Hathersage
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Hathersage (from heather's edge) is a village in Derbyshire Peak District, in England. It lies on the south bank of the River Derwent, approximately 10 miles west of Sheffield.
It is served by Hathersage railway station on the Hope Valley Line.
It has a mediaeval church with a stained glass window by Charles Kempe, which had been removed from Derwent Chapel, before it was submerged under the Ladybower Reservoir. On a circular mound next to the mediaeval church, there is an earthwork called Camp Green, which is probably a fortification built by the Danes around 850 CE.
Little John is said to have been buried in the churchyard. In 1780 his grave was dug up by James Shuttleworth and a thigh bone measuring 72.39cm was discovered. This would have made Little John 8.08 feet in height. Indeed, Robin Hood himself is said to have been born at Loxley, which is only eight miles away. He is said to have used Robin Hood’s Cave, on Stanage Edge nearby, as a hideaway.
In 1845 Charlotte Brontë stayed at the Hathersage vicarage, visiting her friend Ellen Nussey, whose brother was the vicar, while she was writing Jane Eyre and many of the locations mentioned in her novel match locations in Hathersage, the name Eyre being that of a large extended family of landed gentry in that part of Derbyshire. Thornfield Hall for example is widely accepted to be North Lees Hall situated on the outskirts of Hathersage.
In the mid-eighteenth century Hathersage was famous for its brass buttons. In 1566, Christopher Schutz, a German immigrant had invented a process for drawing wire and set up a works in Hathersage. This became important for nail making, and for the sieves used by miners. It developed into the production of pins and needles. This led to one of the first Factory Acts, for working conditions were so bad, from the inhalation of grinding dust, that the workers' life expectancy was around only thirty years. The workshops closed around 1900 as mechanised production appeared in Sheffield.
Hathersage lies below Hathersage Moor, site of the Carl Wark fort, of unknown origin, and Higger Tor.
Tourists flock to Hathersage each year to swim in its open-air swimming pool, to climb Stanage Edge, to go hiking, visit the Hope Valley or to see Little John's grave.
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