Hyde, Greater Manchester
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Hyde is a market town in Tameside, part of Greater Manchester. It was formerly in Cheshire.
Hyde's name derives from 'hide' - a measure of land equivalent to 120 acres (0.5 km²).
With a population around 35,000 it was built on the success of the cotton mills in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Peak Forest Canal runs through Hyde; A branch of the canal leading to Ashton, the other way leads to Woodley, Romiley and Marple. At the end of Woodend Lane one can see Captain Clarks Bridge, commemorating Cpt Clark. Originally there were 40 working mills. By 1872 only 27 remained - of these half closed from 1921-1939. There is one working mill in the town today. Hyde Town Hall dominates the market place area. The large bell in the clocktower is known as Oud Josh, named after Joshua Bradley, a former Mayor of Hyde who had risen up from a poor child worker in the mills. It has the ring of big ben.
There were many mill-owning families including the Sidebotham, Hibbert and Horsefield families. However, the major employers in mills were the Ashton family, who did both spinning and weaving, a successful practice when most mills concentrated on one process. This is the one working mill still surviving today.
The Ashton family also built Hyde Chapel in Higham Lane, Gee Cross.
The name Hyde came into common usage by 1830 but if one looks at Newton Hall in Dukinfield Road, there were buildings present in the thirteenth century.
One of the town's most noted achievements came with the success of the Hyde Seal water polo team, who from 1904-1914 were the finest in the world - three times winning the world championships.
But their sporting heritage extends to Dr Ron Hill, a former European gold-medallist marathon runner, while the town holds the sporting distinction of holding the record loss in football's FA Cup - a 26-0 defeat by Preston North End in 1887.
The town is home to Hyde United Football Club (Unibond League Premier Division and also host to Manchester United Reserves in the Pontins Reserve League) and Hyde Cricket Club of the Cheshire League. Hyde also contains the area of Flowery Field which hosts Flowery Field Cricket Club of the Lancashire County League.
One of the most beautiful areas of Tameside is the Werneth Low Country Park in Hyde, which is also home to Hyde War Memorial Trust.
Britain's most prolific serial killer, Dr Harold Shipman, had his doctor's surgery in the town. Another serial killer, Myra Hindley lived in Hyde at the time of the Moors Murders.