Dronfield is a town in
North East Derbyshire
North East Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. It borders the districts of Chesterfield, Bolsover, Amber Valley and Derbyshire Dales in Derbyshire, and Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire. The population ...
, England, which includes
Dronfield Woodhouse
Dronfield Woodhouse is a district of Dronfield, in North East Derbyshire, England. The area has been inhabited since at least the 11th century (Cowley – pronounced Coaley – Farm, to the south) and its main road, Carr Lane, features a 13th-cen ...
and
Coal Aston
Coal Aston is a village in the county of Derbyshire, in England. It is by the town of Dronfield.
Geography
Coal Aston sits on a ridge overlooking Sheffield and Dronfield. To the south there is Frith Wood, which is made up of mixed woodland ric ...
. It lies in the valley of the
River Drone
The River Drone is a river which flows south from its source on the Sheffield, South Yorkshire, border. It flows through Dronfield, Unstone and Unstone Green in Derbyshire before merging at Sheepbridge to the north of Chesterfield with the Ba ...
between
Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
and
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 ...
. The
Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to:
Basic meanings Geology
* Mountain peak
** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics
* Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion
* Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...
is to the west. The name comes from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''Dranfleld'', probably meaning an open land infested with
drone bees.
The town existed before the 1086
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, and has a 13th-century
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
. In 1662,
Charles II granted the town a market, although this later ceased. The industrial history of the town includes coal mining, the wool trade, the production of soap and steel, and engineering. Today a range of manufacturing firms still operate in the town. The stadium to the north of the town is officially "
The Home of Football", providing the
playing surface for
Sheffield F.C.
Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, although now based in nearby Dronfield, across the county boundary in Derbyshire. They currently compete in the . Founded in October 1857, , the world's oldest football club.
Dronfield's population increased in the post-war years from 6,500 in 1945 to its current size of just over 21,000.
History
![Railway Bridge crossing over Sheffield Road in Dronfield](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Railway_Bridge_crossing_over_Sheffield_Road_in_Dronfield._-_geograph.org.uk_-_131335.jpg)
Dronfield was in existence before the 1086
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, though little is known about its early history. It suffered after the
Norman conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
when
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
sought to
bring the North of England under control. Its name derives from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''drān'' and ''feld'', meaning open land infested with drones (male bees).
The Church of
St John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
was built by 1135 when Oscot was rector and the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of Dronfield covered
Little Barlow,
Coal Aston
Coal Aston is a village in the county of Derbyshire, in England. It is by the town of Dronfield.
Geography
Coal Aston sits on a ridge overlooking Sheffield and Dronfield. To the south there is Frith Wood, which is made up of mixed woodland ric ...
, Povey,
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 influ ...
,
Apperknowle
Apperknowle is a village in Derbyshire, England.
The village is located on the Southwestern slopes of a flat-topped ridge at about 200 m above sea level.OS Map SK 27/37 (1979) The village overlooks the town of Dronfield and the villages of Unston ...
,
Dore and
Totley
Totley is a suburb on the extreme southwest of the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. Lying in the historic county boundaries of Derbyshire, Totley was amalgamated into the city of Sheffield in 1933, and is today part of the Dore ...
. The Guild of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
was established in 1349 in the hall of the chantry priests. However, due to the
Dissolution of the Monasteries and the subsequent suppression of the guilds and chantries in 1547, it became a local inn which still operates today as the Green Dragon Inn.
During the 16th century Dronfield with its sheep farmers had a significant number of families working in the wool trade, engaged in spinning and weaving and also the production and selling of cloth. Soaper Lane, being next to the river, was the centre of the soap-making and tanning industry in the town, with a dye works also situated there. In 1662 Dronfield was granted a market by
Charles II, but in the 18th century, due to the proximity of
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
Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
, the market went into decline, however it is still held every Thursday in the rear car park of the civic centre on Farwater Lane.
