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Heage

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HEAGE, a chapelry and township in the parish of Duffield, hundred of Appleton, county Derby, 2½ miles N.E. of Belper, its post town, and 1 mile S.E. of Ambergate station on the Midland Counties railway. It is an extensive township situated near the river Derwent and the Cromford canal. There are extensive iron works and coal mines. Edge tools are manufactured, and lace-making is also carried on. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £150.

The church, which is an ancient structure, was thoroughly restored and enlarged in 1836. The parochial charities produce about £40 per annum, of which £28 goes to the support of Storer's school. The Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, have each a chapel. There is a National school for both sexes, supported by voluntary contributions. Francis Hurt, Esq., is lord of the manor."

"EDGE HIGH, a township and chapelry in the parish of Duffield, hundred of Appletree, county Derby, 2½ miles N.E. of Belper, its post town. The Ambergate station on the Midland Counties line is 1 mile N.W. of the village. Here are extensive iron-works, and large warehouses for goods brought by canal, also marble works, and a manufactory for edge-tools. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Lichfield, value £150, in the gift of the Vicar of Duffield.

The chapel-of-ease is a large old edifice. The charities produce about £6 per annum. The Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Independents have each a chapel. There is an endowed free school, and National and infant schools. Francis Hurt, Esq., is lord of the manor." [EDGE HIGH noted as alternative spelling of HEAGE -RL 2003]”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

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Archives & Libraries

Heage is served by the Mobile Library on route 5, which stops by the Black Boy and on Park Crescent every 4th Monday morning. The hamlet of Ambergate is served on the same days.

The Library at Ripley is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

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Cemeteries

Half an acre of land was added to the parish churchyard in 1881.

Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of St. Luke's churchyard burial ground on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2008.

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Census

  • The parish was in the Ripley sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1841H.O. 107 / 189
1861R.G. 9 / 2513
1891R.G. 12 / 2747
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Church History

  • The parish church was long just a Chapel of Ease under Duffield. The original chapel was built of wood, but was destroyed by a storm in June of 1545.
     
  • The chapel was rebuilt of stone in 1646.
     
  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Luke.
     
  • The church was repaired and enlarged in 1836, giving it a "T" shape.
     
  • The church seats 450.
     
  • A Chapel of Ease to St. Luke was built in 1890 in Ambergate.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of Heage Church on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2008.
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1819 for baptisms and 1847 for marriages and burials. See Duffield for earlier entries.
     
  • We have a pop-up window of a partial extract of Parish Register baptisms in a text file for your review. Your additions are welcomed.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Duffield.
     
  • The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here before 1857.
     
  • The Wesleyan Methodists built a small chapel in Toadmoor hamlet before 1857.
     
  • The Primitive Methodists built a chapel here before 1857.
     
  • The Free (Reform) Methodists built a chapel here before 1857.
     
  • Andrew HILL has a photograph of the present Methodist Church on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2012.
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Civil Registration

  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
  • The parish was in the Ripley sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
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Description & Travel

"HEAGE is a township and village, in the parish of Duffield, and hundred of Appletree, 15 Miles N. from Duffield, about the like distance S.S.E. from Alfreton, and 3 N.E. from Belper. There is a mineral spring in the neighbourhood, efficacious in ulcerous complaints and for stopping inward bleeding. A chapel under the establishment, and several others for dissenters of various denominations are in the parish. The living of Heage is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the vicar of Duffield. The township contained, according to the returns, made in 1831, 1,845 inhabitants."

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

The village stands near the River Derwent, 143 miles north of the City of London in the Mid county division. The parish covers 2,600 acres and contains the hamlets of Nether Heage, Cackleton, Toadmoor, Ambergate, Black-Horse, and Boothgate. The River Amber serves as the northern border of the parish. The name derives from "High Edge". The village is noted today for its restored six-sail windmill from the late 1700s.

TrentBarton provides bus service to the village from Ripley and Belper, as well as the City of Derby.

John POYSER has a photograph of the road through Heage on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2008. It gives a good view of the size of the village.

Nether Heage, just to the west of Heage village, has its own website designed more for visitors than family historians.

Ambergate is home to the Great British Car Journey at Derwent Works.

The Amber Valley Borough Council set up a website for the village, called "Our Heage", but have been unable to populate the website with current information.

You can see pictures of Heage which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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History

Just to the west of the village stands a famous, rare 5-bladed windmill. The mill itself started construction in 1791. Malcom NEAL has a photograph of the Heage Windmill on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2009. Other photographs show the windmill with 6 vanes or 7 vanes.

Heage used to have a very popular Summer Carnival, but that now appears defunct.

Peter BARR has a photograph of the White Hart pub. on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2010.

J. THOMAS has a photograph of the Eagle Tavern on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2010.

David BEVIS has a photograph of the Black Boy Inn on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2008.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK366501 (Lat/Lon: 53.047165, -1.45535), Heage which are provided by:

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Military History

  • Nether Heage was once the site of a POW camp.
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Military Records

  • There is a War Memorial on the east side of St. Luke's Church. A photograph and names are listed at Derbyshire War Memorials.
     
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Names, Personal

  • Lieut.-Col. Albert Frederic HURT, of Alderwasley Hall, was lord of the manor in 1890. Born in Yeldersley, Ashborne, DBY, in 1835, he had a distinguished military career and died in March, 1907.
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Obituaries

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar offers this notice from the Derby Mercury of 24 February 1803 "DIED: On the 16th inst, after a long and tedious illness which she bore with fortitude and resignation of a Christian, Mrs ARGILE, of Heage, in this county; whose well known virtues (and especially her liberality to the poor) require not the pen of the panegyrist to transmit them to posterity."

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar contributes this snippet from the Derby Mercury of 29 March 1804 "DIED: On Thursday last at Morley park, near Heage, in this county, Mr. Robert WILDSMITH, at the advanced age of 91; whose amiable disposition, and agreeable manners will endear his memory to his surviving friends. He retained all his faculties till within a few days prior to his dissolution, when he was attacked with a paralytic complaint, to which he fell a patient victim."

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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient Chapelry in Duffield parish in Derby county but was incorporated as a separate modern Civil Parish in December, 1866.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient Appletree Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • Parish officials formed an Urban District Council in 1895 to include all the small hamlets around Heage.
     
  • In an April, 1934, boundary adjustment, this parish gained 233 acres transferred from Crich Civil Parish.
     
  • On 1 April, 1974, this parish abolished and amalgamated into Belper Civil Parish.
     
  • District Governance is provided by the Amber Valley Borough Council.
     
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Belper petty session hearings every other week.
     
  • In 1817, the Reverend Francis GISBORNE set up a charity of £7 and 5s as an annual gift to the poor in cloth and flannel.
     
  • As a result of the 1834 Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms, this parish became part of the Belper Poorlaw Union.
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Schools

Heage Central (mixed and infants) School was built in 1705 and rebuilt in 1908 for 244 children. Attendance in 1912 was 240.

Nether Heage (mixed and infants) School was built in 1877 for 75 boys and girls and 43 infants.

Upper Heage (mixed and infants) School was built in 1877 and enlarge in 1896, then again in 1899 for 304 children.

Peter BARR has a photograph of Ridgeway School on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2010. This has been converted to a private residence.

Ambergate (mixed) School was built in 1896 for 153 children.

Eirian EVANS has a photograph of Heage Primary School on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2012.