Glossop
Glossop stands in the county of Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The town is located by the Glossop Brook which is a tributary of the River Etherow. Glossop is part of the High Peak Borough.
It is thought that people have settled in the town area since ancient times. There is, for example, a Bronze Age burial site in the town’s Shire Hill. The Romans also settled in the area as they passed through the country and built a fort here later on. In Saxon times it is thought that Glossop was known as Glott’s Hop which may be taken to mean Glott’s Valley or Land. Glott may well have been a local leader of the area at the time.
The town was recorded in the Domesday Book and in Norman times it was given to William de Peverel, a Norman knight, by William the Conqueror. In later years the town was essentially a few villages in the current town’s area which were collectively known as Glossopdale. By the 12th century the crown put Glossop (which was then known as a manor estate) under the aegis of Basingwerk Abbey. The Abbey obtained a charter for Glossop to hold a market in the 13th century. By the 17th century the area was under the control of the Howard family, the Dukes of Norfolk, where it remained until the 20th century when the family sold the estate and donated much of their lands in the area to the town itself.
From an industry perspective Glossop was originally best known as a centre of the wool trade. The land is the area was not generally suited to crop growing but was ideal for raising sheep. By the late 1700s the town had moved into calico manufacturing and printing which caused the town to grow at a significant rate. At this stage Glossop was part of the estates of the Howards, who helped the town grow into a significant mill town working in the cotton industry as a whole. It is thought that there were around 30 mills in the Glossopdale area by the 1830s.
Visitors to Glossop may like to take a look at the mill buildings that played such a large part in the heritage of the town such as Wren’s Nest Mills and Wood’s Mill. The town’s public parks also include two areas that have been given Green Flag status so a trip to Manor Park and Howard Park may be worth while. Harehills Park is also the site of pleasant riverside walks. The town holds an annual Victorian Weekend, a Beer Festival, the Glossop Carnival and a range of special markets on Bank Holidays. Visitors should also try to visit the nearby site of the Melandra Roman Fort.