Bamford is a former mill-village situated on the slopes between Bamford Edge and the River Derwent in The Peak District. There is a lot more to the village than can be seen when just passing through – the village has some nice quiet corners and the Derwent is especially pretty around the millpool just above the mill itself. There is a well-dressing festival here in mid-July. The village has a great feel to it all year round.

The old mill is the first of many on the course of the Derwent and was built around 1780, burnt down and rebuilt in 1791-2. It was a cotton mill but closed for this purpose in 1965 and was used by an electric furnace manufacturer until a few years ago but has now been convertd into apartments. It still has a large water-wheel. The modern village is mainly strung out along the road which leads from the A625 up towards Ladybower. At the bottom end there is the railway station, which links Bamford with Manchester and Sheffield.

On the road just below the station the Peak Park have re-erected the Mytham Bridge toll gate which used to stand nearby. This was one of the toll gates on the first turnpike in the area and is one of the first in The Peak District and Derbyshire – built in 1758 to link Sheffield to Sparrowpit.

Near to Bamford are the small hamlets of Shatton and Thornhill. Shatton is a delightful, sleepy hamlet in a cul-de-sac on the south side of the Hope Valley. It is beautifully placed for walks on nearby Shatton Moor. Thornhill lies on the opposite, north side of the valley, nestling below Win Hill on a minor road which leads from Hope to Yorkshire Bridge and the Derwent Reservoirs. Thornhill Hall was once the main seat of the Eyre family, at one time the principal landowners of the area. The original Eyre came to England with William the Conqueror and fought at the Battle of Hastings, where he lost an arm.