Hathersage, United Kingdom

The earliest recorded church was built by Richard Bassett, son of Ralph Bassett, Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry I. The present Grade-I-listed structure dates mainly from the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The church, St Michael and All Angels', has a stained-glass window by Charles Kempe, which was removed from Derwent Chapel before it was submerged under the Ladybower Reservoir. Near the church is an earthwork called Camp Green, thought to have been constructed during the Danish occupation. It is also scheduled as a Norman ringwork castle of the 11th/12th century. In the graveyard lies the base and lower shaft of a plain early Saxon cross.

In 1566, Christopher Schutz, a German immigrant, who invented a process for drawing wire, set up a works in Hathersage. This became important in sieves used by miners and later developed into pin and needle production. This led to one of the first Factory Acts, because inhalation of grinding dust resulted in a life expectancy of only thirty years. In the mid-18th century, Hathersage became famous for its brass buttons. Some of the mill buildings from this era have been converted into flats.

In 1728, Daniel Defoe recorded how the moors around Hathersage were the source of building stones and millstones. Millstones were used in wood-pulping industries in the area and were also exported to North America, Russia and Scandinavia for the same purpose. Locally, the millstones were also used for crushing lead ore and the ingredients for paint. In Dorset, Peak stones were used for farm meal and barley crushing. The local gritstone tended to discolour bread, so were not generally used to grind wheat.

There is evidence of a post-medieval lime kiln, possibly constructed 1830s in the Outseats area. In the 18th century, the village was connected to Sheffield by the Sheffield to Hathersage Turnpike.