Ashover

'The Fabrick' or 'Ashover Rock'

To the east of the village is a gritstone boulder and viewpoint locally known as 'The Fabrick' or 'Ashover Rock'. The Fabrick sits on an area of heathland 299 metres above sea level. It is the highest viewpoint for a considerable distance, and the majority of the landscape east of this point to the coast is lower. Consequently, on a clear day, views can be seen of nearby Chesterfield with its Crooked Spire, Bolsover Castle, Hardwick Hall, some suburbs of the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield, the surrounding counties of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire.

Next to The Fabrick is a disused Royal Observer Corps monitoring station, which was abandoned in 1991.[8] However, it is opened up occasionally by enthusiasts. For many years, The Fabrick was privately owned by the "Bassett" sisters who were descendants of the family known for creating "Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts",[9] but in 2006 was donated to Derbyshire County Council.[10] In the Victorian period, there was a stone folly on the top of the Fabrick, no trace of which remains.

On certain days in the pagan calendar, morris dancers gather.

In present times, this is the site of Gladwin's Mark Farm and Gladwin's Mark Wood, to the far north west of the parish.

By the 18th century, there were several thousand acres of unenclosed moorland in the parish of Ashover, principally covered with heath. The only paths across this wilderness for roads were tracks in the sand or heath with here and there a stone post on the hills or elevations to serve as guides to the traveller and packhorses which traversed one point of the area to another.

Local legend was that, a man by the name of Gladwin, possibly William[11] was crossing the moor in deep snow, late on a December afternoon. Before he had got half way night suddenly closed in and soon after a storm brought with it heavy snowfall which blinded and bewildered him enough to lose his way. Weary, tired and trembling, Gladwin stumbled on until he came to a cairn or heap of loose stones on which he sat down to rest and reflect on his situation, and realising that if he remained inactive he would be in grave danger of death from frostbite. He began with all his remaining energy to build and pile up the stones, this being summarily completed only to be pulled down and rebuilt, and repeated many times during what must have seemed to Gladwin a long and dreary night, however his life was saved by this exercise. When the welcome daylight came to his rescue, it found the pile just perfected where it still remains and bears the name of Gladwin's Mark.[12]

What was the turnpike road from Chesterfield to Rowsley passes about one hundred yards to the right of the Mark. Two farm houses, one on each side of the road, built by Sir Joseph Banks, a local landowner of nearby Overton Hall,[13] were both called Gladwin's Mark, later being separated. In a croft to the left, tourists would have found the pile of stones which gives the name to these local features, and was the means of saving the life of poor Gladwin.[12]