WIRKSWORTH, Derbyshire

Bibliography

• Doxey, Jack - O'er Back and on the Hillock. Wirksworth & District Historical Society, 2002. ISBN 0-906753-15-5.
  
  
• DVDReview - Wirksworth: A Town of Stone and Steam. Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Association, 2006.
  
  
• Jones, Brian - Beyond The Copper Beech. Published by the Author, 2008. No ISBN.
  
  
• Priestley, Frank - The Wirksworth Saga. Pipers Ash (Chippenham), 2003. No ISBN.
  
  
• Wirksworth in Old Picture Postcards. European Library, 2000. ISBN 90 288 2200 3.

Return to top of page

Census

• The parish was in the Wirksworth sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

Return to top of page

Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary.
  
  
• The first Christian church built here is recorded in 653 AD.
  
  
• The Anglican parish church was built in the 13th century on the site of earlier Saxon churches.
  
  
• An excellent photograph of the church is at at Flickr.

Return to top of page

Church Records

• The parish register for 1600 through 1900 is online at Wirksworth Org.
  
  
• The baptisms at the Free Methodist Church are available at the London Family History Centre covering 1888-1891 and 1912-1914.

Return to top of page

Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Wirksworth sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
  

Return to top of page

Description and Travel

"WIRKSWORTH is a market-town, in the parish of its name, which is partly in the hundred of Wirksworth, and extending into those of Appletree and High Peak; 139 miles from London, 48 S.S.E. from Manchester, 20 S.E. from Buxton, 14 S. by W. from Chesterfield, the like distance N.N.W. from Derby, 6 N.W. from Belper, and 3 S. from Matlock Bath; situate near to the direct road from the metropolis to Manchester. In Domesday survey it is called Werchesvorde, but, according to vulgar tradition, it took its derivation from the circumstance of malefactors being condemned to work in the lead-mines here, and their labours proving valuable, it was said their work is worth, hence the easy transition to its present mode of spelling."

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

Return to top of page

Gazetteers

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

Return to top of page

Military Records

• There is a grey stone plaque War Memorial for World War I and a brass plaque for World War II, both in St. Mary's Church. The names are listed at Wirksworth War Memorial.
  

Return to top of page

Politics and Government

• This place was an ancient parish in Derbyshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
  
  
• This parish of Wirksworth also contained a township called "Wirksworth".
  
  
• This parish was the heart of the ancient Wirksworth Hundred (or Wapentake).

Return to top of page

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• As a result of the 1834 Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms, this parish became a member of the Belper Poorlaw Union.
  
  
• Bastardy cases would be heard at the Wirksworth petty session hearings.
  

Return to top of page

Schools

• A grammar school at Wirksworth was founded in 1584 by Anthony Gell and others.
  (Ref: A History of Derbyshire, Gladwyn Turbutt, 1999)

Return to top of page