Shirland and Higham is a civil parish within the North East Derbyshire district, which is in the county of Derbyshire, England. Mainly built up with rural fringes, its population was 5,209 residents in the 2021 census. The parish is north west of London, north east of the county city of Derby, and north of the nearest market town of Alfreton. It shares a boundary with the parishes of Alfreton, Blackwell, Brackenfield, Morton, South Normanton, South Wingfield, Stretton, Tibshelf and Wessington.
Geography
Location
Placement and size Shirland and Higham parish is surrounded by the following local Derbyshire places:
Morton and Stretton to the north Alfreton to the south Blackwell and Newton to the east Ogston Reservoir and Wessington to the west.
It is in area, in length and in width at its broadest, within the far south eastern portion of the North East Derbyshire district, and is to the east of the Derbyshire county near its border with Nottinghamshire. The parish is bounded by land features such as the Morton Brook to the north and east, the Alfreton Brook to the south, and the River Amber and Smithy Brook to the west.
Settlements There are a number of areas of built environment within the parish, outside of this containing substantial rural expanse and farmland. The main locales are:
Shirland Higham Stonebroom Mickley Hallfield Gate Toadhole Furnace Shirland, Higham, Hallfield Gate and Stonebroom were once separate villages which over the 20th century have grown and formed a single built-up area. A small portion of Stretton village falls into the parish at its northernmost extent.
Shirland
This is to the centre northwest of the parish surrounding the A61 road. It is the core focus point of the parish and taking up prominence in the title, historically due to its parish church. Primarily residential, traditionally it was considered to be along Main Road and Town End, It maintains services such as hospitality, church and cemetery, primary school and village hall.
Higham
Lying to the north west of the parish, and from Shirland, it is a wider area spread across a number of roads including the A61 and B6013. It developed around Main Road which is of some antiquity parallel to the nearby river, an offshoot named New Higham was formed around Strettea Lane. Mainly residential, buildings and features include some retail and hospitality.
Stonebroom
This location is to the north east of the parish and from Shirland, both coalesce into each other. It is primarily a linear settlement along Birkinstyle Lane and High Street, with a small nucleated portion. It contains a mix of mainly residences with small retail outlets, school, churches and a small industrial park.
Mickley A standalone area, it is former coalfield community developed in the 1940s as mainly council housing, this is to the north of Higham and north west of the parish. It rests alongside the A61 road.
Hallfield Gate In the far west of the parish and up to to the west of Shirland, this is a residential area surrounding Hallfieldgate Lane and the B6013 road.
Toadhole Furnace Also resting on the B6013, this is to the south west of Shirland and to the far south west of the parish. It is a hamlet and primarily residential with a surrounding rural area.
Routes The A61 road is the primary road within the parish, running north–south between Chesterfield and Alfreton. It runs alongside Mickley, and cuts through Higham and Shirland. The B6014 cuts across north of Mickley from Matlock towards Morton and Mansfield. The B6013 also branches off the A61 at Higham, southbound into the outskirts of Hallfield Gate and through Toadhole Furnace towards Belper. The B6025 branches off north of Alfreton towards Tibshelf.
Environment
Landscape The parish rests on the edge of the valley of the River Amber, and it rises steeply towards the various settlements which sit atop a plateau, the surrounding land to the south and east being noticeably lower. The parish is urbanised mainly to the north of the parish, and has some sporadic greenfield land throughout, particularly recreation areas, along with surrounding farmland. The southern area is rural and contains a landscaped golf club south of Shirland. Substantial areas of trees are few, with a small coppice to the north of Mickley, and scattered clusters to the parish east around Morton Brook and west of Higham surrounding ponds.
Climate The parish area has around 1,401 hours of sunshine throughout a typical year. There are 66 days of rainfall annually, with of precipitation falling per year. It rains mainly during the summer months of June, July and August. Snow falls for 6.5 days per year on average, with an average of .
Geology The bedrock of the parish is in the Pennine Coal Measures Group, split into a western half comprising Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation while the east is of the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation - both made up of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones of various types, dating from between 318 and 309.5 million years ago during the Carboniferous period,. The wider area has historically been mined for coal. The areas surrounding the River Amber, Alfreton Brook and much of the Morton Brook comprises alluvium - clay, silt, sand and gravel, which are sedimentary superficial deposits formed between 11.8 thousand years ago and the present during the Quaternary period. Additionally, a line of hard rock surrounds Shirland while a lengthy layer of Tupton Rock forms a valley ridge starting at Toadhole Furnace and passing through Hallfield Gate, Higham and Mickley.
