England

Contents & Site Map

Towns & Parishes

Information related to all of Derbyshire

What's New

DERBYSHIRE

Archives and Libraries Bibliography Cemeteries Census Church History Church Records Civil Registration Court Records Correctional Institutions Description and Travel Directories Emigration and Immigration Encyclopedias & Dictionaries Gazetteers Genealogy Historical Geography History Inventories, Registers, Catalogues Land and Property Law and Legislation

Manors Maps Medical Records Military History Names, Geographical Names, Personal Newspapers Occupations Periodicals Politics and Government Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc. Postal and Shipping Guides Probate Records Religion and Religious Life Schools Social Life and Customs Societies Taxation Voting Registers Towns & Parishes

Description in 1887

"DERBYSHIRE, midland county of England [Map (above) shows location], having Yorkshire on the north, Notts on the east, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Staffordshire on the south and Staffordshire and Cheshire on the west; length, north and south, 52 miles; greatest breadth, 85 miles; average breadth, 20 miles; area, 658,624 acres; pop. 461,914. The surface in the south is either flat or undulating, irregular in the middle and NE., and picturesquely mountainous in the NW. or Peak district. The principal rivers are the Trent, Derwent, Dove, and Wye; river communication is supplemented by the Erewash and Grand Trunk Canals. The road and railway systems are highly developed. The soil in the Vale of the Trent is alluvial and very productive. In the hilly districts the land is mostly in pasture; much of it is rocky and unproductive. Oats, barley, potatoes, and wheat are cultivated; and there are many excellent dairy-farms. Warm mineral springs are numerous, the most popular being those at Buxton, Matlock, and Bakewell. Coal is abundant; iron ore and lead are worked; among the other mineral products are zinc, manganese, and barytes. There are numerous and extensive quarries of limestone and marble; fluor-spar is found in the caverns, and is manufactured into a great variety of ornamental articles. Silk, cotton, and lace are the chief manufactures, but malting and brewing are also carried on, and there are some extensive iron foundries." [Bartholemew's Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887]

INFORMATION RELATED TO ALL OF DERBYSHIRE

1. All Derbyshire pages may be searched using the GENUKI Search engine. The GENUKI Parish Locator, or John Palmer's DERBYSHIRE PLACENAMES Index, listing 7,000 places within the county, may be used to identify which town or parish a place is located in.

2. There is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file for these Derbyshire pages.

3. Researchers may find one or more of the Derbyshire Mailing Lists useful in their research; and Derbyshire Surnames are listed within Hugh Winter's database of Derbyshire Surname-Interests.

4. Glenn's mantras, for research in Derbyshire:-
   • don't conjure - don't invent ancestors!
     [Rosemary adds: and don't look for a complicated solution when a simple one will suffice.]
   • trust the weird names:
     Francis and Cornelius Hallams seem pretty much always to have Stoney/Eyam/Curbar/Baslow connections (as opposed to Godfrey and Roland Hallams, who are all from Hope/Castleton/Tideswell.
     [Rosemary adds: substitute the weird names, and surname of your choice. Rejoice in the fact that 'Hercules' may also be found spelled 'Archelaus', and ELLIOTT as YELLOT.]
   • when in doubt, look for a stray marriage in Peak Forest!
   Thanks to Glenn Trezza for a refreshing look at some common problems in Derbyshire Research.

5. Volunteers are being sought to help to transcribe the 1891 Census for Derbyshire, to make the whole part of a free searchable database online. Visit the FreeCEN web site for more details, and if you'd like to volunteer, or to check the status of the Derbyshire project at any time visit the following URL: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brett/dby_freecen1891.htm.

Archives and Libraries

• Derbyshire - Archives and Libraries - links and information.

Return to top of page

Bibliography

• Various old books relating to Derbyshire have been scanned, and are available on Rod Neep's Archive CD Books Project. NB: He has the whole set of 15 volumes of Derbyshire Phillimore's Marriages available on a set of 5 CDs, White's 1857 Directory, and much more.

• Derbyshire Book Reviews & Summaries - reviews of recently-published books relating to Derbyshire.

