Calver
| Calver | |
 Calver, with mill in background |
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  Calver |
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| OS grid reference | SK240745 |
|---|---|
| District | Derbyshire Dales |
| Shire county | Derbyshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HOPE VALLEY |
| Postcode district | S32 |
| Dialling code | 01433 |
| Police | Derbyshire |
| Fire | Derbyshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | West Derbyshire - Derbyshire Dales from 2009 |
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Coordinates: 53°16′01″N 1°38′24″W / 53.267°N 1.640°W
Calver (Old English Calf Slope[1]) is a village in Derbyshire, England.
Overview
Calver is a small village situated in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire. The village is bordered by the River Derwent and intersected by the A623 trunk road, responsible for carrying traffic between Manchester to the west, Sheffield to the north and Chesterfield to the east.
Stoke Hall is nearby.
Today, the village's buildings are predominantly residential, but some local enterprises, including a craft centre, garden centre, post office, petrol station and shop, garage, shoe shop, outdoor pursuits shop and two pubs remain. It is also home to Cliff College, which was founded in 1883. There are two camp sites in Calver and many walkers visit the area.
Historic mills
The village is the site of an historic cotton mill opened in 1778 by John Gardom of Bakewell and John Pares of Leicester in place of a corn mill at leased from Thomas Eyre of Hassop.
By 1785 the mill had been developed and stood at three-storeys. In 1799, however, the River Derwent washed away Calver Bridge and took part of the mill with it; shortly after this event, the mill was burned to the ground. A new mill was subsequently constructed, and began production in 1804. By 1830 it employed 200 workers and in 1833 new, larger, water wheels were constructed.[2]
Spinning finished in 1923, but during World War II the mill was used as a storage depot and as a plant for crushing and washing fluorspar used in steelmaking. In 1947 the mill was bought by W & G Sissons to produce stainless steel holloware.
The water wheels have disappeared, though their housings still exist and the building has been restored for use as apartments.
The village was also the home to an interesting corn mill, also confusingly called Calver Mill.[3] It was constructed in the mid eighteen hundreds on the site of a smelting mill. The pitchback type wheel was about 5m in diameter and 1.7m in width. The millpond may have had various sources, including water in Calver sough extracted from the mine.
Media
The Mill was used as a set during production of the television series Colditz Castle. It has since been converted into apartments.
References
- ↑ "Calver". Key to English Place-names. English Place Name Society at the University of Nottingham. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ↑ Cooper 1983, p. 99.
- ↑ http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2010-5%20-%20Calver%20Mill.pdf Lynne Willies, Peak District Mines Historic Society 1989, accessed 2009-06-25
- Cooper, Brian (1983), Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent (New, Scarthin 1997 Reprint ed.), London: Heinemann, ISBN 0-907758-17-7
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calver. |