Dunford Bridge was known as a place from 1282 (Smith 1961, 339) but probably remained unsettled. In 1839 work began on the Woodhead tunnel which would run beneath the moors towards Manchester. The navvies and their families who built the tunnel lived in stone huts at Dunford Bridge (Hey 1986, 253-4). It is possible that some of the remaining buildings within this polygon are converted from these buildings although some structures which were marked on first edition OS maps have now been demolished. In 1845 Spencer-Stanhopes from Cannon Hall built a hunting lodge at Dunford Bridge to hunt grouse on the moors nearby. This building has now been converted to a pub. (Sykes 1996, 195).