Crich is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. Besides the village of Crich, the civil parish includes the nearby villages of Fritchley, Whatstandwell and Wheatcroft. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 census.

The village is home to the National Tramway Museum and, at the summit of Crich Hill above, a memorial tower known as Crich Stand to those of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died in battle, particularly during the First World War.

History

In 1009 King Æthelred the Unready signed a charter at the Great Council which recognised the position and boundaries of Weston-on-Trent and several other manors including Crich. Morcar was given further lands in Derbyshire. Weston-on-Trent (and Crich?) again come under the control of Æþelræd Unræd, when Morcar and his brother were murdered by Eadric in 1015.

Parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary are Norman, with later Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic alterations from the 14th century. Crich has also a Wesleyan chapel that was built in 1770.

A workhouse was opened in 1734 on the edge of Nether Common. It could accommodate 40 inmates, and accepted paupers from other parishes, including Melbourne, Pentrich, Willington, Mercaston and Denby.

The population in the 1841 census was 2,619 inhabitants.

Chase Cliffe is a Tudor Revival house on the road from Crich to Whatstandwell.

The gangroad, descending some 300 feet in about a mile, was at first worked by gravity, a brakeman "spragging" the wheels of the wagons, which were returned to the summit by horses. However, in 1812 the incline was the scene of a remarkable experiment, when William Brunton, an engineer for the company, produced his Steam Horse locomotive.

Crich Mineral Railway

In 1840 George Stephenson, in building the North Midland Railway, discovered deposits of coal at Clay Cross and formed what later became the Clay Cross Company. He realised that burning lime would provide a use for the coal slack that would otherwise go to waste. He leased Cliff Quarry and built lime kilns at Bullbridge. In 1841, he built the Crich Mineral Railway to connect the quarry to the lime kilns at Ambergate station. This included a long, self-acting incline known as "The Steep", with a maximum gradient of 1 in 5.

The railway was probably the first metre-gauge railway in the world.

End of quarrying

Cliff Quarry closed in 1957, though it restarted at the western end until 2010 when it was mothballed. The eastern end was bought by the National Tramway Museum in 1959.

Hilt's Quarry closed in 1933 and is derelict. For 38 years, the multinational aerospace and defence company Rolls-Royce Holdings used it for dumping low-level radioactive waste such as enriched uranium, cobalt-60 (Co) and carbon-14 (C). Following a campaign and blockades by villagers in the Crich and District Environment Action Group, dumping ceased in 2002. In 2004 the Government backed an Environment Agency (EA) document banning further dumping, and Rolls-Royce will be required to restore and landscape the site.

Memorial tower

thumb|right|The [[Crich Stand memorial tower]]

The memorial tower (Crich Stand) was originally erected in 1923 as a memorial to the 11,409 soldiers from the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died during the First World War, a dedication that was later extended to include the Second World War. It was built on an limestone outcrop above the village, at an altitude of above sea level. The location is symbolic because it is widely visible across, and gives views of, both of the two counties from which the regiment was raised (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire). It is the destination of an annual pilgrimage on the first Sunday in July.

Besides the main dedication, two further commemorative plaques dedicate the memorial to those who died serving in the Sherwood Foresters regiment from 1945 to 1970, and to those who died serving the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment from 1970 to 2007 and the Mercian Regiment since 2007. A nearby small plaque is dedicated to Brigadier J.H.M. Hackett, 'Last Colonel The Sherwood Foresters 1965 – 1970 and First Colonel The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment'.

Many of the museum's collection of trams are operational, and carry passengers on journeys through the period street and out into the local countryside on a long running track. Along the way are the preserved 1763 facade of the Derby Assembly Rooms, a recreated Victorian public park, a woodland sculpture trail and a display on the local lead mining industry.

Transport

The nearest railway station to Crich is Whatstandwell, which serves the villages of Whatstandwell and Crich Carr. Other nearby railway stations are Belper, Matlock and Alfreton through which East Midlands Railway operate regular trains to, and from Derby, with Alfreton offering services to, and from Manchester Piccadilly, and Liverpool Lime Street for northern travellers.

There are also infrequent buses that stop in Crich that alternately terminate at Alfreton, Ripley, Nether Heage, Belper, Matlock, and Oakerthorpe. All bus services stop around 7–8pm.

Leashaw Road closed in November 2022 due to a major landslip which damaged both the road, and adjoining pavement. This had previously connected services between Crich and Matlock, but is not expected to reopen until December 2026. As a consequence, buses have been redirected up Plaistow Green Road instead. Derbyshire in general is prone to landslips in wet weather conditions, because of the underlying geology of clay and shale which, once saturated, can cause ground to move downhill under the influence of gravity. The repairs required at Leashaw have been complicated by the proximity of residential housing, and the many utility services contained within the road, some of which were affected by the landslip or had the potential to be damaged by any further movement.

Archives

A collection of title deeds relating to land and property in Crich is held at the Cadbury Research Library of the University of Birmingham.

The village was a location for the setting of the ITV drama series Peak Practice (1993–2002), along with the nearby Ashover for a time.

Images of the village also appear in the drama film And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007), starring Colin Firth. In the film Firth can be seen riding a motorcycle up Chapel Lane.

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See also

  • Listed buildings in Crich

References

Further reading

  • Official website of Crich Standard community magazine
  • Official website of Crich Baptist Church
  • Official website of St Mary's Church, Crich
  • Official website for the Crich Memorial