Between the 16th and 19th centuries Dronfield grew around various industries, the most widespread of which was
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
, with pits at Stubley being mentioned in the 16th century and a map of Hill Top in the 17th century showing some workings. Further mines were opened at Coal Aston in 1785 and Carr Lane in Dronfield Woodhouse in 1795. The town also benefited from trade with the
lead mining
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, l ...
and grindstone industries in the Peak District. The wealth of the Rotheram family, who became the
Lords of the Manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seigno ...
of Dronfield, was based on the lead trade.
The Wilson-Cammell steelworks was built in the town in 1872–3, following the completion of the
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...
through the town in April 1869.
Bessemer steel
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation w ...
was first blown at the site in March 1873 and the plant was soon capable of producing 700 tons - mostly as rails - every week. Dronfield became a boom town, but its prosperity was short-lived; although more efficient and profitable than other works in the Sheffield area, its site had limitations that could not compete with low-cost coastal locations, and in 1883 production moved from Dronfield to
Workington
Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207.
Loca ...
in west
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
. Steelworkers and their families moved too. It is estimated that 1,500 townspeople made the trip to Workington. 'Dronnies', as the people of Workington called the newcomers, formed
Workington AFC
Workington Association Football Club is an English football club based in Workington, Cumbria. The club competes in the Northern Premier League Division One North West, the eighth tier of English football.
The club plays its home matches at ...
in 1888.
In 1993
Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School
The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a mixed, state comprehensive school for 11- to 18-year-olds, in the town of Dronfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
History
Dronfield Grammar School, later renamed the Henry Fanshawe School, was founded i ...
(formerly the 'Dronfield School' and previously 'Dronfield Grammar School') suffered major damage when its 1960s system-built blocks were completely gutted by fire, requiring all firefighting resources from all nearby towns and Sheffield to control the blaze. The historic Victorian quadrangle and library, as well as the sixth-form block, survived. The remains of the modern school were subsequently demolished and mobile cabins were used as classrooms until 1996 when the school was rebuilt.
Geography
![Dronfield railway station AB1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Dronfield_railway_station_AB1.JPG)
Dronfield is sited in the valley of the
River Drone
The River Drone is a river which flows south from its source on the Sheffield, South Yorkshire, border. It flows through Dronfield, Unstone and Unstone Green in Derbyshire before merging at Sheepbridge to the north of Chesterfield with the Ba ...
in North East Derbyshire, England. The Drone is a small river that, after flowing through Dronfield, joins the Barlow Brook at
Unstone
__NOTOC__
Unstone ( ) is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire, in the North East Derbyshire administrative district approximately south east of Dronfield. It is also close to the town of Chesterfield. The River Drone ...
, and then flows into the
River Rother at
Whittington Moor
Whittington may refer to:
Places
* Whittington, Victoria, Australia
* Whittington, Illinois, United States
England
* Old Whittington, Derbyshire
* New Whittington, Derbyshire
* Whittington Moor, Derbyshire
* Whittington, Gloucestershire
* Whitt ...
, Chesterfield.
Dronfield is situated roughly midway between the town of Chesterfield to the south and the city of Sheffield to the north, for which it is a
commuter town. The
A61 trunk road Dronfield–Unstone Bypass cuts through the town, although this is not directly accessible from the town centre itself. Instead a network of secondary roads serves local traffic: the
B6054,
B6056,
B6057 and
B6158. Dronfield is also served via rail through
Dronfield railway station.
Dronfield covers an area of and has as neighbours the villages and
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
of Unstone,
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 influ ...
,
Barlow,
Apperknowle
Apperknowle is a village in Derbyshire, England.
The village is located on the Southwestern slopes of a flat-topped ridge at about 200 m above sea level.OS Map SK 27/37 (1979) The village overlooks the town of Dronfield and the villages of Unston ...
,
Hundall,
Marsh Lane and
Eckington.
Situated close to the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
and many of the beauty spots of
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 ...
