Carsington is a village in the middle of the

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 ...

Dales,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

; it adjoins the hamlet of Hopton, and is close to the historic town of

Wirksworth 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 mar ...

and village of

Brassington 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 name, spelled ''Branzingtune'' in the Domesday Book, is thought ...

. According to the 1991 Census, the population was 111, increasing to 251 at the 2011 Census.

History

Carsington has a long history, including Roman occupation (an old Roman settlement now lies beneath the

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

). In prehistoric times, woolly rhinos lived in the area; the remains of one such animal were discovered nearby in the "Dream Cave" adjacent to the Callow and Hopton end of Summer Lane in the late 20th century. Carsington is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as one of the berewicks (supporting farms) of the town and manor of Wirksworth. During the Middle Ages and right up until about 1800 it was a major location for lead mining and the lead obtained in the many Brassington and Carsington mines was usually smelted in

. The

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

archaeology series ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' once visited Carsington to investigate the archaeology and ancient remains in the pastures, where they visited a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

, discovered by the Pegasus Caving Club, full of ancient human bones. British aurochs specimen CPC98 was retrieved in 1998 from Carsington Pasture Cave, possess P mtDNA haplogroup sequences and radiocarbon dated to 6,738 ± 68 calibrated years BP. An aurochs is a kind of wild cattle.

Carsington today

Today, Carsington has one pub, the Miner's Arms, and a primary school. The community is primarily composed of a strong commuter and retiree contingent to replace the traditional agricultural, mining and quarrying community. Carsington Reservoir, opened in 1992, stores water from the River Derwent and is operated by

Severn Trent Water Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, the ...

. It is open all year for recreation, with an extensive cycle path, several bird hides, a water sports and sailing centre. Inside the visitor centre are a trail, several specialist shops including an excellent and informative RSPB shop, and a café/restaurant. The nearest railway station to Carsington is Wirksworth on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

References

External links

"History of Wirksworth"
Lutudarum.com – It is thought that Wirksworth is the site of the lost Roman town of

Lutudarum 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 ...

{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Derbyshire Dales

History

Carsington today

See also

References

External links