Derbyshire stone marks so many of the fallen…

LIJSSENTHOEK

A unique commemoration is being planned in Wirksworth to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, as Catherine Roth reports.

THE IMAGE OF ROW UPON ROW OF HEADSTONES in cemeteries both at home and abroad is synonymous with the slaughter in World War One. While it is often thought that the headstones marking all these graves were carved from Portland stone, over 120,000 of them were in fact produced much closer to home. These were quarried from the Hopton Wood Stone Firms’ quarry at Middleton-by-Wirksworth and were dressed and engraved before the finished headstones were conveyed by rail on the first stage of the journey to cemeteries at home and abroad…