Tramlines at Gee Cross

This picture probably dates from the 1920s.

The tramlines here go down Stockport Road towards Hyde. The road going straight on is Mottram Old Road.

All that is left now at the junction is the old signpost minus an arm and minus the lamp on top. The houses behind have gone leaving a grassy embankment.

Wood End Lane circa 1910

This photograph from around 1910 shows a lady and her daughter in Wood End Lane.

In the background is St. George's Church.

Godley Hall at Godley Hill

This picture by Frank Bennett and reproduced here with his permission, first appeared on the Images of England site.

This picture was taken in August 1999. A grade II listed house which is now a public house. "ICE 1718" on door lintel. Squared rubble with graduated stone slate roof and brick stacks. 3-bay 2-storey plan, the original door position, (now on the rear) suggests a baffle-entry. A 2-storey stair wing at the rear (now the front) is used as a porch and C20 additions have been added to each end. 3 window openings on each floor totalling three 2-light double-chamfered mullion windows (2 with hoodmoulds and all with mullions removed) 2 plain casement openings and a round-headed light. The porch has 2 similar round-headed lights, projecting plinth, an off-centre door, and a coped gable with kneelers and a ball finial. 2 ridge stacks and a later door to the right. The blocked door to the rear has a moulded surround and finely carved dated lintel. 3-light double-chamfered window and a single storey wing of a slightly later date. Interior much altered.

Werneth Low, circa 1990

I found this in a box of photographs recently. It was taken with a "panoramic" camera. I don't remember much about it, except that I only took one roll of film with it. Most of the results are not especially impressive but they include a couple of pictures of the Cenotaph or War Memorial on Werneth Low. This is scanned and cropped.

The date is around 1990, I think. I've posted the other surviving photo on Hyde Daily Photo.

Longdendale Minature Castle

This picture by Frank Bennett and reproduced here with his permission, first appeared on the Images of England site.

The farmhouse and cottage on Matley Lane were photographed in May 2000.

It is late C18 but with additions, including the facade of mid C19. Hammer-dressed stone and coursed rubble with C20 clay tile and graduated stone slate roofs. 3 bays, 2 storeys apart from a 3-storey tower in bay 1. Projecting plinth and castellated parapet. Bay l has flat-faced 3 and 2-light mullion and transom windows, projecting corner piers, castellated parapet and band. Windows with stone surrounds to bay 2 which has a square-cut door surround. Bay 3 which has a higher parapet has an engraved stone reading "Longdendale Miniature Castle".

A 30-year old map

This copy of the Ordnance Survey 1:50000 map was sent to us by a correspondent in Canada. It is dated 1975.

Comparing it with my own OS map dated 1974, one major difference is that mine has the M67 Due to open summer 1976. According to the CRBD Motorway Database the Hyde bypass opened in 1978 and the Denton Relief Road in 1981. The M60 didn't arrive until 2000.

The other road changes are too detailed to go into here, but the railway changes are quite significant. Godley Junction was renamed Godley East for a while, before being closed.

New stations were built on the Glossop line:

• Hattersley - at the point where the yellow road lies close to the railway.
• Godley - on the North side of the A57.
• Flowery Field - South of Hyde North which is on the line to Romily just below its junction with the Glossop line.

The line from Godley Junction to Woodley is now a footpath and part of the TransPennine Trail.

A couple of cyclists have publised an account of a journey along the old railway, together with photographs, on their Bike Rides around Greater Manchester website.