Bonsall

In a steep-sided dale beneath Masson Hill, Bonsall has a long history of lead mining, possibly going back to Roman times, and is mentioned in the Domsday Book. Many of the fields and meadows around are still littered with the remains of the miners’ work. Bonsall inhabitants have also been involved in the textile industry, pre- and post-Arkwright. The village was also at one time a centre of framework knitting, and east of the village cross is an old knitting workshop, with its large windows and outside staircase.

Bonsall owes its size and relative prosperity almost exclusively to the numerous industries which once flourishe beside the Bonsall Brook. Indeed, the Bonsall Brook is responsible for the shape of the village which follows every twist of the stream from its rising at the highest point above Uppertown to its cascading plunge down the Clatterway.

It is also one of the Derbyshire villages which continues the tradition of well-dressing, usually on the last Saturday in July.

Beside the market square cross stands The King’s Head inn, dating from the late 17th century and said to be haunted. Another pub in the village reflects the traditional occupations of its residents, as it is called the Barley Mow. Another was called the Pig of Lead but is now a private residence. Above the village centre stans the battlemented Parish Church of St James, with its pinnacled tower and spire. Dating originally from the 1200s, it has a wonderful clerestory lighting the nave, though the outer walls were substantially rebuilt in 1862-63. From one end of the main street the road climbs up some 400 feet to the Uppertown, which lies just below the rim of the limestone plateau. In order to cope with the steep hill, the village church is split-level.