Staveley, Derbyshire

Staveley is a former mining town in the borough of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, alongside the River Rother, between Eckington to the north, Barlborough to the east, Sutton cum Duckmanton to the south and Brimington to the west.

Staveley

Staveley Miners Welfare
Staveley
Location within Derbyshire
Population18,247 (including Barrow Hill, Beighton Fields, Mastin Moor and Poolsbrook, civil parish, 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSK434749
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCHESTERFIELD
Postcode districtS43
Dialling code01246
PoliceDerbyshire
FireDerbyshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

History

Staveley was formerly a mining town with several large coal mines in and around the area, the closest being Ireland Pit (Ireland Colliery Brass Band is named after the colliery). However, the pit has closed, along with the others in the area.

Staveley Miners Welfare on Market Street was built in 1893 as an indoor market hall by Charles Paxton Markham, for a time owner of Markham & Co. At that time, it was called Markham Hall in memory of his father.[2] Markham played a large role in the industrial development of the area around Staveley. Through his company Markham & Co. and its successor Staveley Coal and Iron Company, Markham owned ironstone quarries, several coal mines (including Markham Colliery), chemical works, ironworks and an engineering works specialising in mining and tunnelling equipment.

Other major local industries in recent history have included Staveley Works foundry and Staveley Chemicals. The nationwide decline in industry has meant that Staveley Chemicals and Staveley Works have now almost entirely closed, with the only section of the chemical plant remaining being the P-aminophenol plant (a key component to making Paracetamol), which is run by American/Irish company Covidien. Notice has been served on the plant, earmarked for closure around June 2012, this closure will mark the end of over 100 yrs. of chemical production at Staveley..

It is also the home town of the Townes Brewery.[3] Modern industry includes a plastic pipe moulding factory for Brett Martin plc. There was also a wood wool production unit on Staveley works.

The New Markham Vale Loop Road has been completed and opens up the former Markham coal field areas to development, linking the town to a new junction (29A) on the M1 motorway, this junction opened in early July 2008. This is part funded by European Union regeneration money. The scheme also reinstates part of the former Chesterfield Canal which crosses the route. There is a long term project to reinstate the canal from Chesterfield to Kiveton where it currently terminates. Sections from Chesterfield to Brimington were reinstated as part of previous stages of the Chesterfield Bypass and opencast schemes on part of the former Staveley Coal and Iron Company site which was part of British Steel Corporation following Nationalisation. The new Staveley Town Basin was officially opened on 30 June 2012 and forms the centre piece of the imaginative redevelopment of the Chesterfield Canal in Staveley. The basin is designed to provide facilities to enable the economic development of the isolated section in advance of full restoration. It will provide secure short- and long-term moorings, slipway, car parking, cycle racks, toilets and showers as well as a large open play area which can also be used for major waterway events and festivals.[4]

As part of the Markham Vale scheme to regenerate the site of the former Markham Colliery site there was a proposal to build a "Solar Pyramid" to form the world's largest functional timepiece.[5] This project has now been cancelled. However, on the site near Poolsbrook Country Park, a caravan site for tourists has now been built boosting numbers to the country park. The area has several trails for walkers and mountain bikers along former pit railway lines.

Staveley Hall
Staveley Hall
Staveley Hall – main entrance
1604 heraldic shield above the front door of Staveley Hall, showing the arms of the father[6] of Sir Peter Fretchville (d.1634) ( Azure, a bend between six escallops argent),[7] impaling Kay (for his second wife Margaret Kaye, daughter of Arthur Kaye of Woodsome, Yorkshire) Argent, two bendlets sable (painted incorrectly here as Or, two bendlets azure)[8]

Staveley Hall is situated to the northeast of St John The Baptist Church in Staveley, with vehicular access from the Lowgates traffic island. The Hall in its present form was built in 1604 by Sir Peter Frecheville (c.1571-1634), MP. Before the current building there had been buildings on this site for over 700 years. A brief history of the building and its ownership follows:

  • Hascuit de Musard was awarded the Manor of Staveley after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
  • In 1306 the Musard family died out and Ralph de Frecheville became the new Lord.
  • The Frechevilles lived in the Hall until they died out in 1682. In 1603 Sir Peter de Frecheville was knighted by James I at Worksop and he wished to make Staveley Hall a suitable residence for a knight and Justice of the Peace.
  • The architect of Sir Peter de Frechevilles house is not known but may well be Huntingdon Smithson – the architect employed by the Cavendish's at Bolsover Castle.
  • In 1682 and the house was sold to the Cavendish family. James Cavendish died in 1751 and the Hall and Park reverted to The Duke of Devonshire.
  • In 1756 the Rector of Staveley managed to persuade the Duke of Devonshire to allow his son (and then a series of clerics) to live there.
  • It remained as a rectory until bought by Staveley Urban District Council in 1967.
  • The Hall was designated by English Heritage as a listed building (grade II) in 1974.
  • Upon Local Government reorganisation in 1974 ownership passed to Chesterfield Borough Council and it was eventually bought by Staveley Town Council.[2][9][10][11][12]

Transport

Staveley was served by four railway stations on two separate lines.

