__NOTOC__ Unstone ( ) 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 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 ...

, 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 ...

administrative district approximately south east of

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 ...

. It is also close to the town of Chesterfield. The

River Drone The River Drone is a river which flows south from its source on the Sheffield, South Yorkshire, border. It flows through Dronfield, Unstone and Unstone Green in Derbyshire before merging at Sheepbridge to the north of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, ...

and the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

run through the village, which has a population of over 1,000, increasing to 1,876 and including Apperknowle at the time of the 2011 Census. Originally, Unstone Main Colliery was the primary source of employment for the village; it was the largest colliery of the group around Unstone. It was served by a Midland Railway branch line which connected it to the main line in Dronfield and Sheepbridge. Although it ceased working around 1900, there are significant remains in the woodland area of both the railway and mine

coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

. Unstone community centre is built on the former trackbed of the Midland branch next to the former overbridge on Crow Lane. The village has more than doubled in size over the past century. A modern housing estate, Unstone Green, was built at the other side of the railway line from the original village. The majority of the estate, which was built in the 1940s, was initially intended to be temporary housing for the many coal miners in the area, but it is still intact today. Originally on the A61

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

, the village is now bypassed by the Unstone-Dronfield Bypass dual carriageway. The village has two schools: Unstone St Mary's Infant School on Crow Lane and Unstone Junior School on Main Road. The village has a parish council. Unstone Grange, run by a registered charity is a retreat that describes itself as "a centre for personal creative growth." There are bus services to Chesterfield,

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 Holmesfield. The village used to be served by the now-closed Unstone railway station. Landmarks are a TV transmitter and a railway viaduct. There is one public house, the Horse and Jockey. The village post office closed in 2019.

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Villages in Derbyshire North East Derbyshire District {{Derbyshire-geo-stub

See also

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