Brassington

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, Brassington derives from Old English and is said to mean ‘the farm by the steep path’. At the time of the Domesday Book, the Manor of ‘Branzincton’ belonged to Henry de Ferrers and had a population of around 100, who were mostly farm workers. The men of `Brass’on’, as it is still known locally, have earned their daily bread for centuries by working either on the land or under it: in the limestone quarries or the lead mines. The hollows and bumps in the green meadows tell of 200 years of underground industry in pursuit of lead, and now lead-tolerant flowers such as mountain pansy, sandwort and orchids flourish here.

Protected from the wind by the limestone plateau that soars some 1,000 feet above sea level, the village sits by strange-shaped rocks, the result of weather erosion, with names like Rainster Rocks and Harborough Rocks. At Rainster Rocks there is evidence of a Roman British settlement, and at Harborough there are the remains of a chambered cairn. Stone Age man found snug dwellings amongst these dolomite limestone formations and there is evidence that animals like the sabre-toothed tiger, brown bear, wolf and hyena also found comfort here in the caves. As late as the 18th century, families were still living in the caves.

Nearby is the Wesleyan Reform Chapel, one of the so-called ‘Smedley Chapels’ built by local mill owner, Mr Smedley, in 1852. Smedley was a keen Revivalist and his two other chapels in the village are now the village hall and a private house.

Episodes of the TV series Peak Practice have been filmed in the village, as was a sequence in the film version of DH Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gypsy, which starred the Derbyshire-born actor Alan Bates.