The Ritz Cinema - part 2

At last - the moment you have been waiting for (well, at least the moment I have been waiting for)... A photograph of The Ritz Cinema on Travis Street Hyde. Taken just before its demolition in 1981. Also, note the Lads Club still there in its entirety...happy days indeed.

This fabulous photo was very kindly sent to us by Eric Downs - Thanks so much, Eric - You are a star! :)

Snowy Stockport Road

To the right is Coco's hairdressers and what used to be Hursts Newsagents and to the left, just after the white van, is Silver Hill House. This used to be a Childrens day nursery and is now a house.



This was taken on January 5th 2010 and I remember the roads were near impassable.



Looking up towards the cemetery...

ABC Christmas Magazine 1920 part 2

Article taken from the 1920 ABC Christmas Magazine.
Nice to see that the Dog was "Mans Best Friend" back then ,too.

Travellers Call, Joel Lane, Gee Cross

I bet this was a welcome resting place for walkers making their way up Joel Lane and onto the lofty heights of Werneth Low. I think it would have been quite a pub in days gone by. 

As it looks today. The doorway is still the same as when it was the pub.

A.B.C. Magazine Christmas 1920

 This is the front cover of the 1920 Christmas Magazine from Ashton Brothers.
The following picture is a copy of the first page and accompanying photo of Lord Ashton of Hyde.







The magazine is full of quotes,stories and activities about Christmas. I will be posting some in the coming days.

Thanks to John Hopwood for the loan and subsequent publication of this magazine.

Gee Cross Post Office

This would have been the hub of the village at one time. It disappeared a few years ago when cuts were made in the Postal Service. Sadly missed.


Gee Cross Post Office, Stockport Road, Gee Cross. Circa 1900


Circa 1955
Not a lot has changed except the removal of the small wall at the front and the addition of the postbox.

The 4 views above have been taken for us by Dave Williams today after reading the post... he as very kindly cropped them to be a close a copy of the older ones and I think he has done a sterling job for us.

Two more off 'Hydonian's Resident Photographer',  Dave Williams... just on the off chance here.. can anyone tell us what the Blue Diamond with the 'V' stands for... ?

1906 Gee Cross Flood

Looking up Higham Lane with Holy Trinity in the background.

Stockport Road with the Werneth pub on the lefthand side.

Thanks to John Hopwood for the great newspaper account!

Gee Cross Snowy Scenes

Given the weather at the moment ,I thought I'd post a couple of topical snowy scenes of Gee Cross.


This is looking down Stockport Road towards Mottram Old Road. The Queen Adelaide pub is to the left of the shot.


Looking up Rock Street. The White house at the top is where local Boxing superstar Ricky Hatton used to live.




Looking up a snow filled Joel Lane with the Grapes pub to the right.

John Shepley Clockmaker

We had an email recently asking if we had any information on a Hyde Clockmaker called John Shepley. To be honest I had not heard of him before... we know of a street named John Shepley Street but we think this relates to a later John Shepley a relation of the clockmaker. I'll quote Keith who contacted us abot John the clockmaker.

John Shepley was the first clockmaker in Hyde and little is known of his early life. He is a well respected maker and was probably working in Hyde from about 1690. The population in Hyde at that time was about 300 so he would struggle to make a living and sometime later moved to Stockport where his later clocks are signed either Johannes or John Shepley.We know that he died in 1749.

Single handed 30 hour clock by John Shepley of Stockport
Thanks to John Craik for the pictures and information
http://www.earlyclocks.co.uk/index.php

This clock, from a well respected early maker dates from about 1725 or slightly earlier. The dial measures 11 inches and is signed simply John Shepley without a placename. The typically bold northern half hour markers are floating, and the engraving around the datebox is beginning to extend outward, both indications of a slightly later date. The movement has four beautifully knopped and finned pillars, and an eight day calender wheel which is typical on 30 hour clocks from Manchester. (John Craik)

It would be interesting to find more information about Hyde's skilled clockmaker... we know he was from a well known and respected family, and it seems he could well have been born in the family home 'The Lumn' as it's documented that Richard Shepley purchased the Lumn estate from Sir Uryan Legh, of Adlington, in 1612 and it remained in the possession of the Shepleys, and his direct descendants, down to the John Shepley, who has the street named after him.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone reading this realises that the old clock handed down from granny is more than just a family heirloom, that is a bit to big for modern housing, but is also a part of Hyde's history dating back to a time when Hyde was just a small cluster of farms and folds and a certain clever chap called John Shepley was busy making these beautiful time-pieces.

