SADDLEWORTH has in the past provided many attractions to bring visitors to the area but sadly all have gone, writes Peter Fox.
One of these was Summershade Pleasure Garden located in Grasscroft on the south facing slope of Wharmton.
The earliest mention of Summershade is in a Rating Survey of 1822 with the site being the location of a farmhouse.
Its first mention of a leisure use, at least with the selling of beer at a beer house on the site, was by the 1860s.
Owner George Travis had abandoned his weaving business as the role of the handloom weaver was in decline due to industrialisation.
So, running a beer house appears to have been his main interest going on to become the landlord of the White Hart.
In 1879, the property was sold to William Griffiths Hulme of Springhead, a local plumber He enlarged the site with the purchase of 2 ½ acres of land.
It was possibly with this extra land and the temperance hotel he ran on the site; he had the inspiration to create a pleasure garden.
By 1890, it was being advertised as ‘Summershade Gardens, Greenfield – These Gardens are now open daily. Fifteen minutes’ walk from Grotton Station and ten minutes from Greenfield Station.
‘Excellent accommodation for visitors. Special terms for school and picnic parties. Band for Dancing. Every Saturday evening at 7 o clock. Bowling Green, Swings, Museum, Monkeys, Peacock, Pheasants, & etc. – Proprietor W. G. Hulme.’
The local papers described a visit in 1897. On Tuesday afternoon when some 300 poor children from Stalybridge assembled on the platform previous to returning home. It seems they had been spending the day at Summershade – thanks to the kindly generosity of Stalybridge friends.
‘The young folks seemed in the best of spirits, and it took the ladies who had them in charge all their time to keep them in order.’
In March 1903, Hulme. applied for licence for the Summershade pleasure grounds but after a long hearing was refused.
Hulme continued to run the business until his death in 1907 prompting the house and gardens to be put up for sale.
The auction notice in the local press gave a good impression of what the site looked like then – ‘…..known as Summershade, Greenfield, now used as a picnicking establishment, and also the adjacent house, farm buildings, wooden dancing floor, and tea rooms, greenhouse and outbuildings, and the garden and land belonging to the premises containing 6 ½ acres.’
The premises were taken over by Edwin Eastwood who ran the premises until around 1917. He was succeeded by John Willie Wilkinson.
In the 1930s, the site was already a popular spot for camping. In 1942, then owner Mr J. L. Dunkerley, approached Saddleworth Council to use the site for ‘movable dwellings.’
This must have been successful as later it was reported that 60 chalets or caravans were on the site some ‘mobile’ in the form of converted single deck buses.
A description of the Summershade Pleasure Garden in the 1930s gives a good impression of what it had to offer – ‘Ideally situated at 800ft above sea level with every convenience.
‘All campers’ supplies, including foodstuffs and fuel for primus stoves, may be purchased in the grounds, and for those who prefer to have their meals ready cooked for them, there is the tea rooms with seated accommodation for 500 people.
‘All supplies and meals are sold at the very cheapest rate consistent with quality. Proof of its popularity may be gauged by the fact that last season 10,000 people visited the grounds.’
The site continued in use until the 1950s when the pleasure gardens closed. The site was eventually built on. Nothing now remains.
• Do you have any memories of Summershade Pleasure garden? If you do, we would love to hear and share them. Email trevor@localcommunications.co.uk
You must be logged in to post a comment.