• Turbutt, Gladwyn - A History of Derbyshire. Merton Priory Press, 1999.
  
  • ISBN 1-898937-34-6
  At 120 pounds sterling this book is a considerable investment, but the serious student of Derbyshire History will find it an essential source of reference. Read more in this Review of ‘A History of Derbyshire’ (Peak Advertiser 5th June 2000)

• Salter, Mike - The Old Parish Churches of Derbyshire. Folly Publications.
  • ISBN 1-871731-33-X
  I can recommend this book personally - like others in his Old Parish Churches series, it is extremely well-researched, and for me, a regular source of reference.

• David Blackwell has been scanning a great number of old, and out-of-copyright books, many of which relate to his county of origin, Derbyshire. His output is truly stupendous, and I wish I could keep up with it! Please visit his web site to view the books he has scanned relating to the UK and Derbyshire - you may be surprised by what's available. I certainly was! Of particular mention are:-
  • Burdett's 1791 Map of Derbyshire
  • Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire (all 4 Volumes)
  • Notes from a Peakland Parish (Hope)
  • Feudal History of Derbyshire by Pym Yeatman (Volumes 1 and 5)
  • Lichfield Wills and Administrations (1516-1652)
  but there are many more.

  His work is part of The New England Online Books Effort, and please note his work is available mainly as G4TIFF images for viewing offline. Although some portions have been OCR'd, more volunteers are needed for both scanning, and to produce text, or web page versions.

• The Country Bookstore. On the face of it this looks just like another online bookstore, but their Retail Shop is located in the old Hassop Railway Station, and so their catalogue includes many books which are of local interest.

• Scarthin Books of Cromford, specialise in Derbyshire, and Local History. There's a nice photograph of their shop in Cromford on their home page.

Return to top of page

Cemeteries

• Sheffield General Cemetery database - 80,000+ entries, for which details may include place of birth, and in one instance I noticed of someone born in Derbyshire, a reference to maiden surname... Choose 'Resources' from the left menu, scroll down to 'burial details' and click on 'the first 6000 burials', from which you can either list them chronologically or use the brilliant, and very fast search engine. Added 1 Apr 2006.

• Roll of Honour - Derbyshire - War Memorial Selection. Added 5 Aug 2005.

• Information about, and an online index to The Monumental Brasses of Derbyshire is available on the web site of The Monumental Brass Society.

Return to top of page

Census

• Derbyshire Census - links and information.

Return to top of page

Church History

• Search for Derbyshire Anglican Churches on The Diocese of Derby website. Added 15 Jun 2007.

• Hoskyns, Edwyn - Under the Heavy Clouds. Merton Priory Press, 2005.
  • ISBN 1-898937-63-X
  Subtitled ‘The Church of England in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, 1911-1915’, this book is an account of Edwyn Hoskins, Bishop of Southwell's parochial visitation of the diocese between 1911 and 1915.
  Read more in this Review of ‘Under the Heavy Clouds’ (Peak Advertiser, 14th February 2005)

• Combes, Isobel - Anglican Churches of Derbyshire. Landmark Collector's Library, 2005.
  • ISBN 1-84306-152-X
  Read more in this Review of ‘Anglican Churches of Derbyshire’ (Peak Advertiser, 17th January 2005)

• Derbyshire Sundials - a most interesting in-depth study, with photographs.

• "TAKE A LOOK AT: Maidens' Garlands and Memorials" - copy of an article by Julie Bunting, published in The Peak Advertiser, 25 Jun 2001 (p13).

• Tomkins, Rodney - Derbyshire Churches & Chapels Open to Visitors. Scarthin Books, 2000.
  
  • ISBN 1 900446 02 2
  Covers over 200 places of worship in Derbyshire. The content is also available online at www.derbyshirechurches.org.uk - a very attractive Website, built by Rev. Clive Thrower, Derby Diocese Tourism Officer.

• Information about Derbyshire's Parishes, 1811 is available from Ann Andrews.

