Wardlow, Derbyshire

{{Short description|Village in Derbyshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |country = England |static_image =Wardlow Mires view.jpg |static_image_width =240px |static_image_caption= The hamlet of Wardlow Mires |coordinates = {{coord|53.268|-1.727|display=inline,title}} |map_type = Derbyshire |official_name = Wardlow |population = 118 |population_ref = (2011) |civil_parish =Wardlow |shire_district = Derbyshire Dales | shire_county = Derbyshire |region = East Midlands |constituency_westminster = |post_town = Buxton |postcode_district =SK17 |postcode_area =SK |dial_code = |os_grid_reference = SK1874 }} '''Wardlow''' is a parish and linear village in the Derbyshire Dales two miles from Tideswell, Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 118.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11130149&c=Wardlow&d=16&e=62&g=6413712&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1459589968140&enc=1|title=Civil parish population 2011|accessdate=2 April 2016|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics}}</ref> The village contains the church of the Good Shepherd and the small hamlet of '''Wardlow Mires''', which contains a notable pub, The Three Stags' Heads.<ref>[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Wardlow/index.html Genuki] accessed 14 May 2008</ref>

==History== In 1755, two stone coffins were found when a cairn was excavated,<ref>[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Wardlow/Gaz1868.html National Gazetteer] 1868, accessed 13 May 2008</ref> and surrounding these were seventeen other remains which spread out in a radial way,<ref name=dby/> although another source says there were seventeen coffins, and gives the date that they were found during the construction of a turnpike road as 1759.<ref name=bag/>

Black Harry was a highwayman on the turnpike roads who troubled travellers on the moors around Wardlow and Longstone. In Stoney Middleton his name lives on in place names like Black Harry Gate and Black Harry House, but it was at Gibbet Field near Wardlow that he met his end<ref name=peak/> when he was hanged and Gibbeted after being arrested by the Castleton Constables.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series3/travellers_highwaymen_derbyshire_peakdistrict.shtml BBC Inside Out] accessed 13 May 2008</ref>

In 1815, on Gibbet field, near Wardlow the last man to be gibbeted in Derbyshire was displayed.<ref>[http://www.peaklandheritage.org.uk/index.asp?peakkey=41100421 The Last Gibbet] accessed 19 May 2008</ref> The tollkeeper, Hannah Oliver, had been strangled, and the vital clue was her missing red shoes. The local cobbler, Mr Marsden of Stoney Middleton, confirmed that shoes found at the house of 21-year-old Antony Lingard had been made for Hannah. This was the key evidence<ref name=peak>[Wardlow at Peak Experience] accessed 13 May 2008</ref> that led his to being hung in chains near the village.<ref name=bag>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GvoGAAAAQAAJ&dq=wardlow+derbyshire&pg=PA445 History, gazetteer and directory of Derbyshire, with the town of Burton-upon] Samuel Bagshaw, p.445, 1846 accessed 13 May 2008</ref> Lingard's body was displayed on April Fools' Day 1815, and remained there for some months. A poem by William Newton, which imagined the anguish of the murderer's father having to gaze on this sight, was given much of the credit<ref name=gib>[http://www.peaklandheritage.org.uk/index.asp?peakkey=41101321 Peakland Heritage] accessed 28 February 2008</ref> for the abolition of gibbeting in 1834.

A school was built in 1833, and was expanded in 1872 to serve 45 children.<ref name=and/> The school building still boasts a bell tower, and is used today as a village hall and Sunday school.<ref name=dby/> In 1871 the census revealed the complexities of having a village in two parishes. The census returns show how the small number of inhabitants had to be divided into two different lists.<ref>[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Wardlow/Census71-1.html Census listing] accessed 14 May 2008</ref>

The church of the Good Shepherd was built in 1873 to seat one hundred people, and consists of a chancel, a nave, and a turret between the chancel and nave.<ref name=and>[http://www.andrewspages.dial.pipex.com/dby/kelly/wardlow.htm Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland] May, 1891, p.323 accessed 28 February 2008</ref> It is a Grade II listed building.<ref name="NHLE1159098">{{NHLE |num=1159098 |desc=Church of Good Shepherd and Attached School |grade=II |fewer-links=yes |accessdate=10 September 2020}}</ref>

It was not until 1937 that piped water came to Wardlow, so it is fitting that the village still celebrates with a well dressing each September.<ref name=dby>[http://www.aboutderbyshire.co.uk/cms/places/wardlow.shtml about Derbyshire.co.uk] accessed 14 May 2008</ref>

==Wardlow Mires== thumb|left|The Three Stags' Heads Wardlow Mires is a small hamlet with a single public house. The Three Stags' Heads in Wardlow Mires is a Grade II listed building<ref name=EnglishHeritage>{{NHLE |num= 1380338|desc= The Three Stags' Heads|accessdate= 19 August 2014 |grade=II |mode=cs2}}</ref> and listed on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.<ref name=Brandwood>{{cite book|last1=Brandwood|first1=Geoff|title=Britain's best real heritage pubs|date=2013|publisher=CAMRA|location=St. Albans|isbn=9781852493042|page=33}}</ref> It is like a farmhouse might have been 200 years ago: a small stone flagged room with a cast-iron range, whitewashed walls, a small bar and a couple of rickety tables and chairs. For many years the mummified remains of a cat were exhibited in a glass case. The cat's remains were found during alterations to a chimney breast and were thought to have been placed there for superstitious reasons.<ref name=peak/>

Above Wardlow Mires is an unusual large rocky outcrop known as Peter's Stone. The name is believed to come from its resemblance to St. Peter's in Rome. The other more grisly name for Peter's Stone is Gibbet Rock, for it was here that Lingard's body was displayed for the entertainment of visitors for several months.<ref name=pd>[http://www.peakdistrictonline.co.uk/content.php?categoryId=10014 PeakDistrictOnline] accessed 15 May 2008</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Wardlow}}

Category:Villages in Derbyshire Category:Towns and villages of the Peak District Category:Civil parishes in Derbyshire Category:Derbyshire Dales