Youlgreave or Youlgrave is a village and civil parish in the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

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, on the River Bradford south of

Bakewell Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known for Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, Derbyshire, River Wye, 15 miles (23 km) south-west of Sheffield. It is the largest se ...

. The name possibly derives from "yellow grove", the ore mined locally being yellow in colour. The population in 1991 was 1,256; it is one of the largest villages in the Peak District National Park. The village has three public houses (the George Hotel, Farmyard Inn and Bull's Head Hotel), and a

British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British Charitable organization, charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. ...

club.

Geography

The village is on the B5056 and the parish has an area of . Youlgrave is at an altitude of located on the southwestern edge of a

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

plateau. It stands on the hillside above the confluence of Lathkill Dale and Bradford Dale. To the east, the geology is shale-like rather than

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. The area is home to many mineral veins such as

fluorspar Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

(lead ore) and

calamine Calamine, also known as calamine lotion, is a medication made from powdered calamine (mineral), calamine mineral that is used to treat mild itchiness. Conditions treated include sunburn, insect bites, Toxicodendron radicans, poison ivy, poiso ...

(zinc ore). Three long-distance paths, the Alternative Pennine Way, the

Limestone Way The Limestone Way is a waymarked long-distance Rights of way in England and Wales, footpath in Derbyshire, England. It runs for through the White Peak of the Peak District National Park, from Castleton, Derbyshire, Castleton south to Rocester ...

and the White Peak Way, pass through the village, swelling the number of walkers.

History

Youlgreave was 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 ...

as belonging to

Henry de Ferrers Henry de Ferrers (died by 1100), magnate and administrator, was a Normans, Norman who after the 1066 Norman conquest of England, Norman conquest was awarded extensive lands in England. Origins He was the eldest son of Vauquelin de Ferrers and i ...

Henry was given a large number of manors in Derbyshire including

Doveridge Doveridge is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, United Kingdom, near the border with Staffordshire and about east of Uttoxeter. Its name may come from its having a bridge over the river Dove (i.e. Dove(B)ridge), a tributary of the River ...

Breaston Breaston ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Erewash, Erewash district, in the south-east of Derbyshire and lies approximately east of the city of Derby and west of the city of Nottingham. The population of the civil paris ...

, Duffield and Cowley. and being worth sixteen shillings. All Saints' Church, Youlgreave, has a 12th-century

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

. The main round bowl is carved with decorative motifs, and it has a second small bowl, supported by a salamander corbel. The font was moved to Youlgreave in the 19th century, from the church at

Elton Elton may refer to: Places England * Elton, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire), a village ** Elton Hall, a baronial hall * Elton, Cheshire, a village and civil parish * Elton, County Durham, a village and civil parish in the Borough of ...

. The building is

grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. There are also a number of historic buildings in the village, such as Old Hall Farm (1630), Thimble Hall and The Old Hall (c.1650). Most of the village's households get their water from Youlgreave Waterworks Limited, one of very few private water companies in Britain. It came about when Youlgreave Friendly Society for Women helped to set up a fund to pipe water from Mawstone springs into the village, terminating at the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

"Conduit Head" of 1829, in Fountain Square. In the 1930s, as new houses were built and older ones were modernised with bathrooms and toilets, water often became short. In 1932 the main underground pipe cracked after an explosion in Mawstone lead mine. Springs at Harthill were connected to the system in 1949 and other major improvements followed. Most homes in the village could be supplied with local water until there were just too many new houses to cope with. Extra supplies are purchased from larger water companies nowadays. In 1932 five of six miners working on a ventilation fan at Mawstone Mine were killed after an explosion filled the gallery with

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...

. The sixth miner was able to reach the surface and raise the alarm. A rescue party of two workers and the mine manager descended into the mine, but were themselves killed by the fumes. Although Mawstone Mine was eventually closed, a water supply for the village is still obtained from this site.

Tourism

Because of its scenic location in the

, Youlgreave is a popular destination for hikers. The

passes through Bradford Dale, immediately south of the village. Langley Park School for Boys owns a building in the village, which is used for school trips, students taking part in various local sporting activities and a visit to nearby

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often shortened to Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments, Merlin Entertainments Group a ...

