Hathersage (from
heather's edge) is a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. 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 York City and the Saifi Village in...
in the
DerbyshireDerbyshire 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...
Peak DistrictThe 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....
, in
EnglandEngland 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 and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the north bank of the
River DerwentThe Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For most of its length, the river flows through the Peak District....
, approximately 10 miles west of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
.
It is served by
Hathersage railway stationHathersage railway station serves the village of Hathersage close by, in the Derbyshire Peak District, in England.It was opened in 1894 on the Midland Railway's Dore and Chinley line...
on the
Hope Valley LineThe Hope Valley Line is a railway line in England linking Sheffield with Manchester. It was completed in 1894.From Sheffield, trains head down the Midland Main Line to Dore, where the Hope Valley Line branches off to run through the Totley Tunnel .It emerges in the stunning scenery of the Hope...
.
It has a
medievalThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
church with a
stained glass windowThe term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings...
by
Charles KempeCharles Eamer Kempe was a well-known Victorian stained glass designer. He studied for the priesthood at Pembroke College, Oxford, but it became clear that his severe stammer would be an impediment to preaching...
, which had been removed from Derwent Chapel, before it was submerged under the
Ladybower ReservoirLadybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir, and finally through Ladybower...
. On a circular mound next to the mediaeval church, there is an earthwork called Camp Green, which is probably a fortification built by the Danes around 850
CECommon Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date...
.
Outside the church lies the base and lower shaft of a
crossA cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run diagonally, the design is technically termed a saltire....
.
Hathersage (from
heather's edge) is a
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. 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 York City and the Saifi Village in...
in the
DerbyshireDerbyshire 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...
Peak DistrictThe 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....
, in
EnglandEngland 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 and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the north bank of the
River DerwentThe Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For most of its length, the river flows through the Peak District....
, approximately 10 miles west of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
.
It is served by
Hathersage railway stationHathersage railway station serves the village of Hathersage close by, in the Derbyshire Peak District, in England.It was opened in 1894 on the Midland Railway's Dore and Chinley line...
on the
Hope Valley LineThe Hope Valley Line is a railway line in England linking Sheffield with Manchester. It was completed in 1894.From Sheffield, trains head down the Midland Main Line to Dore, where the Hope Valley Line branches off to run through the Totley Tunnel .It emerges in the stunning scenery of the Hope...
.
It has a
medievalThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
church with a
stained glass windowThe term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings...
by
Charles KempeCharles Eamer Kempe was a well-known Victorian stained glass designer. He studied for the priesthood at Pembroke College, Oxford, but it became clear that his severe stammer would be an impediment to preaching...
, which had been removed from Derwent Chapel, before it was submerged under the
Ladybower ReservoirLadybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir, and finally through Ladybower...
. On a circular mound next to the mediaeval church, there is an earthwork called Camp Green, which is probably a fortification built by the Danes around 850
CECommon Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date...
.
Outside the church lies the base and lower shaft of a
crossA cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run diagonally, the design is technically termed a saltire....
. At one time, this carried a
sundial{| align="right" | |}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 flat surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day...
.
There are local claims to links with the Robin Hood story. Stones in the churchyard mark what is known as the grave of
Little JohnLittle John was a fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...
, where in 1780 James Shuttleworth claims to have unearthed a thigh bone measuring 72.39cm : this would have made Little John 8.08 feet in height. One claimant to the "Locksley" in Robin's "real" name ("Robin of Locksley") is the village of
LoxleyLoxley is a village and a suburb of the city of Sheffield. It is a long linear community which stretches by the side of the River Loxley and along the B6077 for almost four kilometres. Loxley extends from its borders with the suburbs of Malin Bridge and Wisewood westward to the hamlet of Stacey...
, only eight miles over the moors on the edge of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
. Robin is said to have used Robin Hood’s Cave, on Stanage Edge above the village, as a hideaway.
