Scarcliffe
Encyclopedia
Scarcliffe is a small village
and civil parish
in the Bolsover district
of Derbyshire
, England
. It is sometimes called Scarcliffe with Palterton. The population of the parish at the 2001 UK Census was 5,211.
, the village's main street is the B6417 road between Clowne
and New Houghton, which connects at Scarcliffe to the A617 between Mansfield
and Chesterfield
. Other nearby settlements include Clay Cross
, Matlock, Shirebrook
, Warsop
, North Wingfield
, Tupton
, Pilsley and Ashover
.
Scarcliffe is within a few miles of Junction 29 of the M1 motorway
.
Palterton is a hamlet
within the parish, one mile (1.6 km) to the west of the main village. In the early 20th century it had both a school and a post office.
Palterton is recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book
under the land of Ralph Fitzhubert.
To the east of the main village are two areas of woodland, Langwith Wood and Roseland Wood.
('The Elm Tree' and 'The Horse and Groom'), but no shop.
parish church
of St Leonard
, which is a Grade II starred listed building. It contains a handsome marble monument, dating to the 13th century, of a Lady Constantia, who holds a child in her arms. A stone tympanum
over an ancient door is carved with geometrical patterns, and there is a medieval
piscina
. The oak parish chest is almost ten feet long. The church tower
is fairly modern, having been added in the 1830s. In the 21st century, the church has increased its peal of bells
from five to eight.
The Scarcliffe ecclesiastical parish includes Scarcliffe, Palterton and Hillstown. Scarcliffe now forms a united benefice with Ault Hucknall
, Astwith
, Bramley Vale
, Doe Lea
, Glapwell
, Hardwick Hall
, Stainsby
, Rowthorne, and Hardstoft.
the church was held by Darley Abbey
, later becoming a vicar
age in the gift of the Dukes of Devonshire
, major landowners in the area. The 13th century resident Lady Constantia (whose monument is in the church) left 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) of land to provide for the ringing
of the church's curfew bell
for three weeks on either side of Christmas in perpetuity. After some eight hundred years, the 'Bellrope Charity' continues to serve its founder's purpose.
The surviving parish register
s date from 1680.
The village school was built in 1868-1869. It was established opposite the former Primitive Methodist
church, which had been founded in 1858 but is now gone.
John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
(1870-1872) says -
Scarcliffe once had a station
on the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
(later part of the Great Central Railway
and subsequently the LNER), opened in March 1897, but this section was brought to a premature demise in December 1951 by the deteriorating state of the 2,624-yard (2,399-metre) Bolsover Tunnel a short distance to the west. The tunnel was mostly filled in with colliery waste in 1966-7 but the eastern (Scarcliffe) portal is still visible at the end of an unusually deep sheer-sided cutting. Also at Palterton in the parish, there was a station called "Palterton & Sutton" on the "Doe Lea Valley Line" from Staveley
to Pleasley
, belonging to the Midland Railway
, later part of the LMS
, which was opened in September 1890 and closed to passengers in September 1930.
In the early 20th century, the main landowner was the 7th Earl Bathurst
.
and the subsoil limestone and clay. The village is in a region which is underlaid by a large porous water-bearing rock structure called the Magnesian Limestone aquifer
, which dips downwards to the east. Magnesian Limestone is so called because it contains quantities of the mineral Dolomite
, which is rich in Magnesium
. Where the aquifer comes to the surface, springs appear, and the River Poulter
rises from such a spring to the south west of the village, after which it flows around the southern edge on its way to join the River Idle
at Elkesley
.
.
and elects its MEPs
as part of the East Midlands
region.
----
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...
and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the Bolsover district
Bolsover (district)
Bolsover is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. Its main town is Bolsover.There are fourteen town and parish councils within the district.In addition to the town councils of Old Bolsover and Shirebrook, there are the parish councils of:...
of 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...
. It is sometimes called Scarcliffe with Palterton. The population of the parish at the 2001 UK Census was 5,211.
Location
About two miles SSE of BolsoverBolsover
Bolsover is a town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 145 miles from London, 18 miles from Sheffield, 26 miles from Nottingham and 54 miles from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.The civil parish for the town is called...
, the village's main street is the B6417 road between Clowne
Clowne
Clowne is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. It forms part of the Bolsover constituency. Clowne lies north east of Chesterfield and south west of Worksop. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Clune...
and New Houghton, which connects at Scarcliffe to the A617 between Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....
and Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
. Other nearby settlements include Clay Cross
Clay Cross
Clay Cross is a former mining town and civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, about six miles south of Chesterfield. It is directly on the A61, the former Roman road Ryknield Street...
