Tideswell
Encyclopedia
Tideswell is a village
and civil parish in the Peak District
of Derbyshire
, in England
. It lies 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Buxton
on the B6049, in a wide dry valley
on a limestone
plateau, at an altitude of 1000 feet (304.8 m) above sea level
, and is within the District of Derbyshire Dales
. The population was 1,820 in 2001, making it the second-largest settlement within the National Park, after Bakewell
.
" situated in the north of the village.
Tideswell is known locally as Tidz or Tidsa. In addition, local residents are known as Sawyeds owing to a traditional story about a prize cow getting its head stuck in a gate, only for the farmer to get it free by sawing its head off. Today the story is re-enacted raucously and colourfully each Wakes week
by a local mummers group called the Tidza Guisers
.
, Tideswell was a market town
known for lead mining
. The Tideswell lead miners were renowned for their strength and were much prized by the military authorities.
Tideswell is now best-known for its 14th-century parish church
, the Church of St John the Baptist
, known as the "Cathedral of the Peak", which contains three 15th-century misericord
s. A sundial
lies in the churchyard; it is positioned on steps which local historian Neville T. Sharpe thinks likely to be those of the village's market cross
. A market and two-day fair were granted to the village in 1251.
The town has a week-long festival near the summer solstice
known as the Wakes
, culminating in "Big Saturday", which includes a torchlight procession through the streets, led by a brass band playing a unique tune called the Tideswell Processional, and townsfolk dancing a traditional weaving dance.
programme. In a bid to help keep its village shops open and thriving—the village had lost over 20 shops in the preceding decade—Taste Tideswell was created. The venture aims to reconnect local people with their food and make Tideswell famous as a food destination. On 6 December 2010 the Tideswell School of Food opened, running full-priced cookery and brewing courses as well as subsidised community courses. The School of Food is intended to be the financial engine for the project and will help to develop work in the community.
Tideswell Made is a quality mark that local food producers, retailers, public houses and holiday accommodation can buy into. Ensuring products are sourced as locally as possible and made locally, Tideswell Made is marketed by Taste Tideswell and helps local business get wider recognition for their locally made produce. Taste Tideswell has a popular education service, visiting schools with a variety of food and growing related activities. School groups also visit the School of Food for practical hands-on activities.
Behind the Parish Church, a small community garden has been developed to provide a training ground for those wanting to learn more about growing. There is also a small commercial kitchen available for hire by local food producers, particularly those who are looking to make the step up from home-based production. A small nano-brewery offers a course in beer-brewing. In May 2011, the first Tideswell Food Festival was held, attracting over 2,000 people, despite poor weather.
On 7 September 2011, as part of the Village SOS series on BBC One
, the Taste Tideswell story was broadcast. Filmed over two years by Jane Beckwith and Mandy Wragg, and presented by Sarah Beeny
, it showed the rapid development of the project, along with the individual story of Tim Nicol, the 'Village Champion' who moved to live in Tideswell for a year and helped the volunteer directors get Taste Tideswell off the ground. As of August 2011, Taste Tideswell employed eight members of staff, most of whom lived in the village, and had ten visiting chef/tutors on its books.
The village has a long theatrical tradition, Tideswell Theatre having been formed over 200 years ago to perform leading plays of the time. It was revived in 2002 to bring quality professional theatre, music, dance and comedy to the area. Tideswell Community Players
are one of the oldest drama groups in the country, formed in 1929. Until the 1960s the village also had its own cinema, The Picturehouse. Tideswell Cinema was revived in 2005 to bring film once more to the community, with screenings for three seasons at Bishop Pursglove School's hall, before relocating in 2008 to the upper storey of The George Hotel. A number of musical ensembles are also active in the village - notably Tideswell Male Voice Choir and The Tideswell Singers.
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 in the Peak District
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
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...
, in 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 lies 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Buxton
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
on the B6049, in a wide dry valley
Dry valley
A dry valley is a valley found in either karst or chalk terrain that no longer has a surface flow of water.There are many examples of the latter along the North and South Downs in southern England...
on a 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....
plateau, at an altitude of 1000 feet (304.8 m) above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, and is within the District of 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....
. The population was 1,820 in 2001, making it the second-largest settlement within the National Park, after 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...
.
Name
There is some debate as to how the village got its name. Some say it originates from a Saxon chieftain named Tidi, others that the name comes from a "tiding wellWater well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
" situated in the north of the village.