. A Guinness World Records Certificate names Thimble Hall in Youlgreave as 'the world's smallest detached house' at × and high. The property made national headlines in 1999 when sold at auction for £39,500. Each room is less than 8 feet square and there was a fixed ladder to the bedroom, a stone fireplace, exposed beams and exposed floorboards in the bedroom. It was home to a family of eight around a hundred years ago. It was last occupied as a dwelling in the early 1930s and is currently being converted into a craft gallery. It is a Grade II listed building. The Youlgreave Festival, founded in 2001, offers local artists and musicians a chance to showcase their talents. There are popular walking paths through the valley following the River Bradford.

Media

Local regional television is provided by

BBC East Midlands Today ''BBC East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands. The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham with district newsrooms based in ...

and

ITV News Central ''ITV News Central'' is a British television news service for The East and West Midlands, broadcast and produced by ITV Central. History Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ''ATV Today'', ''Central News'' was initially a pan-region ...

. Radio stations that broadcast to Youlgreave are

BBC Radio Derby BBC Radio Derby is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Derbyshire and East Staffordshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, AM broadcasting, AM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from s ...

on 95.3 FM,

Capital Midlands Capital Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Birmingham, parts of the Black Country and the East Midlands from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre. T ...

on 102.8 FM, and Peak FM 102.0 FM. Youlgreave's local newspapers are the ''

Matlock Mercury The ''Matlock Mercury'' is a weekly newspaper published on a Thursday in the United Kingdom which serves Matlock, Darley Dale, Wirksworth, Bakewell and smaller villages in the Derbyshire Dales area of Derbyshire. The ''Matlock Mercury'' began l ...

'' and the ''

Derbyshire Times The ''Derbyshire Times'' is a weekly local newspaper published in northern Derbyshire, each edition being on sale from Thursday. Its headquarters are in Chesterfield and much of its coverage centres on the town and the surrounding area. The news ...

''.

Sport

Football

Youlgreave is home to Youlgrave United Football Club (est. 1886) who currently compete in the Hope Valley Amateur League. Their ground is based on Alport Lane Playing Fields, Youlgreave.

Cricket

Youlgrave Lodge Cricket Club and ground is based on Alport Lane Playing Fields, Youlgreave. The club have three senior teams: a 1st XI Saturday team that compete in the Yorkshire and Derbyshire Cricket League, a Sunday XI team that play friendly matches in and around the region, and a Midweek XI side.

Notable people

Bill Burgess Thomas William Burgess (15 June 1872 – 2 July 1950) was the second person to successfully complete a swim of the English Channel after Matthew Webb, following sixteen attempts. Burgess was British but spent most of his life in France, and wo ...

(1872–1950) was the second person to successfully complete a swim of the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

after

Matthew Webb Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883) was an English seaman, swimmer and stuntman who became the first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. Webb increased the popularity of swimming in Engl ...

. He performed the feat on 6 September 1911, his 16th attempt.Staff
"The Channel Swim: Burgess's Perseverance Rewarded After Fifteen failures"
, ''

Poverty Bay Herald ''The Gisborne Herald'' is the daily evening newspaper for Gisborne and environs. It was one of only four independently owned daily newspapers in New Zealand but was bought by NZME in 2024. History Established in 1874 as the ''Poverty Bay Hera ...

'', Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12581, 11 October 1911, Page 8. Accessed 5 August 2010. He was born in

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

to Alfred Burgess, a blacksmith from Youlgreave, and Camilla Anna Peat, a cook from

Harthill, South Yorkshire Harthill is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham (part of South Yorkshire, England), on the border with Derbyshire. It lies between Killamarsh and Thorpe Salvin, and is located at approximately , at an elevation of around 110 metr ...

.Bill Burgess
sports-reference.com He spent most of his life in France, and won a bronze medal with the French water polo team at the

1900 Olympics Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * ''19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * ''Dician ...

. In 1926 he coached

Gertrude Ederle Gertrude Caroline Ederle (; October 23, 1905 – November 30, 2003) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. ...

who became the first woman to swim the English Channel.

References

External links

Youlgrave.comThe Bugle
{{Authority control Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Derbyshire Dales Civil parishes in Derbyshire