In 1845,
Charlotte BrontëCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels are English literature standards...
stayed at the Hathersage vicarage, visiting her friend
Ellen NusseyEllen Nussey , was a lifelong friend and correspondent of British author Charlotte Brontë and, through more than 500 letters received from her, was a major source for Elizabeth Gaskell's 1857 biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë.-Early years:Nussey was the twelfth child of John Nussey , a cloth...
, whose brother was the vicar, while she was writing
Jane EyreJane Eyre is a famous and influential novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre...
. Many of the locations mentioned in her novel match locations in Hathersage, the name Eyre being that of a large extended family of landed gentry in that part of Derbyshire. Her "Thornfield Hall" for example is widely accepted to be North Lees Hall situated on the outskirts of Hathersage.
In the mid-eighteenth century, Hathersage was famous for its brass buttons. In 1566, Christopher Schutz, a German immigrant, had invented a process for drawing wire and set up a works in Hathersage. This became important for nail making and for the sieves used by miners. It developed into the production of pins and needles. This led to one of the first
Factory ActsThe Factory Acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to limit the number of hours worked by women and children first in the textile industry, then later in all industries....
, for working conditions were so bad, from the inhalation of grinding dust, that the workers' life expectancy was around only thirty years. The workshops closed around 1900 as mechanised production appeared in
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
.
Hathersage Moor is the site of the
Carl WarkCarl Wark is a hill fort and scheduled ancient monument on Hathersage Moor in the Peak District of England. It lies just inside the Sheffield city boundary. The fort, 9,000 square metres in area, occupies a natural escarpment, fortified by turf banks reinforced by boulders.The date of the fort is...
hillfort and
Higger TorHigger Tor is a gritstone tor in the Burbage Valley, in the Peak District of England.It stands in the county of South Yorkshire, about 200 metres from the border with Derbyshire, which runs along the nearest road, approximately 2 kilometres east of Hathersage. Higger Tor overlooks the hill fort of...
.
Because of the scenery of the
HopeThe Hope Valley is a rural area centred on the village of Hope, Derbyshire in the Peak District in the northern Midlands of England.The name also applies to the Post Town which includes the surrounding villages.-The Valley:...
and
DerwentThe Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For most of its length, the river flows through the Peak District....
valleys, literary connections, and easy access by train or road from Sheffield and
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
, Hathersage is a popular tourist destination. Its visitors come to swim (open-air swimming pool with cafe open all year), climb (Stanage Edge, and other nearby edges have been the nursey for many famous British rock and mountain climbers), ramble (beautiful river valleys), hillwalk (open moors and hilltop views), or eat and drink (many pubs and cafes, some at elevated positions ideal for a mid-walk rest).
In 1990, the
cutlerA cutler is a maker of cutlery.Cutler may also refer to:-Places in the United States:*Cutler, California, a town*Cutler, Florida, now part of the Village of Palmetto Bay*Cutler Bay, Florida, formerly known as Cutler Ridge*Cutler, Illinois...
David MellorDavid Mellor, CBE, FCSD, RDI, was one of the best-known designers in Britain. Born in Sheffield, he specialised in metalwork and especially cutlery, to such an extent that he was often referred to as "the cutlery king"....
opened the Round Building built on the site of a former gasometer as a cutlery factory in the village. The building was designed by architect Sir Michael Hopkins. In 2007, an extension was opened as a
DesignDesign is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system. It can be used both as a noun and as a verb and, in a broader way, it means applied arts and engineering . As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product,...
Museum, in a new extension to the old retort house on the site. Mellor's wife,
Fiona MacCarthyFiona MacCarthy OBE is a British biographer and cultural historian best known for her studies of 19th and 20th century arts, crafts and design....
, continues to live in Hathersage.
Several scenes of the famous horror movie
Living dead at Manchester morgue (1974, directed by
Jorge GrauJorge Grau is a Spanish director, scriptwriter, playwright and painter. In 1974 he directed Let Sleeping Corpses Lie aka The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue....
) were shot at the St. Michael's church in Hathersage.
External links