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Ambergate
Ambergate has grown out from the Great Railway Age of nineteenth century England, making it a young village compared to many others in Derbyshire. Ambergate was born in 1840 and prior to this the small rural settlement of Toadmoor, first recorded in 1397. In just over a hundred years Ambergate has expanded rapidly and has swallowed both Toadmoor, and further north along the A6, Crich Chase, a tiny hamlet consisting of three farmsteads first mentioned in 1555. Ambergate is located approximately 6 miles south of Matlock at the junction of the A6 trunk road and the A610 to Ripley.
One beautiful attraction of Ambergate is the quaintly named Halfpenny Bridge which crosses the Derwent along Holly Lane which was built to continue the Wirksworth road across the river in 1792.On the east bank of the river stood Ambergate's earliest dwelling Ferry House, where people paid their halfpennies to cross the bridge. The Ferry House was demolished in 1964. Thatched House Tavern, located just to the side of the Ferry House was built originally to cater for the Canal construction teams working on the Bullbridge aquaduct was also demolished around the same time. Pigott's Directory describes the Tavern in 1857 as a first-rate commercial post house and boarding-house with every convenience post-horses, flys, etc. are in readiness at five minutes notice. The railway company demolished it around 1870 to make way for a new triangular station which served the Nottingham to Manchester line and the Derby to Rowsley line. The stations were demolished along with the Bullbridge aquaduct when road-widening took place in the sixties, and all that remains is a single platform on the Derby - Matlock line.
By 1874 the Tavern had been replaced by the Hurt Arms Hotel, built directly opposite the station and the junction with the Bullbridge turnpike. Today the stone-built hotel, whose sign shows the coat-of-arms of the Hurt Family, has a fine reputation for it's hospitality and excellent food, and also has a well equipped children's play area at the rear. The Hurt's also had an iron works with foundry and rolling mills down by the Derwent on the site of the large factory complex now occupied by the Litchfield Group of Companies, and next to the Ambergate Sports and Social Club, whose lush sports ground lies between road and river. In the last two centuries new industry has been attracted to the area, especially along the Nottingham road which is industrialised most of the way to Sawmills and Bullbridge. Modern Ambergate certainly caters well for the traveller. In between is Ambergate Post Office, which is also a general store, off-license and newsagent, and has a pleasant tea-room and cafe at the rear.
Opposite the church, Newbridge Road climbs steeply past the school built in 1898 and up to the main hillside residential area where dwellings spread across the east bank of the Derwent, all the way to the top of the hill where Toadmoor Lane meets the old high road to Belper and Ripley. Over on the west bank of the river and stretching to the skyline is Shining Cliff Wood with the well known and popular Youth Hostel. The wood is managed by the Woodland Trust for the Forestry Commission and the footpaths through it provide splendid opportunities for Peak District Walking with fabulous glimpses of the Derwent Valley and views of Crich Stand away to the north.
The beauty and charm of Abergate lies in it's permanent and natural features, in the quieter, peaceful places where anglers and herons alike haunt the river bank in search of the abundance of high quality Peak District Fishing that is offered by the Derwent.
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