Hopton is a small village adjacent to the village of Carsington and two miles (3.2 km) from the market town of

Wirksworth Wirksworth is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. Its population was 4,902 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census.Area E04002820 (Wirksworth parish) in Table PP002 - Sex, from Wirkswor ...

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 ...

. Evidence of human activity near Hopton, during a warm period known as the Aveley

Interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene i ...

around 200,000 years ago, is provided by the discovery of a

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with ''Homo ...

hand axe in the area. Hopton is mentioned in the

Domesday Book 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 ...

in 1086 as a berewick (supporting farm) of the manor and town of Wirksworth. Historically, its main industries were farming and lead mining. Hopton lies just off the B5035 road from Ashbourne to Wirksworth, at the northern end of Carsington Water. The village has a long association with the Gell family, who have had assets in Hopton since 1327, and had extensive lead mining interests in the Wirksworth area. The Gells lived at Hopton Hall. Notable family members include Sir John Gell, who was a Parliamentarian in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

and Sir William Gell, who was an archaeologist. The famous Hopton Incline of the

Cromford and High Peak Railway The Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR) was a Standard-gauge railway, standard-gauge line between the Cromford Canal wharf at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. The railway, which was completed in 1831, was built t ...

, now part of the

High Peak Trail The High Peak Trail is a Rail trail, trail for walkers, cyclists and horse riders in the Peak District of England. Running from Dowlow , near Buxton, to High Peak Junction, Cromford , it follows the trackbed of the former Cromford and Hi ...

and Pennine Bridleway, is about north of the village. Modern Hopton is a dispersed village with a mix of houses, some of which are self-catering accommodation for tourists exploring the Derbyshire Dales, Peak District, Wirksworth and Carsington Water.

References

Hamlets in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Derbyshire Dales {{Derbyshire-geo-stub

See also

References