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PEAK FOREST (ex. par.), Derbyshire

"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]

Cemeteries

• A list of Surnames from the Memorial Inscriptions of the Church of St Charles King and Martyr, Peak Forest published originally in Derbyshire Ancestral Research Group (DARG) Newsletter, October 2001.
  Full details of inscriptions are available from DARG by postal application. See their How to Contact details for how to get in touch with them.

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.

Church Records

• A transcript of the out of copyright THE MARRIAGE REGISTERS of PEAK FOREST CHAPEL co. Derby Edited by GEORGE W. MARSHALL, L.L.D. with a preface by THE REV. GEORGE ROGERSON Vicar of Peak Forest. has been provided by Rosemary Lockie. Peak Forest was Derbyshire's "Gretna Green"! From its founding during the Civil War, a legal "loophole" resulted in Peak Forest Chapel being a place where couples came from all over the country to be married, a practice put to an end in 1804 by Act of Parliament, being 'productive of Bad Consequencies'.

Description and Travel

• A short Description of Peak Forest & St Charles King and Martyr Church, published originally in Derbyshire Ancestral Research Group (DARG) Newsletter, October 2001, to accompany the MIs (see above, Cemeteries).

Directories

• 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.

• Partial transcription of section of Directory of Sheffield and 20 miles round, 1862, for Peak Forest by Rosemary Lockie. Includes Barmoor.

• Transcription of section of Kelly's Directory (1891) for Peak Forest by Ann Andrews.

Gazetteers

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

History

• Mark Whittaker's Marple Website includes information on the Peak Forest Canal.

Probate Records

• A list of Wills Proved in the Peculiar Court of Peak Forest, 1667 to 1831. This list is taken from THE MARRIAGE REGISTERS of PEAK FOREST CHAPEL (see Church Records above).

[This page was created originally by Phil Stringer, and last updated by him 10 July 1996]

© Copyright Rosemary Lockie, GENUKI and contributors, 1999-2008, &c.
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