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Derbyshire Towns & Parishes

CHESTERFIELD, Derbyshire

"CHESTERFIELD is an ancient corporate and market-town, and parish, in the hundred of Scarsdale, 150 miles from London, 48 S.E. from Manchester, 24 N. from Derby, the like distance E. from Buxton, 12 E. from Bakewell, the like distance S. from Sheffield, and 8 N. by E. from Matlock. It is a large but irregularly built town, pleasantly situate between two rivulets, the Hyper and Rother, in the beautiful and fertile vale of Scarsdale, and is the second considerable town in the county of Derby. The Saxon appellation of Ceaster proves it to have been a place of great antiquity and considerable importance, and it is imagined to have originated from a Roman station." [There is further information for Chesterfield]

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

Cemeteries Church History Church Records Description and Travel Directories Folklore Gazetteers Genealogy History

Early 20thC Map Click to view larger area.

Military History Names, Geographical Names, Personal Occupations Probate Records Schools Social Life and Customs Societies

Cemeteries

• A list of Surnames from the Memorial Inscriptions of the Church of Holy Trinity, Chesterfield published originally in Derbyshire Ancestral Research Group (DARG) Newsletter, April 1998.
  Full details of inscriptions are available from DARG by postal application. See their How to Contact details for how to get in touch with them.

Church History

• Photograph of St Mary & All Saints Church, and Photograph of Inside St Mary & All Saints Church, Chesterfield, from Rosemary Lockie.

  This is of course the (in)famous "Crooked Spire". There are various explanations, or legends to explain why it is crooked. The most rational one is that the timber used for the framework of the spire was unseasoned, and as it dried out so it warped. It has also been suggested that as its construction was suspended by the Black Death (1349), perhaps exposure of the timbers to the elements during the hiatus caused warping.

  However, Folklore also has explanations. One legend is that the Devil sat on the spire, and his weight caused it to buckle - OR that he wrapped his tail around it to keep his balance, and it twisted in sympathy. Another is that the Spire was so amazed to hear of a virgin being married in the Church that it twisted round in an effort to see this wonder for itself. This legend further adds that should this ever happen again, the Spire will straighten up!

  It is believed there was a church, or small chapel at Chesterfield as early as the 7th Century. The Normans however replaced the first building, although proof wasn't found until 1848 when a Norman font was dug up in the Vicarage garden! In 1093 William Rufus granted the Church to the newly built Lincoln Cathedral, the Deans of Lincoln becoming Lords of the Manor. The present building was dedicated in 1234, but wasn't finished until 1360. The spire is 228 feet high and leans almost 8 feet.

• Here is also a pen and ink sketch of St. Mary & All Saints Church, 1907, Chesterfield, kindly contributed by Allan Petrie. The original was by Walter W NEEDHAM, and was in the possession of Issac & Elizabeth McGANN and Daughter Lucy, when they emigrated from Nottingham to Southern Alberta, Canada in 1912. It is of particular historical interest as it shows the Church before the gravestones were removed.

Church Records

• The first surviving Chesterfield Parish Register dates from November 1558 until March 1635, and a printed copy is available as two volumes of Derbyshire Record Society Publications.

  These two volumes are based on a typescript prepared in 1936-8 by Miss Mary Walton, then archivist at Sheffield Central Library. The period she covered was up to 1600. The transcription project was continued in the 1960s, by Students at Sheffield University, and the combined transcripts, which continue until about 1800, are now lodged in the Derbyshire Record Office (information recorded in the first volume above).

• Here is a list of Chesterfield Parish Registers available on Microfilm from LDS Family History Libraries. Film Numbers are reproduced on GENUKI by kind permission of the Genealogical Society of Utah.

  Parish registers, 1558-1971.	Microfilm Number
  Baptisms, 1838-1886 Marriages, 1854-1876	1041032 item 6-9.
  Marriages, 1876-1895 Burials, 1839-1900	1041033 item 1-3
  Baptisms, marriages & burials, 1558-1672 Marriages, 1653-1658 Baptisms, marriages & burials, 1697-1812	1752142 item 3-8.
  Baptisms, marriages & burials, 1812; 1733-1788 Baptisms, 1833-1855; 1878-1908	1752143
  Marriages, 1754-1847	1752144
  Marriages, 1847-1874	1752145
  Marriages, 1874-1901	1752146
  Banns, 1830-1848 Burials, 1813-1915, 1921 Burials for St. Peter's Church, Calow, a chapelry in Chesterfield, 1872-1898	1752147 item 1-5
  Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1612-1760 Baptisms, 1813-1833; 1856-1878	1785838 item 2-7.
  Burials, 1853-1921 (Includes burials for St. Peter's in Calow, 1872-1898.) Marriages, 1901-1917 (To 16 Apr. 1917.)	2081283 item 2-5.
  Marriages, 1917-1921 (from 21 Apr. 1917.)	2081284 item 1
  Marriages, 1921-1928 (18 June 1921-9 Apr. 1928) (2 registers).	2103927 item 14-15.
  Marriages, 1928-1971 (7 Apr. 1928-11 Dec. 1971) (4 registers). Baptisms, 1934-1945.	2103928
  Bishop's transcripts, 1665-1883.	Microfilm Number
  Baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1665-1804	0422195
  Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1804 cont.-1810	0422196
  Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1813-1824	0497397
  Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1824 cont.-1835	0497398
  Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1835 cont.-1837 Baptisms and burials, 1838-1855	0498050
  Baptisms and burials, 1855 cont.-1883	0498051

• "Parish Chest" Papers for Chesterfield include a thick-ish ledger for Chesterfield Union Poor Law - Churchwardens & Overseers of the Poor, Audit of Accounts 23rd Jan 1845. The book contains details of land & property, acreage, rateable value, etc, and a list of Owners/Occupiers. My grateful thanks to Janet Kirk for this information, and for the list below.

