Alstonfield in 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"ALSTONFIELD, (or Alstonefield) a parish in the northern division of the hundred of Totmonslow, in the county of Stafford, 11 miles to the N.E. of Cheadle. Ashbourne is the nearest post town. It contains the chapelries of Upper Elkstone, Longnor, Quarnford, and Warslow, and the townships of Lower Elkstone, Fairfield Head, Heathy Lee, and Hollinsclough, and is situated on the river Dove, which here forms part of the boundary of the parish and the county, separating them from the counties of Chester and Derby. It belongs to the duchy of Lancaster. Coal, copper, and lead mines are worked here, and there is a silk-mill, and two button manufactories at Fairfield Head and Heathy-Lee, in which most of the population find employment.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £300, in the patronage of Sir John Crewe, Bart., who resides at Caulke Abbey. The church dedicated to St. Peter, is large, and in the early English style, with an embattled tower and pinnacles. In addition to the parish church there are four chapels of ease. The charities amount to £54, and include a small free school, founded in 1726 by German Pole. The poet Cotton had a fishing-house at Alstonfield, and used to enjoy rambling here with his friend Izaac Walton. The pulpit in the church and some of the church furniture were the gift of Cotton.

An 1868 Gazetteer description of the following places in Alstonfield is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Crowdycote
• Elkstone
• Fairfield Head
• Flash
• Heathylee
• Hollins Clough
• Longnor
• Narrowdale
• Quarnford
• Stanshope
• Upper Booseley
• Warslow

 

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