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.

In Glossop and its vicinity there are upwards of forty establishments for the spinning of cotton, and the manufacture of various fabrics from that article; for calico printing also, there is an extensive concern at Dinting-vale, and woollen goods are made to a limited extent: there are, besides, two paper mills ill the neighbourhood, at one of which (Dinting Mill), the article is manufactured by patent machinery. Coal is worked about three miles hence, and from these mines Glossop and the neighbourhood are principally supplied.

Glossop is one of the stations appointed by the new Boundary Act, for receiving votes at the election of knights of the shire, to represent the northern division of the county. The Duke of Norfolk is lord of the manor, and holds courts-leet at Easter and Michaelmas; at the latter period a constable and headborough are appointed, in whom the govern government ofthe township is vested. Glossop is in the honour of Tutbury, and within the jurisdiction of a court of pleas, held there every third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under forty shillings.

The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient structure: the body has been rebuilt, and public worship was performed in it, for the first time after the repairs were completed, in September, 1832. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Duke of Norfolk, and incumbency 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 £1000. towards clothing twenty-four poor men and women, of this and some of the adjacent townships. Glossop Hall, the property of the Duke of Norfolk, is near the village; and at GAMESBY, about a mile to the west, is Melandra Castle, the vestiges of a Roman station.

On Wednesday, the 30th of July, 1834, the neighbourhood of Glossop was visited by a most tremendous tempest; the village appeared, at one time, to be enveloped in one almost continuous blaze of lightning, while the thunder, pealing amongst the bills, was unusually loud and terrific, and the rain and hail poured down in quantities, of which no description can present an adequate idea: an overwhelming flood was the consequence, which swept down the valley with impetuous force, carrying devastation in its resistless course, and striking with dismay the inhabitants. The brook which waters Glossop increased by the streams from the hills, assumed a most appalling appearance, and, rushing onward, threatened destruction to all erections on its banks, and to bridges which crossed it.

Several mills received great injury; amongst which, Mr. John Kershaw's factory, at Hurst, sustained damage to the amount of upwards of £1000.: two young women and a child, belonging to these works, perished in the flood, and others were severely bruised. In addition to the mischief done to the factories and works, very extensive injury occurred to the fields, gardens, fences, roads, and bridges, of which last, four were entirely destroyed. Such was the suddenness, violence, and rapidity of the torrent, that not only sheep and lambs, but hares, rabbits, and even birds, were carried away by it; and it is said that some fish were caught on the turnpike road.

A fair, for cattle and various commodities, is held on the 6th of May. The entire parish of Glossop contained, by the census taken in 1821, 13,766 inhabitants, and by that for 1831, 18,080, of which last number 2,012 were retained for the township.

HADFIELD is a village, in the township of Hadfield and Dinting, in the parish of Glossop, about two miles west therefrom. About thirty years ago this township was strictly an agricultural district, with a small population; but at the last census it contained 1,270 inhabitants.

PADFIELD is a township, in the parish of Glossop, about two miles north-west from that village. The cotton manufacture prevails here extensively, and has been the means of more than doubling its population in ten years, as, by the census taken in 1821, it contained only 499 inhabitants, and in 1831, 1,102.

WHITFIELD is also a township in the parish of Glossop, situate about a mile and a half north from that village, on the road leading to Chapel-en-le-Frith. Like the neighbouring townships in this parish, it is indebted for its consequence to the manufactories established within its limits. A school was founded and endowed by the late Joseph Hague, Esq. (beforementioned) in 1779, and the school-house was erected about 1786. A chapel, for Wesleyan methodists, is the only place of worship in this township - which contained, at the last census, 1,734 inhabitants, having nearly doubled its population in ten years.

CHARLESWORTH is a populous hamlet, about three miles south-west from Glossop, in that parish; it contains a place of worship for independent Calvinists, and a population (by the last returns) of 1,206 inhabitants, who are chiefly supported by the manufacturing interest.

HOWARD'S TOWN, once called Bridge-end, is a hamlet in Glossop parish, one mile from that town. This is a thriving little place - called into consequence within a comparatively few years, by the erection of some extensive cotton manufactories. Here are two respectable inns, the ‘Howard's Arms’ and the ‘Norfolk Arms’. Population returned with Glossop parish.

POST OFFICE:- Norfolk Arms, HOWARD'S TOWN, Joseph Oates, Post Master:- Letters from MANCHESTER arrive every evening at a quarter past six, and are despatched every morning at six.

Description(s) from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835.
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie in May 1996.