Haughton and Hyde

Sometime in the 16th century a group of Protestant Flemish refugees settled in the part of Haughton that became known as Glass House Fold. The Hyde Clarke family owned the land upon which they settled and their family seat was just across the river Tame in Hyde. These refugees were skilled glassmakers and they quickly founded a local glass-making industry. In order to make glass, furnaces were built, which were fired using the ample supplies of coal that lay just just below the ground. Accordingly, pit shafts were sunk within the confines of the hamlet (Haughton Colliery) and a drift mine (Dans Wood Drift Mine) was driven into the valley side. References to glassmakers can be found in the registers at St Mary's Parish Church, Stockport, between 1605 and 1644, after which there is no further mention. In 1696 a list of English glass houses was published and this makes no mention of the hamlet. Hence, it is likely that glass making ceased there between 1644 and 1696. Nevertheless, coal could still be mined and throughout the 18th century and into the early years of the 19th century the hamlet was a busy mining centre.

Known surnames of Flemish refugees at Glass House Fold include: Beacher, Birche, Butterworth, Clerke, De Haux, de Hooke, De Hoe, De How, De Howe, De Huse, Hartley, Harvey, Pylmey, Shegh, Wilson and Wood. It is likely that members of some of these families initially exploited the natural outcrops of coal to fire the glass-making furnaces that were in use between 1605 and 1644. Such coal extraction would have led to the creation of Dans Wood Drift Mine.

Work on cutting the Peak Forest Canal commenced in 1794 and George Hyde Clarke became a major shareholder in the canal company. He was mindful that coal from Glass House Fold could also be exported along the canal as well as into Hyde. To facilitate this, a tramway was constructed between Glass House Fold and the Peak Forest Canal in Hyde. As constructed, this tramway ran along the north side of the access lane to Glass House Fold (now Flemish Road) before turning northwards to run along the south side of Dark Lane (now Mill Lane) where it crossed the river Tame on a wooden bridge. It then continued for a short distance alongside Mill Lane before it veered in a north easterly direction to climb the valley side towards the Peak Forest Canal. It arrived at the Peak Forest Canal in the vicinity of Hyde Lane Pit, which adjoined Hyde Change Bridge over the canal. Here there was a coal staithe where boats could be loaded with coal. The date of closure of the tramway is uncertain but it is likely that it was around the 1830s.

Map of Glass House Fold Tramway in Hyde, 1841.

Map of Glass House Fold Tramway in Haughton, 1848.

There is no corroborative evidence to confirm the type of tramway used but it is virtually certain that the track consisted of L-section, cast-iron rails, each 1-yard long, secured to stone sleeper blocks. Benjamin Outram, who was the Consulting Engineer for the construction of the Peak Forest Canal, promoted this method of tramway construction. The method of moving waggons along the tramway is also unknown but, considering the steepness of the valley side up to the canal, it is likely that it was a combination of horse haulage and rope haulage.