Heath is a village in the

North East Derbyshire North East Derbyshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Derbyshire, England. The council is based in the large village of Wingerworth. The district also includes the towns of Dronfield and Clay Cross as well as numerou ...

district of the English county of

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 ...

. 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

is called Heath and Holmewood. The population of this parish as taken at the 2011 Census was 2,953.

Location

Heath is immediately adjacent to junction 29 of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

and the A617 dual carriageway into Chesterfield. Close to Heath are the villages of Holmewood and

Temple Normanton Temple Normanton is a village and a civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district in Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 490. The village sits on a prominent hilltop three miles (5 km) south ...

. The village is also near to Stainsby, host of the annual Stainsby Festival, and to the

Sutton cum Duckmanton Sutton cum Duckmanton is a civil parish in Derbyshire, England, between Bolsover and Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield in the district of North East Derbyshire. The village has a Church of England, parish church, a public house, pub, The A ...

, which contains several villages, including

Sutton Scarsdale Sutton Scarsdale is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is in the North East Derbyshire district. It is very close to the M1 motorway. It is in the civil parish of Sutton cum Duckmanton. The settlement is notable for a large, ruined former sta ...

. As a result of the construction of the M1 Motorway in the 1960s, and more recently the A617 into Chesterfield, many of the linking roads from Heath to its neighbouring villages were severed. These severed roads still exist.

History

In the

Domesday Survey Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, two settlements are recorded around the present location of the village of Heath; they were called ''Lunt'' and ''Le Hethe''. The two villages probably combined during the 12/13th century. However, relatively little change has taken place since then; maps from around 1609 show the village in almost its present layout. The manor of the village was in the possession of Robert de Ferrars, the First Earl of Derby, who gave it to the monks of

Garendon Abbey Garendon Abbey was a Cistercian abbey located between Shepshed and Loughborough, in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. History Garendon was founded by Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, in 1133, and was probably a daughter house of Waverle ...

. It remained in their possession for almost 400 years. It then became bequeathed by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

to Thomas Manners, then to various families following him. In the village, there are two buildings listed as Grade II, meaning they are of special archeological and historical interest. There is a thatched cottage located near to the entrance of the former Heath Comprehensive School. The second building is the remains of the original 12th-century church, which is separated from the village by the dual carriageway. Much of the village is maintained by the Chatsworth Estate,Chatsworth
. accessed 2 October 2010 with the traditional "Chatsworth Blue" doors and window frames signifying the properties leased from the estate. The village had a railway station on the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its Great Central Main Line, London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company ...

, which partly followed the route taken by the A617. Both the line and the station closed in the 1960s as part of the '

Beeching axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

'. The buildings in the village are constructed mainly from the local cream-coloured

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, coupled with a variety of traditional roofing materials. In May 1977, the village was designated a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

Customs

The Church of England is represented by All Saints Church, which has close links with St Albans in nearby Holmewood. Both congregations share the same vicar. Modern education is provided by Heath Primary School which has stood on the site along Slack Lane since 1867, when boys and girls were taught in separate schools, but now a modern primary with Nursery and child care facilities.

Economy

The village of Heath once hosted a blacksmith, a cobbler, three public houses and a Post Office (closed in November 2009); only The Elm Tree public house and a petrol station on the outskirts of the village now remain. Many of the revamped private residences retain the names of the previous existence, such as The Old Reading Room and Smithy Cottage.

References

External links