, Matlock, Shirebrook
Shirebrook
Shirebrook is a town in the Bolsover district of north-east Derbyshire on the border with Nottinghamshire, England. At the 2001 UK Census it had a population of 9,291 , 10,412...
, Warsop
Warsop
Warsop is a civil parish in the District of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, England, located on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 12,365....
, North Wingfield
North Wingfield
North Wingfield is a large village in the English county of Derbyshire, located approximately 4½ miles south-east of Chesterfield, and 1 mile north-east of Clay Cross. It is in the North East Derbyshire district...
, Tupton
Tupton
Tupton is a village in North East Derbyshire, Derbyshire, England, south of Chesterfield. It lies just north of Clay Cross on the A61 which runs from Chesterfield to Alfreton. It comprises the areas of Old Tupton and New Tupton. However, it is generally referred to as Tupton...
, Pilsley and Ashover
Ashover
Ashover is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. It sits in a picturesque valley, not far from the town of Matlock and the Peak District national park. The centre of the village is a conservation area. The River Amber flows through...
.
Scarcliffe is within a few miles of Junction 29 of the M1 motorway
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
.
Palterton is a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
within the parish, one mile (1.6 km) to the west of the main village. In the early 20th century it had both a school and a post office.
Palterton is recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
under the land of Ralph Fitzhubert.
To the east of the main village are two areas of woodland, Langwith Wood and Roseland Wood.
Facilities
The village has its own primary school, which takes children between the ages of four and eleven and has some 80 places. There are two pubsPublic 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 Elm Tree' and 'The Horse and Groom'), but no shop.
Church
The most notable building is the NormanNorman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
parish church
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
of St Leonard
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
, which is a Grade II starred listed building. It contains a handsome marble monument, dating to the 13th century, of a Lady Constantia, who holds a child in her arms. A stone tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
over an ancient door is carved with geometrical patterns, and there is a medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
piscina
Piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. Roman Catholics usually refer to the drain, and by extension, the basin, as the sacrarium...
. The oak parish chest is almost ten feet long. The church tower
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
is fairly modern, having been added in the 1830s. In the 21st century, the church has increased its peal of bells
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
from five to eight.
The Scarcliffe ecclesiastical parish includes Scarcliffe, Palterton and Hillstown. Scarcliffe now forms a united benefice with Ault Hucknall
Ault Hucknall
Ault Hucknall is a small village, which gives its name to the surrounding civil parish, in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England.Local residents describe the settlement as the "smallest village in England", although as a village is not legally defined in England, this is not a provable claim...
, Astwith
Astwith
Astwith is a village in Derbyshire, England.Astwith is in the parish of Ault Hucknall. For many decades it was a part of the manor of Stainsby, which was known as Steinesbei in the Domesday survey ....
, Bramley Vale
Bramley Vale
Bramley Vale is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is very close to junction 29 of the M1 motorway and has good transport links to Chesterfield, Mansfield, and Nottingham provided by the TM Travel service number 73 and the big pink Pronto bus. It is located four miles south of Bolsover...
, Doe Lea
Doe Lea
Doe Lea is a small, linear village in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the Bolsover district of the county. The village runs along the old A617 road. A newer dual carriageway runs parallel to it. The village is also immediately adjacent to junction 29 of the M1 motorway, like its...
, Glapwell
Glapwell
Glapwell is located in north east Derbyshire between the nearby towns of Chesterfield and Mansfield , although the nearest town centre is that of Bolsover . It is a village of 1,467 residents, situated on a hill adjoining the village of Bramley Vale.-History:This village is listed in the...
, Hardwick Hall
Hardwick Hall
Hardwick Hall , in Derbyshire, is one of the most significant Elizabethan country houses in England. In common with its architect Robert Smythson's other works at both Longleat House and Wollaton Hall, Hardwick Hall is one of the earliest examples of the English interpretation of the Renaissance...
, Stainsby
Stainsby
Stainsby is a small village in Derbyshire, England. It is near to the towns of Chesterfield and Bolsover, and the villages of Heath and Doe Lea. The M1 motorway skirts past the village....
, Rowthorne, and Hardstoft.
History
The village was part of the ancient hundred of Scarsdale. Before the Dissolution of the MonasteriesDissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
the church was held by Darley Abbey
Darley Abbey
Darley Abbey is a village on the outskirts of Derby, England. The village is located on the River Derwent and is associated with the world heritage site of Derwent Valley Mills.- History :...
