John Shepley Clockmaker (2)

Hyde's Clock Maker

In December 2010 we did a post about John Shepley Clock Maker who was born and bred in Hyde. I have since then seen one of his clocks for sale on ebay and recently we have been contacted by Peter Wattenburg from the Netherlands. Peter says he saw our site and was pleased to see we had a story on John Shepley and he is interested in finding out more information. If you have any information to share on this matter I'd be very grateful, as of course would Peter.

Peter wrote the following:  I live in the Netherlands and I've collected English Long Case Clocks for more than 30 years now, As a matter of fact I have possibly the earliest known John Shepley clocks. It as a 10inch dial with the early spandrels and signed 'John Shepley Hyde'. The engraving is amateurish, so I believe John did this himself. I think on later clocks he hired a professional engraver or he learned engraving very fast. I would date this clock to around 1695 - 1700 at the time John was working in Hyde. I know of numbered clocks by him, this one dose not have a number so perhaps this was made prior to the time he started numbering?      

It looks like John tried his own engraving. Several styles of engraving are used on the dial centre. There is some sort of wriggle pattern inside the chaptering which lookes like the engraving style used by the early Quaker-clockmakers like Ogden and Gilkes family. There are some floral engraving and a nice bird. The half-hour markings on the chaptering are following the early pattern with the meeting arrow points. 

The original spandrels are also the earliest provincial cherub head spandrels.  The hand is original and has been well executed. The movement bears also the early features such as the finely ringed pillars, heavy plates and quite high in size. The clock did not use a chain but did run on ropes, the rope-spurs are still in place. All in all a nice interesting clockwork from the very early days of clock making in Hyde.

I'd like to thank Peter for sharing this 'gem' of a clock from Hyde past and hope it draws some attention from other who have such clocks and send in information concerning John Shepley or his clocks.  It would be nice to be able to feature a few more of his clocks on here.

The Gerrards Gee Cross

In the long gone days of the 17th century, opposite the end of Apethorn Lane was a small group of cottages known as Gerrards Fold. The Ashton family farmed here before they embarked on the cotton trade in the district. Towards the end of the 19th century the old fold was converted into a large Elizabethan style house known as "The Gerrards"

The above picture is supplied by Paul Taylor... I remember this building but can't recall just when it was pulled down... can you?

Owen Fields Farm

 Owen Fields Farm stood on the site of Hyde FC's ground, Ewen Fields.

It is mentioned in the History of Hyde as thus ....

"A short distance from the Lumn was Kenyons Farm and further along the road to Mottram was Bankey Fields' Farm , near the site of the Bankfield Inn. Owen (Ewen) Fields Farm stood between Mottram New Road and Walker Fold.

I have no knowledge why Owen Fields was changed to Ewen Fields when Hyde FC was formed - if indeed this is when it changed !




Tithe Maps 1836-51


circa 1875


Recent map

The owner of the land that the farm stood on was the Rev.I.N. France as Incumbent of Stayley Bridge Chapel according to the tithe maps of 1836-51.

Peggy Oldham was the occupier at this time.

Advertisements from around 1895

Another selection of adverts, this time from around 1895. Although well over a hundred years ago, the printers of the time seemed to have very large and unusual set of fonts. I wouldn't mind trying some of the "Quinine & Iron tonic" from Frank Rideals chemist or Lillian Blackburn's "Anti-Rheumatic Flannel"

Knott Lane

View of the original Knott Lane, before the large re-development of the area. Knott Lane was presumably named because it led from the village of Gee Cross to a small group of houses called Knott Fold, some of which are still in existence today.

Hyde Chapel 

Enfield Street School

Hyde Chapel and Knott Lane view from the 1950s

Another set of pictures from Paul's post card collection... which I thank him for letting me show them.  I went to Enfield Street in the 1960s... and I walked up Knott Lane from Cheetham Fold... it seemed a long way on cold winter mornings. 

Views From Holy Trinity

 The following photos were sent to us by the Matthew Stafford .
They show the clock tower in Holy Trinity and various views from the tower itself !

The view at 8am !!









Many Thanks, Matthew. Much appreciated !! :)

Joel Lane, Gee Cross

Here's a nice postcard from Paul showing a view looking down Joel Lane from 1958.... cheers Paul

Update 25/09/11

Here's the same view Dave has taken today (25/09/11) and it's changed so little Dave made it into a black and white photo so we can see how similar it is. 

Mottram Road views.

 Below are two photos that our resident photographer, Dave, took. :)

The first one shows Mottram Road circa middle to late 1980's and show the "Hypermarket" that was originally Hyde Department store. I think it had become Fine Fare by this time. The Moulders pub can just be seen in the distance on the right hand side, peeping out from behind the tree.   Bradley & Sons Funeral Directors is also still in existence on the corner of Fernally Street behind the Billboards.

Also note how much smaller Fernally Street and Union Street were back then.



