Edensor (pronounced ) 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 ...

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. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 145. Much of the village is privately owned, by the

Dukes of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has be ...

, the

Cavendish family The Cavendish (or de Cavendish) family ( ) is a British noble family, of Anglo-Norman origins (though with an Anglo-Saxon name, originally from a place-name in Suffolk). They rose to their highest prominence as Duke of Devonshire and Duke of Newc ...

. Most of the deceased of the family are buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church.

History

A village near this location was included in the

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 ...

of 1086. At that time, it was owned by

Henry de Ferrers Henry de Ferrers (died by 1100), magnate and administrator, was a Norman who after the 1066 Norman conquest was awarded extensive lands in England. Origins He was the eldest son of Vauquelin de Ferrers and in about 1040 inherited his father's ...

and included ten villagers plus seven "smallholders". One report describes the area in the early 1700s as: "it straggled across towards the river Derwent in front of Chatsworth, skirting the hill opposite the village known as 'The Crobbs'." In 1762 the 4th Duke of Devonshire of

Chatsworth House Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family sin ...

arranged for the demolition of several buildings because they intruded on his view of the parkland that had been created by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

. In the 1800s, a new road was being built and the Duke arranged to have the rest of the village removed. A new village was constructed in a project managed by Sir

Joseph Paxton Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

; the earlier vicarage and an existing 18th-century inn were moved to the new site. One building of the old village, Park Cottage, was not removed. A church existed here in the 1100s but it was rebuilt and increased in size in the mid-1800s. A report published in 1870 stated that the village was "a pretty place of villa-cottages" and had a post office and an inn, as well as 123 houses". The population of the township, including the village, was 592. Edensor Mill

In 2019 some 575 people worked on the Chatsworth Estate which included the village. This area has been the home of the Cavendish family since 1549. By the mid-1800s, Edensor was considered to be a "model village"; "rules were being enforced to preserve the appearance of the settlement". The Chatsworth Estate office occupies a "fine brick building" which was built as an inn for visitors to Chatsworth in the 18th century and attributed to James Paine. As of 2021, 50 of the buildings in the village are

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, all Grade II (with a few at Grade II*) except for the Church of St Peter was is Grade I Listed. The village forms part of the Chatsworth Estate; the ownership is held by The Chatsworth House Trust on behalf of the Cavendish family.

St Peter's Church

St Peter's is the

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 the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. It is in a joint parish with St Anne's Church, Beeley. Sir

(d. 1865) is buried in St Peter's

churchyard In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...

, as are most

and their families. A 2020 report states that the current church with its 166 ft-high spire, designed by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

, was not built until about 25 years after the village was completed. It was a "replacement for the original squat-towered church that had occupied the site previously". Derbyshire Council states that "Edensor Church was taken down and rebuilt in 1867, incorporating some of the old Norman" church. Another source specifies that "very little remains of the Norman church". The historic listing summary for the Church of St Peter provides less of an explanation. It simply states that St Peter's was built in the 12th century, modified in the 15th and "rebuilt in 1867".

Dunsa

The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of ''Dunsa'' lies to the northwest of Edensor at .

Gallery

File:Edensor - geograph.org.uk - 671.jpg, Approaching from Chatsworth File:Edensor_-_Village_Scene.jpg, Village scene File:Edensor, Derbyshire - Devonshire building 1.JPG, Devonshire building File:St Peter's, Edensor - geograph.org.uk - 298211.jpg, St Peter's Church File:St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor - Cavendish family plot1.JPG, Cavendish family plot with the graves of the Dukes of Devonshire File:St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor - grave of William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.JPG, Grave of the 6th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1858), founder of modern-day Edensor File:Edensor 201307 117.jpg

References

External links