Flowers outside Abbey National 1999

The Abbey National on the corner of Market Place and Hamnett Street in 1999.

The antecedents of the Abbey National are the National Permanent Mutual Benefit Building Society established in 1849 and the Abbey Road & St. John's Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society, founded in 1874, based in a Baptist church on Abbey Road in Kilburn. In 1932 the society moved into new headquarters, Abbey House, at 219–229 Baker Street, London, which it occupied until 2002. The site was thought to include 221B Baker Street, the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes and for many years Abbey employed a secretary charged with answering mail sent to Holmes at that address. The two soicieties merged in 1944 to form the Abbey National Building Society.

1n 1989 it became the first of the UK building societies to demutualise, and become a public limited company. In 2003 it rebranded itself as simply the Abbey. In November 2004 it become part of the Santander Group.

Santander had also acquired Bradford & Bingley's retail branches and savings business in September 2008.

In January 2010, Abbey and the branch network of Bradford & Bingley were rebranded as Santander and for the next four years both branches continued to operate at the opposite ends of the Market Place.

In 2014 the former Bradford & Bingley branch was closed down and its business merged with the former Abbey branch which is now the sole Santander branch in town.

See how this same scene looks in July 2014 on Hyde Daily Photo.

Comfort Corner, 1948

I recently heard from Bill Bevan who now lives in Nebraska USA, who wrote

I have a photo of my dad on his bike at the corner of Market street/ Manchester road / Newton street about 1948 showing Garbetts shop and an old number 19 double decker. It hung on my dad's living room wall from the eary 60s until his death in 1987 then on mine and we brought it with us when we moved to Nebraska. He always claimed the man on the bike was him on his way home from work at E Lowerys whose yard was under the arches at Hyde station. He was their lorry driver up to his retirement and I can just about remember him driving their steam shovel as well. I remember the old SHMD trams, the tramshed used to be roughly where Morrisons store is on Mottram Rd. Some of the trams had wooden slatted seats the backs of which reversed when the tram changed direction and were bloody uncomfortable if you were a kid in short trousers. They only ran as far as Godly Arches bacause they couldn't make the grade up to Mottram, there were also buses from there to Glossop which usualy needed the radiator refiiling at the horse trough just before what is now the eastern end of the M67.

See Hyde Daily Photo for a view from about the same spot now.

For Our World Tuesday.

Hoviley Brow before the motorway came

This photograph first appeared here in August 2007.

It shows Hoviley Brow, near the Dye Works which is now home to ABC Wax.

The houses were demolished by the 1970s and the ground covered by the M67 Motorway.

About the only thing still standing is the factory chimney. It would have been dirtier then and not carrying mobile-phone relay masts!

See how it looks now on Hyde Daily Photo.

The Market Place Fountain

The fountain on the corner of Market Place and Market Street was presented to the Corporation by the Total Abstainers of the Borough in 1888.

Its remains now stand in Hyde Park near the children's play area, as you can see at Hyde Daily Photo.

The CDPB theme today is "Fountains": Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Crown Pole Mottram

This photograph, © Frank Bennett, first appeared on the Images of England site and is republished here with permission.

Date Photographed: 02 September 2000.

The official description reads

SJ 99 NE LONGDENDALE MARKET PLACE 4/66 Crown Pole 1.11.66 G.V. II Pole bearing light pendants, weather-vane and sign posts. Originally erected 1760 for the coronation of George III but replaced in 1902 and again in 1926. Stepped circular stone base inscribed "Re-newed by Lord Tallomache kings crowning 1902". The tapering cast iron pole records "pole renewed Harold Chapmans J.P. c.c. February, 1926". Topped by a weather-cock.

See my own photograph on Hyde Daily Photo.

Happy Return From Sutton: A George Wain Film 1942

George Wain, an art teacher at Hyde Grammar School, was also an amateur film maker.

During WWll he was commissioned by "The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents" to make road safety films for school children.

This is his film of his trip to Sutton in Surrey, and London, and his return home to Dowson Road and his family during the summer of 1942.



Another a war-time relic can seen on Hyde Daily Photo.

Yorkshire Bank 1990

This 1990 view of Market Street was taken outside the Clarendon Hotel, by Alan Young. Alan was playing with the West Virginian classic rock band Par Avion who were over in the UK doing a few gigs. I'm not sure about the presence of the ambulance - what interests me is the Yorkshire Bank across the road.

Now, as can be seen on Hyde Daily Photo it is sandwiched between the Chicken Hut and Subway.

It had different neighbours twenty years ago. The shop above was Etcetera which I think was a ladies dress and accessories shop. The shop below was Granada TV Sales & Rentals
and to the right of that was Greenwoods Gents Outfitters.

