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Derbyshire

Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region	East Midlands
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 21st 2,625 km² Ranked 20th 2,547 km²
Admin HQ	Matlock
ISO 3166-2	GB-DBY
ONS code	17
NUTS 3	UKF12/13
Demographics
Population - Total (2022) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 21st 1,066,954 406 / km² Ranked
Ethnicity	96.0% White 2.3% S.Asian, 1.7% Black British, Mixed Race or Chinese
Politics
Arms of Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire County Council http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/
Executive
Members of Parliament	Margaret Beckett (L) Liz Blackman (L) Natasha Engel (L) Paul Holmes (LD) Bob Laxton (L) Tom Levitt (L) Judy Mallaber (L) Patrick McLoughlin (C) Dennis Skinner (L) Mark Todd (L)
Districts
1.High Peak 2.Derbyshire Dales 3.South Derbyshire 4.Erewash 5.Amber Valley 6.North East Derbyshire 7.Chesterfield 8.Bolsover 9.Derby (Unitary)

Derbyshire (pronounced "dar-bee-sher" /ˈdɑːbɪʃə/, as opposed to "dar-bee-shire" or "der-bee-shire") is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains part of the National Forest, and borders on Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Cheshire.

The city of Derby is now a unitary authority, but remains part of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. The administrative county countains 13 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, there is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland: 75% of the population live in 25% of the area. Although Derbyshire is in the East Midlands, some parts, such as High Peak, are closer to the northern cities of Manchester and Sheffield. Outside the main city of Derby, the largest town in the county is Chesterfield.

Districts and boroughs

Derbyshire has a three-tier local government since the local government reorganisation in 1974. It has a county council based in Matlock and eight district councils and since 1998, a unitary authority of Derby. However, Derby remains part of Derbyshire for ceremonial purposes.

At the third tier are the parish councils. In urban areas the work of the parish council is possibly undertaken by the county or district council. The eight district councils in Derbyshire and the unitary authority of Derby are shown in the map to the right.

These district councils are responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism

They leave the subjects of education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning for Derbyshire to the County Council.

History

The area that is now Derbyshire was first occupied between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter gatherers roamed the hilly tundra. The evidence of these nomadic tribes is centred around limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Desposits left in the caves date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE

Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county. These chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region. There are tombs in Minning Low, and Five Wells, which date back to between 2000 and 2500 BCE Three miles west of Youlgreave lies the Neolithic henge monument of Arbor Low, This can be dated back to 2500 BCE.

It is not until the Bronze Age that real signs of agriculture and settlement are found in the county. In the moors of the Peak District signs of clearence, arable fields and hut circles were discovered after archeological investigation. However this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are all that have been found

During the Roman invasion the invadors were attracted to Derbyshire because of the lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county with forts built near Brough in Hope Valley and near Glossop. Later they settled around Buxton, famed for it's warm springs, and set up a fort near modern day Derby in a area now known as Little Chester.

Economy

Derbyshire is a mixture of a rural economy in the west, with a former coal mining economy in the east (Bolsover district). The landscape varies from typical arable country in the flat lands to the south of Derby, to the mountain farming of the high gritstone moorlands of the southern Pennines, which effectively begin to the north of the city. This topology and geology has had a fundamental effect on Derbyshire development throughout its history. In addition it has been rich in natural resources like lead, iron and coal. Its remoteness in the late 18th century and an abundance of fast flowing streams led to a proliferation of water power at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, following the mills pioneered by Richard Arkwright.

Nationally famous companies in Derbyshire are Thorntons just south of Alfreton and JCB Power Systems have an engine factory in South Derbyshire. Ashbourne Water used to be bottled in Buxton by Nestlé Waters UK until 2006 and Buxton Waterstill is. Other major employers in the county especially around the Derby area are Rolls-Royce plc, Egg Banking plc and Toyota.

Education

For a list of individual schools see   Category:Schools in Derbyshire
The Derbyshire school system is comprehensive with no selective schools. There is selection by average house price in some areas. Rural parts of Derbyshire have some of the best comprehensive schools in the East Midlands. The average proportion of results getting grades A-C at GCSE including Maths and English is 45.8% in England. For Derbyshire, it is 45.5%. Derbyshire Dales is the best performing district in the East Midlands. At GCSE, the best performing school is Saint Mary's Catholic High School in Chesterfield with 85%, followed by the Ecclesbourne School in Duffield with 81%, then the Lady Manners School in Bakewell with 69%. The worst performing school is the Bennerley School in Ilkeston with 16%. The government target is 25%. At A level, the highest performing school is also Saint Mary's Catholic School, followed by the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Ashbourne, then the Friesland School in Sandiacre. The largest school Is John Port in Etwall at 2100 students.

Average GCSE by district (%)

• Derbyshire Dales 59.0
• South Derbyshire 47.5
• Amber Valley 47.4
• North East Derbyshire 47.3
• Chesterfield 46.7
• High Peak 45.9
• Erewash 40.4
• Bolsover 31.1
• (City of Derby Unitary Authority 42.2)

County flag

As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Jacob's Ladder as the county flower. In 2006, an official county flag was introduced, largely on the initiative of BBC Radio Derby in September 2006.

Trivia

• Derbyshire can make some claims to be at the centre of Britain. A farm near Coton in the Elms has been identified as the furthest from the sea whilst Rodsley and Overseal were the centres of population during the twentieth century.
• Several kings of Mercia are buried in Repton
• Derbyshire is the location of Fitzwilliam Darcy's mansion/estate called "Pemberley" in the Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice. Some scenes were filmed there for the 2005 film adaptation of the novel, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.
• Haddon Hall was the filming location for the 2006 BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre.
• Old Whittington is where the overthrow of a monarch was planned.
• Derbyshire is often said to be the home of the Industrial Revolution, with the first industrialised mills built at Cromford by Richard Arkwright in the 18th century. The area is now a World Heritage Site in recognition.
• Derbyshire is famous for the Bakewell Tart (originating from the small market town of Bakewell, where it is known locally as the Bakewell Pudding), and Buxton mineral water (from the spa town of Buxton).
• The ITV 3-Part Television Programme Mobile was filmed, in part, at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, Wirksworth.
• The EVR was also used to film an episode of the BBC's Casualty, in May 2007.

Settlements

This is a list of the towns in Derbyshire.

Sport

Derbyshire has many sporting teams in various team sports, the most common being football. Derbyshire has at least 21 football teams (listed below), most of who play in tier 6 or lower of the English football league system, and the most successful and popular is Derby County F.C.. Chesterfield F.C. are the only other of these football clubs who currently play in the Football League, albeit in the bottom tier (Coca Cola Football League 2).

As well as football, Derbyshire also has a cricket team based in Derby, and a rugby league club based in Chesterfield.

U.S Residential Development

Polk County North Carolina in the United States also features a residential development which derives its name from the English Derbyshire. The neighborhood presents itself as an English country side experience, with all aspects of the development holding true to traditional English designs and architecture.

See also

• Derbyshire lead mining history
• Derbyshire Places of interest

Footnotes

1. ^ The Local Channel accessed 20th June 2007
2. Smith, pp. 6
3. ^ Pevsner, pp. 22
4. Smith, pp. 7
5. ^ Smith,pp. 8
6. Choosing the Derbyshire flag
7. Derbyshire NC

References

• Smith, Roly (1999). Towns & Villages of Britain: Derbyshire. Cheshire: Sigma Press. ISBN 1850586225.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1953). The Buildings of England: Derbyshire. Middlesex: Penguin Books. ISBN 0140710086.

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• Derbyshire