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Towns and Villages in
South Derbyshire
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You may view the information for ALL the towns and villages
in South Derbyshire (the page may be very large)
or
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preferred location from the list on the left.
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Above the village resides the
beautiful ruin of Wingfield Manor which was used
as a prison for Mary Queen of Scots in both 1569
and 1584. Local squire Antony Babington tried to
rescue her but the ill-fated conspiracy led to
them both losing their heads.
Another famous resident of the
town was Robert Watchorn who became Commissioner
of Immigration at the American Museum based at
Ellis Island, New York. He used some of his wealth
to rebuild part of Alfreton.
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Ashbourne Centre - Photo:
Andy B
CCL |
A handsome Georgian market
town, this is the gateway to the limestone area of
the Peak District, including Dovedale which so
inspired the ultimate angler Izaak Walton. St
Oswald’s Church has a magnificent, tall spire and
fine monuments. The town is most famous for
hosting a 1,000-year-old annual football game,
held on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, in which
two teams of up to 10,000 players chase a
hand-painted cork-filled ball through the streets
to the river. Tradition has it that Ashbourne is
the birthplace of the ‘gingerbread man’ biscuit
which was was created by a Frenchman who lived
here after the Napoleonic Wars. |
Nearby is the idyllic village
of Tissington with its mellow-yellow stone houses.
As you drive into the village you pass between a
line of lime trees which give the impression
you’re on a private drive. Tissington Hall is a
fine Jacobean manor house that has been home to
the Fitzherbert family for over 500 years. The
Tissington Trail is a popular cycle route along a
former railway line.
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Once famous for nail making,
Belper was transformed thanks to the Strutt
family. It was Jedediah Strutt who built one of
the earliest water-powered cotton mills here
whilst his son, William, later constructed a
fireproof mill. Together with men like Richard
Arkwright they literally changed the world by
creating factories. It was one of William’s young
apprentices, Samuel Slater, who took the factory
concept to America. Today he is known as the
Father of American Manufacturers. |
Belper North Mill and River Gardens - Photo:
Garth Newton
CCL |
Strutt’s North Mill is now the
home of the Derwent Valley Visitor Centre and
displays original machinery. An exhibition
explains the evolution of hosiery manufacture,
cotton spinning and nail making. Close by are the
beautiful River Gardens, the setting of an annual
well-dressing.
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A bed of clay found here in
the early 19th century contained the finest
stoneware clay in Europe, and just a few years
later it was put to good use by the talented men
of Denby Pottery. Today the company’s wares, such
as Imperial Blue and Regency Green, are world
famous. At one time it was the largest exporter of
bottles and jars in Britain. Its superb visitor
centre allows visitors to try their hand at pot
throwing.
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Derby probably developed as a
strategic point on the River Derwent where it was
possible to cross it by ford. Although it is
steeped in history it is one of Britain's youngest
cities, being awarded its charter only in 1977.
Its Arboretum was Britain's
first public park in 1840 and the city has plenty
to see, from the Museum and Art Gallery, which has
a unique collection of oil paintings by Joseph
Wright, and the Silk Mill, Derby’s Museum of
Industry and History. The latter explores the
city’s links with Rolls Royce - the famous Silver
Ghost was produced in Nightingale Road from 1907
until 1927 and was considered the best production
car in the world – as well as the Industrial
Revolution.
The Georgian masterpiece
Pickford House Museum displays fashion through the
ages, while world-famous pottery company Royal
Crown Derby has its own visitor centre. |
Silk Mill Museum -
Photo: Derby Tourism
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Derby Cathedral -
Photo: Derby Tourism |
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River Derwent and Council House, Derby -
Photo: Derby Tourism |
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Royal Crown Derby, Hand Guilding - Photo:
Derby Tourism
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The Georgian masterpiece
Pickford House Museum displays fashion through the
ages, while world-famous pottery company Royal
Crown Derby has its own visitor centre.
The city’s striking cathedral
was built in the Middle Ages but was so
dilapidated by the 18th century that the vicar,
the Rev. Michael Hutchinson, had it rebuilt based
on a design by James Gibbs, although its 16th
century tower has survived.
One of Derby’s most famous
sons was Erasmus Darwin who lived in Full Street.
His grandsons were the famous naturalist Charles
Darwin and the biologist Francis Galton.
