Historically the name Glossop refers to the small hamlet that gave its name to an ancient parish recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and then the manor given by William I of England to William Peveril. It refers to the municipal borough created in 1866, and the unparished urban area within two local government wards. The area now known (2008) as Glossop approximates to the villages that used to be called Glossopdale, on the lands of the Howard family, Dukes of Norfolk. Originally known as a centre of wool processing, Glossop rapidly expanded in the late eighteenth century when it specialised in the production and printing of calico, a coarse cotton. Under the benign patronage of the Howards and other mill owner families the villages became a mill town with many chapels and churches; its fortunes were tied to the cotton industry.

In 1851, 38% of the men and 27% of the women were employed in cotton; the only alternative employment was agriculture, building or labouring on the railway. Consequently the town was vulnerable to interruptions in supply of cotton or exports. The American Civil War caused the cotton famine of 1861–4. The mill owners met together and put in place a relief program in which they supplied food, clogs and coal to their employees. Howard increased the workforce on his estate, and public works (such as improving the domestic water supply) were undertaken. They provided unsecured loans to the workers until the cotton returned. The relationship between the owners and men was one of paternal benevolence. They lived in the same community and worshipped in the same churches. The owners were the local aldermen, the church elders, and led the sports teams. In the Luddite and Chartist times and the period following Peterloo, Glossop was virtually unaffected, which is surprising due to its proximity to Hyde, a radical hotbed. In the 4s 2d or swing strike it was incomers from Ashton that stopped the Glossop mills. The rivalry in Glossop was not based on class but on religious groups.

The decline of cotton spinning has resulted in the closure of many of the town's mills. The Howard family sold the Glossop Estate in 1925 and donated large areas to the people of Glossop. Manor Park was the location of the family's Manor House and gardens. The recession of the 1929 hit Glossop very hard. In 1929 the unemployment rate was 14%, and in 1931 it was 55%. In Hadfield it reached 67%. National initiatives to improve the housing and employment conditions largely failed, and mills fell empty and decayed. Unemployment remained at 36% in 1938. The Second World War changed this. Military stores, metals, machine tools, munitions, rubber and essential industries moved into the empty factories and left Glossop with a more diverse range of industries.

In spite of the post war Barlow Report and government intervention no significant employer moved into Glossop.

Gamesley underwent considerable change in the 1960s, when a large council estate was built, mainly to house people from Manchester.