INTRODUCTION

Kirk Ireton is a charming old-world village which climbs steeply out of the Ecclesbourne Valley, rising to about 850 feet at the upper end, and looking down over miles of attractive countryside. Its wide main street used to be flanked by large farmhouses, but most of these are now used for residential purposes. Several interesting little roads lead off to the left as you climb the main street, with houses seemingly perched on every level bit of ground.

It was the excellent water supply from the local springs that first attracted settlers to the area. Until 1905, the villagers collected water from the two wells on Well Street. Then a pump was installed to pump the water that fed the wells up to a reservoir on Blackwall Lane, and from there it was piped to people’s homes. The village was, in fact, the first in the Ashbourne Rural District to have piped water.

Kirk Ireton, at one time, before the improvement in communications, was somewhat isolated and, as a result, was self-supporting, and any strangers passing through were likely to meet with a hostile reception. What remains is the post office and shop next to the Barley Mow, the school, the church and the Methodist chapel. At the bottom of the street is the village hall, where private and community events take place.

Farming has played an important role in the development of the village due to the excellent quality of the soil. Dairy farming was the most successful, as the steeply sloping fields were a hindrance to arable farming. The arrival of the railway in the 1860s and the opening of a station at Idridgehay meant the east transportation of milk to Derby and beyond.

The village long since threw off its unfriendly reputation and is now considered one of the most welcoming in the area. It was not the case, though, a few years ago, when there was considerable opposition to the Carsington Reservoir Project, but all to no avail.

Officially opened by HM the Queen in 1992, Carsington Water instantly became one of Derbyshire’s top tourist attractions. The original estimate of three hundred thousand visitors per year soon had to be revised to over a million. Further evidence of the popularity of Carsington came when the East Midlands Tourist Board awarded it the ‘Visitor Attraction of the Year’ in 1993.

The reservoir cost one hundred and seven million pounds. It increased Severn Trent’s raw-water capacity by ten per cent to meet growing demand for water in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Water is pumped from the River Derwent at Ambergate Pumping Station and piped to Carsington Water when the river level is high, then stored in the reservoir and released when the weather is very dry.

The Barley Mow, a handsome, Jacobean-style house dating back to 1683, is one of the very few remaining old English pubs to have retained the traditional image of what a public house used to look like in times past. The small main bar has a tiled floor, wooden settees and a coal fire. There are two other furnished rooms, but no fruit machines or piped music to disturb the art of good conversation.

Tradition at the Barley Mow was so strong that with the introduction of decimal coinage in 1971, the owner, Mrs Ford, refused to accept the new currency. It caused regulars a great deal of amusement to watch the faces of visitors when asked for ‘five shillings and eleven pence.’ Customers had to pay in ‘old money’ up to the time of Mrs Ford’s death in 1977. It is now the only public house remaining in the village following the closure of the Bull’s Head.

The oldest building in the village is the 12th-century Holy Trinity Church, entered through an interesting 18th-century pillared gateway believed to have come from the Old Manor House. The font came to a tragic end in the 1800s when, after being used as a water butt for a time, a plumber decided to melt some lead in it and lit a fire underneath, only to split it into many pieces.