Ambergate is a village in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

, England, situated where the River Amber joins the River Derwent, and where the A610 road from

Ripley Ripley may refer to: People and characters * Ripley (name) * ''Ripley'', the test mannequin aboard the first International Space Station space station Dragon 2 space test flight Crew Dragon Demo-1 * Ellen Ripley, a fictional character from the Ali ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

joins the A6 that runs along the Derwent valley between

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

to the south and Matlock to the north. Sawmills and Ridgeway are neighbouring hamlets, and Alderwasley, Heage, Nether Heage and

Crich Crich is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. The population at the 2001 Census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 Census (including Fritchley and Whatstandwell). It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway V ...

are other significant neighbouring settlements. The village forms part of the Heage and Ambergate ward of Ripley Town Council with a population of 5,013 at the 2011 Census. Ambergate is within the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage site, and has historical connections with

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst f ...

; Ambergate is notable for its railway heritage and telephone exchange. Ambergate has an active community life, particularly centred on the school, pubs, churches, sports clubs; and annual village carnival which is relatively large and consistent locally, with popular associated events in carnival week and throughout the year. The carnival is organised by a voluntary committee.

Shining Cliff woods Shining Cliff Woods are on the west bank of the River Derwent near to Ambergate Derbyshire. In medieval times "Schymynde-cliffe" was one of the seven royal parks within Duffield Frith and, as such, belonged to Edmund Crouchback, Earl of La ...

, Thacker's woods and Crich Chase border the village. It is about south of Matlock at the junction of the A6 trunk road and the A610 to

. A mile east of Ambergate is Heage with its recently restored 18th-century windmill. Until the early nineteenth century it was known as Toadmoor, from the Derbyshire dialect "t'owd moor" (the old moor) with no more than a few artisans' cottages. The southerly half of the present village is still shown as such on the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...

's maps. The name Amber Gate was originally applied to the tollgate for the Nottingham turnpike, but adopted by the North Midland Railway for Ambergate railway station which is located on the Derwent Valley line. The turnpike to Matlock was opened in 1818. Until then the main road from Belper northwards had been through Wirksworth and such traffic as there was, would have been mainly cotton from Arkwright's Mill at Cromford. However, the Cromford Canal, opened in 1794, also passes the village. In 1818 the turnpike to Nottingham was opened with a

toll house A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally th ...

at the junction. The canal towpath can be followed from here to Cromford Wharf, passing High Peak Junction, which is the start of the

High Peak Trail The High Peak Trail is a trail for walkers, cyclists and horse riders in the Peak District of England. Running from Dowlow , near Buxton, to High Peak Junction, Cromford , it follows the trackbed of the former Cromford and High Peak Rai ...

). This section is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and also forms part of the

Derwent Valley Heritage Way The Derwent Valley Heritage Way (DVHW) is a waymarked footpath along the Derwent Valley through the Peak District (as far as Rowsley). The walk starts from Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District National Park via Chatsworth, the scenery a ...

. In 1840 the North Midland Railway opened with a station at 'Amber Gate' which brought trade for 'omnibus and posting conveyance' to Matlock, which was becoming a fashionable spa town. By 1867 there was a through line from London St Pancras to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, as well as to

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

. Ambergate became an important interchange and, in 1876, Francis Hurt built the 'Hurt Arms' to replace the former 'Thatched House Tavern and Posting House' which the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

had converted into three cottages (now Midland Place). The main railway line runs through the elliptical

Toadmoor Tunnel Toadmoor Tunnel (originally called Hag Wood Tunnel) was built at Ambergate as part of the North Midland Railway, which opened in 1840. 128 yards long, it was cut through an unstable hillside on a notoriously difficult line of route. What had ...

designed by George Stephenson. In 1791 Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford had built kilns at nearby Bullbridge to process

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

from their quarry at

had discovered deposits of coal at Clay Cross and realised that burning lime would provide a use for the slack which otherwise would go to waste. He leased Cliff Quarry at Crich, and built eight limekilns beside the railway. Within a year they had grown to twenty. They were connected by another wagonway known as "The Steep", a

self-acting incline A gravity railroad (American English) or gravity railway (British English) is a railroad on a slope that allows cars carrying minerals or passengers to coast down the slope by the force of gravity alone. The speed of the cars is controlled by a bra ...

at a slope of 1 in 5. By 1851 the tiny hamlet had grown to a population of 206. In 1876 Richard Johnson and Nephew opened the wireworks by the river. In 1931 the population had reached 901, rising to 1,794 in 1951. The quarry and the wagonway closed in 1957 but the limeworks carried on until 1965 and the passage of the Clean Air Act. The kilns were demolished the following year to build a storage facility and processing plant for natural gas. In 1966 the first fully operational electronic telephone exchange in Europe opened in Ambergate. This was also the first small to medium electronic exchange in the world and the first of many TXE2 type exchanges.

Public houses

Ambergate has two pubs: The Hurt Arms on the A6 and The Excavator on the A610 at Bucklands Hollow.

References

* Jewell, R., (1995) ''Images of Belper & Ambergate'', Derby: Breedon Books * ''The North Midland Railway Guide'', (1842) Republished 1973, Leeds: Turntable Enterprises * Cooper, B., (1983) ''Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent,'' Heinneman, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books

External links

* View photographic panoramas of Ambergat
peakdistrictview.com
*
"Picture the Past" Hurt Arms and the Tollbar circa 1880

"Picture the Past" The A6 main road through Ambergate (Toadmoor) Toadmoor circa 1930. Very little has changed except that the road has since been paved.

* ttp://www.urbanassault.t83.net/#/amberdyeworks/4525120827/ Exploring Ambergate Dye Works {{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District

Public houses

See also

References

External links