In 1745 Derby was the last
English town visited by Bonnie Prince Charlie as
he led a 6,500-strong army down from Scotland in
his ill-fated attempt to claim the throne.
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Situated in the Amber Valley
near Derby, Heanor was a market town which grew
rapidly from the Industrial Revolution with the
arrival of improved transportation, via canals and
railways, and the need for coal. At one time it
stood on the route of the world's longest tramway,
from Nottingham to Ripley.
D.H. Lawrence used Shipley
Hall as the setting for ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’.
Although the Hall has gone, its estate has been
turned into a magnificent country park. Close by
is the theme park American Adventure. The River
Erewash passes through the area at Langley Mill
where restored boats travel to and from the
200-year-old canal basin.
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Heanor Town Hall and Church of St. Lawrence -
Photo:
Garth Newton
CCL |
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Ilkeston Market Place - Photo:
Garth Newton
CCL |
Ilkeston received its royal
charter for a market and fair in 1252 but its
history goes back to the days when it was an Anglo
Saxon settlement. Once a mining and lace making
centre, its history is told in the Erewash Museum,
a hilltop church that can be seen for miles.
Nearby stand the ruined Dale Abbey and a sandstone
cave once inhabited by a baker-cum-hermit. The Cat
and Fiddle Windmill nearby was built in the 1700s.
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Mined for its clay, iron and
coal, Ripley is most famous for its association
with the industrialist Benjamin Outram, one of a
group of men who founded the local Butterley
Ironworks which went on to create the roof of St
Pancras station in London. More recently the
Butterley Company produced the Falkirk Wheel, the
world’s first rotating boat lift.
The town’s weekly market was
established by Royal Charter in the 13th century.
Nearby is the Midland Railway-Butterley, which has
a remarkable museum, a vast collection of railway
memorabilia and offers visitors a seven-mile steam
trip through the Amber Valley.
At Heage is the only fully
restored tower windmill in Derbyshire to have kept
its sails and machinery.
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Swadlincote, built out of the
fortunes made by clay and coal, is the home of
Sharpe’s Pottery Museum, where visitors can
explore the area’s industrial history, and the Ski
Centre, which offers skiing, snowboarding and
tobogganing all year round. It is also the setting
for the remarkable 18th century mansion Calke
Abbey. The National Trust only opened this
Baroque-style house to the public in 1989
declaring that it was ‘the house that time
forgot’. Many rooms and items had not been touched
or moved for at least a century. The Trust
repaired the property and returned all 13,000
items to their original positions without
redecorating the house. Nearby is Melbourne Hall,
one-time residence of novelist Lady Caroline Lamb
of Lord Byron fame.
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This one of those must-see
villages, seemingly filled with all that is
English in the Peak District. It has been the home
of the Fitzherbert family for over 500 years and
their ancestral property, Tissington Hall, is a
sumptuous building containing art, furnishings and
many architectural details. The Fitzherbert estate
runs to more than 2,000 acres and includes farms
and cottages. |
Tissington School - Photo:
Humphrey Bolton
CCL |
Tissington has no less than
six annual well-dressings involving the Hall, the
Town, the Yew Tree, the Hands, the Coffin and the
Children’s Well. There are several theories
concerning these celebrations. One is that the
village’s wells kept running during a severe
drought in the early 17th century. Or
could it be that the wells were so pure they could
still be used during the bubonic plague?
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View of Wirksworth from South West - Photo:
Mike Fowkes
CCL |
A town of steep terraces,
narrow streets and alleyways, Wirksworth was at
one time one of the most important lead mining
centres in Britain. As this industry declined its
place was taken by limestone quarrying, and one of
the town’s unique attractions is the National
Stone Centre, which offers activities such as
gem-panning and fossil-casting. Likewise, the
North End Mills allow visitors to see how hosiery
has been made.
Jacobean Babington House is
linked to the infamous Antony Babington who was
executed in 1585 for his part in a plot to free
Mary Queen of Scots.
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At 13th century St Mary’s
Church is a coffin lid on which is one of the
oldest stone carvings in Britain, known as the
Wirksworth Stone. The Saxon lid, dated to 800AD,
was found by accident in 1820 when a paving was
removed from the altar.
One mile south are two mills
built by the pioneer industrialist Richard
Arkwright. They were among the first in the
country to use water power. Nearby, the so-called
Black Rocks offer magnificent views over the
Derwent Valley.
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