ALKMONTON TO ARBOR LOW STONE CIRCLE
A TO Z – DERBYSHIRE AND THE PEAK DISTRICT – CHAPTER 2
ALKMONTON (5.7 miles due south of Ashbourne – SK187354)
A small rural village set in rolling South Derbyshire countryside. In the past, the ownership of the manor of Alkmonton passed through the hands of several families. Thomas W Evans had St John’s Church erected in 1843. It contains a Norman font, the only reminder of the former medieval village that lay about one mile to the south, apart from the humps in the ground that outline the old street pattern. The village is well known as the home of Alkmonton Tractors, a family business founded in 1984.
ALPORT (1 mile east of Youlgreave, off the A6 Matlock to Bakewell Road – SK222646)
Alport stands on the route of the old Portway from Nottingham to Castleton at the confluence of the Rivers Lathkill and Bradford. It consists of an attractive group of cottages overlooking a handsome old bridge with a riverside corn mill completing the idyllic scene. An unusual sign on a building along the road to Youlgreave acts as a warning to vagrants. In 1824, the Vagrancy Act made it an offence to sleep on the street or to beg. The Act has been amended many times since then.
ALSOP-EN-LE-DALE (off the A515 Ashbourne to Buxton Road – SKSK161552)
Alsop-en-le-Dale is an ancient village situated in lovely countryside. It comprises a few cottages, scattered farms, a church, and a hall. The Church of St Michael and All Angels, restored in the 19th Century, is of Norman origin. On the opposite side of the road is Alsop Hall, built in the late 16th Century by the Alsop family. The local farmers originally used the village railway station to transport milk to towns and cities. It is now closed and acts as a car park, with the railway line converted into the Tissington Trail.
ALSTONEFIELD (midway between Ilam and Hartington – SK131556)
Alstonefield is an unspoilt upland village standing at an altitude of 900 feet, just over the Derbyshire border in Staffordshire, built on an ancient site where several trackways once crossed, later to become packhorse routes. Today, it is a village of attractive stone houses and pretty gardens with ample open space.
There has been a church at Alstonefield since at least 892. The single benches in the church were presumably for the poor people and contrast strikingly with the much grander Cotton family pew, with the Cotton coat of arms on the back. Charles Cotton senior, the owner of Beresford Hall, had the pew built. He was the father of Charles Cotton Jr., a friend of Izaak Walton, a devout Christian who undoubtedly worshipped at the church. Both he and Cotton were well known for their love of fishing, and Walton wrote the bestselling book, The Compleat Angler.
The churchyard contains two fascinating gravestones situated a few yards from the south wall, in line with the porch. Weathered with age, the round-topped tombstone commemorates Anne Green, who died in 1518, making it one of the oldest Memorials in a graveyard in this country. The other tombstone, rectangular in shape, records the death in 1731 of Mary Barclay, aged 107!
In the mid-19th century, when the village well could no longer meet the growing demand, two reservoirs and the pump on Hartington Road were installed. The water pump can still be seen and remained in use until 1957, when mains water was installed.
AMBERGATE (on the A6 north of Belper – SK349515)
The village of Ambergate lies in a valley, now part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Corridor. It has gradually taken over from the earlier settlement of Toadmoor and grown from a small hamlet to a substantial village. The birth of the railway era and the industries it attracted as a result were the main reasons for its expansion. The first railway station built at Ambergate by the North Midland Railway, one of the three companies that four years later formed the Midland Railway, opened on 5 July 1840. Further developments occurred as the business expanded, with a southern curve added in 1863. Thirteen years later, a middle curve was created, forming an unusual triangular junction with the platforms set around the triangle. In its heyday, Ambergate was one of the most important railway junctions in the Midlands, with nearly 50 staff members employed, handling approximately 240 trains per day. Now, a single platform serves the Derby to Matlock line.
The Hurt Arms was built in 1874 and named after the former Lords of the Manor, the Hurts, who lived at Alderwasley Hall. It took the place of the Thatched House Tavern, demolished by the railway company along with Francis Thompson’s original station to make way for expansion. Church Services were held at the tavern before the church opened in 1891
ANCHOR CHURCH (1 mile from Ingleby by the River Trent, off the A514– SK339272)
The church is in a sandstone crag overlooking the River Trent. It is a fascinating place, part natural and part enhanced by human intervention. Sir Francis Burdett of nearby Foremarke Hall extended it and fitted a door, allowing him to hold picnics there for his guests during the summer. It is now a popular spot for walkers.
ARBOR LOW STONE CIRCLE (between Monyash and Youlgreave – SK163637)
The circle is the most important prehistoric site in the East Midlands, often referred to as ‘the Stonehenge of the North’. It is in glorious moorland countryside between Monyash and Youlgreave. The site comprises a Neolithic henge monument surrounded by an earthen bank and ditch with a circle of 50 stones now all recumbent.
