Holmesfield, Derbyshire Peak District, in the Domesday Book, near Chesterfield and Sheffield

Holmesfield

Local Services:

B & B

Local Geography:

Holmesfield is a small village perched on a ridge overlooking the head of the Cordwell valley. Outside the Peak Park boundaries, it is nevertheless beautifully situated, surrounded by fine countryside and with good views towards both Sheffield and Chesterfield. The village was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The area was settled by Anglians in the 5th century and in Saxon times was on the northern edge of the Kingdom of Mercia. However, the name of the village is of combined Norse and Anglo-Saxon origin, (meaning raised pasture-land), so at some time the area was presumably settled by Vikings. The fact that many old local road names have the suffix 'gate' (from Old Norse for 'way') is another sign of Viking influence.

What is known is that in 641AD a group of monks from Lindisfarne in Northumbria set up a place of worship here, on top of the hill where the church now stands. The first record of a chapel here is from 1461, but the modern church (dedicated to St Swithin) dates only from 1826 and little is known about the building it replaced, though it would have been medieval and may have included Norman or Saxon fragments. There is the stump of a Saxon cross in the churchyard - this was damaged during the Reformation and has been converted into a sundial.

The manor of Holmesfield would have been held by a Saxon 'Thegn', and at the Conquest in 1066 it was given to the Deigncourts, who built a small 'motte and bailey' castle on the hilltop 200m west of the church. Later this was replaced by a moated manor house, and still later, in the 1450s, a large timber-framed hall was constructed for William Lord Lovell, the then lord of the manor. This stood about 100m along the main road west of the church, on the opposite side of the Angel Inn, which is thought to have originated as the Lord of the Manor's brewhouse. The Hall still stands but was rebuilt in stone from the 17th century onwards, and has more recently been converted into several dwellings.

In 1586, the lordship of the manor passed to Sir John Manners of Haddon Hall, near Bakewell, and his descendants the Dukes of Rutland still own much of the local land.

For several centuries coppicing and smelting were profitable occupations around Holmesfield. Holmesfield Park Wood, originally created by John Deigncourt in 1252 as a deer park, was used as a coppice wood from the 16th century to the First World War. It provided charcoal (for iron smelting - locally and in Sheffield) and white coal (used for lead smelting). In the reign of Elizabeth I there was an iron smelting works in Smeekley Wood situated in the Cordwell Valley below Holmesfield. The 'white coal' was most likely transported to Derbyshire and the lead smelting done there. A network of 'holloways' or sunken tracks once used by carts to transport the products of these industries can be traced around the area.

There are several fine 16th and 17th century houses around Holmesfield. These include the previously mentioned Holmesfield Hall (which has a date stone of 1613), Cartledge Hall (which also has sections which may date from the 15th century) and Unthank Old Hall, in the nearby hamlet of Unthank. The Victorian author Robert Murray Gilchrist (1867-1917) lived at Cartledge Hall from 1892 until his death. He wrote numerous gothic horror and romantic short stories, many of them with local settings and in local dialect, and was a popular local figure.

At one time farming was an important local industry, but in modern times the village is essentially a suburb of Sheffield and most local people work in Sheffield, Chesterfield, or the other nearby cities and towns.

Holmesfield Photo Gallery - click on the images to enlarge- Click Here for a slide show

0 - Holmesfield Church

1 - Holmesfield - Cartledge Hall

Local places of interest
Longshaw Estate and Country Park	The Longshaw Estate covers Grindleford, Millstone and Bole Hill, Hope Valley, Derbyshire. Once the shooting estate of the Dukes of Rutland, now owned by the National Trust.

Holmesfield, situated on a ridge overlooking Chesterfield and Sheffield

Holmesfield is a small village perched on a ridge overlooking the head of the Cordwell valley. The village was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Holmesfield

Local places of interest