PILSLEY
PLAN YOUR DAY OUT
Location: On B6048 through Chatsworth Park, to the west of Chatsworth House.
Visit: Chatsworth House, one of the grandest stately homes in the country and the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The gardens are magnificent. Enjoy a walk in the park free of charge.
Refreshments: Chatsworth Estate Farm Shop is at Pilsley. It can get very busy, and you may have to wait for a table. The Tea Cottage at nearby Edensor is an alternative, as well as the café at Chatsworth Garden Centre.
Walk: An outstanding walk with excellent views and with Edensor, Chatsworth House, and Baslow all on the route, this walk could take a considerable time to complete, with so many fascinating places to explore.
Special Places of Interest in the Locality: Haddon Hall, a medieval manor house with exquisite architecture and gardens; Bakewell, a picturesque market town set on the banks of the River Wye with riverside walks; and Thornbridge Hall, set in 80 acres of stunning parkland in Ashford-in-the-Water, offers a blend of grandeur and quirkiness enjoyed by all the family.
INTRODUCTION
Pilsley is a pretty, unspoilt village on the Chatsworth Estate with magnificent views over the Derwent Valley. It lies about one mile east of Chatsworth House, and with Edensor and Beeley makes up the three Chatsworth Estate villages. They tend to share facilities; Pilsley has the school and a pub, Edensor a church and institute and Beeley a church and a pub. Both pubs were called the Devonshire Arms, which caused confusion at times, until both changed their name.
The village is in a sheltered position and the limestone cottages are enriched by gardens full of colour, many of the occupiers having learned the craft in the gardens at Chatsworth House. Some describe it as a sleepy little village, but fail to consider that the popular Chatsworth Farm Shop is in Pilsley. It has been so successful that further expansion of the Farm Shop has taken place, including an enlargement of the catering facilities.
CHATSWORTH FARM SHOP
The Stud Farm was built in 1910 by the ninth Duke of Devonshire to house the stallions for breeding the Shire Horses that worked on the estate. However, by the 1940s, tractors had replaced horses, and the Stud farm lost its residents. A herd of Pedigree Jersey cattle then moved in. A further change took place in 1977, when the Duchess of Devonshire opened The Farm Shop in the former Tack Room, selling beef and lamb from the estate. As the shop has become more successful, it has expanded to include a whole range of products and other shops and a café have been created in the courtyard.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
In 1839, Paxton built the village school and some of the other houses in the village, but not the group near the Devonshire Arms (now Pilsley Inn) that were built more than a century earlier. Many of the houses around the green were erected during the period when the sixth Duke of Devonshire was knocking down and rebuilding Edensor, out of sight of Chatsworth House. The inhabitants were found temporary accommodation at Pilsley and Beeley.
At the time, the Trustees of the Chatsworth Estate were looking for accommodation for eight employees of the estate; they chose a piece of land on the west side of Pilsley containing derelict buildings. The position of the site enabled the compactness of the village to be maintained. Additionally, it provided an opportunity to improve and enhance the appearance of the green by enclosing it. So that the cottages would harmonise with the rest of the village, they were built in two blocks of four.
HIGH STREET
The broad High Street suddenly and surprisingly comes to an end and turns into a rough cart track by the accurately named Top House. Further on, it divides into three pathways; the one going straight on is of the most historical significance, as this was the route used by packhorses carrying lead from Monyash bound for the North Sea. Pilsley was a stopping point, where horses changed.
EMPLOYMENT
Almost all of Pilsley’s population either works on, or used to work on, the Chatsworth Estate, or holds a connection with the estate through a partner. The inhabitants have a wide range of skills as they have had the task of maintaining Chatsworth House and Gardens over the last 400 years. One craftsman, an upholsterer, set up business in the village. When he outgrew his premises, the estate knocked down an old barn and built a new one, calling it Broome’s Barn after the tenant farmer who had farmed the land. The business still exists and is under the name of Penrose Sofa Company. Although the manufacturing now takes place in Sheffield, the excellently presented showrooms remain in the village.
TEN FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT PILSLEY
1. There are two villages named Pilsley in Derbyshire, one a mining village near Clay Cross in North East Derbyshire and the other the Chatsworth Estate Village featured above.
2. The award-winning Chatsworth Farm Shop sells high-quality produce sourced from the estate. The majority of products sold have been produced or prepared within a 30-mile radius.
3. The old chapel has been converted into a village hall.
4. Initially, Pilsley stood on a packhorse route and was little more than a single-street village, which extended from High Street into Duck Row.
5. The medieval to early 19th-century packhorse routes may have developed along paths used by ancient man for trading purposes.
6. The village expanded to house displaced inhabitants of the old village of Edensor, which was demolished and replaced by a new village out of view of Chatsworth House.
7. In 1997, Pilsley’s Conservation Area was adopted. The original focus of the village was at the junction of the Devonshire Arms Public House, now the Pilsley Inn. On the south side of the village, the primary school is a key focal point on entry to the village, as is the village green to the north of the school.
8. Originally, well dressings started in the village in 1849, but were suspended by the Duke of Devonshire after a fight broke out between the men of the village and a gang of youths from Baslow.
9. After a gap of about 50 years, the village’s well dressings were revived in 1968. Today, the village holds its carnival and well dressings in the third week of July. The wells are at the village green, the school, Duck Row and Pilsley Lane.
10. Pilsley has a small village green in addition to a much larger one. A prominent feature on the former is a red telephone box opposite picturesque Duck Row.
Pilsley Walk
