BRASSINGTON, Derbyshire

Census

• The parish was in the Ashbourne Registration District.
  
  
• Many census returns are online at Wirksworth.Org.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The parish was a Chepelry in Bradbourne until 1881.
  
  
• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint James (some sources say All Saints).
  
  
• The church is of Norman origin, circa 1200.
  
  
• The church was thoroughly restored in 1880.
  
  
• The church seats 250.
  
  
• There is an excellent photograph of Brassington church on Geograph.
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1716, but early years are in poor condition.
  
  
• We have a pop-up window of partially extracted Parish Register burials in a text file for your review. Your additions are welcomed.
  
  
• The church was in the rural deanery of Wirksworth.
  
  
• The Independents built a stone chapel here in 1845. This building is now the Village Hall.
  
  
• The Primitive Methodists built a brick chapel here in 1852, replacing one built in 1834.
  
  
• The Wesleyan Reform Methodist chapel was built here before 1891 but was demolished in 2007.
  

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Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Ashbourne Registration District.
  

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Description and Travel

"BRASSINGTON, a township and village, in the parish of Bradbourn, and in the hundred of Wirksworth, is four miles N.W. from the last named town, and contains about 700 inhabitants, principally in agricultural employment."

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

There is a nice set of photographs of Brassington at the LeighB site.

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Directories

• Ann Andrews provides a transcription of the Brassington entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

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Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Brassington from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

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Military History

• The parish has the remains of a Regional Operations Center both above and below ground. These are now part of British Heritage for protection.
  

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Politics and Government

• There is also a Brassington township, contiguous with this parish. Some Poorlaw records are organized by township.
  
  
• This parish was partly in the ancient Wirksworth Hundred (or Wapentake).
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• The Common Land was enclosed here in 1803.
  
  
• The parish bought an old inn in 1820 and converted into a parish workhouse. It was used until 1848, when the Ashbourne Poorlaw Union took over this function.
  

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