Hydrological features The River Amber is a subsidiary of the River Derwent, it forms much of the parish south western boundary and branches away west of Mickley. The Smithy Brook in turn is a subsidiary that forms the remaining boundary in the west. The Morton Brook separates Morton parish to the north, as well as Tibshelf and Blackwell parishes to the east. The Normanton Brook enters the parish to the far south east before meeting Morton Brook as well as Alfreton Brook, which forms much of the south boundary and flows into the River Amber, south of Toadhole Furnace. There are small fishing ponds to the west of Higham.
Land elevation Along the Alfreton Brook near Toadhole Furnace is the lowest portion of the parish at approximately and the height increases marginally along the southern boundary of the brook. Toadhole Furnace is , but many of the inhabited areas are on higher ground to the north: Shirland is within the range of , Stonebroom is , Higham and Mickley . The highest area is a point between Higham and Mickley atop a reservoir west of the A61, measuring .
History
Toponymy Shirland was the only settlement to be listed in the Domesday 1086 landholding survey. It was described as Sirelunt, which was thought to mean a 'bright, shining grove'. Higham was first recorded in the middle 12th century as 'high village' in reference almost certainly to its location atop the River Amber valley ridge.
Prehistory to modern times The parish holds very little proof of its prehistoric past, with relics from that era recorded mainly in the surrounding area just outside the boundary, although a stone axe was found at Stonebroom in 1926, dating from the Neolithic to Late Bronze Age (4000 BC to 701 BC). There is evidence of a Roman (AD 43 to AD 410) presence in the area with Ryknield Street, a key Roman road running north–south through Derbyshire, now plotted by the stretch of A61 and B6013 road between Stretton, Higham and Toadhole Furnace. In 1066, at the time of the Norman Conquest, the area was held by Leofric (son of Osmund), and by 1086, the Domesday Book recorded the Shirland lord of the manor was Warner (father of Robert) who answered to the overall tenant-in-chief, William Peverel. The manor of Ufton, near Alfreton was at the time associated to Shirland.
By the time of the reign of King John (AD 1166 to 1216) it belonged to John de Grey, and Shirland became, for some generations, the seat of this branch of the Grey family, who were later named De Wilton from the seat of their barony. There was a deer park at Shirland owned by the Greys from the early 13th century. In the year 1243, John de Grey was granted a market in the manor and a fair for three days at the festival of St. Peter ad Vincula. The market was held at Higham until 1785, and was thought to have declined due to improved communications links to larger regional markets with the advent of local turnpike roads, which enabled Alfreton to become one such centre. A market cross commemorating this is located in Higham up to the present day, although it was reconstructed a number of times. By the 19th century there was still a fair at Higham on the first Wednesday after New Year's Day, for the sale of cattle.
The general route of the Roman road continued to be used certainly into the 14th century, with evidence being unearthed in the 20th century. From the middle 18th century, it was rebuilt as a turnpike road, deviating slightly at Hallfield Gate and Mickley. After the Greys, the manor passed through several owners, belonging to the Talbots who were Earls of Shrewsbury, and passed to the heiresses. By the 19th century the Earl of Thanet owned a third of Shirland. William Turbutt of Ogston-hall held a similar portion. The remainder was held between William Shore Nightingale of Lea-wood house, and the Hopkinsons of Ufton-field farm.
Stonebroom was two hamlets, named Upper Stone and Lower Stone, but was recognised as a standalone settlement by the 1320s. It remained small however and much of the focus during medieval times was at Shirland and Higham. With Morton colliery just to the north and Shirland pit sunk to the west opening in the 1860s, and housing for miners built for Morton and Shirland collieries at Stonebroom caused it to become the largest settlement in the parish. Originally housing was built to the eastern end of Stonebroom Lane, later following westwards in a linear settlement formation. A sizeable shopping area grew up along the lane. numbering 20 plus retail outlets before the end of the 19th century.
The original Stonebroom and Morton colliery cottages were minimally maintained and from the 1920s the properties were frequently condemned by local authorities, but with a shortage of housing to relocate displaced tenants and employees, which was a situation common in many coal mining communities throughout the north-east of the county in both post war periods, little was done until post World War II, when the local authorities began building 270 new houses at the new Mickley estate from 1947 onwards to relieve the appalling conditions The original builds at Stonebroom were eventually knocked down as the community expanded westwards with a new centre essentially completing by the middle 1960s, the original Stonebroom cottages location becoming the Stonebroom Industrial Estate from the 1970s.
Economy