Ambergate
Encyclopedia
Ambergate is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where the River Amber
River Amber
The River Amber is a river in Derbyshire, England which rises close to the village of Ashover, near Clay Cross, and flows southwards through Ogston Reservoir to Pentrich then westwards to join the River Derwent at Ambergate...

 joins the River Derwent
River Derwent, Derbyshire
The Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 66 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For half its course, the river flows through the Peak District....

.

Until the early nineteenth century it was known as Toadmoor, with no more than a few artisans' cottages. The southerly half of the village was still shown as such on the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

's maps.

It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Matlock at the junction of the A6 trunk road
Trunk road
A trunk road, trunk highway, or strategic road is a major road—usually connecting two or more cities, ports, airports, and other things.—which is the recommended route for long-distance and freight traffic...

 and the A610
A610 road
The A610 is an A-road in England, which runs from Nottingham to Ambergate, where it joins the A6.-Route:The road starts in Nottingham at a roundabout which Maid Marian Way and Upper Parliament Street spur from. From here road ascends, passing Nottingham Cathedral. The A610 becomes Alfreton Road as...

 to Ripley
Ripley, Derbyshire
Ripley is a town in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire in England.- Earliest history :Not much information is available as to when Ripley was founded, but it existed at the time of the Domesday Book, when it was held by a man called Levenot....

. A mile east of Ambergate is Heage
Heage
The village of Heage in Derbyshire is situated midway between Belper and Ripley and is today famous for its recently-restored six-sailed windmill. Work on building the mill started in 1791 and it was first recorded as working in 1797...

 with its recently restored 18th century windmill.

Ambergate railway station
Ambergate railway station
Ambergate railway station is a railway station owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains Train operating company . It serves the village of Ambergate in Derbyshire...

 is located on the Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

-Matlock Derwent Valley Line
Derwent Valley Line
The Derwent Valley Line is a railway line from Derby to Matlock in Derbyshire.The line follows the Midland Main Line as far as Ambergate Junction, which is just south of Ambergate railway station, continuing to Matlock, following the course of the River Derwent.*Derby*Duffield**Former branch line...

.

The turnpike to Matlock was opened in 1818. Until then the main road from Belper northwards had been through Wirksworth
Wirksworth
Wirksworth is a small market town in Derbyshire, England, with a population of over 9,000.The population of the Wirksworth area including Cromford, Bolehill and Middleton-by-Wirksworth is about 12,000. Wirksworth is listed in the Domesday Book in 1086. Within it is the source of the River...

 and such traffic as there was, would have been mainly cotton from Arkwright's
Richard Arkwright
Sir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is often credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. He also patented a carding engine that could convert raw cotton into yarn...

 Mill at Cromford. However, the Cromford Canal
Cromford Canal
The Cromford Canal ran 14.5 miles from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 locks....

, opened in 1794, also passes the village. In 1818 the turnpike to Nottingham was opened with a toll house
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...

 at the junction.

The canal towpath can be followed from here to Cromford Wharf
Cromford Wharf
Cromford Wharf is at Cromford in Derbyshire, England.It is located at the northern terminus of the Cromford Canal, which opened in 1794 and ran 14.5 miles from here to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire...

, passing High Peak Junction
High Peak Junction
High Peak Junction, near Cromford, Derbyshire, England, is the name now used to describe the site where the former Cromford and High Peak Railway , whose workshops were located here, meets the Cromford Canal...

, which is the start of the High Peak Trail). This 6 miles (10 km) section is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 (SSSI), and also forms part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way
Derwent Valley Heritage Way
The Derwent Valley Heritage Way is a walk along the Derwent Valley from Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District National Park via Chatsworth, the scenery around the Derbyshire Dales, and through the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. It follows the Riverside Path through Derby and...

.

In 1840 the North Midland Railway
North Midland Railway
The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham and Leeds in 1840.At Derby it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station...

 opened with a station at 'Amber Gate' which brought trade for 'omnibus and posting conveyance' to Matlock, which was becoming a fashionable spa town. By 1867 there was a through line from London St.Pancras to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, as well as to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

. Ambergate became an important interchange and, in 1876, Francis Hurt built the 'Hurt Arms' to replace the former 'Thatched House Tavern and Posting House' which the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

  had converted into three cottages (now Midland Place).

In 1791 Benjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways.-Personal life:...

 and Samuel Beresford had built kilns at nearby Bullbridge
Bullbridge
Bullbridge is a small village in Derbyshire. The Bull bridge accident happened here in 1860.-The village:Bullbridge has a population of approx...

 to process limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 from their quarry at Crich
Crich
Crich is a village in Derbyshire in England. It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway Village, and at the summit of Crich Hill above, a Memorial Tower for those of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died in battle, particularly in World War I.Built in 1923 on the site of an...

. George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...

 had discovered deposits of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 at Clay Cross and realised that burning lime would provide a use for the slack which otherwise would go to waste. He leased Cliff Quarry at Crich, and built eight limekilns beside the railway. Within a year they had grown to twenty. They were connected by another wagonway known as "The Steep", a 550 yards (502.9 m) self-acting incline at a slope of 1 in 5.

By 1851 the tiny hamlet had grown to a population of 206. In 1876 Richard Johnson and Nephew opened the wireworks by the river. In 1931 the population had reached 901, rising to 1,794 in 1951.

The quarry and the wagonway closed in 1957 but the limeworks carried on until 1965 and the passage of the Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act
A Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...

. The kilns were demolished the following year to build a storage facility and processing plant for natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

.

In 1966 the first fully operational electronic telephone exchange in Europe opened in Ambergate. This was also the first small to medium electronic exchange in the world. It was installed by Plessey and the first of many TXE
TXE
TXE, which stands for Telephone eXchange Electronic, was the designation given to a family of telephone exchanges developed by the British General Post Office , now BT, designed to replace the ageing Strowger systems....

2 type exchanges.

Public Houses

Ambergate has 2 pubs
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

.
  • The Hurt Arms
  • The White House

External links



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