The village is thought to be a
Roman settlement, perhaps based on
lead mining, but there is currently no archaeological evidence to prove this. A 19th-century bathhouse over a hot spring is known locally as
The Roman Baths, but this was built in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a
spa resort. (After Stoney Middleton Youth Club cleared undergrowth in the early 1980s, the building was consolidated and made secure by local craftsmen with the aid of a grant by Peak Park). A semi-circular earth platform called "Castle Hill" overlooks the village; academic opinion varies as to what this earthwork originally was. It may have been a
ringwork castle, or simply the foundations of a
summer house. the name Stoney Middleton literally meaning 'stony middle farm'.
Domesday Book Stoney Middleton is mentioned in 1086 in the
Domesday Book. The manor is first recorded as being where the king,
William the Conqueror, had land: In Stoney Middleton, Godgyth had four
bovates of land to the
geld. Land for four oxen. There 6
villans and one
bordar have 2 ploughs and four acres of meadow and a little scrubland. TRE as now worth six shillings. The book then says under the title of "The lands of
Ralph fitzHubert": In Stoney Middleton Leofnoth and his brother had one
carucate of land. There is land for one plough. It is waste. This manor is one league long and 4 furlongs broad.
Change in location Local archaeologists and historians have speculated (since 1996) that the original location of the village, which was ravaged by the
Black Death, may have been immediately to the south of the Old Hall, on a series of terraces (still visible from the public footpath overlooking the meadows between the lower, modern extension of the village and the bottom of the "Town" the hill by the Moon Inn which leads up to Stoney Middleton Junior School). Renewal of the village led to the construction of a stone chapel in the 15th century at the crossroads of the roads/tracks going between Eyam and Grindleford, which was dedicated to
Saint Martin, perhaps to cater for
pilgrims to the spring. The tower survives, attached to an unusual octagonal
nave of 1759.
Modern history During the
Great Plague, the 17th-century villagers left food for those self-
quarantined in nearby
Eyam. Atop a cliff above Middleton Dale lies
Lovers Leap, from which Hannah Baddeley jumped in 1762, but miraculously survived. She died two years later. Other notable buildings include
Middleton Hall. A primary school was built in 1835 by public subscription and is the meeting place for the Parish Council, the PTA,
WI, Horticultural Society, Tennis Club, and other activities of the village. Despite a campaign by school governors, parents and friends, Derbyshire County Council voted at the Council Meeting on 12 December 2006 to propose the closure of Stoney Middleton school from 31 August 2007. This decision was, however, eventually over-ruled in May 2007. A cross by the main road is dated 1846. It was erected to mark the repeal of the
Corn Laws. Several
electric narrow-gauge railways were operated in Stoney Middleton by Laporte Industries Ltd up to 1987 for the mining of
fluorite. In January 2007, some houses in the village were damaged by a wall of
mud caused by the failure of a dam near the top of the dale. The dam, which held a lagoon of mud and water from a local mineral quarry, burst following heavy rainfall. In May 2007,
The Times newspaper reported that police had found a
crystal meth factory in Stoney Middleton, in a rented industrial unit in the Rock Hill business park; it was the largest such facility discovered in the United Kingdom at the time.
Industry In the
dale were several
quarries, once a major source of employment for the village. Footwear became a major industry, with an industrial boot factory (William Lennon) surviving to the present day. Lead mining also continued, with a
Barmote Court alternating between Stoney Middleton and Eyam until the early 20th century. Darlton Quarry was bombed by two German
Junkers Ju 88s during World War II; both aircraft being shot down as they returned home. A prisoner-of-war camp was situated at the bottom of the village and housed Italian prisoners (amongst others). ==Rock climbing==