ELMTON WITH CRESWELL: Bolsover Parish #5 of 16

A village usually grows thanks to some kind of industry or something that would mean plenty of jobs in the area. Here’s the thing though, in today’s parish there are two villages, yet when the Bolsover Colliery Company came along with the mines in the late 19th century, only one of these two’s population soared.

The effect was that the smaller of these two villages now has a much different look to it now. Whilst farming in still a very common industry in the area, with most of the land owned by Chatsworth Estate, just half a mile to the East was a thriving pit village which still has a lot of the old buildings that came with the mining industry.

Here you’ll find a church, purposely built for the miners, along with a huge old secondary school, an old cinema, a drill hall and even a 1924 swimming baths which has been turned into a leisure centre. You have to stand in awe though at the amazing craftsmanship that has gone into the elongated octagonal estate at the West of the village – The Model Village – easily this village’s most famed feature.

With mining came great risk to life, and it’s no surprise that the colliery here suffered a disaster like no other. In fact, it was easily the worst disaster that I have covered so far on this channel, one which would claim the lives of 80 men, and one which is remembered by way of the various memorials around both the Model Village and the colliery site.

It's a big one this, with a population of 5,550 at the 2011 census, which is likely now much higher as new builds continue to be added in the larger of the two villages whilst the small one remains small. Lots to talk about in ELMTON WITH CRESWELL.

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My name is Andy. I am armed with a car, a GoPro and an unhealthy amount of time on my hands.

Join me as I try to visit every single parish in the district of Bolsover. There are 16. Here's the FIFTH one – Elmton with Creswell.

#Elmton, #Creswell, #ElmtonwithCreswell, #ModelVillage, #Cinema, #SwimmingBaths, #Colliery, #RiverWollen, #Disaster, #Derbyshire, #Bolsover, #Worksop, #Parish,

1950 disaster:
https://miningheritage.co.uk/the-1950...

Elmton with Creswell Parish Council:
https://www.elmtonwithcreswellparish....

Zoopla:
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices...

Colliery Lagoons:
https://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/new...

War Memorial:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item...

Ours Bar and Restaurant:
https://whatpub.com/pubs/CHE/16753/ou...

The Old School:
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/224...
https://www.primelocation.com/to-rent...

River Wollen:
http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/white1...

The Drill Hall/Events Centre:
https://www.creswellevents.co.uk/history

Clowne Greenway:
https://maphub.net/ride-bolsover/clow...
https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure...

Demographics:
http://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/ea...

Markland Grips:
https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article....

Creswell Colliery:
https://historicengland.org.uk/servic...
https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coa...

Fox Green:
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/430...

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