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Ashover is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1,905. It sits in a valley, not far from the town of Matlock and the Peak District national park. The centre of the village is a
conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
. The River Amber flows through the village. Although Ashover is a small settlement, the actual ward boundaries of the village extend for many miles, including the nearby settlements of Alicehead, Alton, Ashover Hay, Farhill, Kelstedge,
Littlemoor :''This article refers to Littlemoor in Weymouth, Dorset. For Littlemoor near Chesterfield see Littlemoor, Derbyshire''. Littlemoor is a suburb of Weymouth in Dorset, England. Littlemoor is about to the north of the town centre. The nearest r ...
, Milltown, Spitewinter, Stone Edge and Uppertown. The two major roads, running through the parish, are the A632 from Matlock to
Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
, and the A615 from Matlock to Alfreton. The area along that part of the A615 is named Doehole. Slack is a small hamlet, within the parish, which is south west of Kelstedge on the A632; nearby to there, on Robridding Road (off Wirestone Lane), is the Eddlestow Lot Picnic Site, which has been developed in the former Wirestone Quarry: it is surrounded by heathland vegetation. The picnic site provides a good base to explore the local Public Rights of Way. Circular walks are waymarked from the car park, a leaflet is available by contacting the County Council. There is public access into many of the adjacent Forestry Commission owned woodlands. The site has plants including heather and bilberry. The other numbered roads in the parish are the B5057 from near North Brittain to Stone Edge, the B6036 between Kelstedge and Dalebank running past Ashover itself, and the B6014 from near Butterley to just past Ashover Hay. Fallgate is a hamlet beside the River Amber, in the south-east corner of the parish, off the B6036 to Woolley Moor and Handley.


History

Known in
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
times as ''Essovre'' (possibly 'beyond the
ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergree ...
s' or 'ash tree slope'), Ashover was probably in existence during the first taxation survey of England by King Alfred in 893. However, the first written reference to the village occurs in the Domesday Book of 1086, in which Ashover is owned by Ralph fitzHubertRalph fitzHubert held a considerable number of manors including several in Derbyshire given to him by the King. These included obviously Ashover but also included lands in Eckington,
Barlborough Barlborough is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,018, increasing to 3,261 at the 2011 Census. The village is near junction 30 of the M1 motorway an ...
, Whitwell, Stretton, Stoney Middleton, Crich, Ogston, Ingleby, Wirksworth and
Hathersage Hathersage ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. It lies slightly to the north of the River Derwent, approximately south-west of Sheffield. Toponymy The origin of its name is disputed, although it is ...
and is credited with a church, a priest, several ploughs, a mill. It had previously had a taxable value of four pounds, but it was revalued at thirty shillings.''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.751 Ashover was the scene of a confrontation between the Royalists and the Roundheads during the English Civil War in the 17th century. The Roundheads, short of ammunition, demolished the windows of the church and used the lead to make bullets. They also reduced nearby Eastwood Hall to ruins; all that can be seen today are the ivy-clad remains. Royalists slaughtered livestock and drank all the wine and ale in the cellars of
Eddlestow Hall Ashover is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1,905. It sits in a valley, not far from the tow ...
while the owner
Sir John Pershall ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...
was away. Job Wall, the landlord of the Crispin Inn public house, refused entry to the army, telling them they had had too much to drink. But they threw him out and drank the ale, pouring what was left down the street. Outside, affixed to the front wall of the pub is a signboard with a history of the inn. Ashover's industrial history is linked with
lead mining Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, l ...
and quarrying, both of which date back to Roman times. Butt's Quarry is a large disused example, previously excavated by the
Clay Cross Company The Clay Cross Company was founded as George Stephenson and Co. in 1837 by the railway pioneer, George Stephenson. The company established coal mines, ironworks, brickworks and pipe factories at Clay Cross near Chesterfield. The company was close ...
for its works away. During the Second World War,
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
held at Clay Cross were taken daily to the quarry to make concrete blocks. It is now home to a wide range of different species, including
jackdaws Jackdaws are two species of bird in the genus ''Coloeus'' closely related to, but generally smaller than, the crows and ravens ('' Corvus''). ''Coloeus'' is sometimes treated as a subgenus of '' Corvus'', including by the IUCN.Madge & Burn (1994 ...
which nest on the quarry face. Part of the village was home to the
stocking frame A stocking frame was a mechanical knitting machine used in the textiles industry. It was invented by William Lee of Calverton near Nottingham in 1589. Its use, known traditionally as framework knitting, was the first major stage in the mechan ...
knitting industry, which once rivalled lead mining in importance. The area is called
Rattle Rattle may refer to: Instruments * Crotalus (liturgy), a liturgical percussion instrument * Rattle (percussion instrument), a type of percussion instrument * Rattle (percussion beater), a part of some percussion instruments * Ratchet (instrume ...
, which is believed to be a reference to the noise made by the machinery. Electricity came to the valley in the 1920s, but the village was not connected to the National Grid until a decade later. Some outlying settlements were not connected until after the Second World War. It was not until 1967 that gas street lights were replaced by electric lighting. Until 1963, there was a hydro in the village, sourcing its own private water supply from a tank on a hillside. Ashover had two such institutions, which were popular in the 19th century due to the belief in 'healing water'. Subsequently, purchased by the electricity board, the building is today divided into private apartments, with further expensive new houses built in the grounds. Ashover Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1905. The club disappeared in the late 1920s.