• The Britannia, "America's Gateway to the British Isles" Index of Parish Churches amazingly features no Derbyshire Churches, but it's a nice site and other counties are represented (!).

• You may also find it worthwhile searching in the GENUKI church database. Enter the name of the place in which the church is located:

Return to top of page

Church Records

• Family History Sources on CD from Valerie Neal - transcriptions of original Parish Registers &c. for sale from Ivor and Valerie Neal. Added 11 Aug 2005; latest update 8 Mar 2006.

• Ancestral Archives - CDs - transcriptions of original source material available for purchase on CDROM, including School, Orphanage, Medical, and Parish Records. Added 21 Jul 2005; latest update 22 Nov 2006.

• The searchable LDS website - IGI and Familysearch

  Note on using IGI Batch Numbers:
  It is not always easy to locate your ancestors in the IGI using the search mechanisms provided at the above LDS site. Manually typing the batch numbers into the IGI search screen can be tedious. Hugh Wallis has made an exhaustive search of the likely ranges of batch numbers and created a database of those numbers and the source records that they apply to. A very powerful feature included is a hotlink from each batch number to the actual search engine provided at the Family Search site, including the ability to enter the surname you are looking for. This makes it very easy to search all the batches for a particular geographic location using just the last name you are searching for - something that is not possible directly from the LDS site without doing a lot of typing. This is Hugh Wallis's site.

• The searchable database of GenoGold contains a growing number of Michael Spencer's transcriptions of various Derbyshire Parish Records (mostly burials).

• Derbyshire Record Office's complete Parish Register Guide is now available on their web-site at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/record_office/. The guide is a Microsoft Word document, which you can view online if you're using Internet Explorer, or you can save it to disc and view it offline. As well as providing essential background information for research, the guide also provides covering dates of Church of England Parish Registers held at the DRO (begins with Abney, ends with Youlgreave).

• Information about Derbyshire Church Records - provided by courtesy of Jayne McHugh.

• Nigel Batty-Smith's site of United Kingdom Genealogy has a section on Derbyshire, which includes scanned images of Phillmore's Derbyshire Parish Registers - Marriages.

• Dawn Scotting has compiled a list of Stray Marriages in Winster - where one or both parties were not of the parish - parties are from all over Derbyshire.

• The Society of Genealogists web site has a list of their holdings of Parish register copies for Derbyshire.

• Information on the location of Quaker Records in Derbyshire provided by the Quaker FHS.

Return to top of page

Civil Registration

• Brett Langston has provided details of Derbyshire Registration districts 1837-1930.

  DERBYSHIRE REGISTER OFFICES, September 2000
  The following eight Register Offices for Derbyshire all have different opening hours. None of them has email facility. Telephone is the simplest method of contact. Fax may be used for enquiries and searches only. For obtaining certificates, clarify payment details with the office concerned.

  • Amber Valley (formerly Belper)
  • Ashbourne
  • Bakewell
  • Chesterfield
  • Derby
  • East Staffordshire (formerly Burton on Trent)
  • Erewash (formerly Ilkeston)
  • High Peak (formerly Chapel en le Frith)

  Note: Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained locally only from the Register Office for the District in which they were issued - or if the District no longer exists, the Office to which its registers have been moved.

  If ordering from a District Office, please note the following:

  1. the cost of a certificate is £7.00 (from 1st April 2003) - send a Sterling cheque payable to the Superintendent Registrar plus return postage or two International Reply Coupons;
     
  2. the General Register Office (GRO) Index references (formerly available at St Catherine's House) are of no value;
     
  3. for marriage certificates, the precise place of marriage must be given;
     
  4. Civil Registration in England and Wales began on July 1st 1837.

• If you have a GRO reference, you can now order certificates online via the General Register Office's website, and their Certificate Ordering Service for the same price as locally.

  You can obtain a GRO reference in several ways:-

  1. Personal visit to the Family Records Centre in London.
  2. Searching microfilm or fiche at your local library.
  3. FreeBMD is an ongoing project to make the General Register Office (GRO) Indexes freely available online. More volunteers are needed and details of how you can help are available on-site.
  4. findmypast.com (formerly 1837online) - images of the complete BMD indexes from the GRO online. Fee payable
  5. Family Relatives - similar to findmypast where again a fee is payable - check out their 'Resources & Guidance' section for details.

