Bolehill | |
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Location within Derbyshire | |
OS grid reference | SK290550 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | MATLOCK |
Postcode district | DE4 |
Police | Derbyshire |
Fire | Derbyshire |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
Bolehill is an area of Wirksworth, Derbyshire, England. It is located in the north of the town and has connections to the lead mining. Bolehill is adjacent to Black Rocks, a local landmark and a short walk from the High Peak Trail at Middleton incline.
Bolehill has a history as a mining and small-holding settlement, one of the very few mining villages to spring up during the 18th and 19th centuries in the Peak District.
By the 1841 census there were 637 inhabitants living in the village, 77 out of 209 workers being employed in lead mining. Bagshaw’s directory of 1848 calls the Bage “the most productive mine in the District”. 17th and 18th century references to Bage Mine, Wall Close Mine (to the North) and Hollyhole Grove Mine (to the West) can be found among the Wooley Manuscripts.
Bage Mine (SSSI) is well known to most geologists, as it is the only British source of Cromfordite and Matlockite. [1] Both extremely rare secondary lead minerals. The minerals – complex chlorides Mine site near an air shaft over 120 years ago.
Mid-19th century lead production in Wirksworth reached a peak in 1859 and thereafter declined steeply. Employment in mining dropped from 395 in 1851 to 27 in 1894. Bage Mine was one of the last to remain productive, yielding over half of the Wirksworth production in 1879 and being, with Golconda, the only substantial Wirksworth mine in 1893. By 1900 no mine in the vicinity was producing over 10 tons of ore per annum.
What may have been the Bolehill Bole, a medieval smelting hearth, was close to SK 298542, some 300-350 yards South East of Little Bolehill.
In 1846 there was a brickmaker, a firm of stonemasons, two hosiers (clothing suppliers), two boot and shoe makers, a maltster, six farmers, and a number of shopkeepers. Later, there was a Co-op on New Road and a post office on Little Bolehill. The primitive Methodist Chapel was rebuilt in 1852 from a smaller building marked on the 1848, but not on the 1806, map. Until quite recently the Women’s Institute building (a large wooden building in the centre of the village) had been continually used since the 1940s. The Men’s Institute is still in operation and has been in existence since the 19th century.
By the late 19th century Bolehill had four Inns, the Railway, the Holly Bush, New Inn and Miner’s Standard, the latter remaining in service until the late 1980s.
The line originally built in 1830, was one of the earliest railways in the country, it had 9 inclines where the trucks were hauled up or down the incline by stationary engines. A siding and "goods wharf" ran from the line into the brickworks at Bolehill, which was on the east side of Cromford Road near Steeple House.
The village of Bolehill was built on the gritstone side of the valley rather than the more stable limestone side. This is because the water supply, which flows down from Cromford Moor, simply disappears as soon as it reaches Cromford Road and the porous limestone.
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorland is found and the geology is dominated by gritstone, and the White Peak, a limestone area with valleys and gorges. The Dark Peak forms an arc on the north, east and west sides; the White Peak covers central and southern tracts. The historic Peak District extends beyond the National Park, which excludes major towns, quarries and industrial areas. It became the first of the national parks of England and Wales in 1951. Nearby Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and Sheffield send millions of visitors – some 20 million live within an hour's ride. Inhabited from the Mesolithic era, it shows evidence of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Settled by the Romans and Anglo-Saxons, it remained largely agricultural; mining arose in the Middle Ages. Richard Arkwright built cotton mills in the Industrial Revolution. As mining declined, quarrying grew. Tourism came with the railways, spurred by the landscape, spa towns and Castleton's show caves.
Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England. It is in the south-eastern part of the Peak District, with the National Park directly to the west. The town is twinned with the French town of Eaubonne. The former spa resort of Matlock Bath lies immediately south of the town on the A6. The civil parish of Matlock Town had a population in the 2011 UK census of 9,543.
Wirksworth is a market town in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. Its population of 5,038 in the 2011 census was estimated at 5,180 in 2019. Wirksworth contains the source of the River Ecclesbourne. The town was granted a market charter by Edward I in 1306 and still holds a market on Tuesdays in the Memorial Gardens. The parish church of St Mary's is thought to date from 653. The town developed as a centre for lead mining and stone quarrying. Many lead mines were owned by the Gell family of nearby Hopton Hall.
Cromford is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, in the valley of the River Derwent between Wirksworth and Matlock. It is 17 miles (27 km) north of Derby, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Matlock and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of Matlock Bath. It is first mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday Book as Crumforde, a berewick of Wirksworth, and this remained the case throughout the Middle Ages. The population at the 2011 Census was 1,433. It is principally known for its historical connection with Richard Arkwright and the nearby Cromford Mill, which he built outside the village in 1771. Cromford is in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
This article details some of the history of lead mining in Derbyshire, England.
