Wensley

The village Reading Room was established in 1891 by Joseph and Sarah TAYLOR of Manchester. It started with 500 volumes. It is now used for village meetings and social functions.

J. THOMAS has a photograph of the former Reading Room in Wensley on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2014.

You will find the County Library at Matlock a useful source. They have a Local Studies and Family History section to help you in your search.

• A Derbyshire Parish At War: South Darley and the Great War 1914-1919, Country Books, 2001. ISBN 1-898941-53-X.
   
• A Derbyshire Parish at Peace and War: South Darley 1925-1955. Life in South Darley through to World War Two and the subsequent return to peace. Country Books, 2001. ISBN 1-898941-59-9.

John SLATER has a photograph of St Mary's Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2017.

Basher EYRE also has a photograph of St Mary the Virgin's churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.

Michael SPENCER has created a partial extract of South Darley burials in a pop-up file for your review. Your additions and correction are welcomed.

• The parish was in the Matlock sub-district of the Bakewell Registration District.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin.
   
• The church foundation stone was laid in 1840 and the church consecrated in June, 1845. It was intended as a chapel of ease for the parish of St Helens, Darley Dale.
   
• The church chancel was added in 1886.
   
• The church was restored in 1891.
   
• The church seats 226.
   
• Graham HOGG has a photograph of St. Mary's Church on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2012.
   
• Basher EYRE has a photograph of the SMITH brothers' Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.
   
• The Reverend Edward Augustus HADFIELD was the vicar here from 1892 until at least 1933.

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1845.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Bakewell.
   
• David DUNFORD has a photograph of the Methodist chapel on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2012.
   
• David BEVIS also has a photograph of the Wensley Methodist chapel on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2010.
   
• A Methodist Free Church was built at Oakerside in 1854.
   

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   
• The parish was in the Matlock sub-district of the Bakewell Registration District.

"SNITTERTON, a township in the parish of Darley, hundred of Wirksworth, county Derby, 2 miles E. of Winster, and 1½ mile N.W. of Matlock."

"WENSLEY, a township in the parish of Darley, county Derby, 2 miles N.E. of Winster. It is situated on the river Derwent, and is joined with Snitterton."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]

Wensley has a village website with local news and interests.

Neil THEASBY has a photograph of Wensley village on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2013.

Wensley and Darley Bridge are served by the Derby Bus on route 172.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Mel LOCKIE provides a transcription of the Wensley entry from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England, 1831.
   
• Ann ANDREWS provides a transcription of the Wensley entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

• The transcription of the section for Wensley from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin HINSON.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Wensley to another place.

• South Darley parish, originally named 'Wensley and Snitterton', was formed from Darley in 1840 when St Mary the Virgin parish church was built. Today, the parish encompasses the villages and hamlets of Wensley, Cross Green, Darley Bridge (formerly known as Bridgetown), Oker and Snitterton.

Neil THEASBY has a photograph of the "Three Stags Heads" in Darley Bridge on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2017.

• These are the names associated with the Three Stags Heads Inn in various directories:

John POYSER has a photograph of the former "The Crown Inn" on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2008. The Inn is now a private residence.

• These are the names associated with the Crown Inn in various directories:

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK268611 (Lat/Lon: 53.146187, -1.60109), Wensley which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

Not far from the church's front door stands the granite War Memorial cross.

There is a WW1 war memorial tablet for Wensley in the Reading Room, Wensley, on the wall inside the porch at the main entrance. This memorial was commissioned by Walter WRIGHT and erected in the former Methodist Church.

Basher EYRE has a photograph of the War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.

The War Memorial in the Redundant Methodist Church is an oblong, mottled, white marble tablet with rebated borders and an incised inscription in upright capital roman lettering coloured black. It reads:

"IN MEMORY OF THE MEN
OF SOUTH DARLEY WHO FELL
IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918

WILLIAM ALLEN
GEORGE DERBYSHIRE
JOHN POTTER
SAMUEL RILEY
BERTIE BISHTON
B. G. DAVIE
ANTHONY SPENCER
FRANCIS FLINT
ROBERT HODGKINSON
SAMUEL FROST
FRANK SLACK
THOMAS WALTERS
ARTHUR BOAM
HARRY STEWARDSON
JOHN A. BECKETT
ROBERT DAWSON
WILLIAM HOLMES
GEORGE BAILEY
CYRIL PETTS
ERNEST CHELL
JOHN C. KNOWLES
GEORGE BONSALL
FRED STONE"

According to the village website, the village name "Wensley" derives from Woden, the Norse God of War.

From the "Derbyshire Times & Chesterfield Herald", Wednesday 18 November 1903:

"Accident at Temple Normanton, Fatal Result from a Fall in a Public House, Death at Darley Dale. Inquest on body of JOHN BRUNT, 78, Sawyer and tubbing wedge maker. who lived at the Lings Colliers, Temple Normanton …. Died after breaking his leg in a fall at the pub, had a cough, rheumatic, congested lungs etc.
M. SYDNEY TAYLOR, Coroner for the High peak Hundreds.
MRS FANNY DOROTHY BAMFORD John Brunt’s daughter.
JOHN THOMAS GOODLAD landlord of the Lords Arms Temple Normanton
Dr WARNEFORD, Dr GRAHAM, (Chesterfield), P.c. ROWLATT"

Ed. Note: The above mentions a death at Darley Dale, but it may only have been that the coronor's inquest was held there. We do know that Fanny Dorothy BAMFORD lived in South Darley in 1883 and was the wife of Alfred George BAMFORD of Wensley.

• This place was an ancient Township in Darley parish in Derby county and it was incorporated as a separate, modern Civil Parish in December, 1866.
   
• This parish was in the ancient Wirksworth Hundred (or Wapentake).
   
• The citizens of Wensley parish have elected to forgo a formal Parish Council, however they do hold periodic Parish Meetings to discuss civic and political matters.
   
• District governance is provided by the Derbyshire Dales District Council.
   
• Basher EYRE has a photograph of the South Darley Village Hall, taken in July, 2015. Stop in when the Hall is open and ask to see the schedule of forth-coming events. Halls like this are often used to hold talks on local history or historic folks from the parish's past.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Wirksworth petty session hearings every other Tuesday.
   
• Ann PHYNNEY's charity had four cottages in Wensley Dale for poor widows.
   
• As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Bakewell Poorlaw Union.

From Wikipedia: "The nearest schools are South Darley Primary School, Winster Primary School, Elton Primary School and Darley Dale Primary School. Its nearest senior schools are Lady Manners School in Bakewell and Highfields School in Matlock, Derbyshire."

The parish built a Primary School (mixed) in 1862 for 97 children. Average attendance in 1890 was 95. The school was enlarged in 1892 to hold up to 160 children.

Basher EYRE has a photograph of the South Darley C of E Primary School on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015. The school is adjacent to the Village Hall.