Return to top of page

Court Records

• Jean Durbin is compiling a list of names of those sentenced at the Derby Assizes eventually to run from 1805 and 1868. Information may also include date, age, the offence, and whether 'not guilty' or sentenced. Added 10 Mar 2006.

• High Peak Barmote Court Roll Book, 1855-1901, transcribed by Janet Kirk. Added 13 Nov 2004.

• Michael Cox has transcribed 8,777 cases from Derbyshire Petty and Quarter sessions 1770-1828 (hosted on John Palmer's Wirksworth site) - a great resource for finding those Black Sheep in your ancestry!

Return to top of page

Correctional Institutions

• The Police Memorabilia Museum in St Mary's Gate, Derby - closed at the moment, but "isn't it amazing what you can find on the web!"

• The Prison Service Museum near Rugby houses HM Prison Service's historical collection of exhibits, illustrating the history of imprisonment from medieval times to the present day. Housed in a converted stable block, the museum contains reconstructions of Victorian prison architecture, and exhibits include the last set of Gibbet Irons used in England. Smaller items include bone carvings and paintings made by prisoners in their cells, and a nineteenth century sampler embroidered by a female prisoner from her own hair

  Admission to the museum is by appointment only, please contact:-

  The Curator,
  HM Prison Service Museum,
  Newbold Revel,
  Rugby,
  CV23 0TH
  

  Tel: 01788 834168
  

  [Information compiled from "The Penal Lexicon Home Page", formerly at www.penlex.org.uk/pages/index.html.]

Return to top of page

Description and Travel

• The Geograph British Isles project - "aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of the UK and the Republic of Ireland..." Added 16 Jun 2007.

• I know many of us are likely to be past the age for taking a run(!), but I was captivated by the descriptions and photos on the Peak Trail Runner site. Added 13 Jan 2006.

• Picture the Past - project being managed by Derbyshire County Council to digitise thousands of historic images from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, some as early as.1850. You can also read about it in this Review of ‘Picture the Past’ Website (Peak Advertiser, date of publication unknown)

• Discover Derbyshire and the Peak District - site featuring a walk-through of (at present - 6 Dec 2003) 20 Peak District towns and villages, with an emphasis on local history. Whilst I haven't explored it fully mself yet, of the villages I looked at, all the salient aspects of local folklore appear to be covered, and with more to be added over the coming months. I can fully recommend this attractive, and well presented site.

• Helen Wilson (of Genealogy-Links) has begun an online image archive - www.photo-ark.co.uk - of pre-1950 photographs, postcards, &. At present the site covers Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire, to which contributions of your own images are most welcome.

• Derbyshire UK has descriptions and photographs of many towns and villages in Derbyshire, and provides a wide range of information about other aspects of the county.

• Hedgerow Publishing are selling high quality goods featuring scenes in Sheffield, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. Their Nostalgic Prints are of particular interest.

• North East Derbyshire, a comprehensive site featuring items of interest for this area, with an A-Z of Towns and Villages, provided by Jon Rouse.

• A Website for the Peak District. (Cressbrook Multimedia). Provides useful information for visitors, featuring on individual Towns and Villages in the Peak District, and including maps and photographs.

• The City of Derby - an excellent site. Of particular interest to the Family Historian are photographs of Churches in the City and surrounds, and a list of Executions in Derbyshire.

• The Peak District National Park - History and features. Contains some fascinating information on individual towns and villages.

• Ok, so I'm a sucker for Peak District sites - how about a Peak District Sightseer's Guide - pages with information on Arbor Low (Stone Circle), Chatsworth, Cromford, Haddon Hall, and more.

Return to top of page

Directories

• An index of descriptions from Pigot's Commercial Directory of Derbyshire 1828-9 transcribed by Heather Faulkes.

