St Andrew's Whit Walk

On Friday I showed you United Methodist Sunday School preparing for their Whit Walk.

Today we see St Andrew's Church on John Street.

It was a mission church and according to The Annals of Hyde

Mission work in the St. Andrew's district was begun in 1874 in the Temperance Hall, by the Revs. W. H. White, Dudley, Diggs, and Dr. Smith. Success attending the movement, the present buildings were erected in 1875. For a time Dr. Smith had sole charge of the budding church, but in 1885 it was again taken over by the Rev. W. H. White, and the Rev. D. S. Bowen became Curate-in-Charge. During his time the purchase of the building was completed; whilst a fund for providing an endowment (towards which the Bishop of Chester's Fund granted £1,000) was completed by locally raised sums in 1897. In 1893 the Rev. M. Wilson, M. A., succeeded Mr. Bowen, and was in turn succeeded in 1896 by the Rev. W. Graham, under whom many improvements have been effected. The present curate is the Rev. J. Lawton.

Remnants of John Street remain both North and South of the M67 but the motorway destroyed the middle of it.

Whit Walks: United Methodists

Last year on Whit Friday I brought you a photograph of the walkers outside St George's Church and I also posted a view of walkers in Gee Cross.

This year I am bringing you the United Methodist Sunday School, George Street.

I don't know the age of the photograph, and I wasn't sure of the whereabouts of George Street which is not marked on modern A-Z atlases.

According to The Annals of Hyde

In the year 1830 the (Methodist New) Connexion commenced work in Hyde, a small room in Cross Street being used for religious worship. In 1833, the Church had grown sufficiently to warrant the erection of a small chapel in George Street. The leading spirit in the movement about that time seems to have been a Mr. John Leech. A Sunday school was formed and this appears to have strengthened the church. Progress continuing, the large George Street Chapel was erected in 1858. The old schools were replaced in 1885 by the present spacious building adjoining the chapel.

I've recently learnt that George Street was completely obliterated by the building of the M67 motorway.

Inside Automasters Again

Photograph © Bob Abell.

Another 2005 photograph of Automasters courtesy of Bob Abell.

See Hyde DP for a look at the site now.

The Annals of Hyde

Thomas Middleton's book The Annals of Hyde, published in 1899 is now available for download in various formats incluing PDF from the University of California Library.

This brief extract recalls the early origins of the town.

The earliest references to modern Hyde are contained in Aiken's "Forty Miles Round Manchester," published in 1795, and in a History of Cheshire written 20 years later, Aiken, speaking of this district, says :

Near the commencement of the Eastern Horn of Cheshire, which runs up into the wild country bordering on Yorkshire and the Peak of Derbyshire, is Hyde Chapel, or, as it is now called, Gee Cross. The chapel is a Dissenting place of worship. About 25 years ago there was only one house besides; now the place looks like a little town, and forms a continued street of nearly a mile; near it is Red Pump Street, a new village lately built by Mr. Sidebotham.

In a work entitled "Cheshire; or, Original Delineations :Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive of that County: the result of personal survey by E. W. Brayley and J, Briton, published in 1818, this passage occurs:

Hyde Chapel, or Gee Cross as it is now generally denominated, is a small village which obtained its primary name from a chapel for Dissenters, which, with a solitary house, were the only structures here till within these 40 years. The place now resembles a small town, and the houses range along each side of the road for nearly a mile; near it is a new milage lately built and called Red Pump Street.

It is noteworthy that the above writers make no mention of either town or village of Hyde by the present name.

A map of the Environs of Mottram-in-Longdendale, which accompanies Aiken's book, gives the names of such familiar places as Hyde Hall, Hyde Chapel, Godley Green, Gibraltar, Smithy Fold, Newton Green, Newton Hall, and Harrop Edge, but beyond the location of Red Pump Street no trace of Hyde is found. The name Red Pump Street (which was given to a row of, cottages built by Mr. Hegginbottom, and not by Mr. Sidebotham, as Aiken states) was the name by which modern Hyde was first known. Later, we find the name of Hyde Lane (the principal road from Red Pump Street to Gee Cross) used to designate the growing village. Finally, with the increase of the population, the name of the township seems to have become generally used.