Bonsall

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BONSALL - Description from Pigot's 1835 Directory

BONSALL is a parish, containing a village which was once a market town, and the market cross, consisting of a pillar, bearing the date of 1687, resting on a base formed by an ascent of fifteen steps, still remains. The houses which form the village are scattered over a considerable plot of ground, the centre of which is between three and four miles N.W. from Wirksworth, and about one mile and a half from Cromford; the approach to it from the latter place being by the Via Gellia, a singularly romantic ravine.

The vicinity is diversified with hills and dales; among the latter, the dale of Bonsall is highly pleasing, and several situations around present views eminently interesting to the artist. Here are several colour-works and a manufactory for tortoiseshell combs. The church, which is dedicated to St. James, is a venerable embattled edifice, having a tower terminating in pinnacle, and supporting an octagonal spire, curiously ornamented. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the dean of Lincoln: there is also a place of worship for general baptists. The free grammar school here, was originally endowed in 1704, and further enriched in 1763.

The parish contained, in 1821, 1,396 inhabitants, but at the last census (1831) the number returned was 1,315 only.

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie ©1999]

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