Stoney Middleton

infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption=Well dressing
latitude= 53.2667
longitude= -1.65
official_name= Stoney Middleton
map_type= Derbyshire
population = 750
shire_district= Derbyshire Dales
shire_county = Derbyshire
region= East Midlands
constituency_westminster= High Peak
post_town= HOPE VALLEY
postcode_district = S32
postcode_area= S
dial_code= 01433
os_grid_reference=

Stoney Middleton, a village in the Hope Valley of the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, lies in the White Peak area of the Peak District immediately west of Calver.

History

The village may have been a Roman settlement, perhaps based on lead mining, but there is currently no archaeological evidence to prove this. A nineteenth century bath house over a hot spring is known locally as The Roman Baths but this was built in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a spa resort and following its clearance of undergrowth by the Stoney Middleton Youth Club in the early 1980s was consolidated and made secure by local craftsmen with the aid of a grant by the Peak Park"Domesday Book: A Complete Translation". London: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7 p.1406] , the name Stoney Middleton literally meaning Stoney Middle Farm. This place is mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday book.

This manor is first recorded as being where the King had land:

In Stoney Middleton, Godgyth had four of land to the .. Land for four oxen. There 6 and one have 2 ploughs and four acres of meadow and a little scrubland. TRETRE in Latin is Tempore Regis Edwardi. This means in the time of King Edward before the Battle of Hastings.] as now worth six shillings"Domesday Book: A Complete Transation". London: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7 p.743] .

The book then says under the title of “The lands of Ralph fitzHubert"Ralph fitzHubert held a considerable number of manors including several in Derbyshire given to him by the King. These included obviously Stoney Middleton but also included lands in Eckington, Barlborough, Whitwell, Palterton, Duckmanton. Stretton, Ashover, Newton, Crich, Kirk Langley, Ingleby, Wirksworth and Hathersage]

”In Stoney Middleton Leofnoth and his brother had one of land. There is land for one plough. It is waste. This manor is one league long and 4 furlongs broad"Domesday Book: A Complete Transliteration". London: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7 p.751] .“

The original location of the village, which was ravaged by the Black Death may have been immediately to the south of the Old Hall, on a series of terraces, still visible from the public footpath overlooking the meadows between the lower, modern extension of the village and the bottom of the "Town" the hill by the Moon Inn which leads up to Stoney Middleton Junior School. Renewal of the village led to the construction of a stone chapel in the fifteenth century at the crossroads of the roads/tracks going Eyam and Grindleford, which was dedicated to Saint Martin, perhaps to cater for pilgrims to the spring. The tower survives, attached to an unusual octagonal nave of 1759. The medieval packhorse track known locally as Jacobs Ladder can still be walked from the centre of the village passing through Stoney woods and affords fine views of Curbar and Froggat Edge in the distance. However, this Hollow way is being eroded and its character destroyed at the hands of people using this ancient route for off roading on their trail bikes and 4X4's. Something which everyone living in the village opposes.

During the Great Plague, the 17th century villagers left food for those quarantined in nearby Eyam.

Atop a cliff above Middleton Dale lies Lovers Leap, from which Hannah Baddeley is said to have jumped in 1762, but miraculously survived. Sadly she died two years later.

A road was blasted through Middleton Dale in 1830, and in 1840 an octagonal toll house was built in the village, now a fish and chip shop which stands opposite the Royal Oak public house [http://www.peakdistrictonline.co.uk/content.php?categoryId=150 Peak District Online] ] . Other notable buildings include Middleton Hall.

A primary school was built in 1835 by public subscription and is the meeting place for the Parish Council, the PTA, W.I, Horticultural Society, Tennis Club, and other activities of the village [http://www.derbyshireuk.net/stoney.html Derbyshire UK - Stoney Middleton] ] . Despite a massive campaign by Stoney Middleton School governors, parents and friends ... Derbyshire County Council voted at the Council Meeting on December 12 2006 to propose the closure of Stoney Middleton school from August 31 2007. This decision was however eventually overruled in May 2007. [ [http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/peak-and-dales?articleid=2876961 Stoney Middleton School saved] Derbyshire Times 15th May 2007]

A cross by the main road is dated 1846. It was erected to mark the repeal of the Corn Laws. [Neville T. Sharpe, "Crosses of the Peak District" (Landmark Collectors Library, 2002)]

In the dale were several quarries, once a major source of employment for the village. Footwear became a major industry, with one factory surviving to the present day. Lead mining also continued, with a Barmote Court alternating between Stoney Middleton and Eyam until the early twentieth century [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/StoneyMiddleton/Cowen/text04.html Lead Mining] ] One of the quarries was bombed by two ME 110 during WWII, both of which were later shot down. A prisoner of war camp was also situated at the bottom of the village which housed Italian prisoners (amongst others).

Several electric narrow gauge railways are recorded as being operated in Stoney Middleton by Laporte Industries Ltd up to 1987 for the mining of fluoritecite book |title=Industrial Locomotives 1979: including preserved and minor railway locomotives|publisher=Industrial Railway Society|id=ISBN0901096385|year=1979] .

A well dressing takes place annually in the village, usually spanning the last week in July and the first week in August.

Mud slide

In January 2007 some houses in the village were damaged by a wall of mud caused by the failure of a dam near the top of the dale. The dam, which held a lagoon of mud and water from a local mineral quarry burst following heavy rainfall. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/6286823.stm BBC Dam story] ]

References

External links

*Thomas E. Cowen, " [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/StoneyMiddleton/Cowen/text01.html#Ch01 History of the Village of Stoney Middleton] " (1910)
* [http://www.n.f.wilson.btinternet.co.uk/613-622.htm White's 1857 Directory of Derbyshire]
* [http://www.derbyshireuk.net/stoney.html DerbyshireUK - Stoney Middleton]