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Help and advice for Peak Forest

If you have found a problem on this page then please report it on the following form. We will then do our best to fix it. If you are wanting advice then the best place to ask is on the area's specific email lists. All the information that we have is in the web pages, so please do not ask us to supply something that is not there. We are not able to offer a research service.

If you wish to report a problem, or contribute information, then do use the following form to tell us about it. We have a number of people each maintaining different sections of the web site, so it is important to submit information via a link on the relevant page otherwise it is likely to go to the wrong person and may not be acted upon.

Peak Forest

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Archives and Libraries

The parish established a Reading Room around 1880.

Basher EYRE has a photograph of the Reading Room on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.

You may find it valuable to use the Chapel-en-le-Frith Library, which has both a Family History section and a Local Studies section.

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Cemeteries

Basher EYRE has a photograph of the churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015 .

Anglican
King Charles The Martyr, Peak Forest, Church of England
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Census

  • The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year		 Piece No.
1851 H.O. 107 / 2151
1861 R.G. 9 / 2548
1891 R.G. 12 / 2781

Churches

Anglican
King Charles The Martyr, Peak Forest, Church of England

You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Peak Forest area or see them printed on a map.

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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. This chapel was removed before 1900.
     
  • The present church was built in 1876-1877 adjacent to the old church site.
     
  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to King Charles I, the Martyr.
     
  • The church seats 240.
     
  • The chapel had a reputation for disregarding the Marriage Act and people came from all over to get married, many of them underage. The minister would not read the traditional banns until an act of Parliament in 1804 forced him to change the practice.
     
  • George GRIFFIN has a photograph of Peak Forest Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2005.
     
  • Bill HENDERSON has a photograph of Charles King and Martyr Church on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.
     
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1669, but early sections are dilapidated. From 1727 it is almost perfect.
     
  • Michael SPENCER provides a partial extract of Parish Register burials for your review. Your additions and correction are welcomed.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Buxton.
     
  • Andrew HILL has a photograph of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2012.
     
  • The village had a Wesleyan Methodist chapel prior to 1895.
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Civil Registration

  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
  • The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
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Correctional Institutions

  • Jane TAYLOR in Redcar provides this extract from the Derby Mercury of 27 October 1803: "...on the 21st inst. John TIMMONS, charged upon oath with burgulariously breaking open the dwelling-house of Mr David PEARSON, of Peak Forest, on the night of the 8th or on the morning of the 9th instant, and stealing thereout sundry articles of wearing apparel."
     
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Description and Travel

"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]

The nearly 5,300 acres of the parish have been mostly pasturage.

You can see pictures of Peak Forest which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

Ask for a calculation of the distance from Peak Forest to another place.

Click here for a list of nearby places.

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Historical Geography

You can see the administrative areas in which Peak Forest has been placed at times in the past. Select one to see a link to a map of that particular area.

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History

Bill HENDERSON has a photograph of The Devonshire Arms pub. on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.

These are the names associated with the Peacock Hotel in various directories:

Year  Person
1835 Mary HAWKSWORTH
1891 George HILL
1895 William HILL
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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK116797 (Lat/Lon: 53.31411, -1.827351), Peak Forest which are provided by:

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Politics and Government

  • This place was an ancient extra-parochial area in Derbyshire and became a modern Civil Parish in December, 1858.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • You may contact the local Parish Council regarding civic and political issues, but they will NOT be able to help you with family history questions.
     
  • District governance is provided by the High Peak Borough Council.
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Poor Houses, Poor Law etc.

  • The Countess of Devonshire established a fund that helped pay for apprenticing poor children.
     
  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Chapel-en-le-Frith petty session hearings once each month.
     
  • As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Chapel en le Frith Poorlaw Union.
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Population

 Year Inhabitants
1801 607
1831 573
1841 575
1851 596
1881 499
1891 502
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Schools

  • The Public Elementary School (mixed) was built in 1868 for 100 children.
     
  • Bill HENDERSON has a photograph of Peak Forest Primary School on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.