Crich

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Map sources for Crich at grid reference SK350544

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

It is the home of the National Tramway Museum, also known as Crich Tramway Village, and the viewpoint of Crich Stand. This inland lighthouse is 1000 ft above sea level and after you have climbed the 52 steps to the top you can see eight counties, including the Humber Bridge and Lincoln Cathedral. Crich Stand is a memorial to the Sherwood Foresters who lost their lives in battle. Every year the first Sunday in July a pilgrimage takes place on 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 at Crich probably began in mediaeval times. In 1791 Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford bought land for a quarry to supply limestone to their new iron works at Butterley. This became known as Hilt's Quarry, and the stone was transported down a steep wagonway, the Butterley 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 300 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, discovered deposits of coal at Clay Cross and formed what later became the Clay Cross Company. He realised that burning lime would provide a use for the coal slack that would otherwise 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, although a small amount of limestone extraction still occurs at the western end, and but was bought by the Tramway Museum in 1959.

[edit] Reference

• Cooper, B., (1983) Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent, Heinneman, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books

[edit] External link

• Official village website
• Crich area community news website
• Crich Baptist Church -- An Independent Baptist Church, preaching the Gospel, believing the Bible, and teaching the Doctrines of Grace.

Coordinates: 53.08568° N 1.47890° W