Cowbrook Avenue
Cowbrook Avenue runs off Sheffield Road, the A57, in Glossop, Derbyshire — in the parish of Old Glossop, about half a mile from the old village, beside the site of the old Cowbrook Mill. It is a small road with a good community.
Until 1936 the avenue was part of the Cowbrook Estate, with Cowbrook House at its head. This site gathers what I have about its history: the houses and the people who lived in them in 1936, the house at the top of the avenue, and the brochure from the sale that divided the estate.
Cowbrook Avenue in 1936
When the estate was sold on 27 July 1936, the avenue's houses were sold one by one, each "a semi-detached residence". The sale particulars record who was living in each:
- 1 Cowbrook Avenue — Miss S. A. BowdenLot 4. Drawing room with a bay window, living room, back kitchen, three bedrooms, bathroom, and a small garden plot.
- 3 Cowbrook Avenue — Mr A. E. ParryLot 5. "The accommodation is similar to No. 1."
- 5 Cowbrook Avenue — Mr A. W. MorrisLot 6. Front room with a bay window, drawing room, back kitchen, three bedrooms, bathroom, and small garden plots front and rear.
- 7 Cowbrook Avenue — Cowbrook Farm, farmed by Mr Abner HadfieldThe farmhouse of Lot 9, a small holding of 22.64 acres whose farm buildings "were formerly part of Cowbrook Mill".
The buyers of the lots along the avenue were to share its upkeep, each paying "a proportionate part of the cost of keeping Cowbrook Avenue in reasonable repair and condition until such time as it may be taken over by the local authority".
Cowbrook House, at the head of the avenue
The sale particulars call it "A Splendid Period House … exceptionally well built of dressed stone", grey slated, with leaded diamond-shaped windows, facing south "with beautiful views of the Derbyshire Moors". Its gardens had a rose garden, a sunken Italian garden with rockeries, greenhouses, an orchard and a tennis court, and "a stream of good clear water running through the Grounds". These photographs were taken for the 1936 sale.
The 1936 sale brochure
On Monday 27 July 1936 the Cowbrook Estate was auctioned at the Norfolk Arms Hotel, Glossop, in ten lots. The whole brochure — cover, fourteen pages and the two hand-coloured estate plans — can be read here as a book.
Cowbrook Mill in 3D
Cowbrook Mill stood between the houses and the Hurst Brook from 1801 until it closed in 1898; most of it was demolished by the early 1920s. This is a 3D reconstruction of the site as it was in the 1890s, built from the Ordnance Survey map of the time and the mill's 1898 sale catalogue. It is a work in progress — some of it is informed guesswork.
A short history
- 1801Cowbrook Mill is built by William Hadfield. Three generations of Hadfields spin cotton there.
- 1898The mill closes; its machinery and stock are auctioned on 11 May 1898.
- 1908Lord Howard of Glossop grants a 999-year lease of part of the land to Edward Platt.
- 1920On 28 February 1920 the freehold is conveyed by Lord Howard of Glossop to Herbert Jackson. Kelly's Directories list him at Cowbrook, Sheffield Road, from 1925 to 1936. Isaac and Harriet Jackson, of the Hawkshead belt-fastener works and the Jackson Buildings, had a son named Herbert. As it happens, my daughter's godfather is a direct descendant of the Jackson family.
- 27 July 1936The Cowbrook Estate is sold at auction in ten lots, and the houses of Cowbrook Avenue are sold individually.
- 1936My grandfather, G. H. Wilson, obtains Lot 1 — Cowbrook House with 106 and 108 Sheffield Road.
- Late 1970sMy mother buys 3 Cowbrook Avenue, Lot 5 of the 1936 sale.
More on Old Glossop
- Cowbrook Mill, Glossop: 1801 to 1898The mill beside the avenue, from William Hadfield to its closure.
- Old GlossopHistory of the original village of Glossop, in the Peak District.