Arkwright Town, usually referred to as Arkwright, is a village in Sutton cum Duckmanton, North East Derbyshire, England that is notable for being moved to a nearby location in the early 1990s. The village is between Chesterfield and Bolsover on the A632 road, and was formerly a coal mining village.
History
When Arkwright Colliery closed in 1988 the community was affected by emissions of methane gas2 that caused some of its houses to be evacuated.3 The village was owned by British Coal and a decision was made in cooperation with Derbyshire County Council to transfer ownership of the 52 properties to a housing trust, construct a new village of 56 properties to the north of the site affected by methane, and move all the residents. Construction was completed by 1995 when the old Arkwright Town was demolished. The old village was south of the A632 road, and the new village is north of it. Part of the deal with British Coal included an agreement to open cast a 100-acre site. Work started in November 1993 and continued until about 2005.45
A nature walk was established in 2010 following routes once used by railway lines.
See also
Media related to Arkwright Town at Wikimedia Commons
Further reading
- "King Coal Moves An English Village, But Can Its Spirit Follow?" AP News August 30, 1995.
- Arkwright Colliery, 1938-1988
- Arkwright Colliery Closure – 30th anniversary
References
Metropolitan Housing Trust stakeholders' newsletter, October 2005 ↩
Metropolitan Housing Trust stakeholders' newsletter, October 2005 ↩
Beckett, Simon (17 April 1994). "Why will the village cross the road?". The Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402182408/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/why-will-the-village-cross-the-road-school-chipshop-postoffice-pub-arkwright-town-is-a-small-derbyshire-mining-community-typical-of-those-that-once-dotted-the-coal-regions-now-british-coal-wants-to-start-opencast-mining-which-means-destroying-the-old-village-and-building-a-new-one-right-next-door-1370668.html ↩
Beckett, Simon (17 April 1994). "Why will the village cross the road?". The Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402182408/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/why-will-the-village-cross-the-road-school-chipshop-postoffice-pub-arkwright-town-is-a-small-derbyshire-mining-community-typical-of-those-that-once-dotted-the-coal-regions-now-british-coal-wants-to-start-opencast-mining-which-means-destroying-the-old-village-and-building-a-new-one-right-next-door-1370668.html ↩
Bridgewater, Andrew Neil. "Old Arkwright Town - oldminer.co.uk". www.oldminer.co.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2021. https://www.oldminer.co.uk/old-arkwright-town.html ↩