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The village of Hope is to be found in the rich green Vale which bears its name, changing with modern days but with an ancient story.
Hereabouts the Peakshole Water meets the River Noe as it flows from the Vale of Edale between Win Hill and Lose Hill, two fine land-marks towering above the village for another 1,000 feet.
Only a mile away is Brough, which the Romans called Navio, and where many relics have been found; some are in Buxton's museum, along with an ancient milestone. There is however little to see at Brough today, for the excavations have been filled in, but they revealed an enclosure with walls six feet thick, measuring 340 feet long by 280 feet wide. There was a gateway on every side, and a western tower.
Traces of the Praetorium were found,and a sunken chamber dating the fort to the 2nd century. For 600 years Brough has had a mill by the bridge, giving in early days to the Strelleys for the service of attending the king on horseback whenever he should come into Derbyshire. Hope at one time had a Saxon church which may have stood where the church now stands amid fine sycamores. It is thought the round bowl of the font may have been in it; certainly it is very early.
In the churchyard is a fine fragment of a cross which was perhaps here before there was a church at all. Seven feet of the shaft remain, carved with knotwork and foliage, and with two figures holding a cross. It is over 1,000 years old, and was found in pieces in the walls of the old school.
From the 14th century when the old church was made new, come the nave arcades of lofty bays, three priest's seats and a piscina, the south doorway, the tower with its short spire, and the lofty tower arch like a lancet window which gives a charming effect to the interior. The clerestory and the fine windows of the aisles are of the 15th century; two of the windows have glass after the Annunciation of Leonardo in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence.
The chancel has Kempe glass in the windows,the east showing the Crucifixion in eight panels. Lining the side walls is fine old panelling, some of it remains of the 16th century family pews in which sat two great families, the Balguys and the Eyres. They lived at Aston Hall, now a farmhouse, and at Hope Hall.
On the chancel wall is a tiny brass with a quaint engraving of old Henry Balguy, who died in 1685; it shows him in breeches, doublet, and pointed hat - pen in one hand and a book in the other. There are fragments of old heraldic glass in the windows, ancient tiebeams with quaint corbel heads in the nave roof, a curious old hymn board with a picture of David playing the harp, four big 18th century pictures of Moses and Aaron, Time and Death, a fine carved oak pulpit from 1652, and two 17th century chairs. One of these in the sanctuary is said to have been the schoolmaster's chair, and has on it the words "A Mercury cannot be made out of bent wood".
Two coffin stones at the west end of the church are perhaps of the 13th century, and are engraved with crosses and bugles, one having also an arrow and a sword. The 15th century porch has a turret with steps which once reached to the roof of the aisles.
Hope has a Well-Dressing Festival on St Peter's Day, (or the Saturday before) and an agricultural show and sheep-dog trials on the Summer Bank Holiday Monday.
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