Eckington 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 authorit ...

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 populatio ...

, England. It is 7 miles (11 km) northeast of

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 9 miles (14 km) southeast of

Sheffield city centre Sheffield City Centre (referred to locally as simply Town) is a district of the Sheffield, City of Sheffield and is covered partly by the City ward, Sheffield, City ward of the City of Sheffield. It includes the area that is within a radius of ...

, on the border with

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 ...

. It lies on the B6052 and B6056 roads close to the A6135 for Sheffield and Junction 30 of the M1. It had a 2001 population of 11,152, increasing to 11,855 (including Bramley, Renishaw Marsh Lane and Troway) at the 2011 Census.

History

Ten

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

coins discovered in December 2008, near Eckington Cemetery may be evidence of a Roman settlement or road in the area. The oldest of the silver and copper coins is from the reign of the emperor

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

(AD 81 to 96) while the others are from the reigns of

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

(AD 98 to 117) and

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

(AD 117 to 138). Eckington is recorded 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 ...

in 1086 as ''Echintune'',''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.1340 a manor given to Ralph Fitzhubert.who held several manors including some in Derbyshire given by the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

. They included Eckington and lands in

Barlborough Barlborough is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,018, increasing to 3,261 at the 2011 Census. The village is near junction 30 of the M1 motorway an ...

, Whitwell, Stretton,

Ashover Ashover is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1,905. It sits in a valley, not far from the tow ...

, Ogston,

Crich Crich is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. The population at the 2001 Census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 Census (including Fritchley and Whatstandwell). It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway Vil ...

Wessington Wessington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 576. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. It is near to the towns of Matlock, Alfreton ...

, Ingleby,

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

Hathersage Hathersage ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. It lies slightly to the north of the River Derwent, approximately south-west of Sheffield. Toponymy The origin of its name is disputed, although it is ...

Some parts of the parish church of St Peter and St Paul date to 1100.

George Sitwell Sir George Reresby Sitwell, 4th Baronet (27 January 1860 – 9 July 1943) was a British antiquarian writer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895. Biography Sitwell was born in London, the son of Sir Si ...

, son of George and Mary was baptised in 1601 in Eckington. George's father died whilst he was a child but as an adult he acquired the freehold of land in Eckington and exploited it by mining iron ore. In 1625, he built

Renishaw Hall Renishaw Hall is a country house in Renishaw in the parish of Eckington in Derbyshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and has been the home of the Sitwell family for nearly 400 years. The hall is southeast of Sheffield, and north of R ...

which is now owned by Sir Reresby Sitwell's daughter, Alexandra and her family. Sitwell exploited the minerals beneath his estate, chiefly iron and built a blast furnace at Plumbley a mile north west of Eckington in the 1630s with his mother's second husband, Henry Wigfall. In 1652 Sitwell built a furnace at Foxbrooke, close to Renishaw, which became the core of the largest ironworks in Derbyshire. Sitwell made saws at Pleasley and in 1656, installed a rolling and slitting mill at Renishaw to supply the rod iron used by numerous local nailmakers. During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

coal and iron ore were mined and local streams, such as the Moss Brook, were harnessed to provide power for factories. The Sitwells built a large

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

and ironworks.

Scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor mac ...

s, sickles and nails were made in the town for local use and for export. The Moss Brook was dammed to provide water power at eight sites including ChapelWheel, Carlton Wheel and Fields Wheel, to grind the blades. The remains of an old forge and drift mines exist in the valley. Eckington had a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

mine in the eastern part of the village, one of the very few in the country which is still operated.

Governance

Eckington falls under the jurisdiction of Derbyshire County Council, North East Derbyshire District Council and Eckington Parish Council.

Geography

Eckington covers an area of 2,089 acres. The geology is the coal measures containing coal and ironstone. The

Chesterfield Canal The Chesterfield Canal is a narrow canal in the East Midlands of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was one of the last of the canals designed by James Brindley, who died while it was being constructed. It was opened in 1777 a ...

and

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

passed through the parish. The Moss Brook is a tributary of the River Rother.

Schools

The oldest school in Eckington is Camms CE Primary School. In 1702, Thomas Camm endowed a schoolhouse and a schoolmaster to teach 24 poor children in the parish. In 1832, Robert Harrison moved the school to a new building which cost £600, and it was moved again to its current location on Castle Hill in 1975. Eckington School is a large comprehensive school, attracting pupils from the surrounding areas of

Killamarsh Killamarsh is a village and civil parish in North East Derbyshire, England, bordering Rotherham to the north and Sheffield to the north-west. Killamarsh is surrounded by, in a clockwise direction from the north, Rother Valley Country Park, th ...

, Renishaw, Beighton, Ridgeway and

Mosborough Mosborough is a village in the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of Derbyshire, the village was named after The Moss river which flows through the village. During the late 19th century and 20th century, the villa ...

. Despite being closer to several Sheffield residential areas the admissions policy favours pupils from Derbyshire feeder schools. Eckington Grammar School in Halfway became Derbyshire's first comprehensive school in 1957, changing its name to the Westfield School, and since 1967 has been controlled by the city of Sheffield. Eckington is also home to Eckington Junior School and Birk Hill Infants.

Amenities

Eckington has a swimming pool near the library, built in the 1970s as part of a town centre improvement. The town has a bus station (halt). Eckington Woods to the north of the village forms part of the Moss Valley conservation area. They are also known as the Bluebell Wood because of the quantity of bluebells in the springtime.

Transport

Eckington is served by bus services to Sheffield,

, Mansfield,

Clowne Clowne is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2001 Census was 7,447 increasing to 7,590 (and including Harlesthorpe) at the 2011 Census. It forms part of the Bolsover constituency. ...

and other surround settlements.

People

Notable people from Eckington include: * Ann Alexander, financier, was born here in the 1770s. * Walter Bussey, footballer *

Herbert Henry Elvin Herbert Henry Elvin (18 July 1874 – 10 November 1949) was a British trade unionist. Born in Eckington, Derbyshire, Elvin left school at the age of 14,''Report of the 49th Annual Conference'', Labour Party, p.38 although he later studied with t ...

, trade union leader * Joseph Gales, Sr., politician and journalist *

Joseph Gales, Jr. Joseph Gales Jr. (June 15, 1786 – July 21, 1860) was an American journalist and the ninth mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1827 to 1830. He was the only Mayor born outside the United States or the American colonies. Early life Joseph Gales J ...

, journalist and Mayor of Washington, D.C. *

Joan Hinde Joan Hinde (21 October 1933 – 22 January 2015) was a British trumpeter and entertainer. Life Joan Hinde was born in Eckington, Derbyshire. At the age of six she began receiving cornet lessons from her uncle, who was the conductor of a local ...

, trumpeter *

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

was born here in 1601Philip Riden, 'Sitwell, George (bap. 1601, d. 1667)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 2 March 2010
/ref> * Paul West, writer * Zoë Baker, swimmer

Photos

Image:EckingtonCenotaph.JPG, Eckington War Memorial Image:EckingtonParishChurchFeb07.JPG, St Peter & St Paul's Image:Eckington_Market_Street_4.jpg, Old Market Street

References

Citations Bibliography * Bowlt, Eileen. M. (1994) ''Ruislip Past''. London: Historical Publications

External links

Parish council

Inside-Eckington Website
*
Eckington Methodist with St Luke's church
{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Civil parishes in Derbyshire North East Derbyshire District