St George’s Church, Cocker Hill
I have grouped together here old photos of the area. The majority of the old photos below are available to view and buy from The Tameside Image Archive.
St Georges Church, Cocker Hill
Above is either the first or second St Georges Church, Cocker Hill. The first church was built in 1776, the second sometime after 1778. The Bridge in the foreground was built 1707 and replaced in 1824. Which dates the scene as between 1778 and 1824. I suspect the photo is the first Church as a photo I have of the second seems to show a slightly different roof.
The second St Georges Church in close up.
Above is the second St Georges Church in detail.
Second Old St Georges, with surrounding buildings
The above shows the same Church and the surrounding buildings. Wakefield Road Baptist Church is on the top left which means that the picture is was taken after 1848 when it was built.
St Georges, Stalybridge
This picture shows the Third St Georges Church, Stalybridge. This dates the picture as some time between 1888 and 1968 when the Church was demolished. Also note the viaduct in the background. The picture below shows the demolition of the viaduct.
Demolition of the viaduct
St Georges, Stalybridge coloured
This picture of Cocker Hill caught my attention it is in colour but not a colour photo though. The colours must have been added later as the Weavers Cottages in the middle ground are shown as red brick when they are actually all local stone.
Bohemia Cottages
The above shows Bohemia Cottages at the foot of Cocker Hill. The people on the photo interest me; did they know the would be in the picture? I guess they would not have believed that people would still look at the photo today. 25/03/13 – I have found out more about the photo since I put it on here. I was posed and part of a series showing workers of the area. There was no such thing as a quick snapshot when it was taken!
Bohemia Cottages April 2010
Whit Walks, Cocker Hill/Stamford Street
The picture above is taken from Stamford Street and shows the Whit Walkers walking down Cocker Hill.
The building on the left is now Thompson and Cook solicitors as you can see on the up to date picture below. The pub in the centre was the Star Inn. In between the two were a set of steps. A friend remembers the steps from her youth “We had to go up these steps when we came out of Stalybridge to get to our house on Hall St. When we were kids they were always known as the Starrin steps” The Star Inn has since been demolished.
Below are two pictures taken in 2013, the whit walkers in this case are coming down Stamford Street rather that Cocker Hill and are from New St Georges Church.
Whit walkers 2013 – St Georges Church
Whit Walkers 2013 – St Georges Church
Cocker Hill/Stamford Street
The picture above was taken looking down Cocker Hill towards Stalybridge Town Hall. The cobbles on Cocker Hill are still there but the majority of the Town Hall has now been demolished.
Cocker Hill, Stalybridge 