Foolow

From Wikishire
Jump to: navigation, search
Foolow
Derbyshire
Foolow.jpg
The Village Pond
Location
Grid reference: SK191768
Location: 53°17’16"N, 1°42’54"W
Data
Post town: Hope Valley
Postcode: S32
Dialling code: 01433
Local Government
Council: Derbyshire Dales

Foolow is a village in the Derbyshire Peak District. The population of the village is small and counted only together with the parish of Eyam.

The name of the village is from Old English, possibly from fugol hlæw, meaning 'Bird Hill' or words for 'Colourful Hill'.[1]

Village centre

The village green contains an ornate mediæval cross, similar to the one at Wheston but possibly of later date. It has been suggested that it is 15th century.[2] It is inscribed with the date 1868, when it was moved from the site of the Wesleyan Reform Chapel and its shaft was replaced. A former bull ring lies in front of the cross.[3]

Lead mining

South of the village, the Watergrove mine was active from the 18th century until 1853. Water was a problem over this period; both soughs and pumping engines were used. In 1837 a Fairbrother beam engine was installed. Its 80-foot chimney stood until 1960.

There are hillocks in the north of the parish that mark the sites of other mines.[4]

There are also sinkholes present- the most recent appeared in late 2013- believed to result from mine workings.[5] It is probable that mining, whether lead or other mineral, has been an occupation for the people of Foolow since at least the 15th century. Robert Roworth, of Folowe, a miner, appears as owing £4 to Thomas Calton of Chesterfield, in a legal record of 1470.[6]

Commons-logo.svg
("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Foolow)

References

  1. Follow: 'Key to English Place-names' (English Place Name Society)
  2. National Heritage List 1109996: Village Cross, Foolow, Derbyshire (Grade II listing)
  3. Neville T. Sharpe, Crosses of the Peak District (Landmark Collectors Library, 2002)
  4. Helen Harris, Industrial archeology of the Peak District (David & Charles,1971)
  5. "Sinkhole opens in ground by village". 30 December 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-25554549. 
  6. "Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40 / 837". http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/E4/CP40no837/aCP40no837fronts/IMG_0142.htm. Retrieved 11 January 2019.