According to Rob Magee’s book – Stalybridge Pubs and their licensees 1750 – 1990 there were at least two pubs on Cocker Hill back in the 1800’s. Sadly they are long gone now. How my husband wishes they were still here; he has to walk all the way to the Stalybridge Buffet Bar instead.
From the address I understand The Pack Horse Inn was lower down Cocker Hill than St Georges Church and on the opposite side of the road. (NB as Rock House is currently number 23, the Inn could have been where Blandford Court is now, however it appears re-numbering buildings was fairly common in the 1800s so I can’t be sure.)
The name presumably comes from the fact that Cocker Hill used to be the main pack horse route over to Yorkshire.
The road at the side of the inn was once called Hall Street, probably after Joseph Hall who was the innkeeper from 1808 – 1828. Joseph Hall was the son of Joseph Hall who bought Rock Cottage in Nov 1750. The Hall family owned Rock Cottage until 1811.
1808 – 1828 Joseph Hall
1828 – 1833 Philip Buckley
1833 – 1842 James Heap
James Heap renamed the pub the Chapel Inn when he became licensee; possibly as a result of the bad reputation it had as a meeting place for the body snatchers .
The Inn was converted into one, or possibly 2 houses in 1842.
The Star in public house opened around 1831, shortly after Stamford Street had been constructed, and the address was originally given as Stamford Street.
It changed to Cocker Hill in 1836. The pub closed in 1930.
1831 – 1832 Joseph Heywood
1833 – 1836 John Norton
1836 – 1848 Ralph Lawton
1850 – 1861 Aaron Swallow
1868 – 1871 Joseph Ball
1872 – 1873 Colin Ridge
1873 – 1874 Thomas Ambler
1881 – 1882 David Cordingley
1887 – 1896 Thomas Eastwood
1898 – 1906 John Hobson
1907 – 1908 Samuel Marston
1909 – 1912 Charles W Sharples
1912 – 1922 William Hallas
1922 – 1924 Percy Waterhouse
1925 – 1926 Fred Mills
1927 – 1928 George E Powell
1928 – 1930 James Burke
Cocker Hill, Stalybridge 