Tideswell is known locally as Tidz or Tidsa. In addition, local residents are known as Sawyeds owing to a traditional story about a prize cow getting its head stuck in a gate, only for the farmer to get it free by sawing its head off. Today the story is re-enacted raucously and colourfully each Wakes week
Wakes week
The wakes week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland.- History :Wakes were originally religious festivals that commemorated church dedications...
by a local mummers group called the Tidza Guisers
Tidza Guisers
The Tidza Guisers are a group of mummers who perform in the Peak District village of Tideswell in Derbyshire. They were formed in the late 1980s to revive the ancient tradition of guising , in which people dressed up in elaborate costumes, blackened their faces, and went round the village asking...
.
History and heritage
In the Middle AgesMiddle 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...
, Tideswell was a market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
known for 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...
. The Tideswell lead miners were renowned for their strength and were much prized by the military authorities.
Tideswell is now best-known for its 14th-century parish church
Parish 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....
, the Church of St John the Baptist
St John the Baptist, Tideswell
-Background:The church is widely known due to its size and splendour as the 'Cathedral of the Peak'. It is one of the most famous churches in Derbyshire. It is a Grade I listed building....
, known as the "Cathedral of the Peak", which contains three 15th-century misericord
Misericord
A misericord is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.-Origins:...
s. A sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
lies in the churchyard; it is positioned on steps which local historian Neville T. Sharpe thinks likely to be those of the village's market cross
Market cross
A market cross is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, originally from the distinctive tradition in Early Medieval Insular art of free-standing stone standing or high crosses, often elaborately carved, which goes back to the 7th century. Market crosses can be found in most...
. A market and two-day fair were granted to the village in 1251.
The town has a week-long festival near the summer solstice
Summer solstice
The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. Though the summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also...
known as the Wakes
Wakes week
The wakes week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland.- History :Wakes were originally religious festivals that commemorated church dedications...
, culminating in "Big Saturday", which includes a torchlight procession through the streets, led by a brass band playing a unique tune called the Tideswell Processional, and townsfolk dancing a traditional weaving dance.
Taste Tideswell
In May 2009, Tideswell won a £400,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund's Village SOSVillage SOS - Big Lottery Fund
The Village SOS programme was established by The UK's Big Lottery Fund to provide economic regeneration funding for rural communities. The programme was announced in early 2009 and villages with a population of less than 2000 were invited to bid for the money in a competition-style bidding process...
programme. In a bid to help keep its village shops open and thriving—the village had lost over 20 shops in the preceding decade—Taste Tideswell was created. The venture aims to reconnect local people with their food and make Tideswell famous as a food destination. On 6 December 2010 the Tideswell School of Food opened, running full-priced cookery and brewing courses as well as subsidised community courses. The School of Food is intended to be the financial engine for the project and will help to develop work in the community.
Tideswell Made is a quality mark that local food producers, retailers, public houses and holiday accommodation can buy into. Ensuring products are sourced as locally as possible and made locally, Tideswell Made is marketed by Taste Tideswell and helps local business get wider recognition for their locally made produce. Taste Tideswell has a popular education service, visiting schools with a variety of food and growing related activities. School groups also visit the School of Food for practical hands-on activities.
Behind the Parish Church, a small community garden has been developed to provide a training ground for those wanting to learn more about growing. There is also a small commercial kitchen available for hire by local food producers, particularly those who are looking to make the step up from home-based production. A small nano-brewery offers a course in beer-brewing. In May 2011, the first Tideswell Food Festival was held, attracting over 2,000 people, despite poor weather.
On 7 September 2011, as part of the Village SOS series on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, the Taste Tideswell story was broadcast. Filmed over two years by Jane Beckwith and Mandy Wragg, and presented by Sarah Beeny
Sarah Beeny
Sarah Lucinda Beeny is an English property developer and television presenter, best known for presenting the Channel 4 property shows Property Ladder, Streets Ahead, Britain’s Best Homes and Help! My House Is Falling Down....
, it showed the rapid development of the project, along with the individual story of Tim Nicol, the 'Village Champion' who moved to live in Tideswell for a year and helped the volunteer directors get Taste Tideswell off the ground. As of August 2011, Taste Tideswell employed eight members of staff, most of whom lived in the village, and had ten visiting chef/tutors on its books.
