GLOSSOP
PLAN YOUR DAY OUT
Location: Glossop is at a meeting point of the A624, A6016 and A57 in NW Derbyshire – SK035942; New Mills is on the A6015, which links the A624 and A6 – SK000854.
Visit: Explore Glossop, with its fine sandstone buildings and attractive parks. Check out Old Glossop, the original village and now a Conservation Area.
Refreshments: Glossop offers a variety of pubs, teashops, and restaurants to suit all tastes.
Walk: Longdendale Walk is a short but enriching walk around Torside Reservoir, one of five reservoirs in the beautiful Longdendale Valley. The reservoirs were formed in the 19th century by the damming of the River Etherow.
Special Places of Interest in the Locality: Lyme Park is located on the edge of the Peak District and offers a fantastic day out for all the family. In 1996, it was used as a location for the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth. – The Torrs Riverside Park, New Mills, provides access to a dramatic gorge and an area of stunning natural beauty. The Park also contains the remains of what was an important industrial area, with the elegant Millennium Walkway winding its way for 125 yards through the gorge, high up among the canopy of trees; The Sett Valley Trail is two and a half miles in length and used for recreational purposes by walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The route forms part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail between Hayfield and Birch Vale, and is of outstanding natural beauty.
INTRODUCTION
Situated in the far northwest corner of Derbyshire, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, Glossop is often referred to as the Gateway to the Peak. There are, though, not only the moors of the Peak National Park to explore, but also the great moorland wildernesses of Bleaklow and Saddleworth Moor. There is much rugged terrain; walkers and climbers often come to the area to test themselves, but for the less energetic, there are plenty of more leisurely walks. The Longdendale Trail, for one, provides superb scenery and easy walking.
There are two distinctive parts to Glossop, the busy, bright and modern town centre and the quieter, unspoilt, former village of Old Glossop, on the north-east side of the town. The old village, once the Centre of a vast, scattered, mountainous parish, had a market and fair as far back as 1290 and grew around a market cross and parish church. Ancient buildings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries tuck in along its narrow streets. Manor Park was established from the grounds of the former manor house owned by the Duke of Norfolk, which existed on the site in the 16th century.
MELANDRA
Glossop is an ancient settlement, possessing evidence of occupation during Roman, Saxon, Norman, and medieval times. In 78AD, the Romans built a fort there, which was named Melandra. It was the most northerly of three forts in Derbyshire and at one time held 500 soldiers. But after 62 years of being built, it burnt down and was abandoned, and all that remains are the foundations.
HOWARDTOWN
Early in the 19th century, another village sprang up alongside the Glossop Brook. It was called Howardtown after the chief landowner, Bernard Edward Howard. Cotton manufacturing took place there on a rapidly increasing scale, so much so that the population increased sixfold in half a century. The original wood-fulling mill, built in the 1780s, was taken over by the Wood family in 1819.
It was a time of enormous expansion and prosperity, when the town developed as a textile manufacturing centre, largely producing cheap fabrics for colonial markets. The rapid expansion led to the erection of houses, schools and churches. By the middle of the century, there were over fifty mills in existence in the town.
At the height of the Industrial Revolution, Howardtown Mills stretched for over a quarter of a mile and employed 1,500 workers. Howard was the family name of the Duke of Norfolk, who owned most of the land.
TOWN CENTRE
The new town centre developed around the Town Hall erected in 1838, with a distinctive-looking clock tower. Its arcaded ground floor acts as a small shopping centre. Six years later saw the erection of, the Market Hall. At the rear of which are the impressive-looking Municipal Buildings, which display the Borough Coat of Arms above the entrance.
Several delightful sandstone buildings were built around Norfolk Square, which, together with its lawns, trees, and flower beds, considerably enhanced the appearance of the town centre. Nearby is the Partington Theatre; a modern sculpture of Hamlet made by the members has been placed in a niche above the doorway. The railway station in Norfolk Street has the Howard lion proudly standing guard over the entrance.
High Street is tree-lined and provides a wide diversity of traditional and individual shops. More shopping is available at the very popular indoor and outdoor markets and the famous Bank Holiday markets. Visitors arrive from all parts to watch the town carnival, with its abundance of colourful and decorative floats that move in procession through the town streets to Manor Park.
TEN FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT GLOSSOP
1. Glossop’s bustling High Street, with its national stores and independent shops, attracts locals and visitors alike.
2. Anglo-Saxon settlers farmed and hunted in the area. They named it “Glotts Hop”, after ‘hop’ meaning a valley and ‘Glott’, who had a smallholding in the settlement, from where the present town derived its name.
3. The abbey of Basingwerk, in Flintshire, received grants from William Peveril in the early 12th century and encouraged settlement in Glossop, securing a market charter in 1290.
4. Glossop Town Football Club was one of the founding members of the Football League. Members of the Wood family, wealthy local mill owners who were great benefactors to the town, helped establish Arsenal Football Club and were club directors for over 100 years.
5. The best place to view Glossop is from the Sheffield Road, from where you can look down on the town that nestles in a deep valley, surrounded by hills forming a natural amphitheatre. One of the highest and most desolate roads in the National Park, near where it emerges from the Snake Pass.
6. Howard Park, with its Victorian swimming pool, little lake, humped back bridge and meandering paths, must be one of the prettiest parks in the Peak District.
7. There is a statue at the entrance to Howard Park, erected by the inhabitants of Glossop in memory of two members of the Wood family who donated the swimming pool.
8. On the other side of the town, Harehills Park is quite different in character, with its Riverside Walk, taking you past converted old mill buildings. It was given to the town by Baron Howard in memory of his son and other men who had been killed in the First World War.
9. Hadfield is a small town to the north of Glossop. It is well known to League of Gentlemen fans as the setting for Royston Vasey from the cult BBC TV comedy series.
10. The Longdendale Trail runs along a disused railway line, which walkers, cyclists, and horses use. It runs parallel with the reservoirs in the valley, from Hadfield to the Woodhead Tunnel, along a wide, surfaced track for six miles.
LONGDENDALE WALK
