Woolley Moor

[KGarrad]

I would say they lived in Woolley Moor, Derbyshire!

Since the advent of the postal system, the correct postal address would be Woolley Moor, Alfreton.
Because Alfreton was named as the Postal Town.

(some of us are old enough to remember writing letters! )

[marp]

You are probably correct!   However, the first of this line of ancestors (or at least the first I have tracked) was born in North Wingfield in 1685  and died in 1738 at Woolley Moor.   The last one born at Woolley Moor died at Clay Lane in 1834.    As these dates are before the introduction of postal districts in England in the 1850s my guess is that Alfreton would not be mentioned in the address!  it is possible Alfreton became a post town even later when post codes were introduced.

It all seems ridiculous speculation (family history gets one into this sort of thing!) but mail was delivered for at least two centuries before the introduction of the postal districts in the 1850s.  I cannot help but wonder how a letter  might have been addressed in 1738 for delivery to  William Ellse, Woolley Moor ? Derbyshire.
marp

[KGarrad]

Postal Towns existed well before the introduction of post codes!

From a Gazetteer of 19th Century Derbyshire (1891):

North Wingfield parish originally comprised six townships, viz., NORTH WINGFIELD, with WILLIAMSTHORPE, CLAY LANE, PlLSLEY, STRETTON, TUPTON and WOODTHORPE; of these the township of Pilsley is now a separate parish, and is given under a separate head; the townships of Clay Lane, Stretton and Woodthorpe form the parish of Clay Cross.

POST OFFICE, Tupton.-Samuel Gregory, receiver. Letters via Chesterfield, arrive at 6.32 a.m. ; dispatched at 6.40 p.m. Clay Cross is the nearest money order office & Clay Cross railway station the nearest telegraph office

(Claycross being the parish containing Woolley Moor.)

Thus letters would be addressed as Woolley Moor, near Chesterfield.

[hanes teulu]

On the 1841 Census Woolley Moor appears under the Civil Parish of Stretton

[Anderley]

Thank you everyone.  The old map reference and link was especially helpful.   There has never been any indication that my ancestors lived in the village/hamlet of Woolley.  The Woolley Moor where they lived is close to Milltown and Ashover Hay.

This bring me back to my query.   When describing where my ancestors lived in the 18th century is it  Woolley Moor, Stretton or Woolley Moor, Milltown, Ashover or Woolley Moor, Ashover Hay?   I doubt it was Woolley Moor, Alfreton.

My  ancestors migrated to Clay Lane in the early 19th century and then onto Chesterfield by the end of the 19th century.

Thanks again for all your help,   marp

Hello Marp,  I hope you're "still out there"...I've just come back from a visit to Woolley Moor which is near Milltown and Ashover Hay with signs to Claycross, walking the land of my ancestors - CROFTS and BOWN(e).  My Joseph Crofts was born at Revell Farm overlooking the now reservoir and he was a draper who lived in Claycross and then Chesterfield.  His parents were James Crofts and Elizabeth Bown.  His brother Thomas was "the Belper Poet".  Any connections to your family?  Best,  Lesley Anderson in Ottawa, Canada

[marp]

Hi, yes I am still "out there".  I was visiting Derbyshire last year and we rented a house in Milltown, near Ashover.  This is  near to  Woolley Moor where my ancestors lived in the 17th and 18th centuries and we spent a lot of time in North Wingfield again where many ancestors such as the Hopkinson family lived and farmed.  It is exciting to come across names which are only named locations on a family tree until you actually see the places themselves.
 I have not come across any Crofts in my family tree as yet.  This is a bit surprising because as the tree grows in number I seem to be connected to many people from the area around Ashover, North Wingfield and Chesterfield.

best, marp in Melbourne, Australia