, Dronfield also has easy access to the
Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to:
Basic meanings Geology
* Mountain peak
** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics
* Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion
* Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...
just away. There are four
conservation area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s either wholly or partly within Dronfield's parish area: Dronfield (adopted 1971), Coal Aston (1983), Dronfield Woodhouse (1990) and Moss Valley (1990); the first three cover the respective old village centres and are wholly within the parish, whereas Moss Valley covers a mixed landscape and is mostly outside the parish, to the northeast.
Economy
The town has a range of businesses, mainly located on the Callywhite Lane Industrial Estate at the eastern end of the town, and along Wreakes Lane and Stubley Lane northwest of the town centre. The main businesses in the town were originally associated with engineering trades, but over recent years have diversified. William Lees Iron Foundry, manufacturer of machinery parts, moved to Dronfield in 1870
and was responsible for major growth in the town at that time. Until the mid-1970s it specialised in production of
malleable iron
Malleable iron is cast as white iron, the structure being a metastable carbide in a pearlitic matrix. Through an annealing heat treatment, the brittle structure as first cast is transformed into the malleable form. Carbon agglomerates into small ...
castings, though much production now is of
spheroidal graphite iron.
[
Major companies with works in Dronfield include Henry Boot PLC, a property development and construction company (the divisions Henry Boot Construction Ltd and Banner Plant Ltd have regional offices in the town), Padley & Venables Ltd, manufacturers of tools for use in drilling, tunnelling, mining, quarrying and construction/demolition, ]Land Instruments International
Land Instruments International (AMETEK Land) is a manufacturer of industrial sensors and measuring devices founded in the UK in 1947. It was acquired by the Process & Analytical Instruments Division of Ametek
AMETEK, Inc. is an American mul ...
, international designer and manufacturer of industrial and environmental monitoring instruments (in 2006 this was acquired by AMETEK Inc), and Gunstones Bakery, which was founded in Sheffield in 1862, moved to Dronfield in 1950, taken over by Northern Foods
Northern Foods is a British food manufacturer headquartered in Wakefield, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the original FTSE 100 Index. The company is credited, together with Marks & Spencer, ...
in 1971 and acquired by 2 Sisters in 2011; in 2013 it employed more than 1,400 people.
Various smaller companies occupy units on the Callywhite Lane estate. Some modern high-tech businesses have premises in the town.
Demography
In the 2011 census Dronfield's civil parish (which includes Dronfield, Coal Aston
Coal Aston is a village in the county of Derbyshire, in England. It is by the town of Dronfield.
Geography
Coal Aston sits on a ridge overlooking Sheffield and Dronfield. To the south there is Frith Wood, which is made up of mixed woodland ric ...
, and Dronfield Woodhouse
Dronfield Woodhouse is a district of Dronfield, in North East Derbyshire, England. The area has been inhabited since at least the 11th century (Cowley – pronounced Coaley – Farm, to the south) and its main road, Carr Lane, features a 13th-cen ...
) had 9,388 dwellings, 9,267 households and a population of 21,261, of whom 10,333 were male and 10,928 female. 25.1% of the population were aged 65 or over (compared to 16.4% for England as a whole), and 16.1% were under the age of 16 (18.9% for England as a whole). 98.3% of Dronfield's population were of white ethnicity (compared to 85.5% for England as a whole).
On 16 October 1975, the £6.5m A61 Dronfield–Unstone Bypass was opened running through the western side of the town, to allow easier access for travel between the larger populated areas of 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 ...
to the north and Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
to the south. To a certain extent the town is a dormitory community for workers in these settlements.
Notable buildings
Within Dronfield's civil parish are 42 structures that are listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
by Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...
for their historical or architectural interest. One structure - the parish church of St John the Baptist - is listed as Grade I, four structures - Aston End, Chiverton House, Dronfield Woodhouse Hall farmhouse and the building northeast of The Hall on High Street - are Grade II*, and the rest - including Dronfield Manor, the Peel Monument and several buildings in Church Street and High Street - are Grade II.
