1831 on the same site.
  
  
• The tower and the chancel were demolished and rebuilt in 1853-55.
  
  
• The church was rebuilt again in 1914 and only a little of the original building remains. The chancel was rebuilt again in 1923.
  
  
• There were a number of churches and chapels in the immediate area of Glossop. Some of these became separate modern Civil Parishes as Glossop grew in size.
  
  
• The church has its own website with more information. Some sections are still under development.

Return to top of page

Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1620.
  
  
• You can find relations buried in Glossop after 1859 at High Peak Council.
• The Catholic Church of Saint Mary Crowned was built here in 1886 to replace the old Catholic church dedicated to All Saints which was built in 1836. However, services are still held at the old church as well as the new one. All Saints is on Church Street.
  
  
• You can find records for the GEE family of Gossop at Gees of Derbyshire.

Return to top of page

Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Hayfield sub-district of the Hayfield Registration District.
  

Return to top of page

Description and Travel

"GLOSSOP is a village and township, in the populous and extensive parish of its name, in the hundred of High Peak; 184 miles from London. 50 N.N.W. from Derby, 25 N.W. from Sheffield, and 13 S.E. from Manchester. This village, which is one of great manufacturing consequence, is situate on a rising bank, springing from one of the deepest valleys in the Peak. The country around is very pleasing, and many of the views may be considered romantic: plantations abound in the home scenery, and the lands in the low grounds are fertile; but the mountainous parts are less productive."

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

The village lies on the Glossop Brook which feeds into the River Etherow.

Passenger rail service still serves the village, but most visitors come by car or bus.

Return to top of page

Directories

• Graham HADFIELD provides some directory extracts on his Ancient Parish of Glossop site.
  
  
• A Description of Glossop has been transcribed by Heather FAULKES from Pigot's Directory of 1828-9. Also included are Howards Town and Whitfield.

Return to top of page

Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Glossop from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin HINSON.

Return to top of page

History

• Transcription of section of Lysons' Topographical and Historical Account of Derbyshire, 1817, for Glossop by Barbarann AYERS.

Return to top of page

Names, Geographical

• According to the National Gazetteer entries in 1868, the ancient parish of Glossop encompassed the hamlets and townships of Beard, Brownside, Bugsworth, Charlesworth, Chinley, Chisworth, Chunall, Crowden, Dinting, Great Hamlet, Hadfield, Hayfield, Kinder, Ludworth, Mellor, New Mills, Ollerset, Padfield, Phoside, Simmondley, Thornsett, Whitfield, and Whittle. The more ancient part of the town was referred to as 'Old Glossop', and in comparison must have seemed quite tiny.
  
  Many of these places had chapelry status, with their own place of worship, later becoming parishes in their own right, whereas others became amalgamated with the present day town, with their names almost lost. For example, Ludworth was located in the area between Chisworth to the north, Mellor to the south and east, and (on the opposite side of the river Goyt, in Cheshire), Comstall and Marple, to the west, but there are few references to it on present day maps.
  
  Inhabitants of these townships would probably have gone to the nearest church to worship and for baptisms and burials, rather than making the treck to their 'mother' church in 'Old Glossop', or to one of the independent chapels, such as James Clegg's Chapel at Chinley, or Mill Brow Independent Chapel (referred to in the IGI as "Marple Bridge, formerly Mill Brow Independent"). Added 7 Apr 2010.

Return to top of page

Politics and Government

• This parish was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake).
  
  
• Glossop was incorporated as a Municipal Borough in 1866.
  

Return to top of page

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• With the passage of the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Hayfield Poorlaw Union.
  

Return to top of page

Probate Records

• The Ancient Parish of Glossop - Index of Probate Documents, by A.K. Lee, R. Clarke, & S. McKenna, published by Derbyshire Family History Society, 1990.  ISBN 0947964 26 6. Covers the period 1472-1860.
  This booklet is out of print, but should be available for study via Inter-Library Loan (ILL). Or for purchase on microfiche - see Derbyshire Family History Society's Publications about Derbyshire - look for the heading Miscellaneous Microfiche and entry Glossop Probate. Added 8 Mar 2007.

Return to top of page

Schools

• Information about Glossop Schools has been very kindly provided by Graham HADFIELD.
  
  
• In addition to the schools mentioned in Graham's account, we are told that in 1949, a Mrs. Thomas ran a small Private School, on Ellison Street, next door to the then existing Fire Station. Mrs. Thomas lived in Hadfield and her husband used to give piano lessons.
  
  Pupils attending the school may then have gone on to attend Kingsmoor Private Co-Educational School in the former Glossop Hall on Hall Meadow Road. It had had occupied the Hall since 1927 when the Duke of Norfolk sold off the estate, but was subsequently rehoused in Romiley, Cheshire, in 1956. [My thanks to Mrs. Pam BALDWIN for this information]

Return to top of page