Whaley Thorns is a former colliery village in the Bolsover district 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 ...

, England, close to the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

border. Whaley Thorns lies just north of

Nether Langwith Nether Langwith is a village and civil parish, in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east of Chesterfield and south west of Worksop. Nether Langwith lies east of the adjoining village, Langwith, which is in the ...

and Langwith, south-east of Creswell, and west of

Cuckney Cuckney is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Norton and Cuckney, in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England, located between Worksop and Market Warsop. The A60 road connects Market Warsop and Cuckney via Cuckne ...

. It is in the

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 ...

Scarcliffe Scarcliffe is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. It is sometimes called Scarcliffe with Palterton. The population of the parish (including the hamlets of Palterton, Rylah, Stockley, and parts of Stony H ...

. The village takes its name from a dense wood, recorded on the first

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

Maps. "Whaley" being

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

for water/spring, referring to both the local springs, just to the north, and the river Poulter which lies only to the south. And "Thorn" an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

word, for wood. So the original meaning, may have been either "''Wood of the Springs''", or "''Wood above/between the water(s)''". In the Mid-nineteenth century, much of the wood was cut down, following the discovery of coal beneath it. Thanks to the nearby railway, the site soon grew into a colliery village. The village acquired both a fine

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Chapel, and a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Chapel; both still hold regular services. It also acquired a large primary school, and later on in the 1940s, a fine

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

style school too. In the late 1970s the chief employer, the colliery, closed. Since the colliery closures, the first school has closed and re-opened as a heritage centre, as well as re-education centre for ex-miners. The Second has remained open as a primary school. Following the Pit (Colliery) closure, the villages' population has greatly reduced, due to the, lack of local employment, and the deprivation that happened as a result. Since 1990, many rows of

terraced house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

s, have been demolished, due to their run-down, or in some cases derelict, nature. There are now just two shops, and one pub.

External links

Villages in Derbyshire Bolsover District {{Derbyshire-geo-stub