, later becoming a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
age in the gift of the Dukes of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only...
, major landowners in the area. The 13th century resident Lady Constantia (whose monument is in the church) left 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) of land to provide for the ringing
Campanology
Campanology is the study of bells. It encompasses the physical realities of bells — how they are cast, tuned and sounded — as well as the various methods devised to perform bell-ringing....
of the church's curfew bell
Curfew bell
The curfew bell was a bell rung in the evening in Medieval England as the signal for everyone to go to bed.A bell was rung usually around eight o'clock in the evening which meant for them to cover their fires - deaden or cover up, not necessarily put out altogether...
for three weeks on either side of Christmas in perpetuity. After some eight hundred years, the 'Bellrope Charity' continues to serve its founder's purpose.
The surviving parish register
Parish register
A parish register is a handwritten volume, normally kept in a parish church or deposited within a county record office or alternative archive repository, in which details of baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded.-History:...
s date from 1680.
The village school was built in 1868-1869. It was established opposite the former Primitive Methodist
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
church, which had been founded in 1858 but is now gone.
John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales...
(1870-1872) says -
Scarcliffe once had a station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
on the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway was a British railway company built toward the end of the era of British railway construction. It opened its line from Chesterfield to Lincoln in 1897....
(later part of the Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
and subsequently the LNER), opened in March 1897, but this section was brought to a premature demise in December 1951 by the deteriorating state of the 2,624-yard (2,399-metre) Bolsover Tunnel a short distance to the west. The tunnel was mostly filled in with colliery waste in 1966-7 but the eastern (Scarcliffe) portal is still visible at the end of an unusually deep sheer-sided cutting. Also at Palterton in the parish, there was a station called "Palterton & Sutton" on the "Doe Lea Valley Line" from Staveley
Staveley
Staveley could refer to several places:*Staveley, Cumbria*Staveley-in-Cartmel*Staveley, Derbyshire*Staveley, North Yorkshire*Staveley, New Zealand, a locality in the Ashburton District-Surname:...
to Pleasley
Pleasley
Pleasley is a small village in between the nearby towns of Chesterfield and Mansfield, it is 8 km south east of Bolsover, Derbyshire, England and 4 km north west of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire...
, belonging to 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....
, later part of the LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
, which was opened in September 1890 and closed to passengers in September 1930.
In the early 20th century, the main landowner was the 7th Earl Bathurst
Seymour Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst
Seymour Henry Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst, CMG, TD was a British nobleman, soldier and newspaper owner.-Family:He was a son of Allen Bathurst, 6th Earl Bathurst and Meriel Leicester Warren...
.
Geology
The soil is predominantly limestoneLimestone
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....
and the subsoil limestone and clay. The village is in a region which is underlaid by a large porous water-bearing rock structure called the Magnesian Limestone aquifer
Aquifer
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
, which dips downwards to the east. Magnesian Limestone is so called because it contains quantities of the mineral Dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
, which is rich in Magnesium
Magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
. Where the aquifer comes to the surface, springs appear, and the River Poulter
River Poulter
The River Poulter is a tributary river of the River Idle in Nottinghamshire, England, which rises near Scarcliffe in Derbyshire. It has supplied power for a number of mills along its route, most of which are now gone, although the mill ponds remain, and Cuckney mill building is still used as a...
rises from such a spring to the south west of the village, after which it flows around the southern edge on its way to join the River Idle
River Idle
The River Idle is a river in Nottinghamshire, England. Its source is the confluence of the River Maun and River Meden, near Markham Moor. From there, it flows north through Retford and Bawtry before entering the River Trent at Stockwith near Misterton...
at Elkesley
Elkesley
Elkesley is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 805. It is located 6 miles south of Retford.The parish church of St Giles was built c. 1300 in Decorated style, and was partially reconstructed in 1845...
.
Local government
Scarcliffe has its own elected parish council. While this has few powers, it is consulted on all decisions affecting the village by Derbyshire County Council and Bolsover District Council, which together provide most of the local government services. Before a reorganization in 1974, Scarcliffe was part of the Blackwell Rural DistrictBlackwell Rural District
Blackwell was a rural district in Derbyshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 based on that part of the Mansfield rural sanitary district which was in Derbyshire .It was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the new district...
.
Parliament
The village is in the parliamentary constituency of North East DerbyshireNorth East Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North East Derbyshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
and elects its MEPs
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
as part of the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
region.
External links
- Scarcliffe war memorial and roll of honour at roll-of-honour.com
- Scarcliffe vicars at scarcliffeweb.co.uk
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