Carsington is a village in the middle of the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Dales,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

; it adjoins the hamlet of Hopton, and is close to the historic town of

Wirksworth Wirksworth is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. Its population was 4,902 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census.Area E04002820 (Wirksworth parish) in Table PP002 - Sex, from Wirkswor ...

and village of

Brassington Brassington is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, 16 miles north west of Derby. The parish had a population of 573 at the 2011 census. The name, spelled ''Branzingtune'' in the Domesday Book, is though ...

. According to the 1991 Census, the population was 111, increasing to 251 at the 2011 Census.

History

Carsington has a long history, including Roman occupation (an old Roman settlement now lies beneath the

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

). In prehistoric times,

woolly rhino The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was a member of the Pleistocene megafauna. The woolly rhinoceros was large ...

s lived in the area; the remains of one such animal were discovered nearby in the "Dream Cave" adjacent to the Callow and Hopton end of Summer Lane in the late 19th century. Carsington is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as one of the berewicks (supporting farms) of the town and manor of Wirksworth. During the Middle Ages and right up until about 1800 it was a major location for lead mining and the lead obtained in the many Brassington and Carsington mines was usually smelted in

. The

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

archaeology series ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'' once visited Carsington to investigate the archaeology and ancient remains in the pastures, where they visited a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

, discovered by the Pegasus Caving Club, full of ancient human bones. British

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius''; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen) is an extinct species of Bovini, bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of t ...

specimen CPC98 was retrieved in 1998 from Carsington Pasture Cave, possess P mtDNA haplogroup sequences and radiocarbon dated to 6,738 ± 68 calibrated years BP. An aurochs is a kind of wild cattle.

Carsington today

Today, Carsington has one pub, the Miner's Arms, and a primary school. The community is primarily composed of a strong commuter and retiree contingent to replace the traditional agricultural, mining and quarrying community.

Carsington Reservoir Carsington Water is a reservoir, operated by Severn Trent Water, between Wirksworth and Kniveton in Derbyshire, England. The reservoir takes water from the River Derwent at Ambergate during winter months, pumping up to the reservoir by long t ...

, opened in 1992, stores water from the River Derwent and is operated by

Severn Trent Water Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, the ...

. It is open all year for recreation, with an extensive cycle path, several bird hides, a water sports and sailing centre. Inside the visitor centre are a trail, several specialist shops including an excellent and informative RSPB shop, and a café/restaurant. The nearest railway station to Carsington is Wirksworth on the

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is a long heritage railway based at Wirksworth railway station, Wirksworth station in Derbyshire, England. It operates passenger services between and Wirksworth, with occasional services to . Passengers c ...

References

External links

"History of Wirksworth"
Lutudarum.com – It is thought that Wirksworth is the site of the lost Roman town of

Lutudarum Lutudarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia, in the area that is now mid-Derbyshire. The settlement was believed to have been at either Wirksworth or nearby Carsington. However, Barnatt and Smith in their most recent assessment, dete ...

{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Derbyshire Dales

History

Carsington today

See also

References

External links