Compliments of Tim & Helen

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Taken from 'The Derbyshire Village Book' published by the Derbyshire
Federation of Women's Institutes & Countryside Books, 1991. ISBN 1 85306 133 6

Kirk Ireton, with a population of 400, nestles on a hillside 700 ft above
sea level four miles to the south of Wirksworth. Many of the older buildings
date from the l7th century and most are built from gritstone quarried
locally. The name Ireton is unique to Derbyshire and Kirk Ireton is believed
to mean the `Church of Irish Enclosure', probably where Celtic missionaries
settled.

Like many rural villages the occupations of Ireton residents are no longer
based on agriculture; within the last 25 years the number of working farms
in the village has dropped from nine until only one remains. The farmhouses
and buildings have been converted into desirable residences.  The village 
still boasts a primary school, church, chapel, pub and shop cum
post office. The Barley Mow pub is one of the oldest buildings, with real
ale and a unique atmosphere - it has never been modernised. Indeed it was
one of the last premises in the country to accept decimalisation the 87 year
old landlady Mrs Ford did not hold with the new money.

Kirk Ireton still celebrates its traditional Wakes Week, which starts on
Trinity Sunday, the church's patronal festival, with a procession of
villagers led by a local brass band and the Oddfellows banner from the
Barley Mow to the church for a service of thanksgiving.  Holy Trinity church 
dates from 1120, and has an interesting custom known as `roping' 
for weddings, when village children put a rope across the road and
bride and groom cannot leave the church until a toll is paid in silver by
the bridegroom. Also centred on the church is the village ghost story; one
day a passerby heard a voice from the graveyard enquiring `What time is
it?'. No one could be seen, and the startled passerby hurried on; a few
seconds later Luke the gravedigger emerged from the bottom of a newly dug
grave to look at the church clock.

The village once rejoiced in the nickname `Sodom'; this came about because
the village boys used to throw sods of grass at any strange young men who
came courting a village lass. They used to `Sod-'em'!

There are still some village charities extant. The Slater-Cooper pays
pensioners a twice yearly payment of around £20 and the Anne Downing
Clothing Charity now pays for school trips, while the School Endowment Fund
buys each child a bible when they leave.

The village has been home for craftsmen and artists and boasts many amongst
the inhabitants today. Kirk Ireton had an illustrious visitor in the 1930s
when the then Prince of Wales came to visit the workshop of Mr Sherwin, who
was famous for his linenfold carving; on leaving the Prince left his Panama
hat, which is still in the ownership of the Sherwin family - after they
offered to return it to him.
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Added 4-July-2012