Atlow
| Atlow | |
| Derbyshire | |
|---|---|
 Atlow church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK230489 |
| Location: | 53°2’13"N, 1°39’25"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 98 (2001) |
| Post town: | Ashbourne |
| Postcode: | DE6 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Derbyshire Dales |
Atlow is a village in Derbyshire, about eight miles west of Belper. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 98. At the 2011 Census the population remained less than 100 so it was not separately recorded.
History
The name Atlow is derived the Old English Eattan hlæw, meaning Eatta's hill.[1] The Domesday Book lists Atlow as having been in the possession of Ælfric of Bradbourne in 1066 with a value of £1, but that by 1086 the village's value had fallen to £0.1, and was in the possession of Henry de Ferrers. The village is recorded as containing ploughland for two, four acres of meadow, half a league of woodland, and three furlongs of mixed measures.[2]
Atlow was, until 1866, part of the parish of Bradbourne.
On 10 February 1629, 6 villagers from Atlow, including William Cokayne and Valentine Jackson, were taken to the Court of Chancery by two church wardens of the nearby village of Bradbourne.[3] The two men claimed it an ancient custom for all the parishioners of Atlow to pay for the repair of the parish church at Bradbourne (the former Bradbourne Priory), but that the villagers had not been paying it.[3] The following year the court decided that the inhabitants of Atlow were to pay annually 5s. 6d. per oxgang (15 acres) to Bradbourne for repairs; but they were not to be charged for any previous arrears.[3]
In the 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, Atlow is described:
It is situated in a pleasant district on the river Dove, and from a lofty hill, called Magger's Bush, not far from the village, there is a fine prospect. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Lichfield, of the value of £148, in the patronage of C. H. Oakover, Esq.[4]
Kelly's Directory of 1891 describes the village as a scattering of farmhouses and cottages in a parish of 1,214 acres, with a population of 138, and a rateable (taxable) value of £1,649.[5] the land he describes as "clayey, loamy and limely", mainly dairy pasture, but reports that most of the parish lies atop a bed of Coal, and that both Limestone and Ironstone were "very abundant".[5] Kelly records the rector as Rev. James Sheldon (who had held the position since 1885), the Lord of the Manor as H.C. Okeover esq. (of Okeover Hall, Staffordshire, approx 5 miles away), as the principal land owners as Mr. Twigge, a Mr. Melland, a Mr. Grundy, and a Mr. T. Tomlinson.[5]
The National Mixed School was built in 1863 for a maximum of 60 children, but in 1891 had an average attendance of 33. The head was William Frederick Walker.[5]
Parish church
The parish church, St Philip and St James, was built in 1874, replacing an earlier parish church, All Saints.
Atlow became an independent parish in 1866. The rectory itself was in gift from H.C. Okeover esq. (of Okeover Hall, Staffordshire) and came with 15 acres of glebe land.[5]
The current parish church, consecrated in 1874, was built on a plot of land between the site of the old church, and the road (recorded as Church Lane, now called Atlow Lane).[5][6] The church was designed by H. I. Stevens, who died in the year before the church was consecrated.[7] The church is built in gritstone ashlar, using the Early English style; it consists of a chancel, nave, south porch and western bell-turret.[5][7] The bell-turret is described in 1891 as containing a bell from the former church, showing a monogram and date: 1595[5] The church is currently Grade II Listed.[7]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Atlow) |
References
- ↑ Atlow on 'Key to English Place-names': English Place Name Society
- ↑ Atlow in the Domesday Book
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cox, J (1875). Churches of Derbyshire: Bradbourne:. http://www.bradbournehistory.co.uk/Cox's%20Bradbourn.htm. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
- ↑ The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland. 1868.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Kelly (May 1891). Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland. pp. 32–33.
- ↑ Information on Atlow from GENUKI
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 National Heritage List 1335199: Church of St Phillip and St James (Grade II listing)