Brassington is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, 16 miles north west of Derby. The parish had a population of 573 at the 2011 census.
The Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR) was a standard-gauge line between the Cromford Canal wharf at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. The railway, which was completed in 1831, was built to carry minerals and goods through the hilly rural terrain of the Peak District within Derbyshire, England. The route was marked by a number of roped worked inclines. Due to falling traffic, the entire railway was closed by 1967.
The history of Derbyshire can be traced back to human settlement since the last Ice Age, over 10,000 years ago. The county of Derbyshire in England dates back to the 11th century.
Bonsall is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales on the edge of the Peak District. The civil parish population, including Brightgate and Horse Dale, was 775 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 803 at the 2011 Census.
Great Hucklow is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Peak District which is under Hucklow Edge between the villages of Tideswell and Bradwell. It has a population of about 100, including Foolow, Grindlow and Little Hucklow and was measured at 427 in the 2011 Census.
Ambergate is a village in Derbyshire, England, situated where the River Amber joins the River Derwent, and where the A610 road from Ripley and Nottingham joins the A6 that runs along the Derwent valley between Derby to the south and Matlock to the north. Sawmills and Ridgeway are neighbouring hamlets, and Alderwasley, Heage, Nether Heage and Crich are other significant neighbouring settlements. The village forms part of the Heage and Ambergate ward of Ripley Town Council with a population of 5,013 at the 2011 Census. Ambergate is within the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage site, and has historical connections with George Stephenson; Ambergate is notable for its railway heritage and telephone exchange. Ambergate has an active community life, particularly centred on the school, pubs, churches, sports clubs; and annual village carnival which is relatively large and consistent locally, with popular associated events in carnival week and throughout the year. The carnival is organised by a voluntary committee. Shining Cliff woods, Thacker's woods and Crich Chase border the village.
Hopton is a small village adjacent to the village of Carsington and two miles from the market town of Wirksworth in the Peak District.
Great Longstone with Little Longstone is one of two villages in the local government district of Derbyshire Dales in Derbyshire, England. The population as taken at the 2011 Census was 843.
Middleton or Middleton-by-Wirksworth is an upland village and civil parish lying approximately one mile NNW of Wirksworth, Derbyshire, England. Middleton was, in 1086, a berewick of the town and manor of Wirksworth. Middleton was formerly known for its lead mines and high quality limestone quarries, including the underground quarry site at Middleton Mine. The Middleton Mine networks underground for approximately 25 miles (40 km) with tunnels on three different levels running under Middleton Moor to the Hopton Wood quarry works at the other side of the hill below Ryder Point Works’. Part of the tunnel collapsed in the 1980s leaving a noticeable depression in the ground above on the eastern side of Middleton Moor. The population of the parish as taken at the 2011 Census was 775.
Ravenstor railway station is a Heritage railway station at the northernmost limit of the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, Wirksworth, Derbyshire.
High Peak Junction, near Cromford, Derbyshire, England, is the name now used to describe the site where the former Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR), whose workshops were located here, meets the Cromford Canal. It lies within Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, designated in 2001, and today marks the southern end of the High Peak Trail, a 17 miles (27 km) trail for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The Derwent Valley Heritage Way also passes this point, and popular walks lead from here along the towpath in both directions.
Matlockite is a rare lead halide mineral, named after the town of Matlock in Derbyshire, England, where it was first discovered in a nearby mine. Matlockite gives its name to the matlockite group which consists of rare minerals of a similar structure.
Lutudarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia, in the area that is now mid-Derbyshire. The settlement is believed to have been at either Wirksworth or nearby Carsington, although Matlock and Cromford are other candidates. The town was recorded as Lutudaron between Derventio and Veratino (Rocester) in the Ravenna Cosmography's list of all known places in the world in about 700 AD.
The Derbyshire Dome is a geological formation across mid-Derbyshire in England.
Ivonbrook Grange is a civil parish within the Derbyshire Dales district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. Largely rural, Ivonbrook Grange's population is reported with the population of neighbouring parishes for a total of 180 residents in 2011. It is 130 miles (210 km) north west of London, 15 miles (24 km) north west of the county city of Derby, and 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) south west of the nearest market town of Matlock. Ivonbrook Grange is wholly within the Peak District national park on its southern edge, and shares a border with the parishes of Aldwark, Bonsall, Brassington, Ible as well as Winster. There is one listed structure in Ivonbrook Grange.