Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for ASHFORD

ASHFORD, a village, a township, and a chapelry in Bakewell parish, Derby. The village stands on the river Wye, adjacent to the Buxton railway, in a charming situation, surrounded by high hills near Monsal dale, 1 mile WNW of Hassop r. station, and 2 NW of Bakewell. It has a post office under Bakewell; and it carries on stocking-making, spinning., and a trade in marble. Mills for the cutting and polishing of marble were erected in its vicinity in 1748, and are the oldest establishments of their kind in England. Marbles of many tints, but chiefly black and grey, are found adjacent, about 40 feet beneath the surface, in nine beds from 3 to 9 inches thick; and are manufactured at the mills into a great variety of ornamental articles. Ashford Hall, in the neighbourhood, is the seat of the Cavendish family; and the manor belongs to the Duke of Devonshire. A spot near the church was the site of the mansion of Edward Plantagenet, of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, now traceable only by the moat.-The township and the chapelry are co-extensive. Real property, £5,195. Pop., 829. Houses, 172. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £102.* Patron, the Vicar of Bakewell. The church is ancient. There are chapels for Methodists and Unitarians, free schools for boys and girls, and charities £20.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, and a chapelry"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ashford in the Water CP/Ch       Bakewell CP/AP       Derbyshire AncC
Place: Ashford in the Water

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