Glossop, Derbyshire

Extract from Pigot's Commercial Directory of Derbyshire 1828-9

Descriptions transcribed by Heather Faulkes © 1999

GLOSSOP is a very extensive parish, containing a township and village of the same name, in the hundred of the High Peak. The village, which is one of great manufacturing consequence, situated on a rising bank, springing from one of the deepest vallies in the Peak, is distant from London 184 miles, from Derby 50, from Sheffield 25 and from Manchester 15.

The church is an ancient structure, and a vicarage, in the patronage of the Duke of Norfolk, and in the incumbancy of the Rev. Christopher Howe: in the church is a monument, by Bacon, to the memory of Joseph Hague Esq. of Park Hall, near Hayfield; who bequeathed the interest of £1,000. towards clothing twenty-four poor men and women of the townships of Glossopdale; and founded a public school, which has been further enriched by other charitable bequests.

The Duke of Norfolk is lord of the manor, and holds court leets at Easter and Michaelmas; at the latter court are chosen a constable and head borough, which constitute the government of this town. In the village there are not less than forty establishments in the spinning and manufacturing cotton into various fabrics, calico printing, manufactures of woollens, &c. &c. Among the most respectable and extensive spinning concerns are those of Messrs. Sidebottoms, Mill Brook; Mr. John Thorp, Glossop; Mr. John Wood, Howard's Town and Charlesworth; and Messrs. Sidebottoms, near Motram, power-loom manufacturers; altogether giving employment to a considerable population.

Glossop Hall, the property of the Duke of Norfolk, is near to the village, and at Gamesley, about a mile to the west, is Melandra Castle, being the vestiges of a Roman station. Coal is worked about three miles hence, and from these mines Glossop and the neighbourhood are principally supplied.

The country round here is very pleasing, and many of the views are romantic, enriched by plantations, which abound in the home scenery. The lands on the low grounds are fertile, but the mountainous parts are less productive. One well attended fair is held in the year, on the 6th of May, for horses, cattle, pigs, pedlary, &c. The parish of Glossop contains eightee dependant townships, liberties, and hamlets, and in 1821 nearly 14,000 inhabitants, 1,350 of that number being in the township of Glossop, but the population has augmented since that period.

HOWARD'S TOWN, lately called Bridge-end, about one mile from Glossop, in that parish, is a thriving little place, called into consequence by the erection of some extensive cotton manufactories. The population is made up with Glossop.

CHARLESWORTH, in the parish of Glossop, nine miles from Chapel-en-le-Frith, is a populous hamlet, owning its support to the manufacturing interest. The number of inhabitants is about 1,000.

WHITFIELD, a township and village, about one mile from Charlesworth, is like that hamlet indebted to the manufactories for its importance, and the principal support of about 1,000 inhabitants.

[From Pigot's Commercial Directory of Derbyshire 1828-9.
This page was created by Heather Faulkes on 6^th May 1999, and is reproduced on GENUKI with permission]