Shirland

For the town in the United States, see Shirland, Illinois.
Shirland

St. Leonards Church
Shirland

 Shirland shown within Derbyshire
OS grid reference SK394583
District North East Derbyshire
Shire county Derbyshire
Region East Midlands
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town ALFRETON
Postcode district DE55
Police Derbyshire
Fire Derbyshire
Ambulance East Midlands
EU Parliament East Midlands
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Shirland is a parish and former mining village in Derbyshire, England. It is continuous with the villages of Higham, Stretton and Stonebroom. Shirland has existed since at least 1086. Local politics is largely Labour. The River Amber flows through the parish.

Contents

History

Shirland is mentioned in the Domesday Book. According to this ancient document the manor was given to William de Peveral after the Norman conquest. Peveral inherited many manors around Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire including Nottingham Castle.[1]

The village is built around St. Leonard's Church. The foundations of the church date to 1220, according to the inscriptions within the church. The church grounds contain many monuments to the De Grey family, who inherited the manor in the early 13th century. The church also contains memorials to the Revill family who were well-known Derbyshire landowners in the 15th century.

In 1868, the inhabitants were mostly involved with agriculture but a proportion were involved with framework knitting.[2] However in 1864 a mine was founded, which by the end of the century employed 500 men. The community together with Higham increased from a population of 2,437 in 1871 to 3,415 in 1881.[3] The mines shaped the community until 1965 when the mine closed. A golf course is now built on the former slag heaps.[4]

A new primary school was opened in September 2011, next to St. Leonards Church. [5]

Church

The buttressed west tower of St Leonard's Church is pictured above, alongside the A61 north of Alfreton. Parts of the church date from 1220 but the majority of the existing church is 15th-century. It is part of a Benefice with the Church of England churches in Stonebroom (St Peter's Church) and Morton: (Church of the Holy Cross).

References

  1. ^ The Domesday Book, a complete translation, Penguin, 2002.
  2. ^ [1] The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
  3. ^ [2] Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland. Published in London, May 1891. pp. 299–300.
  4. ^ Shirlanduk.net
  5. ^ http://www.shirland.derbyshire.sch.uk/

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shirland Shirland] at Wikimedia Commons