The parish church of St. John the Baptist dates from the late 13th to 14th century, with mid-16th-century alterations. It has ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
and coursed rubble walls of coal measures sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
, with graduated slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
and lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
roof coverings and an octagonal spire. Repairs were made in about 1819, with more alterations in 1855 and 1916. There are over 120 brasses and monuments, many of which line the floor in the chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
and nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
.
Aston End is a medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
house with additions and alterations made in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries. It is built in an L-plan with coursed rubble walls of coal measures sandstone and a stone slated roof. Chiverton House, originally called Dam Flatt House, dates from between 1692 and 1709 and has a flat symmetrical front with cross windows, a central gable and towers at each end. It was altered in 1712 and the 19th century, though not significantly.[ The attached boundary walls, gatepiers and railings form part of its listing.][ Dronfield Woodhouse Hall farmhouse was built in 1533, as suggested by dendrodating (by the ]University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
) and is a house of irregular layout, built from coursed squared coal measures sandstone with a stone slated roof. It was reworked extensively in the early 18th century, with further alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building north-east of The Hall on High Street is a former farm outbuilding that dates from the late 17th century, but it also contains a significant amount of an earlier timber-framed building, possibly a medieval hall. It is built in an L-plan with walls of coursed squared coal measures sandstone and a stone slated roof. In 2004 it was in a poor state of repair and was gifted to the community; in 2015 it was restored and extended at a cost of more than £1.6 million, with over £1.25m provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
. It is now used as a heritage visitor centre and exhibition and community function space, with modern catering and cloakroom facilities.
The Peel Monument, situated on the town's High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
, was built in 1854 out of gritstone
Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for pa ...
as a tribute to Sir Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...
, to commemorate his repeal of the Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They were ...
in 1846. The monument is very distinctive, and is often portrayed in images of the town.
Near to the Peel Monument on High Street is a 16th-century house known as The Cottage. It is believed that it was once owned by Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
(1788–1824), although there is no proof that he was a Dronfield resident.
Culture and community
Culture
Notable events are the annual Dronfield Gala and the Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston well dressing
Well dressing, also known as well flowering, is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals. The custom is most closely associated with ...
s, which are held in July. Dronfest, a music festival, also takes place in the town in the summer months of the year.
Since 1972 Dronfield has been twinned with Sindelfingen
Sindelfingen ( Swabian: ''Sendlfenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg in south Germany. It lies near Stuttgart at the headwaters of the Schwippe (a tributary of the river Würm), and is home to a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant.
History
* 1155 ...
in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. A park in Dronfield Woodhouse was renamed Sindelfingen Park in the early 1990s to celebrate this partnership. Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School
The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a mixed, state comprehensive school for 11- to 18-year-olds, in the town of Dronfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
History
Dronfield Grammar School, later renamed the Henry Fanshawe School, was founded i ...
has an annual student exchange with a school in Sindelfingen, which helps establish links between the young people in the two towns.
There is an annual burning of the local 'Hale' this usually takes place on bonfire night and compromises of an effigy of William Hale which is stoned, spat at then burnt by enraged locals who are brought into a wild frenzy in a state of primordial hunter-gatherer frenzy and as such the town is able to maintain low crime rates! All thanks to William Hale!
Community facilities
Dronfield has a library, sports centre, health centre and community centre. There are three parks (Cliffe Park, Sindelfingen Park and Jubilee Park) and several play areas. Cliffe Park has three tennis courts, a basketball court, a children's play area, a bowling green, a meeting room with kitchen, and a multi-use games area with changing rooms. Sindelfingen Park has play areas and basketball courts.[
In January 2010 a new £2.5 million sports complex opened at Gosforth Fields, on the old Gosforth School site. Run by three local teams, AFC Dronfield, Dronfield Town & Dronfield RFU, the complex includes a state-of-the-art 3G pitch, 10 full-size pitches, changing facilities and a social area. It was officially opened by Sir Trevor Brooking and John Owen. Gosforth Fields is the home of Dronfield Rugby Club.
