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Fascinating facts about our locality:

Ashton-under-Lyne 

Tea retailer and wholesaler and founder of the firm of Brooke, Bond and Co, tea importers, Arthur Brooke was born in George Street Ashton. His father was a tea merchant, but Arthur's first employment was in a local mill. When that closed down Arthur took up a post with a tea merchants in Liverpool, but returned to join his father in his Ashton business, with responsibility for tea sales throughout Lancashire. He opened his first shop in 1869, selling packaged tea retail, a new concept at that time, under the brand name Brook, Bond and Co - however, there was no Mr Bond. The firm became a limited company in 1892 and thereafter concentrated on the wholesale business

Audenshaw 

Mono Pumps Ltd, Arnfield Works, off Guide Lane, Audenshaw. The works are still operating in the old Guide Bridge ironworks just below Guide Bridge station. Brothers Joseph and Edwin Arnfield moved their engineering works here in 1936. They produced cigarette making machinery for Gallaher until the 1950s. In 1935 Mono Pumps formed to make a new kind of pump. The Arnfields entered into an engineering agreement with Mono, who moved their office to Arnfield Works during the Second World War. Today Mono Pumps is a leader in PC pump manufacturing.

Denton

Hatting was the most prominent industry in Denton, as by 1800, there were at least twenty listed manufacturers. However, over the years there were a total of 86 Hatting firms listed. Some of the more famous ones include Howes, Wilsons, J and T Moores, Walker, Ashworth and Linney, William Brown and Sons Ltd, James Bevan and Co, and Messrs Cook, Smith and Co.

Droylsden

Robertsons Jam Works (Golden Shred) was established in 1891, and was set up on the banks of the canal on Ashton Hill Lane. They once employed 1,000 people, but due to new technology, this number is now reduced to around 400. The company produce jams, marmalades, Christmas puddings, fruit drinks, canned fruit fillings, and exports world-wide, and is still a very thriving business. And, of course, they are famous for the Golly symbol, which was introduced in 1910 and became very collectable. The story is that a Robertson grandchild had a rag doll with a happy face and so began the idea of the famous logo!

Dukinfield

The Pyramid Snooker Hall on King Street used to be the Princess Cinema from 1913 until 1960. At one time Dukinfield could boast three cinemas. The first, the Palladium on Crescent Road which closed in 1958, and also the Oxford at the corner of Foundry Street and Oxford Road which finally closed in 1966.

Hyde

Thomas Ashton, mill-owner, was perhaps the most significant of the Ashton family of Hyde, who were involved in creating Hyde's cotton industry. He was responsible for founding one of the largest, and longest lived textile companies in Hyde, later known as Ashton Brothers. When he died in 1846, he left the business to his two surviving sons, Samuel and Thomas, along with the majority of his personal estate and property, which was worth just under £60,000. In 1854 Samuel and Thomas formed Ashton Brothers and Co out of their father's business, maintaining the business's position of one of the largest independent employers in the town until its sale in 1968.

Longdendale

The earliest surviving building specifically built for the textile industry in Tameside is Dry Mill, Mottram which is now converted into cottages. This building was erected in the1790's by John Wagstaffe, probably for the hand- or horse-powered spinning of cotton. There were many such structures in the Longdendale area during the initial cotton boom of the 1780's and1790's, but this is the only known surviving example.

Mossley

Scout Tunnel in Mossley is 200 yards long. If you were to stand at the top of Scout Tunnel looking towards the railway line in the direction of Woodhead Tunnel, there you will see on the hillside a horse which is cut out of heather.

Stalybridge

Stalybridge has two known entries in the Guiness Book of Records for 1995 - the pubs with the longest and shortest names in the United Kingdom! The longest named is: "The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn", on Astley Street, and the shortest is: The "Q" Inn, on Market Street!

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