• Frontispiece to White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby, 1857 (for interest only, no Surnames or Descriptions!) A transcription of the complete White's 1857 Directory of Derbyshire is available from Neil Wilson.

• Pigot's Trade Directory of Derbyshire 1835. This excellent work covers the whole of the county, and contains over 8,500 names. It was converted to HTML format originally by Clive Henly from what were plain ASCII text files provided by Rosemary Lockie, the transcriber.

• Leicester University's Digital Library of Historical Directories for England and Wales.

Return to top of page

Emigration and Immigration

• Some Emigrants from Derbyshire to Australia and New Zealand - brief biographical details of known emigrants.

• Some Emigrants from Derbyshire to Colonial and British North America, a growing list which began following a contribution from Leslie Mahler.

Return to top of page

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

• Entry for Derbyshire in a 1911 Edition Encyclopedia.

• A Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms, Dick Eastman/Randy Jones. Added 3 May 2007.

Return to top of page

Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Derbyshire from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

• The transcription of the section for Miscellaneous Descriptions from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson. Included here are the descriptions of major topological features (rivers, hills &c.) and a descriptions of the county hundred divisions.

• Nigel Batty-Smith's site of United Kingdom Genealogy has a section devoted to Derbyshire, which includes transcriptions from Stephen Glover's "History, Gazetteer, and Directory of the County of Derby", 1829.

• You may also find it worthwhile searching in the GENUKI Gazetteer.
  The GENUKI Gazetteer covers the whole of England, Wales and Scotland and can be searched by place-name (or part of a place-name) or Ordnance Survey Grid Reference (six-figure, eg SK350350). If there are multiple place-names matching the name you enter, you will be presented initially with a drop-down list of the matching place-names with their distances and bearings from Derby.

Return to top of page

Genealogy

• The Derbyshire section of 'Curious Fox' - "The village-by-village contact site for anybody researching family history, genealogy and local history in the UK and Ireland". Added 29 Nov 2006.

• A very useful new (as of January 2001) site of Genealogy Links has been created by Helen Wilson. Covers the counties of Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Suffolk; also includes Ancestors' Tales and Resources for Sale & Wanted. It's easy to become immersed in this site - do remember to come up for air, or refreshment from time to time!

• Helen also offers a very wide range of free lookups on Derbyshire resources in her Derbyshire County Free Look-Up Index. Sources available include 1851 and 1891 census indexes, Parish Records, the Derbyshire Vital Records index, and a series of Directories.

• Genealogy and Derbyshire - one of a very comprehensive selection of pages on Genealogy and Family History provided by Jim Fisher. Jim has a well structured site, and I recommend his pages as offering a very wide variety of research tips.

• Jayne McHugh's North East Derbyshire website provides information about Staveley, Brimington, Chesterfield, &c.

• The Derbyshire Surname-Interests list, complete with location index, is hosted by Hugh Winters.

• Details of Derbyshire Mailing Lists, povided by John Fuller - part of a much larger collection of "Genealogy Resources on the Internet" - pages maintained jointly by John, with Chris Gaunt.

  Ideas for messages to the Lists may include:

  • The Derbyshire surnames you are researching
  • Queries regarding Derbyshire individuals or families
  • Questions or information regarding Derbyshire localities
  • Questions or information about Derbyshire genealogical research
  • Requests for or offers of help on Derbyshire genealogical research
  • TIps & tricks regarding Derbyshire genealogical research that you'd like to share with everyone

• The Derbyshire Look-Up Exchange, hosted by Heather Faulkes - a list of volunteers who hold reference material relating to Derbyshire and who are willing to undertake small searches.

• The Derbyshire GenWeb pages, parts of the England GenWeb Project. These are in turn part of the British Isles GenWeb Project, and overall part of the World GenWeb hierarchy.

• Ann Andrews' website The Andrews Pages, whilst focussing primarily on Matlock and Matlock Bath has a great deal of more general interest, including many transcriptions of Directories and Census, and a growing picture gallery

• John Palmer's Wirksworth Parish Records site. A host of transcriptions (parish registers, MIs, Census, etc.) covering an area of 40 square miles around Wirksworth.

