Darley Dale

This article contains information on the area covered by the current civil parish of Darley Dale. The main built-up area of the parish extends for 2 miles along the A6 road north-west of Matlock, starting near the ARC Leisure Centre and ending near Stancliffe Quarry. It is bounded on the south-west by the River Derwent and extends over the hills and moors to the north-east as far as Darwin Forest Country Park.

The parish includes the settlements at Darley Dale, Darley Hillside, Churchtown, Two Dales, Upper Hackney and Farley, but excludes Darley Bridge and Northwood.[2] Darley Dale is sometimes confused with Darley Abbey (a mile north of Derby and with Dale Abbey (6 miles north-east of Derby).

• Earlier versions of this article claimed that a Benedictine abbey was built in Darley Dale under the reign of Henry I in the 12th century – this is not supported by the evidence now available.[3]
• St Helen's Church dates from the 12th century.[4]
• Darley Bridge survives from the late medieval period, having been built in the 15th century.[5]
• The Wirksworth Moor to Longstone turnpike opened in 1759.[6]
• The Chesterfield to Matlock, Darley and Rowsley Bridge turnpike opened in 1760.[6]
• In 1849 a railway line opened for passenger traffic between Ambergate and Rowsley, with intermediate stations at Matlock Bath, Matlock Bridge and Darley (Dale).[7]
• In 1873 a new railway station opened at Darley on opposite side of level crossing.[7]
• In 1877 Rowsley railway sidings brought into use.[7]
• St Helen's Church was restored in 1877.[4]
• Whitworth Hospital opened in 1889.[8]
• Whitworth Institute was erected in 1890.[9]
• In 1890 Darley railway station renamed Darley Dale.[7]
• The town grew in the 19th and 20th centuries around the lead mining, metal forging, railway and quarrying industries.

Whitworth Hospital

Whitworth Institute

Whitworth Park

Whitworth Hotel

Sir Joseph Whitworth, the 19th-century machine toolmaker and engineer, lived at Stancliffe Hall in Darley Dale for the last 13 years of his life. He died in Monte Carlo in 1887, aged 83, and was buried at St. Helen's Church. During his lifetime he drew up plans for the village and these were fulfilled thanks to generous endowments from his estate. He had, according to his biographer Terence Kilburn, hoped to build a comprehensive village college but his wife, Louisa, preferred a social centre. The Institute and Park was a compromise and is just one of the things the Whitworths did to enrich the lives of Darley Dale's inhabitants.[17]

Notable people associated with Darley Dale include:

• Nigel Bond, snooker player, was born there
• Tom Chambers, actor, was born there in 1977[22]
• Mike Hendrick, English cricketer, was born there in 1948
• Christopher Green, comedy writer and performer, grew up there
• Joseph Paxton, architect and gardener for the nearby Chatsworth House
• Crichton Porteous, author
• Joseph Whitworth, engineer – see the Whitworth legacy section above
• Sir Godfrey de Foljambe, politician and judge, was the local landowner in the 1360s and 1370s.

The town was the winner of the 2003 Britain in Bloom, in the category of 'Large Village' The prize was presented by local marine expert Ben Goodwin.

A biennial arts festival, the Darley Dale Arts Festival, is held in July in odd-numbered years.[23]

At the bottom of Station Road lies Darley Dale railway station. National rail services ceased in the 1960s however the station is now occupied by the railway and heritage preservation group Peak Rail. From there, a heritage steam service operates south to Matlock and north to Rowsley South, with a route distance of approximately five miles.

An annual transport festival, the Darley Dale Festival of Transport, is held at the bottom of Station Road every September.[24]

Nearby is the holiday resort Darwin Forest Country Park.

The Square & Compass public house on Station Road is home to an annual music festival, the Ale House Rocks Music Festival.[25]

In nearby Two Dales, Ladygrove Mill was built for spinning cotton by Abraham Flint, but converted to flax spinning in 1789 by Daniel Dakeyne of Knabb House. It was expanded by his sons, Edward and James, who built a series of three dams on the Sydnope Valley rising to 96 feet. To cope with the water pressure, they invented a revolutionary water-pressure powered "disc engine", which they patented in 1830 as the Dakeyne hydraulic disc engine.[26][27] It was the progenitor of a type, now known as a "nutating disc engine" (which has been the subject of entrepreneurial interest in the 21st century). The mills and equipment have virtually disappeared but the remains of the dams can still be seen.

The Plough Inn public house in Two Dales was the reason behind former England international footballer Eddie Shimwell's transfer from Sheffield United to Blackpool in December 1946. Shimwell wanted to buy the pub, but Sheffield United would not allow it, due to their ban on players becoming publicans, so the full-back put in a transfer request.[28]

• Listed buildings in Darley Dale

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darley Dale.

• Darley Dale Town Council
• "Geograph" Darley Dale station in the 1990s
• Peak Rail Website

• Taylor, Keith (2002). Darley Dale Remembered: through 50 years of war and peace. Derbyshire: Country Books. ISBN 1-898941-79-3.
• Taylor, Keith; Brown, Trevor (2000). A Derbyshire Parish at War: South Darley and the Great War 1914–1918. Derbyshire: Country Books. p. 244. ISBN 1-898941-53-X.
• Taylor, Keith; Brown, Trevor (2001). A Derbyshire Parish at Peace and War: South Darley 1925–1955. Derbyshire: Country Books. p. 304. ISBN 1-898941-59-9.