  Examples (in surname, forename order as per the original):-

  Owner	Occupier
  Hancock Cornelius	Anthony William
  "     "	Anthony George
  Drabble James	Drabble James (2 lots of land & a weighing machine)
  "     "	Brocklehurst William
  Devonshire Duke of	Bowring John
  Drabble James	Bradshaw Luke
  Hancock Cornelius	Cooper Joseph
  Outram Collis Sam	Drabble Joseph
  Drabble James	Drabble James (Hollis property & land)

Description and Travel

• A short Description of Chesterfield & Holy Trinity Church, published originally in Derbyshire Ancestral Research Group (DARG) Newsletter, April 1998, to accompany the MIs (see above, Cemeteries).

• Chesterfield - Town of the Crooked Spire - pages on Chesterfield developed as part of Jon Rouse's North East Derbyshire pages.

Directories

• A Description of Chesterfield and Directory for Chesterfield, with the villages of Brampton, Brimington and neighbourhoods transcribed from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835 by Rosemary Lockie.

Folklore

• There's a traditional verse which states:-

  "When Chesterfield was gorse and broom
  Leash Fen was a market town
  Now Chesterfield is a market town
  Leash Fen is but gorse and broom"

  Leash Fen, or Leys Fen is on the high moorland west of Chesterfield, and said to be the site of a sunken market town, possibly of Iron Age vintage. Several sites on the surrounding moorland have already been excavated - for instance, Gardom's Edge, near Baslow - demonstrating habitation of these uplands during pre-history.

Gazetteers

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

Genealogy

• The Parish of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a site maintained by Pat Connors, includes:-
  • Births/Baptisms
  • Burials/Deaths
  • British Isles Vital Record Index
  • Census
  • Civil Registration
  • Dissenters Register
  • 1829 Freeholders
  • Location
  • Photo Gallery
  • Topographical Dictionary
  • Workhouse Inmates in 1881

  Very well worth a visit!

History

• Transcription of section of Lysons' Topographical and Historical Account of Derbyshire, 1817, for Chesterfield by Barbarann Ayars.

Military History

• Photographs of Chesterfield from World War II
  (Donated by Liz Youle - see Derbyshire GENUKI Service Providers for contact details)

Names, Geographical

• Where was the area known as 'Dog Kennels' ?

Names, Personal

• A list of Vicars of Chesterfield 1558-1918 and a list of Mayors of Chesterfield 1598-2000 provided by John Mills on his Bygone Days In Ashover site.

Occupations

• A list of Public Houses in Chesterfield 1920 provided by John Mills on his Bygone Days In Ashover site. Includes the names of the landlords.

Probate Records

• Chesterfield Wills and Inventories, 1521-1603 - one of Derbyshire Record Society Publications, unfortunately out of print, but should be available for study via Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

• Chesterfield Wills and Inventories, 1604-1650 - one of Derbyshire Record Society Publications, published April 2001.

Schools

• The following information is a quotation from A History of Derbyshire, (Gladwyn Turbutt, 1999).

"Chesterfield had a grammar school which was flourishing in the mid- thirteenth century and dependent on the parish Church. The first record of the school occurs in a letter dating from the reign of Henry III in which Henry, a clerk of Ashbourne, wrote to the vicar of Chesterfield thanking him for his assistance in securing his appointment as schoolmaster of the Chesterfield school...Only one other reference to a Chesterfield schoolmaster occurs in the medieval period: this is to Sir Henry of Sutton, described as 'master of the schols of Chesterfield', in a deed of 1337 and again in one of 1346-7. The school no doubt continued, probably under the auspices of the Gild of St Mary and the Holy Cross, until the dissolution of the chantries and gilds in 1548. The location of the medieval school is unknown. When the later grammar school was established in 1598, as a result of the testamentary bequest of Godfrey Foljambe of Walton, the chapel of St Helen's was apparently converted into a school house, which remained in use until the early eighteenth century when new premises were built nearby."

Social Life and Customs

• Photograph of The Market Hall, Chesterfield, from Rosemary Lockie.

  This photograph shows Chesterfield Market Hall, with the regular street market stalls occupying the Market Square in the foreground.

  Chesterfield has held a market since earliest times - the Sheriff of Derbyshire recorded an account of £1 2s 7d from the market of Chesterfield as long ago as 1165. The town's market place was much closer to the Church in the Middle Ages, and the church was used as a store for market goods. This is why in May 1226 during the Battle of Chesterfield, there were sacks of wool in the Nave of the Church for the Earl of Derby to hide amongst!

  The present Market Hall was built in 1857 by the Chesterfield Market Company and bought by Chesterfield Corporation in 1872 for the sum of £11,500. (Ref: A History of Derbyshire, Gladwyn Turbutt, 1999).

  For more information on Markets see the Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516.

Societies

• Chesterfield and District Family History Society - also covers Barlow, Brampton, Hasland, Newbold, Temple Normanton and Whittington.

© Copyright Rosemary Lockie, GENUKI and contributors, 1999-2008, &c.
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