A Brief History
Holymoorside and Walton
As a village, Holymoorside has been in existence rather less than 200 years, and
in the respect is unusual as almost all the present villages and towns in England
were in existence as villages or hamlets by the Norman Conquest in 1066. It is believed
to have developed in the first place just as places like Cromford and Belper, following
the introduction into Derbyshire of cotton spinning and the factory system, during
the late 1700s by Richard Arkwright, Jedadiah Strutt and others.
Holymoorside today is usually associated with the parish of Walton, but its early
history is more closely linked with the manor and parish of Brampton, and only the
portion of the village to the east of the River Hipper lies in the old township of
Walton.
Both Brampton and Walton lie within the Scarsdale Hundred, which is one of the six
ancient divisions of the county, dating back many centuries. The Doomsday Book showed
Waltune (Walton) in the King’s ownership; later, in the 14th century, it became the
property of the ancient family of Breton. About the end of the century the estate
passed in parts to the Foljambe families. The Foljambes eventually possessed the
whole of the estate, and, in 1633, Sir Frances Foljambe finally sold the estate to
Sir Arthur Ingram.
In 1812 the estate was offered for sale, and among the items described in the sale
catalogue were: Holymoorside Cotton Mill, the dam and adjacent fields. It is reported
that the greater part of the estate was purchased by Sir Thomas Windsor Hunloke,
of Wingerworth, and that he later resold in 1821 to the Reverend Richard Turbutt,
of Ogstan. However, some 550 acres in Walton were still owned by the Hunloke family
in 1849, and it appears that only part of the Hunlocke purchase was passed to the
Turbutts.
