Ashover, Derbyshire

Description
Ashover, a village, a township, and a parish in Derbyshire. The village stands in a deep narrow valley, on the river Amber, 3 miles WNW of Stretton railway station, and 7 SSW of Chesterfield. It is a place of great antiquity, and was once a market-town. Fairs for cattle and sheep are still held on 25 April and 15 Oct., and a statute fair in November. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Chesterfield. Lace-making is carried on. Tambour-working and stocking-weaving were once prominent; but the former has ceased, and the latter is declining. The area of the township is 9564 acres; population, 2353. The parish includes also the hamlets of Alton, Kelstedge, Upper Town, Mill Town, and Little Moor. Limestone is quarried, and lead ore was formerly mined. Stubben Edge is the seat of the Jackson family. Overton Hall, formerly the seat of Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society, is now the residence of the Jessop family. Lea Hurst, a fine Gothic mansion, for many years the home of Florence Nightingale, is now the seat of the Cocksey Lee family. Robin Hood's Mark, a rocking-stone about 26 feet in circuit, is on a slope of Ashover Common, and the Turning-stone, a remarkably shaped block 9 feet high, supposed to have been an object of Druidical veneration, is about 200 yards farther off. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Southwell; net value, £290 with residence. The church was built in 1419, and various alterations and improvements to its interior were made in 1886; is surmounted by a square embattled tower, and a handsome spire; has a beautiful window of stained glass to the Nodder family, set up in 1845, with several other memorial windows erected at various dates since then, and contains tombs of the Babingtons and two brasses. There are an endowed school at Upper Town under the control of Charity Trustees, and other charities £40. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, and a cemetery, under the control of a Burial Board.