Dronfield also has several social clubs: The Contact Club, Dronfield Woodhouse Sports & Social Club, Hill Top Sports & Social Club and the Pioneer Club.
Dronfield is home to 1890 (Dronfield) ATC Squadron.
]
Education
*Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School on Green Lane takes its intake from all of the eight schools within Dronfield and the surrounding area, occasionally also including pupils from Sheffield and the Chesterfield area. As of November 2015 it had 1,779 pupils.
*Dronfield Junior and Infants Schools are the biggest primary schools in Dronfield, reaching more than 600 pupils.
*William Levick Primary School had a school roll of 169 pupils as of May 2016.
Sport and leisure
Two senior football clubs play in Dronfield; Sheffield F.C.
Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, although now based in nearby Dronfield, across the county boundary in Derbyshire. They currently compete in the . Founded in October 1857, , the world's oldest football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club, play at the Coach and Horses ground renamed as The Home of Football Stadium, while Dronfield Town play at the Stonelow Playing Fields.
Norton Woodseats F.C. were originally 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 ...
, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
, but were based for most of their existence in Dronfield.
There is a rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
side that goes by the name of Dronfield Drifters RLFC.
The leisure centre is next to the civic centre.
The cricket pitch on Stonelow Road is the home of the local Coal Aston Cricket Club. The ground has high-quality facilities including home and away changing rooms, a tea room, an electronic scoreboard, a seating area in front of the pavilion and an astro-turf practice net.
The ''Dronfield 2000 Rotary Walk'' is a circular walk that circumnavigates the town.
Media
Dronfield is served by a monthly magazine (''The Dronfield Eye''), and formerly by a weekly local newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports an ...
(the ''Dronfield Advertiser''). ''The Dronfield Eye'' also publishes the annual Dronfield Directory, which lists details of hundreds of local groups, societies and organisations.
''Dronfield Digital'', a youth-focused online publication which emerged in late 2012, provides opinion pieces, fake news and satire of small-town life in Dronfield.
The local TV stations for Dronfield are ITV Yorkshire
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...
and BBC Yorkshire
BBC Yorkshire is one of the English regions of the BBC. It was formed from the division of the former BBC North region into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, based in Kingston upon Hull. Serving West, North and South Yorkshire a ...
.
Notable people
Notable people were either born or have lived in Dronfield include:
* Harry Barnes, local Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP 1987 to 2005, a local resident since 1969.
* Rick Allen, drummer with rock group Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...
, was born in the town.
* Dave Berry, musician, lives in the town.
* Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
, film actor, lived in Dronfield in the early 1960s.
* Gary Cahill
Gary James Cahill (born 19 December 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
Cahill began his career playing for the AFC Dronfield youth system in Derbyshire. In 2000, he joined the Aston Villa Academy an ...
, footballer for Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
and 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 ...
, grew up in the town and attended Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School
The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a mixed, state comprehensive school for 11- to 18-year-olds, in the town of Dronfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
History
Dronfield Grammar School, later renamed the Henry Fanshawe School, was founded i ...
.
* Bruce Chatwin
Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, ...
, novelist and travel writer, was christened in the parish church and briefly lived in the town during the first weeks of his life.
* Jessica Cunningham
Jessica Cunningham (born 3 March 1987) is a businesswoman, actress, model and television personality, best known for competing in the 2016 series of '' The Apprentice'', coming fourth. She is also known for her appearance as a contestant on '' ...
, ''The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...
'' 2016 contestant.
* Robert Hendy-Freegard, conman, nicknamed "The Puppetmaster". Subject of a Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
documentary in January 2022.
References
External links
*
Dronfield Town Council
*
St John the Baptist Church, Dronfield
{{authority control
Towns in Derbyshire
Towns and villages of the Peak District
North East Derbyshire District