Denis Eardley from Littleover, continues his visit to the historic town of Wirksworth. Here, he takes a detailed look at the history behind some of its buildings, industry and church.

WIRKSWORTH’S ancient Market Place occupies the centre of the town and is surrounded by a remarkably large number of handsome old buildings, which combine to make an impressive sight.

Little has changed over the last 150 years, apart from the construction of Harrison Drive, in 1940, to ease the flow of quarry traffic through the town.

The facades of many of the shops and houses date from between 1760 and 1840, but the structures are often much older.

A market is now held every Tuesday on the steeply sloping area at the foot of West End. It is very much reduced in size since 1306, when Edward I granted the town a market and four fairs every year.

It is worth walking to the top of the Market Place to admire the view of the town and the hills beyond. This is Peak Practice country, the town often being used to shoot scenes for the popular television drama.

Indeed, the premises at 1 West End were featured as a bank in one episode of the series.

Situated just opposite is a building which used to be home to the Green Man public house, with its finely moulded 16th century beams on all three floors.

The carriage arch facing across the Market Place used to be part of the Crown Inn and now leads the way to the Heritage Centre which tells the Wirksworth Story.

At the bottom of the Market Place, set on an island site, is the Hope and Anchor, a fine 17th century building. There is an ornate plaster ceiling on the first floor and an elaborately carved wooden fireplace in the lounge bar, probably dating from about 1660.

In 1780, John Toplis a local businessman, established a bank in St John’s Street, in the premises now occupied by Lloyds TSB which, at that time was the only bank between Derby and Chesterfield.

On the opposite side of the road, at the corner of St Mary’s Gate, is the site of the Cruck Timber Frame Cottage. This was discovered in the early 1970s when two cottages were pulled down in what is a predominantly stone and brick area.

The plaque over the shop just below indicates where Elizabeth Evans, immortalised as Dinah Morris in George Eliot’s novel Adam Bede, spent the last years of her life.

Returning to the Market Place, you pass the chemist’s shop, established in 1756 and believed to be one of the oldest practising pharmacies in England.

The Market Place is well-served with a variety of shops. Across the other side of the street, at 12 Market Place, William Bemrose opened a printing and stationery business in the mid-1820s.

This was the start of the Bemrose printing firm, now based in Derby and enjoying an international reputation.

Bemrose described the three-and-a-half years he spent in Wirksworth as the “happiest portion of my life”.

The Town Hall, on the corner of Coldwell Street, is an impressive Italianate building in sandstone, the foundations of which were laid in 1871.

The milestone at the front of the building has been given a Grade II listing for being of special architectural interest.

The Red Lion is an old coaching and posting inn rebuilt more than 200 years ago but probably dating back to medieval times.

The ghost of a coachman is said to haunt the premises. He was attempting to manoeuvre his coach through the archway when the horses suddenly took fright and dashed forward.

Unable to move his head in time, he was decapitated.

Ever since then, it is said, the dark figure of a headless man has haunted the Red Lion.

Lower down Coldwell Street, the Vaults Inn used to be occupied by Messrs Charles Wright and Company Ltd, who blended and bottled many fine wines and spirits, including the intriguingly named whisky Old Gran’s Special Toddy.

Below the entrance to the public car park is the Art, Design and Craft Centre which has been owned by the Greatorex family for nearly 150 years and is where the work of local artists and craftspeople is displayed.

Up the hill to the east of Coldwell Street is the part of the town known as Wash Green. It probably got its name from the days when lead ore was washed and cleaned there.

In 1827, Wash Green had a tape mill, brickworks, saw mill and a bleach and dye yard.

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