Howe, and by the 1860s, Dr. Wilson, the local medical practitioner was in residence. The North Midland Railway tunnel sank nine ventilator shafts through which smoke wafted across the Peaks. Clay Cross is situated at the highest point on the line 361 feet above sea level, when it opened in 1840. A narrow gauge line transported coal up the incline to the works. Another mile north along the 'Black Path' was Clay Cross railway station, between the halts at Tupton and Hepthorne Lane. Religion The Anglican church of St Bartholomew had been built and consecrated in 1851. Six years later a spire was added. The Rev. Joseph Oldham and his wife, Emma were the first conscientious incumbents. Her brother was radical designer and founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris. Morris was commissioned to install a saintly stained glass window. Other places of worship in Clay Cross are: Methodist Church on High Street. Baptist Church on Market Street (now closed). Clay Cross Community Church - C4 (Assemblies of God) on Market Street. Roman Catholic Church of St. Patrick and St. Bridget on Thanet Street. Holmgate Evangelical Church on Valley Road, Holmgate. Salvation Army on Thanet Street. St Barnabas Church, an Anglican congregation meeting at the St Barnabas Centre on Pilsley Road, Danesmoor. Community of Christ on Thanet Street. Danesmoor Cemetery and Parkhouse Memorial Parkhouse Colliery Memorial in Danesmoor Cemetery stands today as testament to a disaster. In November 1882 an underground explosion brought the collapse of the pit shaft causing the death of 45 men and boys. Many of their families lived in company housing at Pleasant Row, Chapel Row, Cellar Row and Gaffers Row. Also known as Egstow Terrace, this last street was built in 1846, was considered of better average quality housing. Co-operative The Clay Cross Pioneer Industrial Co-operative Society's first shop was opened on the corner of the High Street and Market Street. It was an early member of the Co-operative Movement founded in Rochdale by John Bright that spread rapidly across the North of England. The Co-operative Society archives say that the Clay Cross Pioneer Industrial Society merged with the Chesterfield & District Co-operative Society in 1915. Housing Finance Act dispute The town was an urban district until 1974, when it was merged into the North East Derbyshire district under the Local Government Act 1972. In the 1970s the council achieved brief notoriety due