Family home of the Shepleys

"Support Theatre Royal Onward" Anthology

I bought this book in Hyde today. It's being sold in aid of the " Save Theatre Royal Onward" charity which is doing sterling work in trying to save the old Theatre Royal from being demolished and turned into yet more faceless houses or retail premises.
Hyde needs old buildings like this to be saved as too many have been pulled down over the past 30 years. We need to save our heritage.
Buy this book and contribute to a very worthy cause.



Support Theatre Royal Onward Anthology - £4.99

For more details ring :-

Muriel Nichols - 0161 368 4938
or Patricia Jackson - 0161 430 8621

Registered Charity no. 1091964

Hyde Central Station ?

I wonder if anyone can confirm if these are from Hyde Central, and if so knows anything about them.

Snowy scene.

This is a photo I took during the snow we had in January this year. It is looking down Reynold Street towards Market Street.
The building immediately to the left is what was once the Bricklayers pub. It has been renovated and turned into flats which is what happens to most old buildings that survive these days . The buildings right of the picture are at the back of Hyde Clarendon shopping centre and the white building in the middle distance is the The Last Orders pub formally the Beer Engine and before that known as the Clarendon.

Hill Street Gee Cross

McQueens Hat Factory Hill Street

Nether Hey Engineering Works 

That chimney was well past it's best... looks like a good wind from off the 'Low' would have bought it down...   anyone got any memories or stories of these building? 

Hyde Town Hall - December 2010

A couple of photos of Hyde Town Hall and "Owd Joss" with a sprinkling of snow. Apparently Tameside has been one of the worst hit places in the country for snow today!
I can vouch for that!





Only 2:43pm and already going dark ....brrrr !

H. Finch... Wheelwright Shoeing and Smith

The beautiful sign-writing on the gates tells us this is H. Finch, resident of 36 Grafton Street. If you know of any other Blacksmiths, Wheelwrights or Farriers from around Hyde let us know...any more pictures would of course be gratefully received. I have always liked the idea of a local blacksmith and would have been drawn to their yard as a child. My old school friend Jack Hilton is a farrier and makes his living shoeing horses. When he left school he went away to serve his apprenticeship... it was one of the longest apprenticeships there was. 

Just over Broomstair Bridge is an engineers yard... I have known the chap there for quite a while and worked at the yard on and off in the past... more for something to do than anything else... at one time in the yard ... right at the back covered in some brambles I was clearing I came across an anvil... much the same as the one above... but this one had a cast iron stand.. I asked John if I could have it... he said yes if I could pick it up and carry it to my old land rover... ha! I could not budge it.. never mind carry it. John had all the tools that went with such a thing... all hand made by his father.

Hyde Cemetery Gates

A portion of the Back Bower estate, a total of 24 acres ,was converted into a Cemetery, and these gates opened to the first interment there on November 3rd, 1894. It was owned by Edward Hyde Clarke but was occupied by William Radcliffe according to the Tithe Maps of 1836-51. The plots were known as Geranium Field (or Meadow) and Higher Field.

Looks much the same today

Spring Street (2)

Recently we did a post about Spring Street which was in the "disappeared streets" series. We were lucky enough to get a picture of it off Barry who follows our Hyde Blog. Here is another one sent to us from Barry.




This one shows Barrys sister Delia and younger brother Stephen. They are standing outside number 9 Spring Street where the family grew up. It was taken circa 1960. In the background, with the white window, is Tom Smiths Chippy which stood on Cheapside. Sadly ,there aren't many old style chippys left in Hyde.

Many thanks once again to Barry for allowing us a glimpse of his past.