EDENSOR, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"EDENSOR, a parish in the hundred of High Peak, county Derby, 2 miles N.E. of Bakewell. It is situated on the river Derwent, and includes the townships of Pilsley and Edensor with Chatsworth. The village is beautifully situated within the park of Chatsworth. Three fourths of the parish are included in the park, the remainder is chiefly pasture. There are several quarries of gritstone.

The living is a donative curacy in the diocese of Lichfield, value £300. The church is dedicated to St. Peter, and contains monuments of the family of the dukes of Devonshire. There are charities of about £14 per annum, a part of which is for apprenticing youths. There is a parish school, with a small endowment."

"CHATSWORTH, a township in the parish of Edensor, in the hundred of High Peake, in the county of Derby, 157 miles from London, 25 from Derby, and 84 from Matlock. It appears in Domesday Book as Chatesvorde, and was then owned by William Peveril. Through the Leches, or Lukes, and Agards, it descended to Sir William Cavendish, who in 1570 began to build the old seat, which was afterwards finished by his widow, the Countess of Shrewsbury. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned at Chatsworth. It was garrisoned by the parliamentarians in 1643, and by the royalists in 1645.

In the church of St. Peter at Edensor are monuments to the first Earl of Devonshire, to the celebrated Elizabeth Hardwick, whose fourth husband was George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, and to James Beton, a favourite servant of Mary Queen of Scots, who died while Mary was a prisoner at Chatsworth. The population of Chatsworth in 1861 was 53, with 8 inhabited houses.

Chatsworth House, the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, was rebuilt by the first Duke from designs by Talman and Wren. The great stables were built about 1760; the north wing since 1820, by Wyatville. There are many exquisite marbles, pictures, carvings, and frescoes at Chatsworth House, including Raphael's cartoons in Ghobelin tapestry; the Jewish Rabbi, by Rembrandt; Belisarius, by Murillo; Queen Mary, by Zucchero; Henry VIII., by Holbein; Philip II., by Titian; Charles I., by Jansen; Duke of Albemarle, by Sir Peter Lely; George IV., by Sir Thomas Lawrence; besides other valuable pictures by Myttens, Vandyck, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and other eminent artists. In the sculpture gallery are some of the finest works of Canova, Nollekens, Chantry, Campbell, and Thorwaldsen.

The state-rooms are 190 feet long; the music-room 35 feet by 30 feet; the grand drawing-room 45 feet by 28 feet; the library 90 feet by 22 feet; the dining-room 58 feet by 30 feet; and the ball-room, which, With its adjoining chambers, forms a suite of 557 feet; this last has a Corinthian temple over it, and commands a magnificent view. The park is nearly 12 miles round, well laid out, and stocked with deer. The gardens were laid out by Loudon and Paxton, and are now under Sir Joseph Paxton's care; they have long had a high and well-deserved reputation.

In the grounds is Queen Mary's Bower. The grand conservatory covers about an acre of ground; it is 320 feet by 145 feet, and has 70,000 square feet of glass in it; the orangery is 189 feet long, 27 feet wide; and 21 feet high, lighted by a glass roof; the kitchen garden is 12 acres in extent; the arboretum of trees and shrubs covers several acres.

The water works and great cascade were designed about a century ago by Grillet: one fountain is supplied from a hill 4 miles off, and has a jet of 200 feet; the stream then disappears amidst the rocks, and passes underground to the river. Here may be seen Queen Victoria's oak (her Majesty having visited Chatsworth when Princess Victoria in 1832, and again in 1843, when the pleasure-grounds and grand conservatory were illuminated), the Duchess of Kent's chesnut, and the Emperor Nicholas's chesnut. Marshal Tallard was allowed to remain here on parole, and Hobbs spent many years of his life at Chatsworth. Christian VII. visited it in 1768, and the Archduke Nicholas of Russia in 1861."

"PILSLEY, a township in the parish of Edensor, hundred of High Peak, county Derby, 2 miles N.E. of Bakewell."

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