Mapleton, sometimes spelt Mappleton, is a village and a civil parish in the

Derbyshire Dales Derbyshire Dales ( ) is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 71,116. Much of it is in the Peak District, although most of its population lies along the River Derwent. The borough borders ...

District, in the English 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 nor ...

. It is near the River Dove and the town of Ashbourne. Mapleton has a post office, a pub called the Okeover Arms and a church. In 2011, according to census data, the Parish had a population of 147 people. There is an annual event in which people jump off of the Mapleton Bridge to raise money for charity.

Etymology of the toponym

The name Mapleton is derived from the old English words of ''maple'' and ''tūn''. The word ''maple'' plainly refers to the deciduous species of tree native to the area, with ''tūn'' being a descriptive term for an enclosure, a farmstead, a village or an estate.

History

In the early 1870s,

John Marius Wilson John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical index or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains informati ...

described the village in the '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales''. This is the description he gave the village: :"MAPPLETON, a village and a parish in Ashborne district, Derby. The village stands on the River Dove, at the boundary with Stafford, 1¾ mile NW of Ashborne r. station; is a pleasant place; has a post office under Ashbourne, a bridge over the Dove, and a good inn; and is a resort of anglers. The parish comprises 778 acres. Real property, £2,202. Pop., 185. Houses, 39. The property is subdivided. The manor belongs to J. G. Johnson, Esq." Transcripts from ''Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland'' described both a post office and a school as follows; :"POST OFFICE.—Mrs. Fanny Grindey, sub-postmistress. Letters arrive from Ashborne at 7 a.m. ; dispatched at 5.40 p.m. ; there is no Sunday delivery. Ashborne is the nearest money order & telegraph office" :"National School (mixed), erected in 1876, for 50 children; average attendance, 30; Miss Amelia Hooper, mistress" However, both of the above have since been closed.

Places of interest

Mapleton Church

Mapleton has one church, the Church of St. Mary. It was first mentioned in records in the reign of Edward I. Further information on the church after that point was relatively scarce until a survey was conducted in the reign of Edward VI in 1547. The current building was built in the mid-18th century, one hundred years after the Parliamentary Commissioners declared that the church was 'fit to be disused' in 1650.

James Gibbs James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...

, the architect who designed the church, was a pupil of

Sir Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

. He also designed the nave of

Derby Cathedral The Cathedral Church of All Saints Derby, better known as Derby Cathedral, is a cathedral church in the city of Derby, England. In 1927, it was promoted from parish church status, to a cathedral, creating a seat for the Bishop of Derby, w ...

. The Church is a

Grade II* 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 Ir ...

Demographics

Population

The first national census was held in 1801. At the time of this census the population of the parish of Mapleton stood at 162 people. Subsequent Census data showed an increase of population until the 1821 census in which the population grew to 201 people. However, a population decrease was seen in the 1831 census when the population fell to just 180 people. The following three censuses (1841–81) record a population of around 200 people within the parish (give or take four people). The population of Mapleton peaked in the next census in 1891 to 225 within the parish, an increase of 29 people. Thereafter, with the exception of two small increases in population in 1921 and 1961, the population of the village remained in decline until the present day in which the most recent census showed a population of 147 in 2011.

Population's occupation

The most popular occupational group is that of people in "professional occupations" with 17 of the people in the parish employed in this sector. A close second is that of the 15 people within the parish working as "Skilled Tradespeople". In 1881, the occupation demographics were very different. Unfortunately, a large portion of the parish's occupations are unknown. "domestic offices or services" and "general commodities" are the next two biggest sectors, each with 26 people from the parish recording these as their occupations. The majority of the occupations within the parish throughout the past have been in relatively sedentary sectors.

References

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