Holmesfield - Izeria

Holmesfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 971. The name "Holmesfield" means "raised pasture-land" and is of Norse and Anglo-Saxon origin. Viking influences are also evident with many road names suffixed by "gate", the old Norse word for "way".

1. History

Holmesfield is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as one of the manors belonging to Walter D'Aincourt. John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville, was in 1645 ordered to pay an annuity to the Vicar of Holmesfield Church, as part his fine, for being on the losing side in the civil war. St Swithin's parish church can be seen from much of the surrounding area. The main church was built in 1826 but has seen further work in recent years with the vicarage being added in 1999. Still visible in the grounds are the remains of a stone cross from around 641 AD, which would have replaced an original wooden cross erected by monks to mark the place where they would preach. The base of the stone cross now holds a sundial.

1. Geography

Holmesfield is sited at approximately 800 feet (240 m) above sea level on the edge of the Peak District National Park, with extensive views from the village over the surrounding hilly terrain. The parish includes a number of farming hamlets such as Millthorpe situated in the neighbouring Cordwell Valley, and Cowley, which lies on the road from Holmesfield to the town Dronfield. Peak District Boundary Walk runs through Millthorpe.

1. Notable buildings

Within Holmesfield civil parish are 43 structures that are listed by Historic England for their historic or architectural interest. None is listed as Grade I but there are five structures (Cartledge Hall, Holmesfield Hall, Unthank Hall, farm outbuildings east of Holmesfield Hall, and an outbuilding southwest of Unthank Hall) that are listed as Grade II*. The other structures, including Woodthorpe Hall, Cartledge Grange and the parish church, are listed as Grade II.

1. Notable residents

Notable people who live or have lived in Holmesfield parish include:

Edward Carpenter (1844–1929), socialist and poet, lived at Millthorpe. Robert Murray Gilchrist, novelist, lived and died at Cartledge Hall, buried in the parish churchyard. George Merrill (1867–1928), lived at Millthorpe as Edward Carpenter's partner, and on whom the character Alec Scudder in E. M. Forster's novel Maurice is based. G.H.B. Ward, activist for ramblers' rights, co-founder of the Clarion Ramblers in Sheffield and Labour Party politician. Mark Roe, professional golfer.

1. Amenities

Holmesfield has a village hall, a riding school, and a Victorian-built primary school, called Peny Acres Primary School. A Thai restaurant that closed in 2018. There are three pubs within the village (The Rutland Arms, The George and Dragon, and The Angel Inn) and a further three elsewhere within the parish (The Royal Oak at Millthorpe, and The Peacock and The Moorlands at Owler Bar). The village no longer has a shop or post office. There is a regular farmers’ and artisan market held in the village, usually on four dates throughout the year. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that no markets were held in 2020, but they recommenced in July 2021. The market is normally situated at the Angel Inn and St. Swithin's Church Hall.

1. References


1. External links

Holmesfield in the Domesday Book Media related to Holmesfield at Wikimedia Commons

Nearby Places View Menu

St Swithin's Church, Holmesfield

St Swithin's Church is a Grade II listed parish church in the Church of England in Holmesfield, Derbyshire.

Church

319 m

Cartledge

Cartledge is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is 10 kilometres (6 mi) southwest of Sheffield, and just south of the village of Holmesfield. Its name is derived from the Old Norse kartr, meaning rocky ground, and the Old English pre 7th-century loecc, meaning boggy stream. It features Cartledge Hall, which was built c.1492 by John Wolstenholme and later rebuilt during Elizabethan times.

Historic Site Landmark

Dronfield Woodhouse

Dronfield Woodhouse is a district of Dronfield, in the North East Derbyshire district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. The area has been inhabited since at least the 11th century (Cowley – pronounced Coaley – Farm, to the south) and its main road, Carr Lane, features a 13th-century house, formerly Hall Farm. The 19th-century former primary school on Holmesfield Road is now an elderly care home. Coal mining was an important activity in the village in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the last pit to close was Hurst Hollow in 1947. The current public house, the Miners' Arms, stands opposite the entrance to one of the former mines. Along with mining went Methodism. The chapel, built in 1848, has recently been converted into a dwelling following its closure. In the immediate post-war period the village had its own post office and general store opposite Hall Farm and there were also two other village shops in Carr Lane. The building of a number of council houses in the 1950s linked Dronfield Woodhouse to the hamlet of Stubley, which in its turn had already been joined to Dronfield in the period between the two world wars. In the 1960s a large housing development took place in the adjacent Gosforth Valley turning Dronfield Woodhouse into a quiet dormitory settlement for nearby Sheffield and Chesterfield. The surrounding countryside is still readily accessible, however, and the boundary of the Peak District National Park is less than 2 miles to the west. On 31 December 1894 Dronfield Woodhouse became a separate civil parish, being formed from Dronfield, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Dronfield. In 1931 the parish had a population of 976.

Landmark Neighbourhood

Cowley, Derbyshire

Cowley is a small dispersed hamlet in North East Derbyshire, consisting of a few private houses and functioning farms strung out along Cowley Lane, which runs between the village of Holmesfield and the "Hill Top" neighbourhood of the town of Dronfield (where the population is included). Until 2001 it held an annual well dressing in the grounds of Cowley Mission, a small chapel founded in 1888 and still active.

Landmark Neighbourhood