Flash, Staffordshire
Coordinates: 53°12′04″N 1°57′48″W / 53.201135, -1.963319
| Flash | |
  Flash shown within Staffordshire |
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| OS grid reference | SK024671 |
|---|---|
| - London | 170.7m |
| District | Staffordshire Moorlands |
| Shire county | Staffordshire |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Staffordshire |
| Fire | Staffordshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| European Parliament | West Midlands |
| List of places: UK • England • Staffordshire | |
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Flash is a village within the Staffordshire Moorlands, England, and the Peak District National Park. It has a claim to being the highest altitude village in Britain, a claim challenged by a village in Scotland. The article looks at the geographical location, the village itself, and the local prominence of Flash in 18th century Methodist history.
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Location and geography
Flash is the name of the village in the Parish of Quornford. It lies just off the A53 main road about 3 miles south west of Buxton going towards Leek. It is on the southern slope of the highest ground on Axe Adge Moor, peak 551m[1]. The parish forms the Staffordshire corner of Three Shire Head, a pack horse bridge on the River Dane where Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire meet.
This general area has much geographical interest. To the south is Morridge, with a trig point at 489m[2] at Merryton Low which provides outstanding sunset views across the Cheshire plain and The Roaches. Also in this area is Ramshaw Rocks, a part of the range which includes Hen Cloud and The Roaches. The famous "Winking Eye" is a combination of upright stones on Ramshaw Rocks, which is seen to wink as one travels the A53. East of Flash, and just over the A53, are the heads of the River Dove and River Manifold. Other interesting features include caves on the west side of Axe Edge, one of which is known as "The Devil's Hole" from some strange sounds heard there when the wind is in the right direction.
At 463 metres (1,519 ft) above sea level, Flash is the highest village in England. The claim of being the highest village in Great Britain has been recognised for some time by the Guinness Book of Records[citation needed]. In 2007 it was upheld by the BBC[citation needed], which settled a dispute with its rival claimant, Wanlockhead in Scotland. The Ordnance Survey measured the highest house in each village and Flash was higher.[citation needed] There is no doubt, however, about the Methodist Chapel being the highest in Britain, helped by the scarcity of Methodist Chapels in the Scottish Highlands[3].
Flash is located at UK grid reference SK024671, or 53°12′N 1°58′W / 53.2, -1.967.
The village
There is an excellent little history booklet available in the Parish Church (St. Paul's, Quarnford) (50p in 2001) This is not only a history of the Church building, but also of the village.
From this we learn of the silk mill at Gradbach (less than 2 miles west in the same Parish) form 1640 to 1840, with silk weaving and button making as cottage industries throught the Parish. In the 18th century, a gang used button presses to make cointerfeit coins (hence the name "Flash Money") but some were hanged at Chester after a servant girl gave them away[4].
"During the first half of the C19th the population of he parish was around 700; it had been reduced to half this by the end of the 1800's. In 1851 there were 40 agricultural labourers, about the same number of silk worker (spinners, spreaders, reelers and button makers), and almost as many colliers. There were also stonemasons, dress makers, blacksmiths and cordwainers, and a shoemaker, errand boy, wheelwright, game-keeper, grocer, peddlar and tailor, as well as a number of house servants, 275 young people and 50 scholars. At one time 29 families (78 individuals) were receiving weekly relief and 23 families (87 individuals) occasional relief, nearly a quarter of the population."
"The first record of coal mining in the parish comes from 1401 when Thomas Smith took a year's lease on the 'vein coal' of Black Brook, near Upper Hulme (probably at Blue Hills). There were a large number of coal pits in the area (including Orchard Common, Blackclough, Hope, Goldsitch and Knotbury) which were worked throughout the C18th and C19th, and some into the early C20th, for both commercial and domestic use."
For more information, including a Lollard meeting place, see the history obtainable from the Church.
As an isolated community it has a small population and a school which houses around 25 pupils. It formerly had a reputation for being a centre for illegal activities such as cock fighting and counterfeiting ('Flash money'). [5] Prize fighting was said to have taken place at Three Shire Head[6].
According to some sources [7], the counterfeit money used to be exchanged at the nearby Three Shires Head (where Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire meet) on Axe Edge Moor.
Methodist history
Wesleyan Methodism was so well established in Flash during the 18th century that a chapel was built as early as 1784. At this time, there were 61 Methodist "members of Society".[8] This account suggests that Flash became a centre from which Methodism spread into other neighbouring villages, for example Hollinsclough[9]
Notes and References
- ^ Ordnance Survey Map, 1:50,000 Landranger, Sheet 119
- ^ Ordnance Survey Map, 1:50,000 Landranger, Sheet 119
- ^ This was the subject of debate in The Methodist Recorder in the late 20th century. A letter from Rev. R O Higginson, whose work as a Methodist Minister had included Flash, settled the matter.
- ^ Flash village history booklet available in Parish Church
- ^ [1]
- ^ Peak District UK article on Flash.
- ^ for example [2]
- ^ J B Dyson, "Wesleyan Methodism in the Leek Circuit", 1853, [3]
- ^ Dyson, op cit [4] records the conversion of John Lomas who later built Holinsclough Chapel [5]
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