“Excellent
Prompt and efficient service. Central heating working better than it has for years!”
Ruth, Derbyshire
We Power Flush heating systems in these Derbyshire towns:
Alfreton
Ashbourne
Belper
Derby
Hilton
Melbourne
Ripley
Repton & Sudbury
Derbyshire is a county in England’s East Midlands. It encompasses a large portion of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine hill range, and a portion of the National Forest. It is bounded to the north-west by Greater Manchester, to the north by West Yorkshire, to the north-east by South Yorkshire, to the east by Nottinghamshire, to the south-east by Leicestershire, to the west and south-west by Staffordshire, and to the west by Cheshire. Kinder Scout is the highest point at 636 meters (2,087 feet), and Trent Meadows, where the River Trent leaves Derbyshire, is the lowest at 27 meters (89 ft). The longest river is the Derwent, which runs north–south for 66 miles (106 km). Church Flatts Farm in Coton in the Elms near Swadlincote was named Britain’s farthest point from the sea by the Ordnance Survey in 2003. Derby is a unitary authority area, but it is still included in the ceremonial county. The non-metropolitan county has 30 towns with populations ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 people, but the farming upland is sparsely populated.
HISTORY
The area that is now Derbyshire was probably first visited by humans 200,000 years ago during the Aveley interglacial, as evidenced by a Middle Paleolithic Acheulean hand axe discovered near Hopton.
Further occupation occurred during the Stone Age’s Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers roamed the hilly tundra. Evidence of these nomadic tribes has been discovered in limestone caves near the border of Nottinghamshire. The occupation was between 12,000 and 7,000 BCE, according to deposits left in the caves.
Neolithic settlers’ burial mounds can also be found throughout the county. These chambered tombs were built for collective burial and are mostly found in central Derbyshire. Tombs dating from 2000 to 2500 BCE can be found at Minninglow and Five Wells. Arbor Low, a Neolithic henge monument three miles west of Youlgreave, has been dated to 2500 BCE. The county does not show any signs of agriculture or settlement until the Bronze Age. After an archaeological investigation, signs of clearance, arable fields, and hut circles were discovered on the moors of the Peak District. However, this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are the only ones that have been discovered.
During the Roman conquest of Britain, the invaders were drawn to Derbyshire because of the lead ore found in the area’s limestone hills. They established forts near Brough in the Hope Valley and near Glossop throughout the county. Later, they settled near Buxton, famous for its hot springs, and established a fort near modern-day Derby in what is now known as Little Chester.
Several Mercian kings are buried in the Repton area.
Following the Norman Conquest, a large portion of the county was subject to forest laws. The Forest of High Peak, to the northwest, was under the care of William Peverel and his descendants. The remainder of the county was given to Henry de Ferrers, with a portion of it becoming Duffield Frith. Eventually, the entire area was given to the Duchy of Lancaster. Meanwhile, from Henry II to Edward I, the Forest of East Derbyshire encompassed the entire county east of the Derwent.
GEOGRAPHY
The majority of Derbyshire is made up of rolling hills and uplands, with the southern Pennines extending from the north of Derby through the Peak District and into the county’s north, reaching the county’s highest point at Kinder Scout.
The south and east of the county are generally lower around the Trent Valley, the Coal Measures, and the clay and sandstone areas between the Peak District and the county’s south-west. The main rivers in the county are the Derwent and the Dove, which join the Trent in the south. The River Derwent rises in the moorland of Bleaklow and flows for the most part through the Peak District and county, whereas the River Dove rises in Axe Edge Moor and forms a border between Derbyshire and Staffordshire for the majority of its length.
ECONOMY
Derbyshire’s economy is a mix of rural in the west and former coal-mining in the north-east (Bolsover district), the Erewash Valley around Ilkeston, and the south around Swadlincote. The rural landscape ranges from arable farmland in Derby’s flatlands to upland pasture and moorland in the southern Pennines’ high gritstone uplands.
Derbyshire is abundant in natural mineral resources such as lead, iron, coal, and limestone, which have long been exploited. Lead, for example, has been mined since the time of the Romans. The central area’s limestone outcrops prompted the establishment of large quarries to supply the industries of surrounding towns with lime for building and steelmaking, and later in the twentieth century, cement manufacture. The Industrial Revolution also increased demand for building stone, and the arrival of railways in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries resulted in the establishment of a large number of stone quarries. This industry has left its mark on the countryside, but it is still a major industry: much of the stone is supplied as crushed stone for road construction and concrete manufacturing, and it is transported by rail.
Derbyshire’s relative isolation in the late 18th century, combined with an abundance of fast-flowing streams, resulted in a proliferation of hydropower use at the start of the Industrial Revolution, following the mills pioneered by Richard Arkwright. Derbyshire has been dubbed the “Home of the Industrial Revolution,” and a section of the Derwent Valley has been designated as a World Heritage Site in recognition of its historical significance.
Rolls-Royce, one of the world’s leading aerospace companies, has been based in Derby since before World War I, as has Thorntons, just south of Alfreton, and Toyota, which has one of the UK’s largest car manufacturing plants at Burnaston. Nestlé Waters UK used to bottle Ashbourne Water in Buxton until 2006, and Buxton Water still does.
Derbyshire is one of only three counties that are permitted to produce Stilton cheese. Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire are the other counties. Hartington Creamery in Pikehall is the smallest of the six companies that produce this product. Hartington Stilton was marketing within the UK as of March 2021, but it was also exporting to the US and the EU; it had only recently begun shipping to Canada. According to the company’s director, there has been a “surge in interest and consumer sales from the United States.”
