Crich

Crich is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. Besides the village of Crich, the civil parish includes the nearby villages of Fritchley, Whatstandwell and Wheatcroft. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 census.

The village is home to the National Tramway Museum and, at the summit of Crich Hill above, a memorial tower for those of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died in battle, particularly in World War I.

History
In 1009 King Æthelred the Unready signed a charter at the Great Council which recognised the position and boundaries of Weston-on-Trent and several other manors including Crich. The charter shows that Weston controlled the nearby crossings of the Trent. The land was listed as eight hides at Weston upon Trent, and a hide at Crich, Morley, Smalley, Ingleby and Kidsley. This land was then given to Morcar, the King's chief minister, and he was unusually given rights that were normally reserved for the King alone. He was given the responsibility for justice and exemption from the Trinoda necessitas, he alone could decide a fate of life or death without the need of the authority of the King or his sheriff. Morcar was given further lands in Derbyshire. Weston (and Crich?) again come under the control of Æþelræd Unræd, when Morcar and his brother were murdered by Eadric in 1015.

Parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary are Norman, with later Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic alterations from the 14th century. Crich has also a Wesleyan Chapel that was built in 1770.

A workhouse was opened in 1734 on the edge of Nether Common. It could accommodate 40 inmates, and accepted paupers from other parishes, including Melbourne, Pentrich, Willington, Mercaston and Denby.

Chase Cliffe is a Tudor Revival house on the road from Crich to Whatstandwell. It was designed by Benjamin Ferrey and built in 1859–61.

Quarrying
Geologically, Crich lies on a small inlier of Carboniferous limestone (an outcrop on the edge of the Peak District surrounded by younger Upper Carboniferous rocks).

Quarrying for limestone probably began in Roman times. In 1791 Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford bought land for a quarry to supply limestone to their new ironworks at Butterley. This became known as Hilt's Quarry, and the stone was transported down a steep wagonway, the Butterley Company Gangroad, to the Cromford Canal at Bullbridge. Near there they also built lime kilns for supplying farmers and for the increasing amount of building work. Apart from a period when it was leased to Albert Banks, the quarry and kilns were operated by the Butterley Company until 1933. The gangroad, descending some 300 feet in about a mile, was at first worked by gravity, a brakeman "spragging" the wheels of the wagons, which were returned to the summit by horses. However, in 1812 the incline was the scene of a remarkable experiment, when William Brunton, an engineer for the company, produced his Steam Horse locomotive.

In 1840 George Stephenson, in building the North Midland Railway, discovered deposits of coal at Clay Cross and formed what later became the Clay Cross Company. He realised that burning lime would provide a use for the coal slack that would otherwise go to waste. He leased Cliff Quarry and built limekilns at Bullbridge. They were connected by another wagonway including a section known as "The Steep", a 550 yard self-acting incline at a slope of 1 in 5.

Cliff Quarry closed in 1957, though it restarted at the western end until 2010 when it was mothballed. The eastern end was bought by the Tramway Museum in 1959.

Hilt's Quarry closed in 1933 and is derelict. For 38 years, Rolls-Royce used it for dumping low-level radioactive waste such as enriched uranium, cobalt-60 and carbon-14. Following a campaign and blockades by villagers in the Crich and District Environment Action Group, dumping ceased in 2002. In 2004 the Government backed an Environment Agency document banning further dumping, and Rolls-Royce will be required to restore and landscape the site.

Memorial tower


The memorial tower ('Crich Stand') was completed in 1923 as a memorial to the 11,409 soldiers from the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who died in World War I, a dedication that was later extended to include World War II. It was built on an limestone outcrop above the village, at an altitude of 1000 ft above sea level. The location is symbolic because it is widely visible across, and gives views of, both of the two counties from which the regiment was raised (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire). It is the destination of an annual pilgrimage on the first Sunday in July.

Besides the main dedication, two further plaques dedicate the memorial to those who died serving in the Sherwood Foresters regiment from 1945 to 1970, and to those who died serving the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment from 1970 to 2007 and the Mercian Regiment since 2007. A nearby small plaque is dedicated to Brigadier J.H.M. Hackett, 'Last Colonel The Sherwood Foresters 1965 – 1970 and First Colonel The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment'.

National Tramway Museum


Beneath Crich Stand, at the northern end of Crich village, is the National Tramway Museum (also known as Crich Tramway Village) which is the UK's largest and most comprehensive museum of trams and tramways. The museum contains over 80 trams built between 1873 and 1982 and includes several exhibitions and a recreated period street containing a working pub, cafe, shop and various pieces of period street furniture.

Many of the museum's collection of trams are operational, and carry passengers on journeys through the period street and out into the local countryside on a 1.6 km long running track. Along the way are the preserved 1763 facade of the Derby Assembly Rooms, a recreated Victorian public park, a woodland sculpture trail and a display on the local lead mining industry.

Archives
A collection of title deeds relating to land and property in Crich is held at the Cadbury Research Library of the University of Birmingham.

In popular culture
The village was a location for the setting for the ITV drama series Peak Practice (along with Ashover for a time). Images of the village also appear in the 2007 film And When Did You Last See Your Father? starring Colin Firth. In the film Firth is seen riding a motorbike up Chapel Lane.