Published 2001 in collaboration with Derby Diocese in hardback (£25) and softback (£13.95) with many illustrations, and it is, as you might expect, a fascinating story, that is in turn, adventurous, tragic and at times even comic!
Written by V. M. Leveaux with a foreword by Dr Jeremy Taylor. This is well researched and interesting to read - library buckram bound on high quality paper at £18-95. (Postage and Packing FREE on this book)
Of Sheldon, Derbyshire. Edited by Gerald Phizackerley, with a foreword by His Grace the Duke of Devonshire. Probable Price: £12-99.
The editor was Archdeacon of Chesterfield 1978-1996; he was also priest-in-charge of Ashford and Sheldon 1978-1990. It was in the course of a pastoral visit in Sheldon to Ethel, a daughter of Anthony and Maria Gyte, that he was first shown the Diaries.
This major work by Rodney Tomkins, is still available. It is a survey of some 160 historic pipe organs in churches of all denominations and is beautifully produced with much information and detail with many illustrations.
Both 'Transformation of a Valley' (A very readable history of the Industrial Revolution in the Derwent Valley) and 'Geology Explained in the Peak District' have recently been reprinted by us in new editions and are selling well - as they should; being excellent books!
The old name Crumforde appears in the Domesday Survey as a small leadmining hamlet and refers to a ford at a bend in the road or river. The area is rich in a wide range of minerals and rocks. Quarrying for limestone has played an important part in the life of the area, and the high vantage points of Walk 3 give marvelous panoramic views of the quarries, some worked out and some still providing jobs for local people.
The Romans were drawn to the area by the opportunities for easily accessible lead, a valuable commodity used for roofing, baths and gutters, and since the 17th century as a constituent in paint. The lost Roman town of Lutudarum was situated somewhere in the area, possibly at Wirksworth, once the second most populous town in the county. Pigs (ingots) of lead have been found stamped with the name Lutudarum. At Carsington where there is new reservoir, opened in 1992, a villa site has been located.
The River Derwent flows beside Cromford village, and water, which Derbyshire has in abundance, has been a key factor in the development of its industrial life and tourist industry. Water power was one of the main magnets which drew Richard Arkwright to the area in the eighteenth century, when large scale cotton spinning developed. The industrial village of Cromford and the mill area built by Arkwright are covered in Walks 1 and 2.
