Creswell

Once a sleepy hamlet nestling amid peaceful farming country, the character of Creswell was irreversibly changed at the end of the 19th century. It was then that Creswell Colliery was opened, and now the village is one of the biggest in the county. There is also a village within a village here as, between 1896 and 1900, a model village of houses and cottages was built around an open space called Creswell Green, part of which is now known as Fox Green. The Model Village was built by the Bolsover and Creswell Colliery Company in 1896 to house the workforce at the Creswell Colliery, and everybody who lived on the Model worked in the coal mine. It remained as housing for miners until the mid-1980s when they were let on the open market. The houses were neglected, repairs were not done and the area became run down. Now with the help of a lottery grant, the central park has been almost restored to its original Victorian state with newly planted trees and shrubs, seating and play areas. The restored Model Village is an excellent example of Victorian social housing for working families.

Lying close to the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border, the limestone gorge of the Creswell Crags is well worth seeing. Here are caves, some of the oldest once-inhabited caves in the world, certainly the furthest north that have been discovered. Used by Neanderthal man as shelters while out hunting, tours can be taken from the visitor centre, where there is also a display of artefacts found in the area. The largest cavern, Church Hole Cave, extends some 170 feet into the side of the gorge; it was here that hand tools were found. An impressive new Visitor Centre was opened in 2009 by TV presenter David Attenborough, and this was followed by a new museum, creating the UK’s first National Center for the Ice Age in this important spot.