Nearby places

Derbyshire

Contents & Site Map

Derbyshire Towns & Parishes

TIDESWELL, Derbyshire

"TIDESWELL is a small market-town, in the parish of its name, in the hundred of High Peak, 160 miles from London, 32 N.N.W. from Derby. 25 S.E. from Manchester, 17 E. by S. from Sheffield, 6 W. by N. from Buxton, and 5 S. from Castleton. Tideswell was formerly celebrated for its ebbing and flowing well, from which it is asserted by some authorities to have derived its name; but the first account of the place is in Domesday book, in which, under the name Tiddeswall, it is mentioned as a royal demesne, having a chapel, which in 1215 was given by King John to the canons of Lichfield." [There is further information for Tideswell]

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

Bibliography Biography Cemeteries Census Church History Church Records Directories

Early 20thC Map Click to view larger area.

Gazetteers History Maps Military History Names, Personal Occupations Schools

Bibliography

• Hill, Tony - Tideswell Traders. Ashridge Press/Country Books, 2008.
  Read more in this Review of ‘Tideswell Traders’. Added 10 Feb 2008.

• Hill, Tony & Black, Paul - The Spirit of Tideswell. Landmark, 2001.
  Read more in this Review of ‘The Spirit of Tideswell’ (Peak Advertiser 12th November 2001)

Biography

• Bishop Robert Pursglove of Tideswell (1504-1580) was born a Catholic; and after changing his religious allegiance several times over to follow the whims of the monarch - firstly for Henry VIII, then Edward VI, followed by Mary Tudor, it finally became too much for him when Elizabeth I required him to swear the Oath of Supremacy, and to renounce his Catholic faith. He refused, and for this he was excommunicated, and spent his latter days deprived of his bishopric, and other offices, in religious exile.

  England's loss was Tidewell's gain, as he retired to his home town and on 18th November 1559 founded the Grammar School at Tideswell, which subsequently bore his name. An account of the man is also available in Chapter 13, Bishop Pursglove taken from The Feudal History of the County of Derby, Volume 5 by John Pym Yeatman, transcribed/OCR'd by Rosemary Lockie.

Cemeteries

• Some Memorial Inscriptions in St John the Baptist's Churchyard, and Roman Catholic Church, Tideswell, collected and transcribed by Alf Beard.

• Photograph of War Memorial, and Photograph of War Graves in Churchyard, Tideswell, from Alf Beard.

• Inscriptions on the War Memorial, transcribed by Rosemary Lockie, from photographs provided by Alf Beard.

Census

• Transcription of the Census for Tideswell, Part Of (1 of 2) in 1891 with Summary;
  and Tideswell, Part Of (2 of 2) in 1891 with Summary, by Rosemary Lockie,
  from microfiche as part of the FreeCEN project.
  NB these 2 parts comprise the whole of the Tideswell Census in 1891. The second part contains a detached part of Wheston Civil Parish.

Church History

• Photographs of St John the Baptist's Church, the Methodist Church (1888), and the Catholic Church (Immaculate Heart of Mary) are available in our Tideswell Photo Gallery, provided by Alf Beard, Andrew McCann, Pete Howard and Rosemary Lockie. Photo of the Tomb of Sir Sampson Meverell added 29 May 2005.

  NOTE: St John the Baptist Church at Tideswell is known as "The Cathedral of the Peak".

Church Records

• A CD containing a transcription of The Parish Registers of St John the Baptist's Church (including Wheston, Litton, Cressbrook and Millers Dale) is available for purchase from Valerie Neal. Added 22 May 2007.

• Here is a list of Tideswell 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, 1635-1934.	Microfilm Number
  Baptisms, 1635-1663, 1675-1794 Marriages, 1635-1663, 1675-1754 Burials, 1635-1663, 1675-1794	1041014
  Baptisms, 1794-1908 Marriages, 1754-1837 Burials, 1794-1812	1041015
  Marriages, 1837-1903 Burials, 1813-1896 Banns, 1869-1881	1041016
  Burials, 1896-1934	1752120
  Marriages, 1903-1930	2081966
  Bishop's transcripts, 1671-1871.	Microfilm Number
  Baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1671-1812	0428947
  Baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1813-1871	0498137

  Please note there are gaps in the Bishops Transcripts between 1730 and 1760 which are covered in the Parish Register, so the PR would be the preferrable option if you are looking for events during that period. Note also that since entries in the IGI are generally speaking culled from the BTs, IGI (Family Search) coverage is similarly patchy. So if you haven't yet found that elusive event in the IGI do not assume it's not there!

