Coal Aston is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Dronfield Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire, England, which includes Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It lies in the valley of the River Drone between Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Sheffield. The Peak District National Park i ...

, in the

North East Derbyshire North East Derbyshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Derbyshire, England. The council is based in the large village of Wingerworth. The district also includes the towns of Dronfield and Clay Cross as well as numerou ...

district, in the county of

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 ...

, England. It is by the town of Dronfield.

Geography

Coal Aston sits on a ridge overlooking

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

. To the south there is Frith Wood, which is made up of mixed woodland rich in many species of fauna and flora and is thought to be an ancient wood. The wood is now a conservation area and although it is spelt Frith Wood on, for example,

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

maps, many locals call it Firth wood as in the neighbouring Firthwood Road. The name Coal Aston is due to the number of walk-in coal mines in the area, finally closing in 1938. There are many stone-built houses and terraces dating back to the mining era during the 19th century. The last mine, Sicklebrook Colliery on Sicklebrook Lane (off Eckington Road), closed in 1938. There is still an Aston Hall in the centre of the village. The large Victorian village school has now been converted into a private house. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the village was the site of a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

History

Coal Aston was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of Dronfield, in 1866 Coal Aston became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Dronfield and Eckington. In 1931 the parish had a population of 858.

References

External links

* http://www.dronfield.gov.uk/uploads/coal-aston-character-statement-part-1.pdf * {{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Former civil parishes in Derbyshire Dronfield