Gee Cross is a village and

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

of Hyde within Tameside Metropolitan Borough, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England.

History

Gee Cross village centre dates back to the times of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. Originally, Gee Cross was the larger village in the immediate area; however, Hyde grew during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

and is now the major town, having merged into the north of Gee Cross. The village contains modern day Hyde's first place of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

worship, Hyde Chapel, built in 1708. This would serve as the main church in the area for over a century until St George's Church was built in the centre of Hyde in 1832.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, the village, latterly as part of the borough of Hyde, was a part of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

until the creation of

in 1974. The village has neither statutory boundaries nor

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

status. Tradition would dictate that the northern boundary is at a location known as the ''Big Tree'', just past Lilly Street, which now commemorates those that lost their lives in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

of 1982. Gee Cross is home to a recently instituted

well dressing Well dressing, also known as well flowering, is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals. The custom is most closely associated with ...

festival, which is an ancient custom in the Pennines. Another recent addition is the annual village fete, which is a major fundraising event for local charities; it is held on the site of the former reservoir, the ''Queen Adeleide Reservoir'', now known as ''Sam Redfern Green'', which is now classified as the village green.

Geography and surroundings

Gee Cross is built on the side of a hill called

Werneth Low Werneth Low (; ) is a hill in Greater Manchester, England, and a part of the Pennines. It is located on the borders of Stockport and Tameside, rising to a height of . The villages of Woodley, Greave, Gee Cross, Mottram and Romiley lie on the sid ...

, a part of the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

, which surrounds the village to the south and east. Werneth Low is a protected country park that was first created as a war memorial by the people of Hyde. The park has a visitors centre and ranger service. On a clear day, there are views across the county, as well as

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

; the Welsh mountains are sometimes visible. Sightseers can view

Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...

, including the tallest tower in the UK outside of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

: ''Deansgate Square South Tower''. The ''Hare and Hounds'' pub sits on the top of Werneth Low, as does Hyde Cricket and Squash Club and Werneth Low Golf Club. To the south-west, the village borders Woodley in the

Metropolitan Borough of Stockport The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, south-east of central Manchester. As well as the towns of Stockport, Bredbury and Marple, it includes the outlying areas of Hazel Grov ...

. Within Tameside, Hyde town centre merges with Gee Cross along its northern border and the village of Godley, also a part of Hyde, is found to the north-east. Across Werneth Low,

Hattersley Hattersley is an area of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England; it is located west of Glossop and east of Manchester city centre, at the eastern terminus of the M67. Historically part of Tintwistle Rural District in Cheshire until 1974, it ...

lies to the east and

Romiley Romiley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it borders Marple, Bredbury and Woodley. At the 2011 census, the Romiley ward, which includes Compstall, Bredbury Green an ...

to the south.

Amenities

The centre of the village hosts a small commercial district, which has grown in recent years to include some office-based businesses; these include an estate agents, hairdressing salons and barbers, a pharmacy, laundrette, bakers, florists, tattooist, cafes, bistros, takeaways and a wine bar. In addition, at the bottom of Stockport Road, is a large car dealership currently run by

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

. The local

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was formerly located on the corner of School Lane and Stockport Road, but was closed in the phasing out of smaller branches; it has now become a private house.

Pubs

The village is a popular social venue, featuring numerous pubs alongside newer restaurants and bars. These include The Buxton, The Queen Adelaide, The Werneth and The Cheshire Cheese. In 1817, the Cheshire Cheese premises were three private cottages owned by Bristowe Cooper. Behind them was a small dingle called Sugar Loaf Wood and one could walk down a path through this to a plantation which was owned by Samuel Ashton, the cotton magnate. The cottages were later transformed into a school for the children of Gee Cross and Bristowe Cooper became the schoolmaster. Around 1857, the school was closed and the premises became a butcher's shop, a beerhouse and a grocer's shop. The three cottages were then owned by Benjamin Cocker, who was also the first licensee of the beerhouse and who gave it the sign of the Cheshire Cheese. After Benjamin left, Betsy Emery ran the three shops single handedly for many years. The Emery family occupied the "Cheese" until around 1974, the butchers became part of the pub in 1919 and the grocer's shop closed in 1959. It was a freehouse until 1943, when it was bought by Yates Brewery and then it later came under the John Smiths banner. Under new management in 2020, the "Cheese" has once again started to be the heart of the Gee Cross community and the Grapes Hotel. The former Lamb Inn has been converted to a day nursery. Another addition to the already thriving Gee Cross pub scene is the Joshua Bradley. Named after the former Mayor of Hyde and situated on the borders of the village, this 19th-century former private hall (Bamford Hall in its previous incarnation) has been subject to a £3 million transformation by Hydes brewery.