The second one shows a recent view.
Union Street took over virtually all the spare ground shown on the above shot whilst Fernally Street became 4 lanes rather than the two shown on the first photo..



It's good to see that it's still looking nice and green despite the increase in traffic.

Thanks Dave, as always :)

Bus Station Views (1990s)

Thanks go to Grant for these 3 pictures... The early 1990s does not seem that long ago but the area has changed since these were taken.

White Hart Hotel

White Hart Hotel Old Road Flowery Field

The 'White Hart' was built around 1833 to slake the thirsts of of the cotton workers in the newly opened mills in the area. The first licensee was Mary Woodruffe.

The inquest into the deaths of 17 miners killed in the explosion at the nearby Flowery Field coal pit was held in the White Hart on Monday 11th April 1842. The landlord was John Sowerbutts.

When John Hadfield moved into the pub in 1960 he found a small old wooden box in the kitchen. It was not until a couple of years later that curiosity got the better of him and he opened the mystery box. To his dismay he found a mummified cat, swathed in bandages. He tried to discover the origen of the cat, but no-one could throw any light on the mystery, it seems it had always been there and it remains a mystery still. Around the same time, one of the pub's regulars, Arnold Jacklin started a football league.. 'The Hyde & District Sunday League' which is still going strong today.

Alas the Whit Hart is another of our lost pubs, it closed its doors in 2002 and was demolished a few years later.

Thanks to Grant for the picture which was taken in the 1990s and also thanks to Paul for the use of his information which was taken from his book The Histoy Of The Pubs Of Hyde And District.

The above two pictures are from Dave and he says that he took these last January. It seems that these outbuilding were a bit bigger at one time... 

Holy Trinity School

Holy Trinity Infants

We have been contacted by John Taylor from S. Africa.. John has commented on our Greenfield Street School post, and has sent in these two pictures. 

John himself is not on the class picture but has named the ones he knows. He is still in touch with John Dutton but would love to know the whereabouts of the other three particularly Malcolm Brierley who's family owned Godley Green farm and supplied milk all over Hyde & Gee X. 

Picture showing Malcolm Brierley & Timothy Kay.

If you remember John from his days in Hyde please let us know, and if you know the whereabouts of his old school friends he would very much like to get in touch with them.

Thanks for the photos, John - much appreciated!

Unknown Football Team

 Here we have an unknown Football team.
Looking at the extreme right I can see a building that looks like the front of St Thomas's church on Lumn Road. If this is correct then the team must be on land that belonged to the Lumn.

Can anyone elaborate further?

Can anyone see the resemblance with the photo of St Thomas's below?


A very early photo of St Thomas the Apostle


The Lumn circa 1875



Thanks so much to Angela Robinson for the fabulous photo.
I'm looking forward to showing more that she has very kindly sent us very soon.

Hyde Carnival 1st Prize Winner (1933)

Here is a photo of a entrant in the 1933 carnival.The small boy is Ivor Robinson age 5 with his uncle Fred Woodhall who had a fish and poultry shop on Market street.(where the mobility solutions shop is now ) .On the cart is a very large salmon ,frozen in a block of ice for which he won first prize. The photo was taken near Hyde park.

Thank you to CeeCee for sending in this great picture on behalf of Ivor Robinson.. Ivor has been good enough to send in pictures and information in the past.. so thank you again, Ivor.

The Forty Gang.

 Last year we featured a post which mentioned a club in Hyde known as the Forty Club .
I am delighted to say that Judi Brown contacted is with some photographs of said club.
She also sent this message...
  
"I am trying to find out whether anyone remembers The Forty Gang, of which my grandfather, Isaac Moores Abbott, was a member.  My mother and uncle told me that it comprised a group of Hyde amateur sportsmen who staged events for charity.  I am attaching a couple of postcard photos - one inherited and one purchased - depicting The Forty Gang dressed for one of their events.  I'm not sure, but think the Gang existed in the early 1900s."




"My grandfather on the photos:-

(1) He is in the centre of the photo, sporting a top hat, standing behind and to the right of the chap wearing a fetching picture hat.

(2) Isaac is on the back row, fourth from the left.

Apparently he was also a very successful bookie's runner, due to the fact that before he suffered from mustard gas poisoning he was a fast sprinter.  Unfortunately his army papers were amongst those destroyed but he was a member of the Manchester Regiment and, at some time during WW1, was transferred to the Middlesex Regt, presumably to make up numbers"



We think the photos could have been taken in the Town Yard as Tanner Street runs behind the wall behind the gang!

Thank you so much for sharing these fabulous photos, Judi !

Tanner Street

Old wall from the Town Yard

Hyde United programme plus adverts.

The following was given to me by my brother, Graeme, who is a lifelong Stockport County fan. (I bet he wasn't impressed with the score)! 
 
I thought there were some interesting adverts in the programme, some of which I have included. I'll post more soon. Enjoy :)