BEAUCHIEF ABBEY, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"BEAUCHIEF ABBEY, an extra-parochial liberty in the hundred of Scarsdale, in the county of Derby, 3 miles to the N.W. of Dronfield, and 4 S. of Sheffield. The living is a curacy in the diocese of Lichfield, in the gift of B. P. Burnell, Esq. An abbey for Premonstratensian canons was founded here in 1183 by Robert Fitz-Ranulph, one of the murderers of Thomas-a-Becket, to whom the house was dedicated. Its value at the Dissolution was £157. The tower of the present church was part of the abbey buildings. Beauchief Hall is pleasantly situated on the brow of a wooded hill."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]