Testimonials
We wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed your tours, loved all the history......your area is beautiful. Jane & Andy P, New England
Thank you again for everything our vacation was great. We thought the little towns and the the stately houses were wonderful and the girls just loved the all the movie scenery we visited. Tom & Audrey B.
I have told all my friends about your wonderful Peak District thank you so much.
Ruth and John P. Toronto
Thank you for a great time, I wish we could have stayed longer. We saw so much we couldn’t take it all in so ‘we will be back’. Angie & Jeff S, Hertfordshire
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WirksworthWirksworth lies at the northern end of the Ecclesbourne Valley roughly 6 miles south of Matlock and is well worth including in any tour of the Peak District. One of the oldest settlements in Derbyshire the village has an interesting history.
Iron Age Celts first settled here and the Market Place lies on the junction of two ancient trading routes. By the time the Romans arrived in England the local economy was established.
During the 11th and 12th centuries silver and lead were mined; lead continued to be mined here until the 18th century when limestone quarrying took over.
Cotton, silk and velvet mills, a hat factory and china works took over as quarrying in the village declined. Wirksworth became known for producing the red tape used to tie legal documents.
Dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin the cruciform-shaped church dates from the 13th Century and is one of the largest in the county, being unique by having a circular path around the outside.
The interior contains the Blackwall brass dated 1525 and four monuments to the Gell family, from nearby Hopton Hall. They were great benefactors of the town.
Pride of place goes to the Wirksworth Stone, an elaborate carved coffin lid believed to be from the grave of the church’s founder, the Saxon Monk Betti. The stone was found during restorations in 1820 when paving was removed in front of the altar. A rare Geneva Bible from 1602 and the alabaster tombs of the Gell family, including the significant tomb chest of Anthony Gell (d1583), can be found in the church whilst outside stand two open medieval stone coffins.
The ancient ceremony of `Clypping the Church’ - which is thought to pre-date the Christian era - takes place annually on the Sunday following the Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8th, when the congregation encircle the church and link hands, thus symbolically and literally `embracing’ the church.
The Barmote Court, the oldest industrial court in England, still meets twice a year at the Moot Hall in Chapel Lane and is known to have done since 1266. A standard bronze, measuring dish holding 14 pints of ore and presented by Henry V111 in 1512 hangs on the wall.
The ancient custom of well dressing takes place here when nine wells are dressed in late spring. The town has a carnival and also boasts an annual Arts Festival in September.
Along St Mary’s Gate a Cruck construction showing beams resting on stones is believed to be 15th Century and was discovered in 1971.
The town has several literary connections, being the `Snowfield’ in the novel, `Adam Bede’ by George Eliot. On the Main Street is Adam Bede Cottage the former home of Samuel and Elizabeth Evans. In George Eliot's book - Adam Bede – Samuel and Elizabeth were known as Adam Bede and Dinah Morris. Elizabeth Evans was a lay preacher who preached in the Methodist Church and is recognised as Dinah Bede in the novel. She was George Eliot's aunt and is buried in the parish churchyard.
Daniel Defoe, visiting in 1725, wrote, “The town of Wirksworth is a kind of market for lead, the like not known anywhere else that I know of…”. He described the lead miners as, “ a rude, boorish kind of people…..they are a bold, daring and even desperate kind of fellows in their search into the bowels of the earth; for no people in the world outdo them”.
Baroness Orczy (1865-1947), author of `The Scarlet Pimpernel’ featured the Crown Inn, a former coaching inn which overlooks the market place, in her novel, `Beau Brocade’.
The Beardsall’s natives of the town were grandparents of DH Lawrence. Lawrence and Freida, his German born wife lived in the town for a year in 1918 at nearby Mountain Cottage.
Babington House is a magnificent mullioned building, recently restored. Associated with the Babington family of nearby Dethick and famous for its connection with Anthony Babington. Instrumental in the ‘Babington Plot’ to release Mary, Queen of Scots and bring her to the throne Anthony was executed in 1586.
Wirksworth still holds a market as it has since 1397 when the town was granted its Market Charter.
Wirksworth has three remaining mills. The Speedwell, built by Richard Arkwright in 1780, and Harlem Mill, originally built in the 15th century later also belonging to Richard Arkwright still remain. Both have had a variety uses including spinning cotton, corn milling and latterly the Red tape for which Wirksworth became famous. In the 19th century, North End Mills along with four other mills in Wirksworth manufactured 800 miles of ‘Red Tape’ each week.
The third is the highly acclaimed Heritage Centre. Situated in Crown Yard, the Heritage Centre is housed in what once was a Silk and Velvet Mill where the ’Wirksworth Story’ is explained on three floors. In 1851 Samuel Evans employed approx twenty-eight workers. After being left empty for many years the Civic Society took it over and converted it into Wirksworth’s Heritage and it opened its doors to the public in 1984.
The ground floor now incorporates a café, a gallery and a shop. Some the best views of the town can been seen from the top floor of the Centre.
Any visitor who has time to tour and explore the narrow streets and maze of interesting alleyways, admire the old buildings, visit the ancient church and take in the country views, will love this fascinating old town.
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.jpg "Cruck Construction Wirksworth Peak District")
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How Interesting
One of England's most popular stately homes and one of its largest private houses is Chatsworth House the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Chatsworth is believed to have been the inspiration for Jane Austen's Pemberley, home of Mr Darcy, in the book Pride & Predjudice and Chatsworth has been used as a setting for the many adaptations of the novel.
The village of Edensor on the Chatsworth estate was razed to the ground then rebuilt out of site of the main house.
Richard Arkwright perfected water powered spinning machines and installed them in his factory at Cromford. Building up a whole new community he provided cottages for his workers, a chapel, school and the Greyhound Hotel.
Mary Queen of Scot’s was imprisoned at nearby Hardwick Hall and was allowed to visit Buxton to take the health giving spa waters.
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Famous Derbyshire People
Richard Arkwright perfected water powered spinning machines and installed them in his factory at Cromford. Building up a whole new community he provided cottages for his workers, a chapel, school and the Greyhound Hotel. 
Initially he lived next to the mill at Rock House but as he prospered he went on to build Willersley Castle on a hill above Cromford. He died in 1792 aged only 60 and was buried at the church he built.
Kathleen, sister of John F Kennedy, is buried in the church of St Peter, Edensor. Kathleen known as ‘Kick’ married William Cavendish, Marques of Hartington in 1944. Only four months later William was killed whilst on active duty and in 1948 she was killed in a plane crash.
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