PEAK FOREST (ex. par.), Derbyshire
Census
- The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
| Census Year |
Piece No. |
|---|---|
| 1861 | R.G. 9 / 2548 |
| 1891 | R.G. 12 / 2781 |
Return to top of page
Church History
- The first chapel at Peak Forest was built towards
the end of the Civil War, by Christiana, Dowager Countess of Devonshire,
a loyal supporter of the Crown - although it wasn't dedicated until after
the end of the War. Christiana's own son, Charles, also died during the
War, in 1643, fighting for the Royalist cause.
- The present church was built in 1876 adjacent to the old church site.
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to King Charles the Martyr.
- The church seats 240.
Return to top of page
Church Records
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1669, but early sections are delapidated.
- We have a pop-up window of Parish Register burials in a text file for your review. Your additions are welcomed.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Buxton.
Return to top of page
Civil Registration
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
- The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
Return to top of page
Description and Travel
"PEAK FOREST is all extra parochial liberty, in the hundred of High Peak, about three miles and a half north-west from Tideswell. This district is in the honour of Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster, and within the jurisdiction of a court of pleas, held at Tutbury every third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The chapel here is dedicated to King Charles the Martyr: the living is a perpetual curacy in the peculiar jurisdiction of the dean and chapter of Lichfield, and in the patronage of the Duke of Devonshire. A free school here has a small endowment, for the education of ten poor children. The liberty contained, in 1831, 573 inhabitants, being fewer by thirty-four than were returned for it thirty years previous; and a reduction in the population of 107 persons since the census of 1821."
[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]
The nearly 5,300 acres of the parish have been mostly pasturage.
Return to top of page
Directories
- Ann Andrews provides a transcription of the Peak Forest entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).
Return to top of page
Gazetteers
- The transcription of the section for Peak Forest from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.
Return to top of page
Politics and Government
- This place was an ancient extra-parochial area in Derbyshire and became a modern Civil Parish in December, 1858.
- This parish was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake).
Return to top of page
Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.
- As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Chapel en le Frith Poorlaw Union.
Return to top of page
Population
Year Inhabitants 1801 607 1841 575 1851 596 1881 499 1891 502