Calver ( Old English ''Calf Slope'') is a village and civil parish 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. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 710.

Overview

Calver is a small village situated in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire. The village is bordered by the River Derwent and intersected by the A623 trunk road, responsible for carrying traffic between

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 ...

to the west,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

to the north and Chesterfield to the east. Stoke Hall is nearby. Today, the village's buildings are predominantly residential, but some local enterprises, including a craft centre, garden centre, petrol station and shop, garage, and two pubs remain. It is also home to Cliff College, which was founded in 1883. There are two camp sites in Calver and many walkers visit the area.

Historic mills

The village is the site of an historic

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...

mill opened in 1778 by John Gardom of Bakewell and John Pares of Leicester in place of a corn mill at leased from Thomas Eyre of Hassop. By 1785 the mill had been developed and stood at three-storeys. In 1799, however, the River Derwent washed away Calver Bridge and took part of the mill with it; shortly after this event, the mill was burned to the ground. A new mill was subsequently constructed, and began production in 1804. By 1830 it employed 200 workers and in 1833 new, larger, water wheels were constructed. Spinning finished in 1923, but during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the mill was used as a storage depot and as a plant for crushing and washing fluorspar used in steelmaking. In 1947 the mill was bought by W & G Sissons to produce stainless steel holloware. The water wheels have disappeared, though their housings still exist and the building has been restored for use as apartments. The village was also the home to a corn mill, also called Calver Mill.http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2010-5%20-%20Calver%20Mill.pdf Lynne Willies, Peak District Mines Historic Society 1989, accessed 2009-06-25 It was constructed in the mid eighteen hundreds on the site of a smelting mill. The

pitchback A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buck ...

wheel was about 5m in diameter and 1.7m in width. The millpond may have had various sources, including water in Calver sough extracted from the mine.

Media

The Mill was used as a set during production of the television series ''Colditz Castle''. It has since been converted into apartments.

References

External links

The Calver Mill (corn) survey 1989Calver village
Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Civil parishes in Derbyshire Derbyshire Dales {{Derbyshire-geo-stub

Overview

Historic mills

Media

See also

References

External links