Grindleford 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 ...

in the county 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 nort ...

, in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 Census was 909. It lies at an altitude of in the valley of the River Derwent in 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) ...

. The 17th-century Grindleford Bridge crosses the river on the western side of the village. On the west side of the valley is the high Sir William Hill, and to the south-east lies the gritstone escarpment of Froggatt Edge. Grindleford became a

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 o ...

in 1987, merging the parishes of

Eyam Eyam () is an English village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales that lies within the Peak District National Park. There is evidence of early occupation by Ancient Britons on the surrounding moors and lead was mined in the area by the Roma ...

Woodlands, Stoke, Nether Padley and Upper Padley. The nearest city to Grindleford is

Sheffield Sheffield is a 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 historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

, the centre of which is about away. For rail travellers, the Sheffield suburb of Totley is less than four miles away at the other end of the Totley Tunnel, the second-longest rail tunnel in the UK. Grindleford railway station (actually located in Upper Padley, half a mile away from the village) is at the western portal of the rail tunnel, on the scenic Hope Valley Line between Sheffield and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Grindleford is popular with walkers and climbers due to its proximity to a variety of landscapes, including open

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...

, wooded river valleys (including Padley Gorge), several gritstone escarpments, and the broad Hope Valley. Visitors seeking refreshment are well catered for by a number of establishments, including the Sir William Hotel, the Maynard Hotel and Bar, the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Longshaw Estate Visitor Centre, and Grindleford Station Cafe (in the old station house).

Education

The village has one school, Grindleford Primary School. It was rated as "good" in its March 2018

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, includ ...

report. Hope Valley College runs a course in Painting and Drawing at Grindleford Pavilion.

Sport

Football

Grindleford Football Club are based on Bishop Pavilion and Bridge Playing Field adjacent to the River Derwent off Main Road, north Grindleford. The club currently competes in the Hope Valley Amateur League and a junior section in the Derwent Valley League.

Cricket

Grindleford Cricket Club and ground is also based on Bishop Pavilion and Bridge Playing Field. The club have three senior teams: a 1st XI Saturday team that competes in the Yorkshire and Derbyshire Cricket League, a Sunday XI team that plays friendly matches in and around the region, and a Midweek XI side.

Padley Chapel

Padley Hall (or Padley Manor) was a large double courtyard house where, in 1588, two Catholic priests (

Nicholas Garlick Nicholas Garlick (c. 1555 – 24 July 1588) was an English Catholic priest, martyred in Derby in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Early life He was born around 1555, near Dinting in Glossop, within the county of Derby. In January 1575 he m ...

and Robert Ludlam) were discovered and then, two weeks later,

hanged, drawn and quartered To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby ga ...

. They became known as the 'Padley Martyrs'. Padley Hall today is mostly in ruins, although part of it—probably originally the central gatehouse range—survives, and in 1933 was converted to a Roman Catholic chapel in honour of the martyrs. This was after the chapel had been a site of pilgrimage for several year, annual pilgrimages were set up by a priest from Sheffield. Organisation was taken on by the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, and pilgrims walked from the nearby station to honour the Padley Martyrs. The chapel, a

Grade I listed building 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 ...

, stands not far from the railway line.

References

External links

"Discover Derbyshire" - GrindlefordGrindleford
{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Civil parishes in Derbyshire Derbyshire Dales