Ambergate

Ambergate stands where the River Amber joins the Derwent, and is on the route of the National Heritage Way, a 55-mile walk along the Derwent Valley. The village itself is surrounded by deciduous woodland, including the fine Shining Cliff Woods, an important refuge for wildlife (see Whatstandwell). Before 1840 and the building of Ambergate station for the North Midland Railway, there was no village here at all, though there was a tollhouse for the recently constructed turnpike road, opened in 1817. Not surprisingly, Ambergate is the product of the 19th century, and it’s probably from the tollhouse that it got its name. The railway, road and canal here are all squeezed into the tight river valley, and the railway station, standing 100 feet above the road, had a triangular layout of platforms, due to the configuration of the lines. It was an important junction, and in its heyday employed over 50 men. Now there is just one platform.