Darley Dale
Encyclopedia
Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
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...
, with a population of around 6,000 people. It lies north of Matlock, on 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....
and the A6 road.
History
A Benedictine Abbey was built here under the reign of Henry IHenry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
in the twelfth century.
The town grew in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries around the lead mining
Derbyshire lead mining history
This article details some of the history of lead mining in Derbyshire, England.- Background :On one of the walls in Wirksworth church is a crude stone carving, found nearby at Bonsall and placed in the church in the 1870s. Probably executed in Anglo-Saxon times, it shows a man carrying a kibble or...
and smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
industries. It is also a commuter town
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
for workers in Matlock.
Notable people
Notable people associated with Darley Dale include- Nigel BondNigel Bond-External links:*...
, snookerSnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
player, was born here - Tom ChambersTom Chambers (actor)Tom Chambers is a British actor, known for his role as Sam Strachan in the BBC medical drama Holby City. He also won the sixth season of Strictly Come Dancing with his partner Camilla Dallerup.-Personal life:...
, actor. Born here in 1977 - Richmal CromptonRichmal CromptonRichmal Crompton Lamburn was a British writer, most famous for her Just William humorous short stories and books.-Life:...
, author of the Just William children's books attended St Elphin's School in Darley Dale - Mike HendrickMike HendrickMichael Hendrick is a former English cricketer, who played in thirty Tests and twenty two ODIs for England from 1973 to 1981...
, English cricketer was born here in 1948 - Christopher GreenChris Green (writer/performer)Christopher Green is a writer and performer whose work covers comedy, cabaret, theatre and live art. Green was born in Matlock, Derbyshire, grew up in Darley Dale and lives and works in London, England.-Background:...
, comedy writer and performer grew up here - Joseph PaxtonJoseph PaxtonSir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
, architect and gardener for the nearby Chatsworth HouseChatsworth HouseChatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the... - Crichton PorteousCrichton PorteousCrichton Porteous was an author of fiction and non-fiction - books, articles and short stories - much of it about life in the Peak District of northern England, and often set in specific Peak locations .Born in Leeds, he grew up near Manchester, but spent a lot of time in the Peak during...
, author - Joseph WhitworthJoseph WhitworthSir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for screw threads...
, engineer
Notable buildings and attractions
Notable buildings in the town include its fourteenth century parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
St. Helens, with a yew tree which is thought to be two thousand years old. The south transept has a stained glass window by Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
and William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
.
Other attractions include the Peak Rail
Peak Rail
Peak Rail is a preserved railway in Derbyshire, England, which operates a steam service for tourists and visitors to both the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales....
railway which runs from Rowsley South to Matlock via Darley Dale railway station
Darley Dale railway station
-History:Lying at the bottom of Station Road in the settlement of Darley Dale, Darley Dale in its current form is not the first station to have existed upon the site. That halt was built in 1849, by the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway, and existed on the other side of the...
and the Whitworth Park, a large park located next to the railway.
It was the winner of the 2003 Britain in Bloom
Britain in Bloom
RHS Britain in Bloom, supported by Anglian Home Improvements, is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society ...
, in the category of 'Large Village'.
There is a bi-annual arts festival
Arts festival
An arts festival is a festival that focuses on the visual arts in all its forms, but which may also focus on or include other arts.Arts festivals in the visual arts are exhibitions and are not to be confused with the commercial art fair. Artists participate in the most important of such festival...
, the Darley Dale Arts Festival, held in July in odd-numbered years.
In nearby Two Dales, Ladygrove Mill was built for spinning cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
by Abraham Flint, but converted to flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
spinning in 1789 by Daniel Dakeyne of Knabb House. It was expanded by his sons, Edward and James, who built a series of three dams on the Sydnope Valley rising to 96 feet. To cope with the water pressure, they invented a revolutionary water-pressure powered "disc engine", which they patented in 1830 as the Dakeyne hydraulic disc engine. It was the progenitor of a type, now known as a "nutating disc engine
Nutating disc engine
A nutating disc engine is an internal combustion engine comprising fundamentally of one moving part and a direct drive onto the crankshaft...
" (which has been the subject of entrepreneurial interest in the 21st century). The mills and equipment have virtually disappeared but the remains of the dams can still be seen.
Also in Two Dales, the Plough Inn public house
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...
was the reason behind former England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
international footballer Eddie Shimwell
Eddie Shimwell
Edmund "Eddie" Shimwell was an English professional footballer.-Playing career:Born in Birchover, Derbyshire, Shimwell was a trainee with Sheffield United in 1939, but failed to break into the first team before the outbreak of World War II...
's transfer from Sheffield United
Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...
to Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
in December 1946. Shimwell wanted to purchase the pub, but Sheffield United would not allow it, due to their ban on players becoming publicans, so the full-back put in a transfer request.
At the bottom of Station Road lies Darley Dale railway station
Darley Dale railway station
-History:Lying at the bottom of Station Road in the settlement of Darley Dale, Darley Dale in its current form is not the first station to have existed upon the site. That halt was built in 1849, by the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway, and existed on the other side of the...
. Although national rail services ceased in the 1960s, the station has been for over 15 years occupied by the railway and heritage preservation group Peak Rail
Peak Rail
Peak Rail is a preserved railway in Derbyshire, England, which operates a steam service for tourists and visitors to both the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales....
. From here, a heritage steam service operates south to Matlock
Matlock Riverside railway station
Matlock Riverside was the terminus of Peak Rail, a preserved steam railway of approximately 4 miles in length. For many years Peak Rail had planned to run trains into Matlock station, shared with the main line from Derby ....
and north to Rowsley South
Rowsley South railway station
Rowsley South railway station lies approximately a mile short of Rowsley village, the location of the settlement's previous stations. This makes Rowsley South the third station to be built in the area, constructed as it was by Peak Rail volunteers in the latter part of the 1990s.Opened to...
, with a route distance of approximately five miles.
An annual transport festival, the Darley Dale Festival of Transport, is held at the bottom of Station Road every September.
Right next to Darley Dale is the beautiful St Elphin's Park, which during the early 19th century used to be a spa and latterly a well known boarding school for girls.
Darwin Forest Country Park is a 44 acres (17.8 ha) holiday resort 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...
, operated by Pinelodge Holidays Limited. Along with Sandybrook Country Park, Darwin Forest showcases a type of lodges made of maintenance-free Scandinavian redwood, which are produced by the Pinelodge Group.
The resort is located between Matlock and Bakewell
Bakewell
Bakewell is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, deriving its name from 'Beadeca's Well'. It is the only town included in the Peak District National Park, and is well known for the local confection Bakewell Pudding...
in the Derbyshire Dales
Derbyshire Dales
Derbyshire Dales is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. Much of the district is situated in the Peak District, although most of its population lies along the River Derwent....
and is 5 mi (8 km) from Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...
and Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye at Bakewell, Derbyshire, one of the seats of the Duke of Rutland, occupied by Lord Edward Manners and his family. In form a medieval manor house, it has been described as "the most complete and most interesting house of [its]...
. The country park has received the David Bellamy Gold Award.