An Exploration of Ashover Village

A general view of Ashover

The picturesque village of Ashover is a very popular geology field trip location for university students, geological societies - and general tourists - but the rocks that now serve as an excellent educational resource once made great profits for various businesses. 

Arriving in Ashover on the path from Butts Quarry

The Romans first exploited the many lead rakes that are exposed here, with the heyday of the lead mining industry being in the last quarter of the C18, and the limestone was considered to be sufficiently valuable to build a light railway between Butts Quarry and Clay Cross.

Butts House

Arriving in the village from Butts Quarry, the first historic building that I encountered was Butts House, a late Grade II Listed C17 house that is built out of Ashover Grit, with a Welsh slate roof. 

Prestwood on Butts Road

Carrying along Butts Road, a house named Prestwood caught my eye, not least because of the very pale colour of the gritstone that has been used to build it, which is unlike anything that I have encountered and made me wonder if had been limewashed. 

A general view along Butts Road

In most places that I have encountered where Carboniferous Limestone comprises the underlying geology - particularly the Peak District National Park - gritstone is mainly used for quoins and dressings, with only the better quality buildings built entirely in gritstone, but along Butts Road, none of the cottages are built in limestone. 

Various cottages on Butts Road

Further west, around Stanton Moor and Darley Dale, several working quarries and many disused ones are located on the Ashover Grit, with this stone having developed an extremely good reputation for its durability and uniform characteristics. 

A detail of a boundary wall on Butts Road

Where rubble stone has been used in boundary walling, however, those stones exposed to rising groundwater or road salt have degraded considerably, with most of the edges and corners being rounded by weathering. 

Church Street

Turning up Church Street, there is a concentration of listed buildings, including the mid C18 West Bank and, again, all of the buildings I saw are constructed in gritstone and not limestone. 

A view up Church Street

The most substantial buildings are found around All Saints church, with the Old Rectory being remodelled in the C18 from an earlier building and still retaining its stone tile roof, although it has been extended in the C19 and C20. 

The Old Rectory

Next to the church is The Crispin Inn, which is partially rendered, dates back to the C17 although, according to a sign on its exterior, the building can be traced back to 1419 when the men of Ashover returned to the village after the Battle of Agincourt. 

A sign at The Crispin Inn

Across the road is the former National Girl’s School, dated 1845, which has a Dutch gable and is built in gritstone ashlar, with horizontal tool marks, and is now used as the church hall and a community centre.

The former National Girl's School