729 



DERBYSHIRE. 



DERBYSHIRE. 



730 



residence of the Mercian kings, whose place of sepulture was the 

 original priory. Bipley, 10 miles N. by E. from Derby: population 

 of the chapelry, 3071. Besides the church, erected in 1820, there are 

 chapels for Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians, and a 

 National school. The town is well built, and contains some good 

 houses and shops. A customary market is held on Saturday : fairs 

 are held on Wednesday in Easter week and the 23rd of October. In 

 the neighbourhood are several large collieries and a cotton factory ; 

 also the extensive works of the Butterly Iron Company. The 

 Cromford Canal and the Erewash railway pass close by Ripley. 

 Saudiacre, 9 miles E. from Derby: population, 1065. Besides the 

 church, there are places of worship belonging to the Wesleyau and 

 Primitive Methodists ; also a National school. The principal manu- 

 facture is that of lace and warp net. There is a starch factory. The 

 Erewash railway and canal pass through the village. Sawley, 8 miles 

 E. by S. from Derby : population of the township, 1001. Besides 

 the church, which was enlarged in 1838, there are chapels belonging 

 to the Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists, and a National school. 

 The Midland railway has a station here. StapenhUl, 11 miles S.S.W. 

 from Derby : population, 2604 ; is situated on the right bank of the 

 Trent opposite the town of Burton-upon-Trent. The church, an 

 elegant edifice, standing on an eminence, was erected in 1830, at the 

 expense of the vicar. There are a Wesleyau chapel, and National 

 and Infant schools. Staveley, 28 miles N.N.W. from Derby : popu- 

 lation, 3898, is a busy and populous place. There are very extensive 

 iron-works and coal-mines. The Chesterfield Canal passes through 

 i !age ; and there are tram-roads from the collieries. Staveley is a 

 station on the Midland railway. The church contains some ancient 

 monuments and stained-glass windows. There is a chapel for 

 Methodists. A good school-house has been recently erected by the 

 Duke of Devonshire. At Netherthorpe, a hamlet of Staveley, is an 

 Endowed Grammar school, founded in 1586. Taniley, 18 miles N. 

 from Derby, in the parish of Crich: population, 593. There are 

 here a church, erected in 1840, a chapel for Wesleyan Methodists, 

 and a National school. There are several cotton-mills and a small- 

 ware manufactory. Ticktnhatt, or Ticknatt, 8 miles S. from Derby : 

 population, 1241. The village is a mile and a half long. There are 

 here a church, a very handsome structure, rebuilt in 1842, chapels 

 for Wesleyan Methodists and Baptists, an Endowed school, and an 

 hospital for decayed housekeeper!!. In the neighbourhood are extensive 

 lime-kilns. Whittinyton, 26 miles N. by E. from Derby, and 2J miles 

 from the Chesterfield station of the Midland railway: population, 

 874. In addition to the church, there are chapels belonging to the 

 Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists. The Grammar school, founded 

 in 1674, has an income from endowment of 631. a year, and is free 

 to 30 poor children. The number of scholars in 1852 was 80. There 

 are manufactures of stone bottles and earthenware. WIMwell, 

 34 miles N.N.W. from Derby : population, 1355. The church, which 

 is spacious, is cruciform, and contains several ancient monuments. 

 There is a National school. The village is scattered, and the popu- 

 lation chiefly agricultural. At Steeley Farm, one mile and a half 

 from Whitwell, are the picturesque remains of a Norman church. 

 South, Wingfield, 14 miles N. by E. from Derby : population, 1092. 

 Besides the church there is a Wesleyan chapel ; the parochial 

 charities are of considerable value. A castellated manor-house was 

 erected at Wingfield about the middle of the 15th century by Ralph 

 Cromwell, secretary to Henry VI. The i-uins are now greatly 

 dilapidated, but are still very beautiful. The inhabitants are chiefly 

 employed in framework knitting. Youlyreave, 21 miles N.N.W. from 

 Derby : population of the parish, which is very extensive, 3764. 

 The church, which is partly Norman, contains a curious font. There 

 are two Dissenting meeting-houses. On the Derwent, at Youlgreave, 

 is a large paper-mill. In the parish are many antiquities of the 

 British period. 



Diviion for Ecclesiastical and Legal Purposes. Derbyshire is in 

 the diocese of Lichfield : it constitutes the archdeaconry of Derby, 

 which is subdivided into 19 rural deaneries. According to the 'Census 

 of Religious Worship,' taken in 1851, it appears that there were then 

 in the county 776 places of worship, of which 404 belonged to various 

 bodies of Methodists, 250 to the Established Church, 45 to Inde- 

 pendents, 39 to Baptists, and 38 to minor bodies. The total number 

 of sittings provided was 184,093. By the Poor-Law Commissioners 

 the county is divided into nine Unions : Ashbourne, Bakewell, Belper, 

 Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chesterfield, Derby, Glossop, Hayfield, and Shard- 

 low. These Unions include 272 parishes and townships, with an 

 area of 509,220 acres, and a population in 1851 of 259,967; but the 

 boundaries of the Unions are not strictly co-extensive with those of 

 the coxmty. 



Derbyshire is in the midland circuit : the assizes and the quarter 

 sessions are hold at Derby, except the Easter sessions, which are held 

 at Chesterfield. Until the year 1569 this county and Nottinghamshire 

 formed but one shrievalty. Until the reign of Henry III. the assizes 

 for both counties were held at Nottingham : afterwards, until Derby 

 was marie a distinct shrievalty, they were held alternately at Notting- 

 ham and Derby. County courts are held .it Alfreton, Ashbourne, 

 Bakewell, Belper, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chesterfield, Derby, and 

 Wirksworth. 