According to Wikipedia

the bank was established on 1 May 1859 by Colonel Edward Akroyd of Halifax. Based in Leeds it was known as the West Riding Penny Savings Bank. It had originally been planned as a provident society but the status of savings bank was eventually chosen. ... The bank was operated on a non-profit making basis and in 1860 it was decided to extend operation to the other ridings of Yorkshire {and later obviously to surrounding counties}.

To recognise this the name was changed to the Yorkshire Penny Bank. In 1872 it issued cheque books for the first time, primarily for small tradesmen. At that time the bank became the first to create school banks, to encourage the idea of saving at an early age. {I recall as a child having a number of savings boxes and piggy-banks donated by the YPB}

... In its centenary year of 1959 the bank's name changed to the more familiar Yorkshire Bank Limited. During the 1970s the bank became one of the first to offer fee-free banking whilst in credit, a move that took bigger rivals a decade to follow. In 1982 it adopted public limited company status.

In 1990 it was acquired by the National Australia Bank who in 2005 announced its intention to merge the Yorkshire Bank with the Clydesdale under one operating licence, in which the former would be a trading name of the latter. Both operate under separate identities although the Clydesdale brand is the one that has been used in further expansion into the south of England.

For more Y posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Red Pump Street

Aiken's "Forty Miles Round Manchester," published in 1795, 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.

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.

The CDPB theme for April 1st is "Red". Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Dowson Road 1982

Taken from the end of Queen Street, Janet Howie's photograph from 1982 shows the junction of Market Street and Dowson Road.

Compare it with my photograph of 2009 on Hyde Daily Photo.

Kelly's fishing tackle shop has gone along with the three adjacent shops. The first recognisable building is Robinson's funeral directors. The whole junction has been widened up with a left hand filter and pedestrian crossings.

Slack Mills

Looking down Stockport Road from Gee Cross into Hyde about 100 years ago.

Taken from near the crossroads with Osborne Road and Peel Street, the scene is dominated by Slack Mills. The site was taken over early in the 1900s by James North whose firm patented the PVC glove in 1947.

I recently posted a 1993 view of the factory from Werneth Low.

The mill was demolished in 1998 and the only monument is the restored James North Clock.

See how the view from the same vantage point looks today on Hyde Daily Photo.

Before there was a Woolworths

About a hundred years ago there was no Woolworths in Hyde Market Place. Instead there was Brownson's Clothiers.

I don't know when Woolworths moved in but now it seems they may well be on their way out.

Newton Street

This is Newton Street which leads up towards Flowery Field church.

It was taken by Frank Bennett, some time prior to 2002 at the latest. It is a scan of an 8 x 8 print from a 120 film.

Dukinfield Road (the A627 from Ashton under Lyne) after passing Edward Street, meets Newton Street at this mini-roundabout.

Today, there are traffic lights. Although the smaller textile mill in the foreground remains, Ashton Bros Mill in the background has been demolished.

You can see how the junction looks today on Hyde Daily Photo.

Wakes Week

This 1950s picture shows Hyde during Wakes Week.

Wakes Weeks were a tradition across the industrial North of England, especially Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cheshire. Each town had its own Wakes Weeks in June, July or August. Whole towns would virtually close down for one or two weeks. For large mills and factories it made more sense to close completely rather than allow workers to take their holidays at staggered times.

Many people went away to Blackpool, Morecambe, Southport and other destinations. For those that remained at home, there was usually a local fair to attend.

The tradition lived on well into the 1980s but has now largely been abandoned.

My other ABC Wednesday W posts this week are ~~ Well on Wych Fold at Hyde Daily Photo ~~ Wreck of the Riverdance at Ackworth born, gone West ~~ Windsurfer at Sithenah

To visit more ABC-Wednesday W posts go to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

Godley Hill 1902

This is Godley Hill decorated to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII.

The coronation was set for 26th June 1902. Due to the King taking ill two days before, the ceremony was postponed until 9th August. At the King's insistance though most celebrations still went ahead on the original date.

Horse, Cart and Tram on Market Street

Another Edwardian picture of Market Street, this time featuring a horse, cart and tram.

West Side of Market Street

This picture of the West side of Market Street compliments the picture of the East side posted last week.

That is the same tram at the bottom of the street.

On this side is the Church Inn which in recent years has changed its name to Tylers. At present it is closed as are the Globe and Flannagans (previously Moulders).

The East Side of Market Street

This is the East side of the top part of Market Street from before the First World War.

It looks quite a bit different now.

Hyde Junction 1960

This picture shows the start of Victoria Road, Dukinfield at its junction with Dukinfield Road and Junction Street.

It is in the opposite direction to this recent photograph on Hyde Daily Photo.

Thanks to John Taylor for allowing us to use this picture from his blog Dukinfield Views.

Corner of the Market & Town Hall, a Century ago

A view across a corner of the market towards the Town Hall.

Compare it if you will with the same scene today on Hyde Daily Photo.

Joel Lane, Gee Cross

Joel Lane, Gee Cross.

I think the date is about the 1920s.