Holmesfield 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 ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

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 ...

. 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 influences are also evident with many road names suffixed by "gate", the old Norse word for "way".

History

Holmesfield is mentioned 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 as one of the manors belonging to

Walter D'Aincourt Walter D'Aincourt (or Walter Deincourt or d'Eyncourt) was a landholder in Derby under King Edward the Confessor in 1065/1066. Later in 1066, he fought for William the Conqueror against Harold Godwinson and was rewarded with a large number of mano ...

.''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.750

John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville (4 December 1607 – 31 March 1682) was an English soldier, landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1665 when he was created a peer and then sat in the H ...

, was in 1645 ordered to pay an annuity to the Vicar of Holmesfield Church, as part his fine, for being on the losing side in the civil war. St Swithin's parish church can be seen from much of the surrounding area. The main church was built in 1826 but has seen further work in recent years with the vicarage being added in 1999. Still visible in the grounds are the remains of a stone cross from around 641 AD, which would have replaced an original wooden cross erected by monks to mark the place where they would preach. The base of the stone cross now holds a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

Geography

Holmesfield is sited at approximately above sea level on the edge of 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 ...

, with extensive views from the village over the surrounding hilly terrain. The parish includes a number of farming hamlets such as Millthorpe situated in the neighbouring Cordwell Valley. The

Peak District Boundary Walk The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District (a ...

runs through Millthorpe.

Notable buildings

Within Holmesfield civil parish are 43 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 ...

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 historic or architectural interest. None is listed as Grade I but there are five structures (Cartledge Hall, Holmesfield Hall, Unthank Hall, farm outbuildings east of Holmesfield Hall, and an outbuilding southwest of Unthank Hall) that are listed as Grade II*. The other structures, including Woodthorpe Hall, Cartledge Grange and the parish church, are listed as Grade II.

Notable residents

Notable people who live or have lived in Holmesfield parish include: *

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rightsWarren Allen Smith: ''Who's Who in Hell, A Handbook and International Directory for Human ...

(1844–1929), socialist and poet, lived at Millthorpe. *

Robert Murray Gilchrist Robert Murray Gilchrist (6 January 1867 – 1917) was an English novelist and author of regional interest books about the Peak District of north central England. He is best known today for his decadent and Gothic short fiction. During his li ...

, novelist, lived and died at Cartledge Hall, buried in the parish churchyard. * George Merrill (1867–1928), lived at Millthorpe as Edward Carpenter's partner, and on whom the character Alec Scudder in E. M. Forster's novel ''

Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

'' is based. * G.H.B. Ward, activist for ramblers' rights, co-founder of the Clarion Ramblers in Sheffield and Labour Party politician. *

Mark Roe Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

, professional golfer.

Amenities

Holmesfield has a village hall, a riding school, and Victorian-built

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

Pennyacres
/ref> A Thai restaurant closed in 2018. There are three

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

within the village (The Rutland Arms, The George and Dragon, and The Angel Inn) and a further two elsewhere within the parish (The Royal Oak at Millthorpe, and The Peacock and The Moorlands at

Owler Bar Owler Bar is a small area of settlement and locally important road junction in the parish of Holmesfield, Derbyshire, England. It lies at an altitude of 305 metres and is just south of the county border with Sheffield, on the edge of the Peak Di ...

). The village no longer has a shop or post office. There is a regular farmers and artisan market held in the village usually on four dates throughout the year. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

meant that no markets were held in 2020, but they recommenced in July 2021. The market is normally situated at the Angel Inn and St. Swithin's Church Hall.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Civil parishes in Derbyshire North East Derbyshire District