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Youlgrave - Peak District Towns and Villages

Youlgrave - An index to Peak District towns and villages including Youlgrave, Ashbourne, Bakewell, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Leek, Matlock, Macclesfield and Wirksworth in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, England, UK.

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Youlgrave

Local Services:

B & B

Self Catering

Food and Drink

Local Geography:
Area Map

Nearby Villages

Local Attractions

Youlgrave (or Youlgreave as the Ordnance Survey persist in calling it) is a sleepy village, now mainly devoted to farming, but this was once one of the centres of the Derbyshire lead-mining industry. Though lead is no longer mined, some of the old mines are still used for the extraction of fluorspar and calcite.

Youlgrave Church
Youlgrave Church
The village was built on a ridge between the rivers Bradford and Lathkill, and is a fine centre for exploring both of these beautiful valleys. The village spills down the slope to the Bradford to the south, in a topsy-turvy fashion. The river is often dry here, having found an underground course to the Derwent in Darley Dale in 1881, but the dale upstream is very pretty.

At the crossroads at the eastern end of the village lie the George Hotel and the church, and from here the main road goes westwards past rows of old cottages.
Conduit Head
Conduit Head
There are several shops and a second pub before you reach the former Market Place where the main feature is the Conduit Head, a large circular tank which was once an integral part of the village's water supply. Opposite, the former Coop building now houses the Youth Hostel.

The church is one of the most interesting in the Peak, and the village contains many rows of lovely old cottages. Behind the Market Place is the original Hall, now Old Hall Farm, a grand building dated 1630, and there are some fine buildings along the main street.

Downstream of Youlgreave the hamlet of Alport lies at the junction of the Lathkill and Bradford rivers. It is a pretty spot and a good place to start a circular walk of the two valleys.

Nearby Places of Interest

Arbor LowArbor Low is a Stone Age Henge (stone circle) monument in Derbyshire, situated close to Hartington and Youlgrave. It is the finest Stone Age monument in Northern England.
Ashbourne ChurchSt Oswald's Church, Ashbourne, is one of the grandest churches in Derbyshire with a fine array of alabaster tombs.
Bakewell ChurchBakewell parish church, Bakewell, Derbyshire, is built on the foundations of a Saxon church and includes some Norman sections.
Caudwell's Mill, RowsleyCaudwell's Mill, Rowsley, Derbyshire, is a working 19th century flour mill which still mills and sells flour. It is open for guided tours and there is also a mill shop and tea room.
Haddon HallHaddon Hall, a mediaeval manor house and home of the Dukes of Rutland, the Manners family, in the Peak District alongside the River Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Magpie MineThe Magpie Mine, just South of Sheldon, was one of the most famous lead mines in the Peak District and was worked until the 1950s. Most of the buildings still stand.
Old House Museum, BakewellThe Old House Museum, Bakewell, Derbyshire, has a small exhibition of local life and artefacts, housed in a typical yeoman's house of the 16th century.
Peak RailPeak Rail have re-opened a section of the former Midland railway which ran between Matlock and Buxton. They are based at Rowsley South station and run services from there to Matlock.
Robin Hood's StrideRobin Hood's Stride is a spectacular tor of gritstone rocks perched on a ridge between Harthill Moor and the Alport-Winster road in the Derbyshire Peak District.
Stanton MoorStanton Moor, and the Nine Ladies stone circle, Derbyshire - a scenic area with many bronze age relics and burial mounds overlooking Stanton in Peak and the Wye and Derwent valleys.
Youlgrave ChurchYoulgrave or Youlgreave Church, Derbyshire, is one of the finest churches in the Peak District. The tombs of Thomas Cockayne, Sir John Rossington and Roger Rooe are especially fine.
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