Derbyshire Dales is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The district was created in 1974 as West Derbyshire; the name was changed to Derbyshire Dales in 1987. The council is based in the town of Matlock, and the district also includes the towns of Ashbourne, Bakewell, Darley Dale and Wirksworth, as well as numerous villages and extensive rural areas. Much of the district is within the Peak District National Park.
Wirksworth is a market and industrial town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. Its population of 4,904 in the 2021 Census was estimated at 5,220 in 2023. 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.
Duffield is a village in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Derby. It is centred on the western bank of the River Derwent at the mouth of the River Ecclesbourne. It is within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Area and the southern foothills of the Pennines.
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 1 mile (1.6 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.
The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is a 9-mile (14.5 km) long heritage railway based at Wirksworth station in Derbyshire, England. It operates passenger services between Duffield and Wirksworth, with occasional services to Ravenstor.
Hopton is a small village adjacent to the village of Carsington and two miles (3.2 km) from the market town of Wirksworth in the Peak District.
George Frost was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1872 and 1880.
Joseph Flint was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1872 and 1879.
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 1970s 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.
Shottle railway station is a stop on the preserved Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, serving the small town of Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, England. It was originally a station on a former Midland Railway line, which branches off the Midland Main Line at Duffield railway station.
Wirksworth railway station is a stop on the heritage Ecclesbourne Valley Railway that serves the town of Wirksworth in Derbyshire, England. It was the former terminus of the Midland Railway's Wirksworth branch line, leaving the Midland Main Line at Duffield.
Idridgehay railway station is a stop on the preserved Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, serving the village of Idridgehay, in Derbyshire, England. It was originally a station on a former Midland Railway line, which branches off the Midland Main Line at Duffield railway station.
Hazelwood railway station was a stop on the Wirksworth branch of the Midland Railway. It served the village of Hazelwood, in Derbyshire, England.
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1873 was the third cricket season which the English club Derbyshire played. Officials and supporters were disappointed that they had been unable to arrange further first-class fixtures than the two against Lancashire, but they managed to arrange an extra match against Nottinghamshire, who were a leading team at the time.
Derby Road Ground is a cricket ground in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1866, when Wirksworth played an All-England Eleven. Derbyshire played a single first-class match on the ground against Kent in 1874.
The Street is the medieval name of the Roman road that ran across the high limestone plateau of central Derbyshire from the spa town of Buxton southeast towards modern Derby. The line of the road can be traced from surviving features, confirmed by archaeology, from Buxton as far as Longcliffe just north of Brassington. It is believed that from Brassington the road ran eastwards to Wirksworth and there joined another road which crossed the Derwent at Milford and ran on the east bank of the Derwent and can be traced to the northern suburbs of Derby to Little Chester, the site of the Roman settlement of Derventio. The 1723 map of Brassington Moor shows The Street road from Buxton through Pikehall up to the Upper Harborough Field Gate, leading onto Manystones Lane & Brassington Lane towards Wirksworth. In records from 1613 the road from Brassington to Wirksworth is called 'Highe Streete'.
The 2019 Derbyshire Dales District Council election was held on 2 May 2019 to elect all 39 councillors for Derbyshire Dales District Council. This was on the same day as other local elections.
Lutudarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia, in the area that is now mid-Derbyshire. The settlement was believed to have been at either Wirksworth or nearby Carsington. However, Barnatt and Smith in their most recent assessment, determined that Carsington was not proven as Lutudarum, although Matlock and Cromford might be other candidates. Matlock was dismissed by its own historian Nailor in his excellent history of the Matlocks and Dennis had considered that Cromford might represent a river wharf on the Derwent but would not be Lutudarum. This leaves only Wirksworth as the likely location. 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.
Wirksworth is a civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. The parish contains 107 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, nine are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains the market town of Wirksworth and the surrounding countryside. Most of the listed buildings are houses and associated structures, shops, farmhouses and farm buildings. The other listed buildings include a church and associated structures, public houses, a cotton spinning mill and associated structures, mileposts and milestones, a cemetery chapel, a railway bridge, groups of bollards, schools, a former engine house, a war memorial and a telephone kiosk.
