A blog about Cocker Hill, Stalybridge; mainly history with just a little bit of the here and now.
I wasn’t interested in history. Then I moved into a Weavers Cottage and simply wanted to know how old it was. After a lot of research I eventually found out that it was well over 250 years old. That started me thinking of the changes that the house had seen.
When it was built the house wouldn’t have had running water, electricity, gas, or drains and Cocker Hill was a busy trade route of its day, not the sleepy cobbled street it is today.
I dug around, and found that the whole area has a fascinating history; riots, Bodysnatchers, Chartists, unpopular vicars, a home for “fallen” women, the rise and fall of the Industrial Revolution with its ‘dark Satanic mills’. The more I discovered, the more fascinating it seems.
This site is all about bringing all the information I have found together so that anyone interested in local history or geneology can find it and perhaps use it in their own research. Probably the best way to use the site is to have a look at the categories in the right hand side and click on any that interest you. I do plan to add more posts, but given the time it takes progress is slow.
Please let me know if you have any information or special memories about of the area that I can add to the site or if you are researching your family tree and have found an ancestor from Cocker Hill. I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment after any of the posts or email me at Cockerhill@hotmail.com
Thanks for your interest
hi steph have found elizabeth d williams still matron of ” the home” on cockerhill in the 1901 census, enter all the same details but the birth date changed for some reason to 1841. best wishes jacquie
Dear Steph,
Hi, my name is David and by I have just discovered your article on Cocker Hill. What a coincidence, I used to live there myself!
I was born in 1958 at Partington Maternity Home in Glossop. My parents, Ian and Hilde Walton, were living at 27 Cocker Hill. In 1962 we moved to the Eagle Hotel (long since demolished) which was on Corporation Street, number 25 if I remember rightly. Three years later we moved to Newton, Hyde so I only have a few shadowy memories of that time, although I do remember the church still being there. However I can ask my mum if there’s any useful information or even photographs she can give me. Unfortunately I now live in Germany (since 1980) and my mum moved to Linolnshire after my father died nearly six years ago so it will take a while. I also have an older brother whom I can ask but he also lives in Lincs.
So please have a little patience and I’ll see what I can do.
I think your website is simply great and I wish you good luck and fun finding out more. All the best for now- you will be hearing from me again in the not too distant future!
Thank you for your comment David, great to hear from you. Glad you like the site. Cocker Hill is a great place to live, fondly remembered by many who used to live there. You’ll hopefully have been pleased to see that number 27 is still standing and still looking great. I’ll add you and your parents to my list of past residents. I’d love to hear any stories/memories your Mum has about her time on Cocker Hill and any photos would be interesting. All the best. Steph
Hi Steph,
My brother David has just told me about the site, blimey brings back some memories.
I was in 1955 in Ashton Hospital (Lakeside), we lived at 27 till 1962, as I was 7 at the time I do have more memories of 27 Cocker Hill, but need the memory banks jogging.
I will speak to my Mum tomorrow when I pop round she will remember a lot more.
I do remember a lady called Mrs Shaw who lived next door, will get back to you.
Regards
Ian
Thanks Ian, great to hear from you. Must be interesting to look at some of the curent photos of Cocker Hill and go back in time, although I’m guessing you wont remember much and from a 7 year olds perspective I’m guessing Cocker Hill wasn’t all that special. I don’t think that 27 will have changed that much but the street certainly has, with all the lower houses and the Church being demolished.
The Mrs Shaw you recall was a Harriet Shaw and lived in my house (Rock Cottage) until 1960. Her familiy had owened the house for nearly a 100 years.
Thanks for looking
Hi Steph!
I don’t know if you received my email from 23rd- in it I mentioned for example that the house at the top of the road was a shop as you suspected. If for some reason you did not receive my mail please let me know and I’ll resend it. Regards, David.
yes I did get it thanks very much; apologies for not replying at the time. I also got a message from your brother too. Thanks for getting everyone involved I really appreciate it. Keep checking back; I do have plans to add other info to the site when I can. I have some old maps of the area, I want to put up amongst other things. Thanks again. Steph/
My third book ‘Jenufla’ is published digitally. It is set around Cocker Hill, Stalybridge and Manchester.
Go to Amazon ‘Kindle’ and key in Stalybridge or Harry Moore
Hope you are well Steph, long time no hear.
Harry
Hi there
Not sure if this blog is still active. My Mum and her brothers and sisters grew up on Cocker Hill in the 40s and 50s and have lots of fond memories about living there. One of my aunties also lived in Glent House just off Wakefield Road and we used Cocker Hill as a short cut to get from there into Stalybridge. Let me know if you want any info from when my Mum lived there and I’ll send you what I can.
Thanks for your comment. Yes I’d love to hear from you with any info from your Mum. You can email me – cockerhill@hotmail.com.
I look forwrd to hearing from you.
Hi Steph,
I have just come across your site for Cocker Hill Stalybridge, where you mention interest in past residents maybe from Family Tree research. My 2nd Great Grandfather was Aaron Swallow who was licensee of the Star Inn on Stamford Street from 1850 to 1861, as shown in the book Cocker Hill Pubs of the 1800’s. the next Licensee was not listed until 1868 which a presumed closure seems to coincide with the cotton famine and why I assume that Aaron ceased being the landlord in 1861 and died in 1866 aged 52. Aaron his wife 6 children 1 cousin and a servant were listed in the 1851 census as living at No 1?, Cocker Hill, on one side being No 9 and the other being No 4. the No.1 could also just as easily have been No 7. Aaron’s eldest son James aged 16 was listed as a National School Teacher, His daughter Sarah Ann and son Saville were listed as a scholar’s but in the 1861 census were listed as Professor’s of Music. Sarah Ann married my Gt Grandfather Henry Statham and moved to Preston where she became prominent as a singer appearing with Charles Halle’s band at the Free Trade Hall Manchester. In The Preston Guardian 11 Jun 1862 they printed an article from the Ashton & Stalybridge Reporter about Sarah Ann singing in aid of the relief fund in Ashton. She also appeared at Blackpool winter Gardens and one occasion as 2nd only to Madame Lemmens Sherrington a leading Opera singer of the time at The Theatre Royal Preston, her brother Saville Swallow and her only son James Statham were also listed as professors of music.
Hope this has been of some interest to you
Fantastic Ray, thank you very much for your comment. Great to hear of talented musicians coming from Cocker Hill.
Hi Steph ,
As you walk up the cobbled road, from stamford street to wakefield road, about a third of the way up on the left hand side where the modern sheltered occomodation houses are now . Up to 1955 there were slum dwellings (approximatley 34) which consisted of terrace cottages, this area of cockerhill was a cluster of small streets . The tiny houses mainly contained 2 bedrooms: 1 small living room and a mini kitchen.In my family alone there were 9 people. After the war the begining of the 1940s i remember we used to play in the air raid shelters , there were 4 on the area we called the stone pit and 4 on an area we named the building.About 12 outdoor toilets situated in the back entries , we had to make our way through ginnels which were shared out on about 4 streets . The names of the streets were, Adshead street (10 houses) , Heap street (11 houses) Hall street where my family the Stewarts lived and Backavon street (13 houses).On the left hand side of this street led down to the COCKPIT where in the old days the men used to fight cockerals and gamble. On the right hand side there was a building which had been pulled down and all of the bricks werte there and we called this the foundrey.