Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH

CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in Derby. The town stands on the slope of a high hill, near the High Peak, adjacent to the Buxton and Whaley-Bridge railway, and 5 miles N of Buxton. It sprang from an ancient church or chapel within the Peak "frith" or forest; and is now a neat centre of local trade, a seat of petty sessions, and a polling place. It has a post office‡ under Stockport, a railway station, two chief inns, a town hall, a church, two dissenting chapels, and a suite of schools. The townhall is a neat edifice of 1851. The church is an ancient structure with a square tower, renovated in 1834. The schools were built in 1846, at a cost of fully £1,100. Manufacture is carried on in cotton and paper mills; and considerable traffic exists in the transfer of lead, coal, and limestone from neighbouring works to distant placesMarkets are held on Thursdays; and fairs on the Thursday before 14 Feb., 3 March, 29 March, Easter, 30 April, 24 Aug., and 11 Nov., Holy Thursday, the third Thursday after Holy Thursday, and the Thursday after 29 Sept.—The parish includes also the townships of Coombs-Edge, Bradshaw-Edge, and Bowden-Edge. Acres, 13,220. Real property, £14,389. Pop., 4,264. Houses, 780. The property is subdivided. Much of the surface is hill and moor. The canal reservoir is a fine sheet of water; and the Barmere-Clough well is an ebbing and flowing spring. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £300.* Patrons, Resident Freeholders.

The subdistrict contains the parishes of Chapel-en-le-Frith and Castleton, parts of the parishes of Hope, Hathersage, Glossop, and Tideswell, and the liberty of Peak Forest. Acres, 57,507. Pop., 9,878. Houses, 1,923. The district includes also the subdistrict of Buxton, containing parts of the parishes of Bakewell, Hope, and Hartington. Acres, 63,248. Poor-rates in 1866, £3,728. Pop. in 1861, 14,020. Houses, 2,699. Marriages in 1866, 110; births, 586,-of which 28 were. illegitimate; deaths, 366,-of which 127 were at ages under 3 years, and 11 at ages above 85 years. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 814; births, 3,826; deaths, 2,513. The places of worship in 1851 were 10 of the church of England, with 3,483 sittings; 2 of Independents, with 475 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 150 s.; 17 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 2,795 s.; and 6 of Primitive Methodists, with 590 s. The schools were 14 public day schools, with 1,009 scholars; 15 private day schools, with 336 s.; 25 Sunday schools, with 2,038 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 46 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Chapel En le Frith AP/CP       Chapel En le Frith SubD       Chapel En le Frith RegD/PLU       Derbyshire AncC
Place: Chapel En le Frith

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