NEW MILLS, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"NEW MILLS, a township and village in the parish of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, county Derby, 8 miles S.E. of Stockport, its post town, and 5 N.W. of Chapel-en-le-Frith. It is a station on the Buxton branch of the North-Western railway. It is situated in a manufacturing district at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Kinder, the latter of which derives its source from the mountain of Kinder-Scout, and here separates the counties of Derby and Chester. The township formerly comprised seven hamlets, but was subdivided about a century ago, and now contains the hamlets of Beard, Ollerset, Thornsett, and Whitle.

There are large iron and brass foundries, cotton mills, and bleach and print works scattered through various parts of the township, which together give employment to a large portion of the inhabitants. The original branches of manufacture were those of paper and cloth, but these have been entirely suspended.

The appellation of New Mills is more particularly applied to a cluster of houses and factories which rise in tiers one above another from the brink of the river to the summit of the crags, a height of several hundred feet, and also extend along the turnpike road as far as London Place.

The land not built over is chiefly meadow and pasture, with a small proportion of arable and woodland. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £160, in the patronage of the Vicar of Glossop. The church, dedicated to St. George, is a modern structure with a spired tower, the expense of which was partly defrayed by the parliamentary commissioners. There is a National school for both sexes. The Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Association Methodists, Independents, and Roman Catholics have each a place of worship."

"BEARD, a hamlet in the parish of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, in the county of Derby, 4 miles to the N.W. of Chapel-en-le-Frith. It is situated in the district of the High Peak, not far from the river Etherow. The Peak railway passes near it."

"OLLERSETT, a hamlet in the parish of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, county Derby, 4 miles N.W. of Chapel-en-le-Frith."

"THORNSETT, a hamlet in the parish of Glossop, hundred of High Peake, county Derby, 5½ miles N.W. of Chapel-en-le-Frith, on a branch of the river Goyt. Brindley, the engineer, was born here in 1716, and died in 1772."

"WHITTLE, a hamlet in the district of New Mills, parish of Glossop, county Derby, 6 miles N.W. of Chapel-en-le-Frith."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]