Staveley Central was on the former Great Central Main Line which linked the town with Sheffield and London. The station opened in 1892 as Staveley Town but was renamed Staveley Central. It closed in 1963 to passengers and 1964 to all traffic on the line. It is now a mix of a cycle path and the Ireland's Cross road which pass through the site.

Staveley Works was the second station on the London Extension Line to north of Staveley Central. It was built to serve the outskirts of Staveley. This station also opened in 1892 and closed to passengers in 1963 with traffic finishing the following year in 1964. The site is now a road (Ireland Close) and part of a footpath. Platforms have all been removed.

Staveley Town was on the former "Clowne Branch Line". It opened in 1888 as Netherhope and was the original terminus of the line. In 1890, the Doe Lea Branch opened and the line was extended from Staveley Town. The station was a junction for both the Doe Lea Branch Line and the Clowne Branch Line. The station was renamed Netherhope for Staveley Town in 1893 only to be renamed to just Staveley Town in 1900. The Doe Lea Branch Line closed to passengers in 1930 but the station remained open on the Clowne Branch Line until 1952 when it was closed to passengers and the station was demolished in 1954. The line remained open until 1990s-2000s when the line in stages were mothballed. The track was lifted in 2012 and the line is now a mud trail.

Barrow Hill was on the junction where the Clowne Branch Line and Old Road Line branched off, the station opened in 1841 as Staveley but was renamed Barrow Hill and Staveley Works in 1900. The station was renamed Barrow Hill in 1951 until it closed in 1954. The line remained open but as mentioned above. Was mothballed and is now a mud trail.

Today, the nearest railway stations are at both Chesterfield and Creswell. There are regular bus services that connect the town to Chesterfield, Creswell and Sheffield.

Proposed Bypass

A road bypass of Staveley and Brimington has been proposed since 1927.[13] When the A61 Rother Way (also known as the Chesterfield Bypass) was constructed in the 1980s, a short dual carriageway spur was constructed over the River Rother and the Canal, terminating at a large roundabout which has an access road to a supermarket and the single carriageway A619 continuing to Brimington. The dual carriageway was planned to continue, heading northwards through Wheeldon Mill Greyhound Stadium (since demolished) before crossing the Canal twice and following the course of the Rother through Staveley Works. There would have likely been a grade separated junction between Mill Green and Hall Lane to serve the town and the nearby village of Barrow Hill. Then the dual carriageway would have curved eastward and run north of Mastin Moor, connecting to Junction 30 of the M1 at Barlborough. The plans caused controversy as the crossing of the Canal would have divided it into five linear ponds, and a petition put a halt to the bypass plans, but not before digging of a cutting had commenced.[14]

In 2009 the A6192 Ireland Close was built, connecting a small roundabout on Hall Lane to several more roundabouts near Poolsbrook, then to Junction 29A.

As part of regeneration proposals for Staveley Works, there is a 'spine road' proposed to run from the superstore roundabout off Rother Way to Hall Lane. However it is planned to be low speed single carriageway with several roundabouts or signal controlled junctions, which may create even more congestion.[15]

In July 2019, the MP for North East Derbyshire , Lee Rowley, gained support for a proper Staveley Bypass from the government.[16]

Notable people

References
  1. "Neighbourhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. "Staveley Town Centre Trail". Staveley Town Council. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  3. "Real Ales @ Townes Brewery". townesbrewery.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  4. Richardson, Christine, Lower John (2010). Chesterfield Canal – A Richlow Guide. Richlow. ISBN 978-0-9552609-4-0
  5. "UK | England | First glimpse of giant pyramid". BBC News. 15 October 2002.
  6. "The plaque over the front door shows the date, 1604 , his status as a Knight of the Realm and the coats of arms of his parents, Peter Frecheville and Margaret Kaye"
  7. Lyson, Magna Britannia, Derbyshire, 1817, p.lx
  8. Arms of Kay per: Newton, William, A Display of Heraldry, London, 1846, p.50 ; Guillim, John, A Display of Heraldry, 1724 (6th ed.), p.194, gives the arms of Sir John Kay of Woodsom, Yorkshire as Argent, two bendlets sable. The arms are not, as might be expected, for Fleetwood (Party per pale nebuly azure and or, six martlets, 2, 2 and 2 counterchanged), for the first wife of the builder, Joyce Fleetwood, whom he married in 1604)
  9. "Staveley Hall Listing". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  10. "Staveley Conservation Area Appraisal" (PDF). Chesterfield Borough Council. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  11. Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). The Buildings of England – Derbyshire. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09591-0.
  12. Craven, Maxwell; Stanley, Michael (1982). The Derbyshire Country House. Derbyshire Museum Service. ISBN 0-906753-01-5.
  13. "Tackling congestion and improving roads". Lee Rowley. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  14. "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  15. "Staveley Regeneration Route" (PDF). 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  16. "North East Derbyshire MP gains support for Staveley bypass project". www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  17. Whites 1857 Directory of Derbyshire p. 770-780
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