Ivonbrook Grange Explained

Official Name:Ivonbrook Grange
Dial Code:01629
London Distance Mi:130
Area Total Sq Mi:0.65
Type:Civil parish
Static Image Caption:Footpath post, fields and Ivonbrook Quarry
Static Image 2 Caption:Map of parish
Static Image Name:Footpath post, fields and Ivonbrook Quarry - geograph.org.uk - 1413762.jpg
Static Image 2 Name:
Frame:yes
Frame-Width:240
Frame-Height:240
Plain:yes
Type:shape
Zoom:13
Id:Q19845589
Shire County:Derbyshire
Shire District:Derbyshire Dales
Constituency Westminster:Derbyshire Dales
Postcode District:DE4
Country:England
Postcode Area:DE
Post Town:MATLOCK
Coordinates:53.123°N -1.639°W
Os Grid Reference:SK 242585
Population Ref:(2011) (with neighbouring communities)
Population:180
Population Density:
Region:East Midlands
Parts Type:Settlements
Parts:Ivonbrook Grange
P1:Grangemill
London Direction:SE

Ivonbrook Grange is a civil parish within the Derbyshire Dales district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. Largely rural, Ivonbrook Grange's population is reported with the population of neighbouring parishes for a total of 180 residents in 2011. It is 130miles north west of London, 15miles north west of the county city of Derby, and NaNmiles south west of the nearest market town of Matlock. Ivonbrook Grange is wholly within the Peak District national park on its southern edge, and shares a border with the parishes of Aldwark, Bonsall, Brassington, Ible as well as Winster.[1] There is one listed structure in Ivonbrook Grange.[2]

Geography

Location

Ivonbrook Grange is surrounded by the following local areas:

The parish is roughly bounded by land features such as the disused Ivonbrook Quarry to the north, the quarry pond to the west, Tophill Farm in the east, while the A5012 Via Gellia road between Cromford and Newhaven, as well as the minor road to Ible lie to the south. This area lies in the centre of the Derbyshire Dales district and central west of Derbyshire county.

Ivonbrook Grange is completely within the Peak District National Park on its south eastern edge.

Settlements and routes

There are two hamlets within the parish:

Outside of these settlements, Ivonbrook Grange parish is predominantly an agricultural and rural area, with Tophill Farm the only additional residence.

There are three roads throughout the parish, these however all meet outside Ivonbrook Grange at the Grangemill crossroads:[3]

Stunstead Lane is an ancient track in the west of the parish.[4]

The Limestone Way long distance walking route skirts the south boundary by Grangemill.

Environment

Landscape and geology

Primarily farming and pasture land throughout the parish outside the sparsely populated areas, there is little forestry throughout, mainly around the fringes, the largest cluster alongside the quarry. The ground is a loamy soil with friable limestone.[5]

Water features

There is one unnamed brook that begins south of Wigley Meadow Farm in the centre of the parish, and flows to Grangemill and through the Via Gellia valley to Cromford. The brook was once called Ivonbrook. A pond has formed from the mined out area of the quarry. A further small pond is formed from the Shothouse Spring in Grangemill, at the old mill location by Mill Farm.

Land elevation

The parish can be hilly to the east, but less steep in the west, the B5056 road nestled within a valley alongside the brook. The lowest points are around this valley from Grangemill to the Ivonbrook farms at ~NaNm (-2,147,483,648feet), the eastern area rises to ~310m (1,020feet) near to Tophill Farm, with the parish peak in the western portion of the parish within the landscaped areas of the former Ivonbrook Quarry at 318m (1,043feet).

History

Toponymy

Ivonbrook Grange was recorded in the Domesday survey as Winbroc.[6] It was named after the now-unnamed brook which rose in the middle of the parish and flowed south and east through the Via Gellia valley to Cromford.[7] The grange portion was later added due to the medieval manorial ownership by a monastery. The place was known by and had many changes of name since, with Victorian era variations including Embrook,[8] Ivenbrook[9] and Ironbrook.

Grangemill was so named because it was the site of a mill owned by the monks from the monastery.[10]

Local area

There is some evidence of a potential barrow feature,[11] along with flint artefacts found throughout the parish, dating human occupation to between the early Mesolithic to late Bronze Ages (10000 BC to 701 BC).[12] [13] [14] There is some existence of Roman routes through the parish, including the Derbyshire Portway along Stanstead Lane.[15] [16] At the time of Domesday in 1086 the wider area was held by Henry de Ferrers, Ivonbrook was reported as waste land with no residents, but was not said to be a manor.[17] [18] In the 12th century the land was granted to Buildwas Abbey in Shropshire by Henry Studley, or Henry de Ireton formerly de Eatington of the Shirley noble family from Derbyshire who were originally tenants of the Ferrers,[19] and it became a monastic farm and grange, Buildwas being a Cistercian abbey. The Cistercians preferred grants of hassle-free and marginal land, with the Abbey clearing, draining and improving large tracts of lands and establishing sheep farms, the upland placement of Ivonbrook suggests it was almost certainly a sheep farm, with a number of historic sheepfolds recorded in the vicinity.[20] [21]

The mill in Grangemill was known as "the mill of the monks", and was mentioned in a charter dating from about 1247 of the deFerrers, the family later losing control of their manors around Wirksworth in 1269. After the Black Death and resulting impact on livelihoods and labour in the 14th century, many monasteries were forced to lease their granges to secular locals, until this point the Cistercians had little to no judicial or administrative involvement with the communities. Following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1540s by Henry VIII, granges and their land were sold and given to favoured nobles. The manor was later granted by King Henry VIII to Edward Grey, eventually passing to Lord Powis, and through other landowners before ownership by Lord Scarsdale in the 19th century.[22] Being former monastic land, the majority of Ivonbrook parish was exempt from tithes: the 1841 Tithe Map shows only two fields liable.[23] [24] The Rains were a notable late medieval farming family, residing in the area through to Victorian times. An infant school was recorded as being in Grangemiil towards the end of the 19th century.[25] The manor from Lord Scarsdale passed to a relation of the Scarsdale/Curzon family holding Lockington Hall, and individual plots sold off in 1918.[26]

Industry

Limekilns locations have been recorded locally, suggesting limestone mining and processing taking place in the vicinity from medieval times, until the 19th century.[27] [28] [29] [30]

Lead mining activity took place in the far east of the parish in the 1540s.[31]

Ivonbrook Quarry to the west was in operation since the 1940s, possibly reusing earlier mines. It produced a range of limestone aggregates, primarily for use in the manufacture of concrete products and asphalt, eventually expanding to two sites taking up much of this portion of the parish. Since the 2010s they have ceased mining and the area is being landscaped.[32]

In Grangemill, as well as the medieval mill owned by Buiildwas Abbey, there was a water powered 18th century corn mill at Mill Farm fed by Shothouse Spring to the north of the parish, the pond later being used as a trout farm.[33] [34]

Governance and demography

Population

There are 180 residents recorded within Ivonbrook Grange (along with Aldwark, Ballidon and Ible parishes) for the 2011 census.

Local bodies

Because of its small population, Ivonbrook Grange is managed at the first level of public administration via parish meetings,[35] there is no parish council.[36]

At district level, the wider area is overseen by Derbyshire Dales district council, and because of its inclusion within a national park, the Peak District Park Authority. Derbyshire County Council provides the highest level strategic services locally.

Landmarks

There is one listed structure within the parish, a milestone by the B5056, north of Grangemill, at Grade II designation.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ivonbrook Grange. Ordnance Survey.
  2. Web site: British Listed Buildings. 2021-09-19. britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
  3. Web site: Grangemill, Matlock Property - £460,000. 2021-10-27. OnTheMarket. en.
  4. Web site: MDR8630 - 'The Portway' (conjectural route of), through Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-27. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  5. Web site: Anton Shone and Dean Smart. 2013. The Derbyshire Portway: An archaeological assessment report.
  6. Web site: Ivonbrook [Grange] Domesday Book]. 2021-10-15. opendomesday.org.
  7. Web site: Ivonbrook Grange :: Survey of English Place-Names. 2021-10-15. epns.nottingham.ac.uk.
  8. Web site: Embrook Grange, Derbyshire, England: Past and Present Company. 2021-10-26. www.family-trees.org.uk.
  9. Book: Tithe map of Ivenbrook Grange (township in the parish of Wirksworth), Derbyshire.... 1843. English.
  10. Web site: Anton Shone and Dean Smart. A medieval road at Stone Dene, Hopton by Wirksworth, Derbyshire. Wirksworth Archaeological Society.
  11. Web site: MDR8605 - Flint scatters around possible barrow, Ivonbrook Quarry, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  12. Web site: MDR7814 - Flint scatter, north of Grangemill Farm, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  13. Web site: MDR7813 - Flint and stone scatter, 440m north-west of Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  14. Web site: MDR3031 - Flint and stone implements, 325m north-north-east of Wigleymeadow Farm, Bonsall - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  15. Web site: MDR8630 - 'The Portway' (conjectural route of), through Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-18. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  16. Web site: MDR11383 - Roman Road, Brough to the south (possibly to Carsington and beyond), High Peak and Derbyshire Dales - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-18. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  17. Web site: Ivonbrook [Grange] Domesday Book]. 2021-10-17. opendomesday.org.
  18. Web site: Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons. 1817. Magna Britannia: Volume 5, Derbyshire. 2021-10-17. British History Online. T Cadell and W Davies, London. 299.
  19. Web site: www.forgottenbooks.com - The parishes of Shirley, Snelston and Somersall Herbert.
  20. Web site: MDR20503 - Sheepfold, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  21. Web site: MDR20490 - Site of Sheepfold, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  22. Web site: Parishes: Thorpe - Youlgreave British History Online. 2021-10-17. www.british-history.ac.uk.
  23. Web site: An Archaeological Standing Building Survey. Barn Adj. to the B5056, Winster, Derbyshire. Archaeological Building Recording Services (ABRS).
  24. Web site: MDR7808 - Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-17. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  25. Web site: WIRKSWORTH-Parish Records 1608-1899-Old Photos. 2021-10-27. www.wirksworth.org.uk.
  26. Web site: CalmView: Overview - Curzon of Lockington - legal papers. 2021-10-27. calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  27. Web site: MDR20502 - Site of Old Limekiln, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-26. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  28. Web site: MDR20488 - Site of Old Limekiln, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-26. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  29. Web site: MDR20492 - Old Limekiln, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-26. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  30. Web site: MDR3049 - Lime kiln and quarry, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-26. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  31. Web site: MDR13786 - Whitelow Mines, Green Lane, Bonsall Moor - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-26. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  32. Web site: IVONBROOK QUARRY GRANGEMILL-Minerals Application.
  33. Web site: MDR7817 - Grange Mill, Ivonbrook Grange - Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 2021-10-26. her.derbyshire.gov.uk.
  34. Web site: Mills in Derbyshire and Peak District. 2021-10-27. Derbyshire Heritage. en-GB.
  35. Web site: Council. Derbyshire Dales District. Ivonbrook Grange. 2021-10-22. Derbyshire Dales District Council. en-gb.
  36. Web site: 2021-10-22. Parish council - Ivonbrook Grange. 2021-10-22. democracy.peakdistrict.gov.uk. en-GB.