Crich

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Map sources for Crich at grid reference SK350544

Crich (pronounced CRY-ch, IPA [kɹaɪʃ]) is a village in Derbyshire.

It is the home of the National Tramway Museum, also known as Crich Tramway Village,and the famed Derbyshire viewpoint of Crich Stand. This inland lighthouse is 1000 ft above sea level and after you have climbed the 52 steps to the top of the Tower you can see eight counties. The Humber Bridge and Lincoln Cathedral are just two of many locations which can be viewed. Crich Stand is a memorial to the Sherwood Foresters who lost their lives in battle. Every year a pilgrimage takes place on the First Sunday in July to remember these gallant soldiers.

Crich was the setting for the ITV drama series Peak Practice (along with Ashover for a time). Crich is home to 'The Briars' - a residential youth centre for the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham. It hosts approximately 5000 young people a year from across the East Midlands, working with them on personal, social and spiritual themes.

Limestone quarrying probably began at Crich in Medieval times. In 1791 Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford bought land for a quarry to supply limestone to supply their new iron works at Butterley. This became known as Hilt's Quarry and the stone was transported down a steep wagonway, the Butterly Company Gangroad, to the Cromford Canal at Bullbridge. Near there they also built limekilns for supplying farmers and for the increasing amount of building work Apart from a period when it was leased to Albert Banks, the quarry and kilns were operated by the Butterley Company until 1933..

The gangroad, descending some three hundred feet in about a mile was at first worked by gravity, a brakeman "spragging" the wheels of the wagons, which were returned to summit by horses. However, in 1812 the incline was the scene of a remarkable experiment, when William Brunton, an engineer for the company, produced his Steam Horse locomotive.

In 1840, George Stephenson, in building the North Midland Railway, had discovered deposits of coal at Clay Cross and formed what later became known as the Clay Cross Company. He realised that burning lime would provide a use for the coal slack which otherwise would go to waste. He leased Cliff Quarry and built limekilns at Bullbridge. They were connected by another wagonway known as "The Steep", a 550 yard self-acting incline at a slope of 1 in 5.

Hilt's Quarry closed in 1933 and is derelict. Action was taken by the villagers in bring an end to dumping of nuclear waste by Rolls-Royce. Cliff Quarry closed in 1957, but was bought by the Tramway Museum in 1959, although a small amount of limestone extraction still occurs at the western end..