Ashover, Derbyshire
Historical Description
Ashover, a village, a township, and a parish in Derbyshire. The village stands in a deep narrow valley, on the river Amber, 3 miles WNW of Stretton railway station, and 7 SSW of Chesterfield. It is a place of great antiquity, and was once a market-town. Fairs for cattle and sheep are still held on 25 April and 15 Oct., and a statute fair in November. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Chesterfield. Lace-making is carried on. Tambour-working and stocking-weaving were once prominent; but the former has ceased, and the latter is declining. The area of the township is 9564 acres; population, 2353. The parish includes also the hamlets of Alton, Kelstedge, Upper Town, Mill Town, and Little Moor. Limestone is quarried, and lead ore was formerly mined. Stubben Edge is the seat of the Jackson family. Overton Hall, formerly the seat of Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society, is now the residence of the Jessop family. Lea Hurst, a fine Gothic mansion, for many years the home of Florence Nightingale, is now the seat of the Cocksey Lee family. Robin Hood's Mark, a rocking-stone about 26 feet in circuit, is on a slope of Ashover Common, and the Turning-stone, a remarkably shaped block 9 feet high, supposed to have been an object of Druidical veneration, is about 200 yards farther off. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Southwell; net value, £290 with residence. The church was built in 1419, and various alterations and improvements to its interior were made in 1886; is surmounted by a square embattled tower, and a handsome spire; has a beautiful window of stained glass to the Nodder family, set up in 1845, with several other memorial windows erected at various dates since then, and contains tombs of the Babingtons and two brasses. There are an endowed school at Upper Town under the control of Charity Trustees, and other charities £40. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, and a cemetery, under the control of a Burial Board.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Derbyshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Ashover All Saints | |
| Hundred | Scarsdale | |
| Poor Law union | Chesterfield |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Cemeteries
There is a cemetery of 11 acres, with one mortuary chapel, under the control of the Parish Council.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms dates from 1622, with a gap from 1623 to 1653, of burials and marriages from 1653, and these records are in good condition.
Ancestry.co.uk, in conjunction with the Derbyshire Record Office, have the Church of England Baptisms (1538-1916), Marriages and Banns (1538-1932), and Burials (1538-1991) online.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints, begun about 1350 and completed about 1419, is a large and beautiful edifice of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a square embattled tower at the west end, with a spire 69 feet in height and containing a clock and 8 bells, two of which are dated 1625, and the others 1630, 1751, 1814 and 1890, the latest being the gift of F. J. Fenton esq.: in 1902 two more were added, one being given by W. Burkitt esq. and the other provided to commemorate the coronation of H.M. King Edward VII.: the monuments include a tomb to the Babington family, with life-size recumbent figures of a man and his wife, and around the sides, in small panels, figures of their numerous children: there is also a brass, now on the wall of the south aisle, bearing an inscription to Tho. Babyngton esq. of Dethik, 1518; this brass is a palimpsest, and on the reverse is another inscription to Robert Prykke, serjeant of the pantry to Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI. 1450, and his three children: on the floor, within the altar rails, is a large brass, with figures to the Bolleston family, and one to Robert Eyre, a former rector: the stained east window was inserted about 1857 by the Rev. J. Nodder; there are memorial windows to the Nodder family, erected in 1845; the Colmore family (1870) and that of Moon (1867); one, erected in 1867, by John Thompson esq. in memory of his late wife; and another in 1877, by J. B. Gregory esq. of Raven's Nest, to his parents: the brass eagle lectern was presented by Mr. and Mrs. Jessop, of Overton Hall, in memory of their eldest daughter, and the carved oak reredos in the Rolleston chapel was given by Mrs. Jessop in 1894, in memory of her husband: the font is of lead, ornamented with figures: during the years 1886-90 the interior of the church underwent various alterations and improvements, at a cost of upwards of £600, when an organ chamber was added and the north doorway and tower arch opened, and a hagioscope and part of the rood loft stairs disclosed: in 1904 the church was reseated in oak, at a cost of £1,000, subscribed by the parish: the church plate includes pieces dating from 1581 to 1725: there are 500 sittings.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Ashover from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ashover (All Saints))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Derbyshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Ashover are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Derbyshire papers online: