Old Brampton is a linear village extending for some two
miles from east to west on either side of the road which links Chesterfield
and Baslow. Today the village is entirely
residential, having neither post office nor shop but it was
mentioned in Domesday and some of the village sites undoubtedly
have Saxon connections.
The tree-lined road winds from Chesterfield up to the high moors and in
the Middle Ages was used by packhorses to bring in produce
from the outlying farms, lead mines and coal bell pits. Charcoal burning
was also carried on in the vicinity. The road became a turn-
pike road, and in 1815 was designated a Public Carriage Road. Because
there is now an alternative wider and faster road from Chesterfield to
Baslow, Old Brampton is not harassed by heavy traffic and it is fortunate
in being served by a long-established local bus service, still run by a local
family.
The centre of the village, and village life, is the medieval parish church of St Peter
and St Paul with it's Norman doorway. The church
clock celebrates the 1897 Jubilee of Queen Victoria and is amusing
because of a mistake by the clock-face painter. He painted only four
minutes between twelve and one, then six minutes between one and two.
The George and Dragon public
house stands just across the road.
Next to the church stands a small stone building built in 1830 to be a
National school.
It was closed in 1918 when a larger one was built
beyond the edge of the village up on Pudding Pie hill, to serve Old
Brampton and the adjacent tiny settlements of Wadshelf and Wigley.
Today the old building is used for church affairs, as a Sunday school, and
as the monthly meeting place for the WI.
Across from the church stands Brampton Hall, recorded as a Saxon
manor in the Domesday Book. Although it has been altered many times
there is still a pair of cruck timbers inside, which were probably part of
the original structure. There is also a coat of arms which is believed to be
that of the de Caus family who lived in this building from the 12th to the
15th century, when it was known as de Caus Hall. It was the home of
Matilda de Caus whose effigy is in the church.
Further west, up the hill towards Baslow, is a tiny Methodist chapel,
built in the grounds of Hollins House in 1846. Bequeathed to Marsden
Street chapel in Chesterfield in 1957, it was closed in the 1960s and is
now used as a workshop.
More on the parish church of St Peter
and St Paul at Old Brampton Church
External Links
Old Brampton Church
