King Bill

The King William IV or the King Bill as it is affectionatly known

Local legend, Ian Scragg enjoying a cig at the door

Paul & Wilf posing for a picture

Seems that the King Bill is doing OK with a good dinner time crowd, I think the 3 locals above are now part of this pubs fixtures and fittings. I have always found this a great pub, with a great set of lads in the vault. Tea times are busy with many workers calling in for a 'swift' one... it is also a great place to contact local builders who wash the dust from their throats at this time.

The King Bill has had the pleasure of having a certain Derek Quinn as a former landlord. Derek was the guitarist in the 1960's group ,"Freddie and the Dreamers" who enjoyed success in the pop charts between 1963-65. Their biggest hit was "I'm telling you now" which made number 3.
Derek was a charming host and we had lots of laughs in there in the early 80's at the darts matches. The King Bill had a very strong team!

The Lamb Inn

This one was knocked down and rebuilt. The right hand side was a butchers shop that was run by the Bagshaw family.

This was built in either 1946 or 56

Glad to report it is still going Strong in the capable hands of Alison & Simon Boot. It as it's own facebook page... Friends of the Lamb.

Post Card From

Hyde

...

This is a new venture by two Hydonians Nancy and Tom, hopefully over time we will be joined by others who have pictures and stories to tell. Maybe you no longer live in Hyde.... or the UK and now and then feel a tad homesick.... well here's a place just for you to refresh memories, see long forgotten sights, and hear the odd name mentioned... Please feel free to contact us if there's anything you think we could help with concerning Hyde.

If you have any pictures, stories, memories, or items from or about Hyde and you would like to share them here with other like minded Hydonians please get in touch with us. Either leave us a comment or even better email us: hydonian@gmail.com

St Georges Coach House

Heres the Hearse House belonging to St. George's Church. The Hearse House is on Wood End Lane, and is a Grade II listed building.

That keystone with its Skull and Cross Bones used to scare me, we would look through the doors thinging we'd see dead bodies... I don't know what we'd have done if we did see one. Anyone else looked inside?

Old Map

An old map of Hyde showing Fernaly St and Mottram Road in Hyde Circa 1841 - The area numbered 70 is where Morrisons now stands. It used to be called "Greater Greave and Long Meadow" and was owned by John Shepley,who had a Street nearby named after him.

The Clarence - Talbot Road

The Clarence on Talbot Road, Newton. Another one of our fine pubs that is soon to bite the dust if a landlord can't be found. It's a sad state of affairs when the beer is cheaper to buy in the supermarkets !

In the 1980s this pub had a thriving dinner time trade from the nearby officer workers of the old ICI works. Good food was served in the 'best room' while the vault did well with the locals. If no one steps in soon to make a go of this it will be the second pub to go in on Talbot Road like the one below.

Oddfellows

The Oddfellows used to be a thriving public house but when a lot of the Streets were demolished to build Chartist House it lost a lot of trade.Apparently a rag and bone man used to drink in there and when he became too inebreiated, his friends would put him on his donkey and the donkey would take him home - knowing which route to take as it had done it so many times before! I'm not sure about a dog being a mans best friend - I think it was a donkey in this mans case!

The Godley Hall Inn.



The Dognappers are a small group of friends who take an annual long distance walk together, 4 days or so. They enjoy dognapping (planning the dognap and walking it). Essential planning tools include the Good Beer Guide as well as good maps. (Thanks to Carlscam.com for this information).

Werneth Low

This was the view from atop of the quarry on Harrop Edge, Higher Matley in 2008... Hyde and the other surrounding towns were covered in thick fog. Werneth Low looked like an island poking up out of the sea.

The Gardeners Arms, Lumn Road

The Gardeners Arms shortly before closure

It looks so sad like this
I hope it can be saved and reopened
Hyde as lost so many of our Public Houses over the years. We lost many when the motorway was built, and just of late it seems many of the more popular local pubs are falling by the way side. The Gardeners was always a good working class pub, folks would enjoy banter at the bar, play pool, darts and cards... enjoy a bet and generally enjoy each others company. These places were as much if not more a part of the communities than the churches... though of course the spirits were very different. We will be showing more of our past and present pubs over time.... if you have any stories or pictures then please let us know... both Nancy and Tom can be contacted by email at: hydonian@gmail.com

Steam Traction Engine

This must have been taken across from Floweryfield Church and the entrance to Ashton Brothers. The houses in the background are still there. I think the houses were built for the works managers. There used to be two Steam Engines that belong to Ashton Brothers parked up and covered in tarpaulin next to Manchester Road canal bridge. I mess about on them when I played truant from Greenfield Street school in the 1970s. I believe that at least one of them was saved from the scarp yard and was restored to a high standard. It would be nice if this could be confirmed and a picture obtained... contact Tom or Nancy if you have any knowledge of this: hydonian@gmail.com

A present day look at the two aforementioned houses

Town Hall

A rare view of Hyde Town Hall from the air. Once the hub of the town with the police station, courtroom and Fire Station in close proximity.

Aspland Maternity Home Plaque

All that's left of the Aspland - a couple of gateposts and a plaque - not a lot to show for a building and grounds that were left to the good folk of Hyde.





This is a photo of the Calf Hey Woodland gate - This is part of the old Aspland site and possibly the same gate as the photo previously posted. Sad to see that it's locked up when it was given to the people of Hyde to use. It is documented to have been owned by a Mr Thomas William Tatton circa 1840.

Aerial View of the Aspland from the 1970's.

Werneth Low

The cenotaph atop Werneth Low documents how many brave men died for their country ! The land on which the Cenotaph stands used to be known as "Great Stone Low" and was owned originally by a Mr Thomas William Tatton (circa 1851).