STAVELEY, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"STAVELEY, a parish in the hundred of Scarsdale, county Derby, 4½ miles N.E. of Chesterfield, its post town, and 10 S.E. of Sheffield. It is a station on the Midland railway. The village, which is considerable, stands on an eminence overlooking the canal and river Rother, and comprises the chapelry of Great Barlow and the hamlet of Woodthorpe. The substratum is productive of coal and iron-stone. There is a brush manufactory and corn and bone mills.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield, value £706. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is an ancient structure, with a square tower and eight bells, and contains monuments of the Frecheville family. There is also a district church at Barlow, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £95. The parochial charities produce about £80 per annum. There are National schools for both sexes, including a residence for the master, erected at the expense of the Duke of Devonshire, who is lord of the manor. There is a mechanics' institute. The Wesleyans have a place of worship."

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