Derbyshire baa some peculiar laws and regulations of very high 



antiquity in reference to the working of the lead-mines. The principal 

 part of the county where lead ore is found in any considerable quan- 

 tity is called the ' King's Field,' and comprehends nearly all the 

 wapentake of Wirksworth and a considerable part of the High Peak 

 hundred. The ' King's Field ' has been from time immemorial let on 

 lease. The lessees have each in his respective district a steward and 

 barmasters. The steward presides as judge in the barmote courts, 

 and, with 24 jurymen, chosen every half-year, determines all disputes 

 which arise respecting the working of the mines. Debts incurred in 

 working the mines are cognisable in these courts. The courts meet 

 twice a year, or oftener if need be. The court for the High Peak 

 district meets at Monyash, that for the wapentake district at the 

 town of Wirksworth. The office of the barmaster is principally to 

 put miners into the possession of veins that they have discovered, and 

 to collect the proportion of ore to which the lessee of the crown or 

 the lord of the manor has a claim. 



There are four members of parliament returned for the county 

 (two for the northern and two for the southern division), and two for 

 the borough of Derby. 



Histoiy and Antiquities. Before the Roman conquest Derbyshire 

 appears to have been included in the territory of the Coritani, who, 

 with the Cornabii, occupied the whole of the midland district from 

 the Lincolnshire coast to the upper part of the Severn and the Dee. 

 Upon the conquest of South Britain by the Romans, and its division 

 into provinces, Derbyshire was included in the province of Flavia 

 Csesariensis, not (as Pilkington, and after him, Messrs. Lysons state) 

 of Britannia Prima. 



The barren moors of this county abound in masses of gritstone ; and 

 single stones of vast size appear above the surface : many tors (as 

 Mock Beggar Hall, on Stanton moor, between Winster and Bakewell, 

 Robin Hood's Mark, on Ashover common, &c.) and rocking stones 

 have been found, and many rock basins ; but all these, to which it 

 was once common to ascribe a druidical origin, seem referrible, like 

 the granite tors of Cornwall and Devonshire, rather to natural causes. 

 There are however many circles of stones, some upright stones, and 

 tumuli or barrows of earth and stones (called in Derbyshire 'lows'), 

 and some rude military works which are unquestionably memorials of 

 the early inhabitants. The most remarkable of these monuments is 

 the stone circle of Arbelow, or Arbor-tow, 5 or 6 miles north-west of 

 the town of Winster. An elliptical area of 52 yards by 46 (having 

 the greater diameter in a direction north and south), is inclosed by a 

 ditch 6 yards broad, and an outer bank formed of the soil thrown out 

 from the ditch, 5 yards high on the inside. About 30 rough unhewn 

 stones about 6 to 8 feet long by 3 feet broad, and one foot thick, lie 

 irregularly round the inclosure, having their smaller ends pointing 

 towards the centre : there is reason to think these once stood obliquely 

 on one end. About 14 smaller stones are intermingled with these in 

 an irregular manner, and there are two stones lying near the centre, 

 one of which is larger than any other within the area. Near this 

 circle are some tumuli, one of which is of large size. Numerous 

 tumuli occur on Stanton Moor, north of Winster, where are also many 

 rocking stones, locally called roo-tors, and some upright stones. The 

 tumuli and other primeval antiquities of this county are fully described 

 in Bateman's ' Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire.' 



The ancient British road, the Rykueld-street, and the Roman road, 

 which usually coincided with it, cross this county in its whole extent 

 from south-west to north-east, from the borders of Staffordshire to 

 those of Yorkshire. Chesterfield has been supposed to be a Roman 

 station, the Lutudarum of Ravennas ; and the first part of the name 

 of the town (Chester, which with its kindred forms cester and caster 

 usually indicates the site of a Roman station), and the discovery of 

 Roman coins there, give probability to the supposition. A second 

 Roman road has been traced from Brough in Hope Dale to Buxton, 

 both of which are supposed to have been Roman stations. At Brough 

 three sides of the station, which was an oblong 310 feet by 270 feet, 

 are btill perfect ; and the foundations of a temple and another large 

 building, with other antiquities, have been discovered. At Buxton 

 several Roman baths have been discovered, and three of their roads 

 meet here. Another Roman road, locally designated Long-lane, runs 

 through the county from the river Dove near Bocester, which from 

 its name was probably a station, to Derventio, and appears to have 

 continued in the same line thence into Nottinghamshire. There are 

 some traces of other roads. 



Dervcutio, now Little Chester, appears to have been the most 

 considerable Roman station in the county. Melandra Castle station 

 is on a moderate elevation at the meeting of two mountain streams : 

 it is nearly square, 366 feet by 336 feet ; the ramparts and part of the 

 ditch still remain, and the gates and the site of the Prjctorium may 

 be discovered : there are the foundations of many buildings on the 

 side sloping to the water. It has been conjectured that there were 

 Roman stations at several other places in the county. 



Of Roman antiquities the most remarkable are an altar preserved 

 at Haddon Hall, a silver plate found in Risley Park, and the pigs of 

 lead found near Matlock. In the Saxon division of England, Derby- 

 shire was comprehended in the kingdom of Mereia ; and Repaudun, 

 or Repton, on the south bank of the Trent, was one of the royal 

 residences. Derbyshire was overrun by the Danes in their great 

 invasion of England in the time of Ethelred I. and Alfred. At the 



