Dronfield, United Kingdom

Dronfield is sited in the valley of the River Drone in North East Derbyshire, England. The Drone is a small river that, after flowing through Dronfield, joins the Barlow Brook at Unstone, and then flows into the River Rother at Whittington Moor, Chesterfield.

Dronfield is situated roughly midway between the town of Chesterfield to the south and the city of Sheffield, for which it is a commuter town, to the north. The A61 trunk road Dronfield–Unstone Bypass cuts through the town, although this is not directly accessible from the town centre itself. Instead a network of secondary roads serves local traffic: the B6054, B6056, B6057 and B6158. Dronfield is also served via rail through Dronfield railway station.

Dronfield covers an area of 3,457 acres (13.99 km2) and has as neighbours the villages and hamlets of Unstone, Holmesfield, Barlow, Apperknowle, Hundall, Marsh Lane and Eckington.

The town has a range of businesses, mainly located on the Callywhite Lane Industrial Estate at the eastern end of the town, and along Wreakes Lane and Stubley Lane northwest of the town centre. The main businesses in the town were originally associated with engineering trades, but over recent years have diversified. William Lees Iron Foundry, manufacturer of machinery parts, moved to Dronfield in 1870 and was responsible for major growth in the town at that time. Until the mid-1970s it specialised in production of malleable iron castings, though much production now is of spheroidal graphite iron.

Major companies with works in Dronfield include Henry Boot PLC, a property development and construction company (the divisions Henry Boot Construction Ltd and Banner Plant Ltd have regional offices in the town), Padley & Venables Ltd, manufacturers of tools for use in drilling, tunnelling, mining, quarrying and construction/demolition, Land Instruments International, international designer and manufacturer of industrial and environmental monitoring instruments (in 2006 this was acquired by AMETEK Inc), and Gunstones Bakery, which was founded in Sheffield in 1862, moved to Dronfield in 1950, taken over by Northern Foods in 1971 and acquired by 2 Sisters in 2011; in 2013 it employed more than 1,400 people.

Notable events are the annual Dronfield Gala and the Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston well dressings, which are held in July. Dronfest, a music festival, also takes place in the town in the summer months of the year.

Since 1972 Dronfield has been twinned with Sindelfingen in Germany. A park in Dronfield Woodhouse was renamed Sindelfingen Park in the early 1990s to celebrate this partnership. Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School has an annual student exchange with a school in Sindelfingen, which helps establish links between the young people in the two towns.

Dronfield has a library, sports centre, health centre and community centre. There are three parks (Cliffe Park, Sindelfingen Park and Jubilee Park) and several play areas. Cliffe Park has three tennis courts, a basketball court, a children's play area, a bowling green, a meeting room with kitchen, and a multi-use games area with changing rooms. Sindelfingen Park has play areas and basketball courts.

In January 2010 a new £2.5 million sports complex opened at Gosforth Fields, on the old Gosforth School site. Run by three local teams, AFC Dronfield, Dronfield Town & Dronfield RFU, the complex includes a state-of-the-art 3G pitch, 10 full-size pitches, changing facilities and a social area. It was officially opened by Sir Trevor Brooking and John Owen. Gosforth Fields is the home of Dronfield Rugby Club.

Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School on Green Lane takes its intake from all of the eight schools within Dronfield and the surrounding area, occasionally also including pupils from Sheffield and the Chesterfield area. As of November 2015 it had 1,779 pupils.

Dronfield Junior and Infants Schools are the biggest primary schools in Dronfield, reaching more than 600 pupils.

William Levick Primary School had a school roll of 169 pupils as of May 2016.