• There is a transcript of the Parish Registers of Tideswell 1635-1683 taken from The Feudal History of the County of Derby, Volume 5 by John Pym Yeatman, transcribed/OCR'd by Rosemary Lockie. There is also a Surnames List.

Directories

• A Description of Tideswell and Directory for Tideswell, with the chapelry of Wormhill, Peak Forest and neighbourhoods transcribed from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835 by Rosemary Lockie.

• Transcription of section of Kelly's Directory (1891) for Tideswell (with Litton, Cressbrook, Miller's Dale & Wheston) by Ann Andrews. Added 6 Apr 2008.

Gazetteers

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

History

• The History section of Tideswellonline.com has brief accounts of Tideswell's History, its four churches, of Tideswell 'personalities' William Bagshaw, Simon Slack - and its leadminers, of which King George III is said to have remarked:- "I don't know what effect these men will have on the enemy, but Good God they Frighten me."

• Old Postcard of Fountain Square, Tideswell, from Andrew McCann. Added 26 Oct 2007.

Maps

• A simple Map of Tideswell is available on Registered Tourist Guide Lesley Badger's site.

Military History

The following men were mustered from Tideswell for military service; training at Bakewell under Sir John Manners, and Robert Eyre Esq. in preparation for defending Britain in Protestant Elizabeth I's war against Catholic Philip II of Spain - the force which was to become known as the Spanish Armada. The original documents are preserved at Belvoir Castle, in the possession of the Duke of Rutland, and were first published in the Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society, January 1895. This particular transcription is an extract from The Spanish Armada & Local Levies (Notes from a Peakland Parish, Chapter X).

1585		1587
Tydswall: Martyn WILLSON; Willia' OWTRAM; John HEALDE, Willi' SYMSON; Will' BENITTE; Thomas SMITHE ii cal'; ii ar'; i corslett; i bill. "Md. that every of the foresaide persons beside the [?]furniture of theyre (...) have swoordes and daggers."		Tyddeswall: John HEALDE; James ROBINSON, calliv'; Thomas SMYTHE; Willm SYMSON, ar'; Willm BENNYTT, cor'; Anthony OTEFELDE, cor'.

Names, Personal

• A list of Tideswell Vicars (1193-1993), taken from a board inside the Church.

Occupations

• Photograph of The Anchor Inn, Tideswell, from Janet Kirk.

• Bygone Industries of the Peak: The Velvet and Fustian Cutters, article by Julie Bunting, reproduced from The Peak Advertiser. "Around 1890 the Rising Sun Factory on Summer Cross turned from producing cotton to fustian and velvet cutting".

Schools

• Photograph of Bishop Pursglove's Grammar School, Tideswell, from Rosemary Lockie.

  "The Grammar School, founded by Bishop Pursglove in 1560, continued its good work until 1930; and during the 370 years that it existed, many boys from the neighbourhood have received their education here, whilst it has attracted some number of boarders from more distant parts. But, amongst other things, the school buildings (the lower part of which were erected in 1742 and the upper storey in 1824) are hardly suitable premises for an up-to-date education at the present day. In another form, however, the good Bishop's work still goes on - for the 'Robert Pursglove Educational Foundation' will provide a Central School in Tideswell for boys and girls over 11 years of age:- to the building of which £3,500 comes from the Grammar School Funds: in addition to which it will provide Scholarships to Secondary Schools to the amount of from £100 to £150 a year. And the Pursglove Dole, or 'Grammar School Dole' as it is locally called, will still continue to help many of the poor of the district." [Ref: A Guide to Tideswell and its Church, compiled by Rev. J. M. J. Fletcher MS FR Hist S.; Canon of Salisbury, (Formerly Vicar of Tideswell). The price was "One Shilling": no date of publishing is available.]

© Copyright Rosemary Lockie, GENUKI and contributors, 1999-2008, &c.
GENUKI is a registered trade mark of the charitable trust GENUKI, see About GENUKI as an Organisation

Are you lost in the Genuki hierarchy or arrived here from a Search Engine?
If so, use the up-arrow(s) at the top of the page to go up the hierarchy.

URL of this page: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Tideswell/index.html