4 Back Lane

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

LONGDENDALE BACK LANE SJ 99 NE (west side) 4/44 No. 4 20.4.77 G.V. II House now shop. C18. Squared rubble, graduated stone slate roof and brick stack. l-bay, double-depth with 2 storeys. Stone plinth. Door to right with square-cut stone surround, window to left and small window with glazing bars on first floor. Gable chimney stack. Included for group value.

See my own photograph on Hyde Daily Photo.

Cheshire Cheese, Gee Cross, 1982 and earlier

This is the Cheshire Cheese on Stockport Road in Gee Cross. The photograph was taken by Janet Howie in 1982.

It is not to be confused with the Cheshire Cheese in Newton, nor the Cheshire Cheese in Broadbottom, featured today on Hyde DP Xtra.


Janet also sent me scans of two much earlier photographs (dates unknown) from her collection. As can be seen here, the left hand side of the building was originally a separate grocery shop.


See how it looks in 2010 on Hyde Daily Photo.

For more C posts visit ABC Wednesday

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.

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.

Alfred Woolley in his Shop Doorway

Denys Meakin sent me this photograph of his wife's great grandfather, Alfred Woolley, sitting outside his grocery store at 284 Stockport Rd, Gee Cross, around 1900.


This second photograph is probably ten to twenty years later and shows the premises on the corner of Knott Lane. Denys' wife lived next door at 286 Stockport Road until their marriage in 1959.

With two-foot-thick walls, it dates back to around 1750 and was one of the earliest buildings in Gee Cross. At one time, it was apparently a pub, The Beeston Castle.

In the forties and fifties, the shop was Johnny Graham's barber shop.


This third photograph is © Denys Meakin and taken in 2003. Compare it with my own photograph from 2008.

Today the CDPB theme is Doorways: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Gee Cross Post Office 1982

Another photograph by Janet Howie showing Gee Cross Post Office at the corner of Stockport Road and School Lane.

It is no longer a Post Office, falling foul of the general closure of numerous sub-offices, despite a concerted campaign against it. When I posted a photograph of the former Post Office someone asked "Is the new one near?". Well no you have to go all the way into town to the Main Post Office.

Someone else remarked "At least they kept the post box." In this shot the post box is behind the two ladies. It has since been moved round the corner into School Lane.

One thing hasn't changed - there is still a newsagents next door.

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.

Hett's Sweet Shop

Hett's Sweet Shop was next to the Hippodrome Cinema on Clarendon Street.

It was situated where Borough Arcade now cuts through.

The Hippodrome closed in the 1960s and was re-opened by Morecambe & Wise as a Supermarket.

Corner Shop

The CDPB theme this month is "Corner Shop".

This shop on the corner of Croft Street and Railway Street is alas, no longer a shop but like so many has been converted into an ordinary house as you can see on Hyde DP.

To view thumbnails for all the other participants in this month's theme visit the CDPB portal

Middleton's Drapers

This drapers on Manchester Road was started by Charles Swindells around 1860. In the 1870s ownership passed to his son-in-law Henry Middleton who continued to run the shop until about 1914.

The photograph was taken c.1905.

Market Stalls c1915

Market Stalls c.1915

I haven't been able to work out exactly from which direction this was taken.

Haughton Green Equitable Cooperative Society Ltd

This picture of a Haughton Green Equitable Cooperative Society Ltd anniversary plate was sent to us by Fred Anderson who tells us that the old coop was opposite the "tommy todd".

His family lived in Gibraltar Lane before moving to Gee Cross, and finally left the area in 1967.

Brownson Clothiers

One prominent feature of Hyde Market Place is this dome. In 1910 it belonged to Brownson Clothiers.

Now it adorns Woolworths.

The pole at the top has obviously been foreshortened and with no tramwires to interfere has become a home for pigeons.