Holmesfield is a village and

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 ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

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 ...

. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 971. The name "Holmesfield" means "raised pasture-land" and is of Norse and Anglo-Saxon origin. Viking influences are also evident with many road names suffixed by "gate", the old Norse word for "way".

History

Holmesfield is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as one of the manors belonging to

Walter D'Aincourt Walter D'Aincourt (or Walter Deincourt or d'Eyncourt) was a landholder in Derby under King Edward the Confessor in 1065/1066. Later in 1066, he fought for William the Conqueror against Harold Godwinson and was rewarded with a large number of manor ...

.''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.750 John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville, was in 1645 ordered to pay an annuity to the Vicar of Holmesfield Church, as part his fine, for being on the losing side in the civil war. St Swithin's parish church can be seen from much of the surrounding area. The main church was built in 1826 but has seen further work in recent years with the vicarage being added in 1999. Still visible in the grounds are the remains of a stone cross from around 641 AD, which would have replaced an original wooden cross erected by monks to mark the place where they would preach. The base of the stone cross now holds a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

Geography

Holmesfield is sited at approximately above sea level on the edge of the

Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

, with extensive views from the village over the surrounding hilly terrain. The parish includes a number of farming hamlets such as Millthorpe situated in the neighbouring Cordwell Valley. The

Peak District Boundary Walk The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District (a ...

runs through Millthorpe.

Notable buildings

Within Holmesfield civil parish are 43 structures that are listed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

for their historic or architectural interest. None is listed as Grade I but there are five structures (Cartledge Hall, Holmesfield Hall, Unthank Hall, farm outbuildings east of Holmesfield Hall, and an outbuilding southwest of Unthank Hall) that are listed as Grade II*. The other structures, including Woodthorpe Hall, Cartledge Grange and the parish church, are listed as Grade II.

Notable residents

Notable people who live or have lived in Holmesfield parish include: *

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...

(1844–1929), socialist and poet, lived at Millthorpe. * Robert Murray Gilchrist, novelist, lived and died at Cartledge Hall, buried in the parish churchyard. * George Merrill (1867–1928), lived at Millthorpe as Edward Carpenter's partner, and on whom the character Alec Scudder in E. M. Forster's novel '' Maurice'' is based. * G.H.B. Ward, activist for ramblers' rights, co-founder of the Clarion Ramblers in Sheffield and Labour Party politician. * Mark Roe, professional golfer.

Amenities

Holmesfield has a village hall, a riding school, and a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

-built

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

.Pennyacres
/ref> A Thai restaurant closed in 2018. There are three

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

within the village (The Rutland Arms, The George and Dragon, and The Angel Inn) and a further two elsewhere within the parish (The Royal Oak at Millthorpe, and The Peacock and The Moorlands at Owler Bar). The village no longer has a shop or post office. There is a regular farmers’ and artisan market held in the village, usually on four dates throughout the year. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

meant that no markets were held in 2020, but they recommenced in July 2021. The market is normally situated at the Angel Inn and St. Swithin's Church Hall.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Civil parishes in Derbyshire North East Derbyshire District