Facilities and activities
Tideswell Sports Complex was built in 2001 following a £1.2 million Sports Lottery grant and substantial fund-raising in the village. There are two football pitches, a flood-lit multi-use area with two tennis courts and five aside pitches marked out, a cricket ground, crown-green bowling area, a skate-park and two pavilions. The town has a football team, Tideswell United, and they play in the Hope Valley League 'A' Division. They also run a reserve side competing in the Hope Valley League B Division as Tideswell United Blue Star. The ground has floodlights for midweek games, one of few sides at such a lowly level to use them. The bowling club competes in local leagues, the cricket and tennis clubs compete in local friendly matches.The village has a long theatrical tradition, Tideswell Theatre having been formed over 200 years ago to perform leading plays of the time. It was revived in 2002 to bring quality professional theatre, music, dance and comedy to the area. Tideswell Community Players
Tideswell Community Players
Tideswell Community Players, the amateur theatre group of Tideswell in the Peak District, United Kingdom was formed in 1929. They performed their first play, Ambrose Applejohn's Adventure, by Walter Hackett in 1930. Their first logo was the woodblock print pictured.First performing at The...
are one of the oldest drama groups in the country, formed in 1929. Until the 1960s the village also had its own cinema, The Picturehouse. Tideswell Cinema was revived in 2005 to bring film once more to the community, with screenings for three seasons at Bishop Pursglove School's hall, before relocating in 2008 to the upper storey of The George Hotel. A number of musical ensembles are also active in the village - notably Tideswell Male Voice Choir and The Tideswell Singers.
Notable people
- Blessed Christopher BuxtonChristopher BuxtonChristopher Buxton was an English Catholic priest and martyr.He was a scholar of Nicholas Garlick at the Grammar School, Tideswell, in the Peak District, studied for the priesthood at Reims and Rome, and was ordained in 1586...
, Catholic martyr, studied at Tideswell Grammar school under Nicholos Garlick - Ric LeeRic LeeRic Lee is the English drummer of the British late 1960s to 70s rock group, Ten Years After.-Biography:...
, drummer of the blues/rock band Ten Years AfterTen Years AfterTen Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...
, resides in Tideswell and participated in the male voice choir - Rev. J. M. J. FletcherJ. M. J. FletcherThe Reverend James Michael John Fletcher MA , was an English clergyman of the Church of England, author and historian.-Career:*Vicar of Tideswell*Canon of Salisbury*Fellow of the Royal Historical Society-Publications:...
(Vicar of Tideswell), historianHistorianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is... - Blessed Nicholas GarlickNicholas GarlickBlessed Nicholas Garlick was an English catholic priest, martyred in Derby in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.- Early life :...
, Catholic priest and martyr, was a schoolmaster here in the 16th century - Judy LedenJudy LedenJudy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
, stunt flyer and three times world hang-gliding champion - William NewtonWilliam Newton (poet)William Newton , the Peak Minstrel was born near Abney, in the parish of Eyam, Derbyshire on 28 November 1750. He was well regarded by other more notable writers and made his fortune as a partner in a mill in Tideswell; where he died in 1830. His poetry is said to have led to an end to gibbetting...
, poet and philanthropist, was buried here - Samuel SlackSamuel SlackSamuel Slack , sometimes known as The Tideswell Vocalist, was a noted bass singer, a native of the Derbyshire Peak District and protégé of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire....
, notable bass singer born 1757 of local fame, reputedly sang before King George III - Michael Bradbury, father of TV presenter Julia BradburyJulia BradburyJulia Bradbury is an Irish-born British television presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One programme Countryfile and other documentaries and consumer affairs programmes.-Early years:...
, was born in Tideswell - A monument in the south transept of Tideswell parish church is doubtfully identified as that of Sir Thurstan de Bower
- Edwina CurrieEdwina CurrieEdwina Jonesnée Cohen is a former British Member of Parliament. First elected as a Conservative Party MP in 1983, she was a Junior Health Minister for two years, before resigning in 1988 over the controversy over salmonella in eggs...
accepted the post of President of the Tideswell Male Voice Choir in November 2011.
External links
- Taste Tideswell
- Tideswell School of Food
- Tideswell and District Community Association
- The Village Voice - the village newsletter
- Tideswell and District listing of bed and breakfast and self-catering holiday accommodation
- Derbyshire UK - Tideswell
- Peak District Online - Tideswell
- Description of Tideswell Church
- Tideswell Male Voice Choir
- The Tideswell Singers
- Link to interesting search of Google Books on Tideswell with several good books fully online mentioning Tideswell.
- The Feudal History of the County of Derby Vol.5 Section 9, by John Pym Yeatman. G4TIFF page images, plus poorly OCRed HTML. This has a lot of information on Tideswell during the 11th to 13th centuries.