Wardlow is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

in the

Derbyshire Dales Derbyshire Dales ( ) is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Derbyshire, England. The district was created in 1974 as West Derbyshire; the name was changed to Derbyshire Dales in 1987. The council is based in the town of Matl ...

two miles from

Tideswell Tideswell is a village, civil parishes in England, civil parish, and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, ward in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. It lies east of Buxton on the B6049, in a wide valley on a limestone p ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. The population at the 2011 census was 118. The village contains the church of the Good Shepherd and the small hamlet of Wardlow Mires, which contains a notable pub, The Three Stags' Heads.

History

In 1755, two stone coffins were found when a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

was excavated, and surrounding these were seventeen other remains which spread out in a radial way, although another source says there were seventeen coffins, and gives the date that they were found during the construction of a turnpike road as 1759. Black Harry was a

highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...

on the turnpike roads who troubled travellers on the moors around Wardlow and Longstone. In Stoney Middleton his name lives on in place names like Black Harry Gate and Black Harry House, but it was at Gibbet Field near Wardlow that he met his end when he was hanged and Gibbeted after being arrested by the Castleton Constables. In 1815, on Gibbet field, near Wardlow the last man to be

gibbet Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. Occasionally, the gibbet () was also used as a method of public ex ...

ed in Derbyshire was displayed. The tollkeeper, Hannah Oliver, had been strangled, and the vital clue was her missing red shoes. The local cobbler, Mr Marsden of

Stoney Middleton Stoney Middleton is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. It is in the White Peak area of the Peak District southeast of Eyam and northwest of Calver, on the A623 road at the foot of the limesto ...

, confirmed that shoes found at the house of 21-year-old Antony Lingard had been made for Hannah. This was the key evidence ardlow at Peak Experienceaccessed 13 May 2008 that led his to being hung in chains near the village.History, gazetteer and directory of Derbyshire, with the town of Burton-upon
Samuel Bagshaw, p.445, 1846 accessed 13 May 2008 Lingard's body was displayed on April Fools' Day 1815, and remained there for some months. A poem by William Newton, which imagined the anguish of the murderer's father having to gaze on this sight, was given much of the creditPeakland Heritage
accessed 28 February 2008 for the abolition of gibbeting in 1834. A school was built in 1833, and was expanded in 1872 to serve 45 children. The school building still boasts a bell tower, and is used today as a village hall and Sunday school. In 1871 the census revealed the complexities of having a village in two parishes. The census returns show how the small number of inhabitants had to be divided into two different lists.
accessed 14 May 2008 The church of the Good Shepherd was built in 1873 to seat one hundred people, and consists of a chancel, a nave, and a turret between the chancel and nave.
May, 1891, p.323 accessed 28 February 2008 It is a Grade II listed building. It was not until 1937 that piped water came to Wardlow, so it is fitting that the village still celebrates with a

well dressing Well dressing, also known as well flowering, is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from materials such as flower petals. The custom is most close ...

each September.about Derbyshire.co.uk
accessed 14 May 2008

Wardlow Mires

Wardlow Mires is a small hamlet with a single public house. The Three Stags' Heads in Wardlow Mires is a Grade II listed building and listed on the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors The National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors was a register of public houses in the United Kingdom with interiors which had been noted as being of significant historic interest, having remained largely unchanged for at least 30 years, but us ...

. It is like a farmhouse might have been 200 years ago: a small stone flagged room with a cast-iron range, whitewashed walls, a small bar and a couple of rickety tables and chairs. For many years the

mummified A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furthe ...

remains of a cat were exhibited in a glass case. The cat's remains were found during alterations to a

chimney breast A chimney breast is a portion of a chimney which projects forward from a wall to accommodate a fireplace. Typically on the ground floor of a structure, the masonry extends upwards, containing a flue which carries smoke out of the building through ...

and were thought to have been placed there for superstitious reasons. Above Wardlow Mires is an unusual large rocky outcrop known as Peter's Stone. The name is believed to come from its resemblance to St. Peter's in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The other more grisly name for Peter's Stone is Gibbet Rock, for it was here that Lingard's body was displayed for the entertainment of visitors for several months.PeakDistrictOnline
accessed 15 May 2008

References

External links

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

History

Wardlow Mires

See also

References

External links