Over Haddon is a small 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 (including Nether Haddon) at the 2011 Census was 255. It is near the small town of

Bakewell Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known also for its local Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, about 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Sheffield. In the 2011 census, ...

, south of the B5055 road. Over Haddon overlooks

Lathkill Dale Lathkill Dale is the valley of the River Lathkill near Bakewell, Derbyshire in the Peak District of England. The river emerges into the dale from springs below Lathkill Head Cave (or, in wet conditions, from the cave itself). Towards the head ...

and the

River Lathkill The River Lathkill is a river in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England. First recorded in 1280, the name "Lathkill" possibly has Scandinavian roots, the old Norse ''hlada-kill'' translating as "narrow valley with a barn". C ...

, which may be crossed by a

clapper bridge A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of the English West Country (Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor) and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, La ...

on a footpath running south from the village.

The bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

may be medieval. The village has two churches, a

public house 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 ...

, and a car park. Around the year 1667 Over Haddon was home to

Martha Taylor Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...

, one of the earliest documented examples of a

fasting girl A fasting girl was one of a number of young Victorian era girls, usually pre-adolescent, who claimed to be able to survive over indefinitely long periods of time without consuming any food or other nourishment. In addition to refusing food, fasti ...

, who claimed to be able to survive for months without food. The name "Haddon" means "Heath Hill", the "Over" referring to being above "Nether Haddon" (Haddon Hall). The site of a

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...

Conksbury Conksbury is the site of a deserted medieval settlement between Over Haddon and Youlgreave in Derbyshire, England. History The village was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 AD as ''Cranchesberie'' in the hundred of Blackwell'','' in the co ...

, is on the south bank of the River Lathkill, between Over Haddon and

Youlgreave Youlgreave or Youlgrave is a village and civil parish in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England, on the River Bradford south of Bakewell. The name possibly derives from "yellow grove", the ore mined locally being yellow in colour. The populati ...

. Over Haddon is the birthplace of

Maurice Oldfield Sir Maurice Oldfield (16 November 1915 – 11 March 1981) was a British intelligence officer and espionage administrator. He served as the seventh director of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), from 1973 to 1978. Early life Oldfield was b ...

, a former head of

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

and reputedly the inspiration for both

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

George Smiley George Smiley OBE is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is a career intelligence officer with "The Circus", the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a central character in the novels ''Call for the Dead'', ''A Mur ...

and 'M' in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

books. He died in 1981 is buried in the village.

References

External links

Village websiteThe Peak District On-line, Over Haddon page
]
supplementary GENUKI page describing relationship of Over Haddon and nearby settlements
Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Derbyshire Dales {{Derbyshire-geo-stub

See also

References

External links