Hathersage
Encyclopedia
Hathersage is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , 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...

 in the Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire 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. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

 Peak District
Peak District
The 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 England
England
England 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, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It lies on the north bank of the River Derwent
River Derwent, Derbyshire
The Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 66 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For half its course, the river flows through the Peak District....

, approximately 10 miles west of Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield 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, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. The name of the village is generally thought to mean "heather-edge" and was recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 as Hereseige.

It is served by Hathersage railway station
Hathersage railway station
Hathersage railway station serves the village of Hathersage 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 Line
Hope Valley Line
The 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...

.

The earliest recorded church was built by Richard Bassett
Richard Basset (royal justice)
Richard Basset was an English royal judge and sheriff during the reign of King Henry I of England. His father was also a royal justice. In about 1122 Basset married the eventual heiress of another other royal justice; the marriage settlement has survived. In 1129 and 1130 Basset was sheriff of a...

, son of Ralph Bassett
Ralph Basset
Ralph Basset was a medieval English royal justice during the reign of King Henry I of England. He was a native of Normandy, and may have come to Henry's notice while Henry held land in Normandy prior to becoming king...

, Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry I
Henry I
Henry I may refer to:* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria * Henry I of France * Henry I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark...

. The present structure mainly dates from the late Fourteenth and early Fifteenth Century. It has a stained glass window
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

 by Charles Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe was a well-known Victorian stained glass designer. After attending Twyford School, he studied for the priesthood at Pembroke College, Oxford, but it became clear that his severe stammer would be an impediment to preaching...

, which was removed from Derwent Chapel before it was submerged under the Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower 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 thought to be a fortification built by the Danes around 850 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

. In the graveyard lies the base and lower shaft of a plain Saxon cross
Cross
A 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 obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...

. At one time, this carried a sundial
Sundial
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 surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...

.

Stones in the churchyard mark what is known as the grave of Little John
Little John
Little John was a legendary 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 Robin Hood "of Locksley" is the village of Loxley
Loxley, South Yorkshire
Loxley 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 Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield 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, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. A number of local landmarks are associated with Robin Hood, such as Robin Hood's Cross on Abney Moor, Robin Hood's Stoop on Offerton Moor, and Robin Hood’s Cave, on Stanage Edge.

In 1845, Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...

 stayed at the Hathersage vicarage, visiting her friend Ellen Nussey
Ellen Nussey
Ellen 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 Eyre
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...

. Many of the locations mentioned in her novel match locations in Hathersage, the name Eyre being that of a local gentry family. Her "Thornfield Hall" for example is widely accepted to be North Lees Hall situated on the outskirts of Hathersage.

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 Acts
Factory Acts
The 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. In the mid-eighteenth century, Hathersage was famous for its brass buttons.

Hathersage Moor is the site of the Carl Wark
Carl Wark
Carl Wark is a rocky promontory on Hathersage Moor in the Peak District National Park, just inside the boundary of Sheffield, England. The promontory is faced by vertical cliffs on all but one side, which is protected by a prehistoric embankment...

 hillfort and Higger Tor
Higger Tor
Higger Tor is a gritstone tor in the Burbage Valley, in the Peak District of England.It stands in the county of South Yorkshire, about from the border with Derbyshire, which runs along the nearest road, approximately east of Hathersage. Higger Tor overlooks the hill fort of Carl Wark to the...

.

Because of the scenery of the Hope
Hope Valley, Derbyshire
The 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 Derwent
River Derwent, Derbyshire
The Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 66 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For half its course, the river flows through the Peak District....

 valleys, literary connections, and easy access by train or road from Sheffield and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Hathersage is a tourist destination. Its visitors come to swim (open-air swimming pool with cafe open all year), climb (Stanage Edge, which with other nearby edges have been the nursery for many famous British rock and mountain climbers), or ramble its beautiful river valleys or hillwalk its open moors.

In 1990, the cutler
Cutler
A 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 Mellor
David Mellor (cutler)
David 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 Design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 Museum, in a new extension to the old retort house on the site. Mellor's wife, Fiona MacCarthy
Fiona MacCarthy
Fiona 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 Grau
Jorge Grau
Jorge Grau is a Spanish director, scriptwriter, playwright and painter. In 1974 he directed Let Sleeping Corpses Lie aka The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue.-External links:...

) were shot at the St. Michael's church in Hathersage.

External links

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