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Earl Sterndale
Earl Sterndale lies high above the Derbyshire Dales at 1100 ft above sea level, and is surrounded by a picturesque range of limestone hills including Crome Hill, Parkhouse, Hitter, Alderley Cliff and High Wheeldon, given to the nation to commemorate those from Staffordshire and Derbyshire who died during the Second World War. Earl Sterndale is situated 5 miles south of Buxton, right at the northern end of the Dove valley. The village is surrounded by a number of farmsteads referred to as 'granges', a name from the Middle Ages when much of this land was owned by Basingwerk Abbey and the granges were where, monks lived and worked the fields.
Most of the buildings were built of stone quarried locally, from quarries that supported the economy for many years alongside lead mining and agriculture. The village church, dedicated to St Michael, was built in 1828 on the site of an ancient chapel. It was substantially destroyed in 1941, when it was mistakenly bombed by the enemy, the only church in Derbyshire to be hit by a German bomb. It was restored in 1952 and still contains it's original Saxon font.
The village inn is known throughout the area for it's rather unusual name; the Quiet Woman. The pub sign depicts a headless woman, with the words 'Soft words turneth away wrath'. It is thought to depict one nagging wife known as chattering Charteris. The story goes that her husband lost control one day and cut off her head, to the approval of the villagers.
The popular village Wakes are held on the Friday nearest to the 11th of October. Tradition has it, that the person who is most drunk on the Friday before the Wakes, is elected mayor for the year.
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