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About the Council | Shirland & Higham Parish Council
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North East Derbyshire District Council - Consultation Underway – Publication Draft Local Plan (2024-2044) - The Parish Council encourages all residents to submit their comments
4th November 2026
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The Shirland and Higham Parish
The Parish lies on the edge of North East Derbyshire District and the southern and eastern Parish boundary is also the district boundary.
Alfreton, the nearest town, is approx. 1/3 mile south of the Parish boundary.
Junction 28 of the M1 is under 3.5 miles away to the east.
Alfreton contains significant employment sites as well as a wide range of shops and services thereby providing easy access to employment and facilities for residents of the Shirland and Higham Parish.
To the west is the Amber Valley with its wooded slopes and valleys and farmland; this is a very popular place for outdoor leisure and recreation. Further to the west are the tourist attractions of Matlock and the Peak District.
History
The Parish is significant for its variety being made up of six settlements that vary in size, character and history.
Higham
is a historic linear 'spring line' village which overlooks the Amber Valley to the west. Its shape has a strong relationship with the underlying topography of the area and historical buildings run along Belper Road. A charter to hold fairs and markets was granted in 1243. Markets were held weekly from 1785 until the start of World War II. Higham used to have 23 Wells but only three remain.
Most of Higham is a Conservation Area (designated in 1968) and the historic core comprises buildings and structures of various dates, built predominantly of sandstone and gritstone.
Shirland
is situated on the A61 Derby to Chesterfield Road. The Parish was in existence by the time of the Norman Conquest and by 1220 the foundations of Shirland Church, St Leonard's, had been laid. By 1200 the manor of Shirland had passed to Sir Henry de Grey of Essex, whose sons later came to live in Derbyshire, with John coming to Shirland. The tomb of John's descendent, Henry, 5th Lord Grey of Wilson who died in 1396, can be seen in the north wall of the chancel in the church. There are also monuments to the Revell family, known Derbyshire landowners from as early as 1433. In 1868 some inhabitants were employed in the framework knitting industry but the majority were still employed in agriculture.
Shirland Pit was sunk in 1864 and by the end of the 19th century the colliery employed 500 men. The colliery provided several amenities for the workers including a bowling green and a Miners Welfare. The pit closed in 1965 and a thriving golf course was built on the spoil heap.
The hamlet of
Hallfieldgate
is situated next to Shirland and was historically part of a separate cluster of farm workers buildings around Hallfield Hall. The land around Hallfield Hall and the houses to the north and west of the Hall are part of the Hallfieldgate Lane- Shirland Conservation Area (designated 1990). Development along the north of Hallfieldgate Lane in the last 50 years has resulted in the coalescence of the settlement with Shirland village.
Stonebroom
village is linear and was formed from two hamlets, early maps show them as Upper Stone and Lower Stone. In 1846 the census records only 4 farmers living in Stonebroom. The 1861 Census records an influx of people to the area mainly railway workers, bricklayers and carpenters reflecting the growing industrialisation of the area.
1865 saw the opening of Morton Pit which brought people into the area from several counties. In the 1860's houses were built to accommodate the miners and their families, they were called 'the blocks'. These were blocks of eight terraced houses with 160 dwellings. They were condemned in 1939 but were still there in 1947 and described by the Derbyshire Times as "The Black Hole of Derbyshire" for their unsanitary conditions. The Blocks were situated where Stonebroom Industrial Estate is today, which was in easy walking distance to the pit. The blocks were demolished in 1950.
Morton Pit was closed in 1965, at its height it employed 1,033 miners.9 30. The 1960s saw the construction of a large housing estate on the area of Upper Stonebroom. Stonebroom has a Primary and Nursery School, St Peters Church (built in 1900) and a Methodist Church.
Mickley
was designed as a community to house miners and their families from the substandard living arrangements of the "blocks" in Stonebroom. The design of this purpose-built housing estate was rolled out in two phases: building work on the first, and top section of the estate, began in 1947; the second and final houses were built in 1951. This Community of Coal Board workers was intended to be as self-sufficient as possible and has evolved through the decades.
At the hub of the Community is a shops adjacent to the village green, there are now three allotment sites which are all flourishing, a Village Hall surrounded by playing fields, with a play area, and a well-used BMX track. Interestingly, the site for a church can be seen on both sets of architectural drawings, yet the planned build never reached fruition.
The back lanes of Mickley connect to the villages of Morton, Shirland and Stonebroom and are little changed with panoramic views of unspoiled countryside and working farms
The hamlet of
Toadhole Furnace
takes its name from an iron furnace referenced in 1630 which was in use until the second half of the 17th century.
It was located in the west field of the Amber Hotel. This area includes a cotton spinning mill, corn mill and mustard mill (grade II) originating from the mid-17th century. The Quaker meeting house and burial ground, by Belper Road, has a datestone above the doorway with the inscription "M H 1743", representing Matthew Hopkinson who provided the land.
The mustard mill was bought by the Amber Mill Furniture Manufacturing Company in 1909. It was recently renovated and restored for use as a rural enterprise centre.11 There are other old houses in the hamlet which have been restored and modernised including the three storey Furnace House and Furnace Farm.
Toadhole Furnace is part of Amber Mill and Toad Hole Conservation Area (designated 1990) that continues west outside the Parish boundary.
Toadhole Furnace, Shirland, Higham and Mickley lie along the route of the Roman Road Rykneld Street. A section of the Roman road which diverges from the modern road for over a mile north of the Amber Hotel, was excavated by the Derbyshire Archaeological Society in 1959 and recorded in their journal. The Rykneld Road became the Derby to Chesterfield turnpike in the 18th Century and there are a number of Grade II listed mileposts still in existence along this stretch.
Residents
In 2021 there were 5200 people living in 2300 households. This is an increase of 198 residents and 230 dwellings since 2011.22% of residents were 65 and over (compared to 19% in 2011) and 49% of the Parish population is aged between 20 and 59 (compared with 51% in 2011).
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Last updated: Mon, 29 Sep 2025 16:33
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Community News from Derbyshire County Council – 26 October 2026
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North East Derbyshire District Council - Consultation Underway – Publication Draft Local Plan (2024-2044)
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