Landmarks


The Fabrick

To the east of the village is a
gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for pa ...
boulder and viewpoint locally known as 'The Fabrick' or 'Ashover Rock'. The Fabrick sits on an area of heathland 299 metres above sea level. It is the highest viewpoint for a considerable distance, and the majority of the landscape east of this point to the coast is lower. Consequently, on a clear day, views can be seen of nearby
Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
with its
Crooked Spire The old western town gate of Duderstadt in Germany. A crooked spire, (also known as a twisted spire) is a tower showing a twist and/or a deviation from the vertical. A church tower usually consists of a square stone tower topped with a pyramidal ...
, Bolsover Castle, Hardwick Hall, some suburbs of the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield, the surrounding counties of Nottinghamshire,
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. Next to The Fabrick is a disused Royal Observer Corps monitoring station, which was abandoned in 1991. However, it is opened up occasionally by enthusiasts. For many years, The Fabrick was privately owned by the "Bassett" sisters who were descendants of the family known for creating "Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts", but in 2006 was donated to
Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. It has 64 councillors representing 61 divisions, with three divisions having two members each. They are Glossop and Charlesworth, ...
. In the
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
period, there was a stone folly on the top of the Fabrick, no trace of which remains. On certain days in the
pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
calendar, morris dancers gather.


Gladwin's Mark

In present times, this is the site of Gladwin's Mark Farm and Gladwin's Mark Wood, to the far north west of the parish. By the 18th century, there were several thousand acres of un enclosed moorland in the parish of Ashover, principally covered with heath. The only paths across this wilderness for roads were tracks in the sand or heath with here and there a stone post on the hills or elevations to serve as guides to the traveller and
packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...
s which traversed one point of the area to another. Local legend was that, a man by the name of Gladwin, possibly William was crossing the moor in deep snow, late on a December afternoon. Before he had got half way night suddenly closed in and soon after a storm brought with it heavy snowfall which blinded and bewildered him enough to lose his way. Weary, tired and trembling, Gladwin stumbled on until he came to a cairn or heap of loose stones on which he sat down to rest and reflect on his situation, and realising that if he remained inactive he would be in grave danger of death from frostbite. He began with all his remaining energy to build and pile up the stones, this being summarily completed only to be pulled down and rebuilt, and repeated many times during what must have seemed to Gladwin a long and dreary night, however his life was saved by this exercise. When the welcome daylight came to his rescue, it found the pile just perfected where it still remains and bears the name of Gladwin's Mark. What was the turnpike road from Chesterfield to Rowsley passes about one hundred yards to the right of the Mark. Two farm houses, one on each side of the road, built by Sir
Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...
, a local landowner of nearby Overton Hall, were both called Gladwin's Mark, later being separated. In a croft to the left, tourists would have found the pile of stones which gives the name to these local features, and was the means of saving the life of poor Gladwin.


Popular culture and awards

The village is known for the Ashover Light Railway, which was owned and operated by the Clay Cross Company from 1925 to 1950. Along with Crich and Matlock, the village was used for a time as a location for the
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
drama series '' Peak Practice''. Ashover won the Calor Village of the Year competition in 2005.


Climate


See also

* List of places in Derbyshire * Ashover Light Railway * Listed buildings in Ashover


References

*http://www.derbyshireheritage.co.uk/Menu/Curiosities/ashover-ROC-post.php


External links


Ashover Parish Council

Ashover-info

Ashover website


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