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Gee of Gee Cross

The name Gee Cross dates back at least to 1584, when the burial of George Gee “of Geecrosse” was noted in the Stockport parish register. Stockport parish was still the large, undivided ancient parish at that time, and it included Gee Cross. Almost everyone listed as living in Gee Cross in the parish register for the first several decades, i.e. into the 1620’s, were named Gee.

The name Gee Cross dates back at least to 1584, when the burial of George Gee “of Geecrosse” was noted in the Stockport parish register. Stockport parish was still the large, undivided ancient parish at that time, and it included Gee Cross. Almost everyone listed as living in Gee Cross in the parish register for the first several decades, i.e. into the 1620’s, were named Gee.

The name Gee Cross appears to be derived from a cross erected “anciently” by the Gee family. The placing of stone crosses at important road junctions dates back to Saxon times. The original cross is believed to have been at the junction of today’s Knott Lane and Stockport road, beside Hyde Chapel.

Hyde Chapel was built in 1708. While today it is Unitarian, it was built as a Presbyterian church. It is located on today’s Knott Lane. At its building the land was donated by the Thornily’s, however Nathaniel Gee had owned “Knotts”, perhaps they had purchased Knotts from Nathaniel or one of his descendents.

When Hyde Chapel was founded, it was in the parish of Stockport, and until the parish was subdivided in the mid-1800’s it was still part of that parish. This is why the early parish records for Gees in Gee Cross and Dukinfield are in the Stockport parish register and also why marriages were sometimes at Stockport St. Mary, the original parish church.

Originally Gee Cross was larger than Hyde, however Hyde has grown much larger and Gee Cross has now become part of Hyde. This explains why early records refer to Hyde Chapel being in Gee Cross and contemporary records place it in Hyde.

To discover when and why the first Gee came to Gee Cross, we note that John Gee ‘of the Foxholes’ was living there before his death in 1589. Foxholes appears to be land immediately north of Apethorn. Foxholes Road is in that area today. It is is full of new houses, very close to Knott Lane and immediately north of Apethorn.

In the sixteenth century and following, Foxholes was the name given to layers of sandstone coal that ran underground from Denton down to the River Tame south of Houghton Green. Geologically this may be the end of coal deposits that originate near Oldham and run south.

The northern end is exposed in Yorkshire; a large estate there is named Foxholes. At its southern end, the River Tame cuts vertically down through several levels of deposits. Each layer was given a name, and the one we are interested in is, naturally, Foxholes.

The southern end comes out at a cut bank on the R. Tame. This is likely very near today’s Foxholes Road, especially as it is hard by the river. The outcropping would appear as red sandstone or coal deposits.

The seam is exposed near today’s Gibraltar Bridge, which connects Apethorn Lane with Gibraltar Wood on the opposite side of R. Tame.

Some of the seams are exposed where the River Tame cuts down vertically. Geologic maps show that the bottom two seams appear to run under the Foxholes area. One of the names for that seam is "Silver Mine", “mine” being the word used then for seam.

This connection between coal seams and the Foxholes property of John Gee d. 1584 is one indication; we shall see others, that multiple lines of the family were involved in one sort of mining or another at that time.

Surface mining from exposed seams goes far back into antiquity. As the Industrial Revolution began, the coal from Foxholes would have been used both for heat and metallurgy.

A part of the Tame was called Gee Pool, it was near Apethorn House. A small stream runs alongside what today is Apethorn Lane in Gee Cross. Gee were living on plots on both sides of that stream. Foxholes is a few hundred yards north, the River Tame adjoins to the west. Just to the right of Foxholes is today’s Knott Lane.

This stream likely powered early mills. Annals of Hyde mentions the stream flowing from Werneth Low down through Gerrard’s Hollow and Apethorn, but doesn’t give the name. There were several mills along it, including Doctor’s Factory, Jolly Bant and Ess Hole. There were five cotton mills on its banks. One of those was Apethorn Mill, which may have been owned by ancestors of the contemporary Gee of Dukinfield. The Gee mill was likely on the Apethorn plot or between it and the stream.

Knotts must have been a plot as well, however if so, by the mid-1800’s it does not seem to be a property name.

Today’s Hyde Chapel is located on Knott Lane, which marked the border between Hyde and Werneth parishes. (Crosses also marked intersections of parish boundaries, another reason to believe the location of the cross of Gee Cross was in this area.)

Interestingly in Hyde parish, there was a plot named “Gee Cross” . This was immediately adjacent to Hyde Chapel on the north side. This property may have been part of a larger holding that included the land for Hyde Chapel.
The traditional location of the cross erected by the family would have been at its southwest corner and it would have abutted Knotts Lane. This is the most likely location of the property “Knotts”.

Nathaniel Gee, possibly ancestor of the Gee of Dukinfield, owned Knotts in the early 1700’s. He was sexton of Old Chapel, a couple of miles north. At their founding, both Hyde Chapel and Old Chapel were Presbyterian, there were very close interrelationships between the two.

When Hyde Chapel was founded in 1708, a Gee was one of the original trustees. This is Joseph, likely the son of John Gee the Elder, yeoman of Gee Cross, and possibly a descendent of John Gee of the Foxholes. The land for Hyde Chapel was not donated by him, at least not directly, it was donated by a Thornily. Quite possibly the land for Hyde Chapel may have been part or all of the Knotts plot that had been previously sold.

The participant in the DNA study descends from Thomas Gee, born around 1795 in Hattersley (part of Hyde, Cheshire). He married Betty ____ and farmed 19 acres in Werneth. The oral history in this branch is that their ancestors were the source of the name of the Cheshire town of Gee Cross.


Place  Gee Cross 
Latitude  53.440027 
Longitude  -2.0681409 
File name  'Gee Cross' plot (328) owned John Brocklehurst, occ John Booth.jpg 
File Size  21.95k 
ID  74 
Dimensions  400 x 402 
Linked to  Thomas Gee 

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