Education

Gee Cross contains two

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s: Dowson Primary and Gee Cross Holy Trinity (CofE). Just outside Gee Cross is

Alder Community High School Alder Community High School is a state funded secondary school in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. The School was built under the Private Funding Initiative (PFI) by Interserve Interserve is a British construction and support services bu ...

, which is a new

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

built in 2004. It is a computing and maths specialist school, which teaches over 800 11-16 year olds.

Religion

There are three churches in Gee Cross: an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

and Unitarian Church. The Unitarian Church in the centre of the village is called Hyde Chapel. The Anglican Church is called Gee Cross Holy Trinity and is affiliated with the primary school. Gee Cross Methodist Church is the other church in the village.

Notable people

*Daniel Benson: Four time national Boxing champion * Warren Bradley:

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

footballer *

John Bramwell John Harold Arnold Bramwell (born 27 November 1964 in Hyde, Cheshire) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the frontman for the former three-piece alternative rock band I Am Kloot. Prior to forming I Am Kloot, Bramwell had previousl ...

: English singer-songwriter, frontman for the three-piece alternative rock band

I Am Kloot I Am Kloot were an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1999. The band was composed of vocalist/guitarist John Bramwell, bassist Peter Jobson and drummer Andy Hargreaves. The band released six studio albums, and was nominated for the Mercu ...

. *

Tom Cassell Thomas George Cassell (born 23 June 1993), known online as Syndicate, is an English YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Regarded as one of the earlier known gaming personalities, his videography consists of Let's Play videos on ''Call of Duty'' and ...

a.k.a. Syndicate: famous

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

gamer *Tommy Chow: Olympic cycling medallist *Mick Coleman: Composer and songwriter of Brian & Michael The Matchstalk Men *Brian Day: Musician, founding member of the

Syd Lawrence Orchestra Syd Lawrence (26 June 1923 – 5 May 1998) was a British people, British bandleader, who became famous in the United Kingdom, UK for his orchestra's Big Band sound, which drew on the 1940s style of music of Glenn Miller and Count Basie amongst ...

. Also worked with

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

10cc 10cc are an English rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – who had written and recorded together since 1968. The group featured t ...

and

Barclay James Harvest Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), a ...

. * Jack Griffiths:

footballer, who worked as a physiotherapist, located at Richmond House, Stockport Road. Initially opened in the early 50s, he worked there before retiring in 1980; he was joined by his son, Keith Griffiths, who has been the principal physiotherapist ever since. *

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at li ...

: Famous boxer born in

but now lives in Gee Cross *

Nigel Howard Nigel David Howard (18 May 1925 – 31 May 1979) was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. Born in Gee Cross, Hyde, Cheshire, he captained England on the tour to India in 1951-52. In the only four Test matches he playe ...

: First class cricketer, born in Gee Cross, Hyde, and played

test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

for England. He played first class cricket for

between 1946 and 1954, he played his four tests between 1951 and 1952. He became Lancashire's youngest ever captain in 1949 and, in 1950, he led Lancashire to a shared Championship title. *Tony Husband: Cartoonist *Benjamin Rowbotham: Footballer,

Left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 1919, they were renamed Hyde F.C. between 2010 and 2015 as part of a sponsorship deal with Manchester City.Geography of Tameside Hyde, Greater Manchester