CLAYCROSS, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"CLAYCROSS, (or Claylane) a township in the parish of North Wingfield, in the hundred of Scarsdale, in the county of Derby, 5 miles S. of Chesterfield, its post town. It is a station on the Midland railway. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £60, to which the Claycross Coal Company make a grant of £50, in the patronage of the Rector of North Wingfield. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, was erected by subscription in 1851. It is a handsome stone edifice in the early English style.

The Wesleyans, New Connexion, and Primitive Methodists have places of worship. There are National schools and schools erected by the Claycross Company in 1854, for boys, girls, and infants, to which is attached a large library. These schools are supported by the Company's servants, who subscribe 1d. per week towards them. The coal stratum, of which the mines here form part, extends over an area of 65 miles from N. to S., and its greatest width is about 24 miles. This place is greatly improved since the opening of the Midland railway."

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