Edale is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England, whose population was 353 at the 2011 Census. Edale, with an area of , is in the Borough of High Peak. Edale is best known to walkers as the start, or southern end, of the Pennine Way and, to less ambitious walkers, as a starting point for evening or day walks. The village is accessible by generally hourly railway services from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. There are two

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s serving real ale and food.

History

As spelt, the name is first recorded in 1732. Earlier recorded versions of the name are ''Aidele'' (1086), ''Heydale'' (1251), ''Eydale'' (1275), ''Eydal'' (1285) and ''Edall'' (1550). Historically, Edale was the name of the valley of the

River Noe The River Noe is a tributary of the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. It flows approximately 12 miles (19 km) from its source, the confluence of two streams running off Kinder Scout in the Peak District, east through Edale and then sou ...

. From the

Norman Conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

it was in the royal

Forest of High Peak The Forest of High Peak was, in medieval times, a moorland forest covering most of the north west of Derbyshire, England, extending as far south as Tideswell and Buxton. From the time of the Norman Conquest it was established as a royal hunting ...

and at its centre is the Edale Cross, which marked the boundary of the three wards at the Forest, Campana, Hopedale and Longdendale. Settlement in the valley consists of several ''booths'', originally established in the 13th century as 'vaccaries' (cattle farms) along the valley of the River Noe, which have since developed into the hamlets of Upper Booth (once Crowdenley Booth and Over Booth), Barber Booth (once Whitmorely Booth), Grindsbrook Booth, Ollerbrook Booth and Nether Booth (also known as Lady Booth and, formerly, Lower Booth).

Cotton mill

Edale is the site of a historic cotton mill built in 1795 on the site of a corn mill and tannery by

Nicholas Cresswell Nicholas Cresswell (5 January 1750 – 26 July 1804) was an English diarist.Gwenda Morgan, �Cresswell, Nicholas (1750–1804)��, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 8 Nov 2010. Cresswell was ...

in partnership with James Harrison, Robert Blackwell and Joseph Fletcher. Workers were brought in from the towns and accommodated in cottages and in a nearby house called Skinner's Hall. Many of the women workers walked each day from Castleton over the thousand-foot Hollins Cross pass. The mill continued spinning cotton until around 1940 but then fell into disuse. It was restored in the early 1970s by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...

who have since sold off all of the apartments.

Countryside

As well as being the start of the Pennine Way (the official start is the Old Nag's Head, a former smithy dating back to 1577), the village is surrounded by walking country which is excellent in its own right. The village lies in the

Vale of Edale The Vale of Edale is the upper valley of the River Noe, in the Derbyshire Peak District of England. The village of Edale lies in the middle of the valley. Edale Head, on the Kinder Scout plateau, is the source of the River Noe (a tributary to the ...

and is surrounded by hills: the plateau of

Kinder Scout Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau and national nature reserve in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District, in Derbyshire and the East Midlands; t ...

to the north, where the highest point in the parish is found, the Great Ridge (running west to east between Rushup Edge over Mam Tor to Lose Hill) to the south and east,

Win Hill Win Hill is a hill north west of Bamford in the Derbyshire Peak District of England. Its summit is above sea level and it is bounded by the River Derwent to the east, the River Noe to the south west and Ladybower Reservoir to the north, with ...

to the east (outside the parish), and Dalehead (Brown Knoll, Horsehill Tor and Colborne) to the west. Almost the entire parish is over 200m above sea level; only along the River Noe east from Carr House does the elevation drop below this level. The bed and banks of the River Noe from Barber Booth upstream to approximately the contour constitute the Edale

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, cited for geological interest. The "important exposures" of the Edale

Shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s here contain fossils of technical interest.

Amenities

There is a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

about a mile from the village centre, several B&Bs and both pubs also provide accommodation. The pubs also provide food and there are two cafés. In 2006, a new information and visitor centre was opened at Fieldhead; it was developed by the

Moors for the Future Moors for the Future is a partnership of public and private organisation to protect and promote moorland in the United Kingdom. Based in Edale in the Peak District National Park, much of the work carried out by Moors for the Future is in the Nation ...

partnership and is owned and operated by the Peak District National Park Authority. Edale is also a popular camping village, with two major campsites and numerous others in the surrounding area.

Transport

Edale railway station Edale railway station serves the rural village of Edale in the Derbyshire Peak District, in England. It is located west of Sheffield and east of Manchester Piccadilly. The station was opened in 1894 on the Midland Railway's Dore and Chinley ...

lies on the trans-Pennine Hope Valley line and receives a reasonably frequent service for such a rural area. The typical off-peak is one train an hour in both directions, with some gaps at certain times of the day, to

and to

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

via Marple. Services are operated by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

. The short but narrow, twisting and dead-end road to the village centre is not suitable for visitors' cars and parking in the village centre is almost impossible. However, there is a large pay-and-display car park near the village hall and parking for rail users at the railway station. Additional parking near the station is provided at busy times by the Parish Council.

Famous residents

(1750–1804), native farmer and diarist in America 1774–1777 *

Peter Cropper Peter Cropper (19 November 1945 – 29 May 2015) was a British violinist, leader of the Lindsay Quartet, and founding Artistic Director of Music in the Round, a charitable organisation he founded in the 1980s to promote chamber music concerts. B ...

, violinist *

Berlie Doherty Berlie Doherty (born 6 November 1943) is an English novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for children's books, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal. She has also written novels for adults, plays for theatre an ...

Anthony Favell Anthony Rowland "Tony" Favell (born 29 May 1939), is a former British Conservative Member of Parliament. Parliamentary career Favell first stood for Parliament in 1979 for Bolsover, but was beaten by Labour's Dennis Skinner. He later became MP ...

Bella Hardy Bella Hardy (born 24 May 1984) is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale, Derbyshire, England, who performs a combination of traditional and self-penned material. She was named Folk Singer of the Year at the 2014 ...

*Frederick ('Fred') Heardman,

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

recipient * Mark Wallington

Gallery

Edale.JPG, Grindsbrook Booth, Edale Old Nags Head.jpg, The Old Nags Head pub Vale of Edale001.jpg, Vale of Edale Ringing Roger - geograph.org.uk - 267648.jpg, Ringing Roger

Panorama

References

External links

Edale Information Edale.org.ukEdale Village Hall and Playing FieldEdale Primary School
{{authority control Civil parishes in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Villages in Derbyshire High Peak, Derbyshire