Wensley is a small village in

South Darley South Darley is a civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales. It is a largely rural parish and covers the villages of Darley Bridge, Wensley and the hamlets of Oker and Snitterton. South Darley lies west of Matlock and east of Winster. The Riv ...

parish in

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 ...

of limestone and gritstone properties mainly arranged along the single road which zig-zags through the village or around the square. The whole village, together with part of the adjacent Wensley Dale is a Conservation Area. Until fairly recently there was a Methodist Chapel, a village shop and two public houses, but these have all closed. The former school is now a village hall, Wensley Reading Room. Quite a few of the houses are holiday lets. The parish church is St Mary the Virgin in the Cross Green area of

Darley Bridge Darley Bridge is a village in Derbyshire, located in South Darley parish in the Derbyshire Dales, bordering the Peak District. The village lies at the bottom of the hill below Wensley where the road crosses the River Derwent. A grade II* l ...

. The nearest schools are South Darley Primary School,

Winster Winster is a village in the English Derbyshire Dales about from Matlock and from Bakewell at an altitude of approximately . It was formerly a centre for the lead mining industry. The village lies within the Peak District National Park and The ...

Primary School,

Elton Elton may refer to: Places England * Elton, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire), a village ** Elton Hall, a baronial hall * Elton, Cheshire, a village and civil parish * Elton, County Durham, a village and civil parish * Elton, Derbyshire, ...

Primary School and

Darley Dale Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, on the River Derwent and the A6 road. The town forms part o ...

Primary School. Its nearest senior schools are

Lady Manners School Lady Manners School is an English secondary school located in Bakewell, a market town in the Peak District National Park, Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District ...

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, ...

and Highfields School in

Matlock, Derbyshire Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England. It is situated in the south-eastern part of the Peak District, with the National Park directly to the west. The town is twinned with the French town of Eaubonne. The former spa resort of Matloc ...

. The 172 bus route of Hulleys of Baslow runs from Bakewell to Matlock, via Wensley, Darley Bridge and Darley Dale.

History

The villagers in Wensley were employed in the

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 ...

industry in the fields around the village in the 18th and 19th century after the

London Lead Company The London Lead Company was an 18th and 19th century British lead mining company. It was incorporated by royal charter. Strictly, it was The Company for Smelting Down Lead with Pitcoal. Origins The company was chartered in 1692 to investors who i ...

obtained the mining rights in the 1720s.

Notable residents

*Sir Thomas Wensley (or Wendesley) (d.1403) of Wensley, five times a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

, in 1382, 1384, 1386, 1390 and 1394.Biography of ''Wensley, Sir Thomas (d.1403), of Wensley, Derbys.'' Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 19

/ref> He was a follower of

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...

and was killed on 21 July 1403, fighting at the

Battle of Shrewsbury The Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle fought on 21 July 1403, waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King Henry IV and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland. The battle, the first in which English archers ...

for the Lancastrian cause. His effigy survives in All Saints' Church, Bakewell, Derbyshire.

References

External links

South Darley Parish CouncilSouth Darley CE Primary School
{{Commons category inline, Wensley, Derbyshire Hamlets in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Derbyshire Dales

History

Notable residents

See also

References

External links