Cowley is a small dispersed hamletCowley, North East Derbyshire - area information, map, walks and more
Retrieved 2018-03-27. in North East Derbyshire, consisting of a few private houses and functioning farms strung out along Cowley Lane, which runs between the village of

Holmesfield Holmesfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 971. The name "Holmesfield" means "raised pasture-land" and is of Norse and Anglo-Saxon origin. Viking infl ...

and the "Hill Top" neighbourhood of the town of Dronfield (where the population is included). Until 2001 it held an annual well dressing in the grounds of Cowley Mission, a small chapel founded in 1888 and still active.

History

Cowley is mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth ten shillings. Henry was given a large number of manors in Derbyshire including Doveridge, Breaston, Duffield and Hartshorne. The name Cowley has been described as coming from two Old English words, ''col'' for coal or earlier charcoal and ''leah'' for clearing, suggesting ''the charcoal burners' clearing''. Coal (the Silkstone seam) is close to the surface in this area and has been worked for centuries, though no longer. Early coal workings would have been shallow, probably

bell pit A bell pit is a primitive method of mining coal, iron ore, or other minerals lying near the surface. Operation A shaft is sunk to reach the mineral which is excavated by miners, transported to the surface by a winch, and removed by means of a b ...

s; the nearest, deeper shaft marked on the Ordnance Survey map is about 800 m north of Cowley at SK337778, on the edge of modern Dronfield.

References

External links

Hamlets in Derbyshire North East Derbyshire District {{Derbyshire-geo-stub