Hyde

"HYDE, a chapelry in the parish of STOCKPORT, hundred of MACCLESFIELD, county palatine of CHESTER, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Stockport, containing 3355 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, and in the patronage of the Rector of Stockport. A chapel is in progress of erection, towards defraying the expense of which, the commissioners for building churches have granted £4500; the site was given by George Clarke, Esq. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians. Several large Sunday schools are attached to these places of worship, supported by voluntary contributions, and another on an extensive scale is now being erected by subscription, as an appendage to the Independent chapel. So early as the reign of John, this township was in part owned by a family bearing the name of Hyde, a descendant of which was the great Lord Chancellor Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. It remained until within a few years since a mere agricultural district; thinly inhabited, but has since, by the establishment of the cotton manufacture, become a rapidly increasing township, which has also been greatly facilitated by a new communication with Manchester, effected by means of an act of parliament obtained in 1818. In this village and neighbourhood are some of the largest spinning and power-loom establishments in the kingdom, giving employment to nearly five thousand persons; an additional conveyance has also been made to Manchester by water, by the Peak Forest canal, which passes through this place, and unites with the Ashton canal: there are extensive coal mines in the vicinity. One of the county magistrates sits twice a week for the transaction of business: constables and other officers are appointed at the court leet of the King's Forest and manor of Macclesfield. The court baron of Hyde and Haughton is held at Hyde Hall. A literary and scientific institution was established in May, 1821, and a mechanics' institute in 1827." [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England  (1831) ©Mel Lockie]