DESCRIPTION

The tiny village of Carsington and neighbouring Hopton lie about three miles west of Wirksworth. They are united as a parish with a shared church. Carsington is described in the Domesday Book as an outlier of Wirksworth.

Carsington was a lead mining village and the area is riddled with disused mineshafts which have been covered in recent years. Most of the workings date from the 18th and 19th centuries. However, several mines were being worked until the end of World War I.

Excavations have revealed the existence of remains of substantial well- constructed buildings that may date from the first and fourth centuries. Evidence that the Romans were smelting lead in the area has been found when farmers ploughing the fields have turned up pigs of lead (smelted blocks of lead) carrying Roman inscriptions.

The church dedicated to St. Margaret dates from the 13th century, with alterations and additions from the 18th and 19th centuries. The registers which date from 1592 have been deposited at the County Record Office

The Gell family held land in the area from a very early period and resided at Hopton Hall. Due to Sir Philip Gell's marriage being childless, his sister Temperance inherited Hopton. She founded and endowed the school in Carsington. She died unmarried in 1730 and the estate was inherited by her newphew John Eyre, the son of her sister Katherine, who had married William Eyre. John Eyre then assumed the surname of Gell. After several generations of descendants of this line of the Gell family had resided at Hopton Hall it was sold in 1996.

LIST of SURNAMES from the Inscriptions

ALLSOP	ARNOLD	ASSHETON	BACON	BANKS
BARROWS	BELL	BENDALL	BENNETT	BESTWICK
BLADON	BLORE	BOARD	BOINCZICK	BOOTHOUSE
BOWLER	BRETT	BREWELL	BRIDDON	BRODRICK
BROOM	BROUGH	BROWN	BULLER	BUSBY
BUXTON	CAIGER	CAMPANIA	CANEY	CAULDWELL
CHALMERS	CHANDOS POLE	CHAPPELL	CORBETT	COXON
CURZON	DAKIN	DANIEL	DICKEN	DONCASTER
DOXEY	DRUMMOND-HAY	EDWARDS	ELLIOTT	EVANS
FAWKES	FLETCHER	FLINDERS	FLUDE	FORD
GELL	GELL-CHANDOS POLE	GODBER	GORDON	GREATOREX
GREEN	GRIX	GUGENHEIM	HALL	HAM
HARDING	HARRADIN	HARRISON	HARVEY	HAWKINS
HAWKINS-WELLAND	HAWLEY	HAYNE	HEATHCOTE	HENSTOCK
HEYDOCK	HICKLIN	HITCHCOCK	HUGHES	HULLAND
HUTCHINSON	JOHNSON	KAY	KEELING	KILNER
KINDER	LAMB	LAWLEY	LOVEGROVE	LOWE
LYTTELTON	MACDOUGALL	MADDOCKS	MANSFIELD	MARRIOTT
MASKREY	MATKIN	MELLOR	MIDDLETON	MILLWARD
MILNER	NASH	NAYLOR	NEEDHAM	NORTHAMPTON
OLDFIELD	PARKER	PARSON(S)	PEDDER	PERRIN
PETT	PICTON	PRINCE	REEDS/RIED	REPTON
RICHARDS	RIPPON & VARIANTS	ROBINSON	RYLAND	SACHEVERELL
SEALS	SHELDON	SLATER	SMITH/SMYTHE	SOUPER
STAFFORD	STEEPLES	STEPHENSON	STEVENSON	STONE
SUTTON	TARLINGTON	TAYLOR	THORPE	TIPPING
TITTERTON	TOMLINSON	TOOGOOD	TWIGG(E)	VEYNES
WARD	WARKENHAM	WARRINGTON	WATSON	WEBSTER
WEIGHTMAN	WHITAKER	WHITE	WIBBERLEY	WIGLEY
WILKINSON	WINSON	WOOD	WOODHOUSE

MONUMENTAL MASONS

DAKIN	HARDY	SPENCER	DOXEY	PETTS
WEBSTER

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