Clay Cross

At the beginning of the 19th century Clay Cross was mainly a rural area, but railway pioneer George Stephenson changed that. During the building of the North Midlands Railway between Derby and Chesterfield, he found massive deposits of coal and iron ore that persuaded him to stay in North East Derbyshire and launch the Clay Cross Company in 1840. Subsequently, the hamlet grew from a small farming community into an industrial town dominated by the Clay Cross Company. The Company also provided schools, churches and housing. An impressive monument consisting of two large wheels with the inscription “In memory of all North East Derbyshire miners who lost their lives working to keep the home fires burning and the wheels of industry turning”, takes pride of place in the High Street.

The Parish Church of St Bartholomew dates from 1851, though it looks much older. The land on which it stands was gifted to the church by George Stephenson and Company.

The Clay Cross Countryside Centre is one of three bases for the Countryside Service working throughout the north east of the county. Regular exhibitions are held and there is a shop stocking many free leaflets, local maps, guides, gifts, educational toys and a variety of books including walking, cycling, local and natural history. The Five Pits Trail (see Tibshelf) is managed from the Clay Cross Countryside Centre. To discover more about Clay Cross you can follow the Heritage Trail on a one-hour walk around the area’s industrial heritage.

In 1972 the town earned the title “the Republic of Clay Cross” when left wing councillors, including David and Graham Skinner, both related to Dennis Skinner, MP for Bolsover, would not implement the terms of the Tory Housing Finance Act. The Clay Cross Rebels, as they became known, refused to put up council house rents by £1 a week. After a bitter dispute with the Government, which divided the community, they were surcharged, bankrupted and disqualified from office.