WHY THE HERITAGE CENTRE WAS SET UP

The small market town of Wirksworth nestles in the hills to the southern end of the Pennines. The hills to the west are composed of limestone and those to the east are sandstone known locally as millstone grit.

These have provided the industry for the town for many years, initially lead mining in the limestone and finally the quarrying of both the gritstone and the limestone. Latterly, for many years, these industries had not progressed well and so the town itself did not develop into an urban sprawl as many other towns have done, in fact it was starting to deteriorate.

In the early 1980's a project was started with the aim of renovating the town to return it as far as possible to its eighteenth and nineteenth century appearance.

This renovation work was carried out carefully using much professional advice and culminated in the town receiving the 'Europa Nostra' award, an award made by the European Union for outstanding improvement. It also attracted the attention of the Prince of Wales who called the town's revitalisation project 'brilliantly imaginative'.

To preserve the town's history and present it to interested visitors the local Wirksworth Civic Society set up the Heritage Centre with the aim of providing the Story of Wirksworth. In addition the Heritage Centre has always had a keen interest in encouraging the study of individual family histories within the area.

Recently the whole of the Parish Registers, together with Memorial Inscriptions have been researched and published on the internet by Mr. John Palmer, himself a descendent of a Wirksworth family.