• Brett Payne's South Derbyshire Genealogical Resources web site. Features transcriptions of South Derbyshire research material for Church Gresley, Newhall, Stapenhill, etc.

• Marjorie Ward's North West Derbyshire Sources. Features Chapel en le Frith, Glossop, etc.

• Eric Youle's Sheffield Local History: Reference and Online Information site features two Derbyshire-related lists:-
  • Derbyshire Alehouses, Inns and Taverns 1577
  • A List of Vills and Freeholders of Derbyshire 1633
  These two items may be found towards the end a list of mainly Sheffield-related material - use "Find" in your browser to search for "vills" if you don't spot them immediately.

Return to top of page

Historical Geography

• Peak District Landscapes - a study of the Peak District from prehistory to the present, with some interesting 'TimeLines'. It also has some genealogy content, as amongst its 'Frequently Asked Questions' is an answer to their #12, 'Do people from Biddulph Moor have Arab ancestors?'.

• English Heritage Viewfinder - site with historic photographs, searchable by county. Has some unusual ones of the Industrial Age which won't be found amongst the more usual postcard collections!.

• The Francis Frith Collection - a collection of over 700,000 photographs of the UK, Europe and the Middle East taken by the Victorian photographer Francis Frith.

• A Vision of Britain Through Time - information about your home area from the 2001 census, and from each British census back to 1801. Presented both as maps of the whole country and as graphs showing change over time.

Return to top of page

History

• British History Online - digital library of medieval and modern sources of the history of the British Isles. Notable souces include Journals of the House of Commons and House of Lords, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, and the Victoria County History. Added 14 Oct 2005.

• Peakland Heritage, a wonderful new (as of March 2002) site provided by Derbyshire's Libraries & Heritage Department, the British Library and Peak District National Park Authority. A MUST to visit for background research material - has many mentions of individuals who achieved fame in their own modest ways, and provides insights into work and pastimes of days gone by.

• About The Feudal History of the County of Derby, Volume 1, by John Pym Yeatman.

• About The Feudal History of the County of Derby, Volume 5, by John Pym Yeatman.

• A list of Contents of Topographical and Historical Account of Derbyshire, 1817, by Daniel and Samuel Lysons, transcribed by Barbarann Ayars.

• The Domesday Book site - "to enable visitors to find out the history of the Domesday Book and to give an insight into life at the time of its compilation". Note this site does not provide the original text, but does include a list settlements existing in 1086.

• An Encyclopaedia of British History: 1700-1950 - useful for seeing local events against a national perspective. Scroll down the introductory page on this site to see topics - Monarchy, Child Labour, The Railways, &c.

• Joseph Platt has begun a collection of Local History Essays - stories or short essays about Derbyshire, beginning with his own, a critique of the writings of (amongst others) the oft-quoted Daniel Defoe and Celia Fiennes, focussing on their presentation of the 'Wonders of the Peak'. Part of his much larger Ashbourne Derbyshire - "Derbyshire Online Family and Local History Magazine" site.

• Alastair's Derbyshire Stone Circle Pages - the site opens with a quite delightful photograph of the Nine Ladies Stone Circle at Stanton ("Clickable picture, pick a stone...").

• The Derby Evening Telegraph's This is Derbyshire site has a wide range of information about Derbyshire's History and Traditions, Historic Buildings, Towns & Villages, &c.

Return to top of page

Inventories, Registers, Catalogues

• The Wolley Manuscripts for all Derbyshire. Abstracts from this superb collection of pre 1828 Documents have been transcribed by Ann Andrews from articles written by Rev. Charles J. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. and published in the Journals of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Many places, people and relationships are mentioned - an absolute "MUST" to visit! Full details, and explanation, are available on Ann's site.

Return to top of page

Land and Property

• Information about Derbyshire Feet of Fines (land conveyances) - on Chris Phillips Medieval English Genealogy web site. Added 22 May 2007.

• Mike Durtnall is providing a country-wide collection of Historical Manuscripts Pages recording details of deeds that have been offered for sale on eBay and in auction catalogues. In most cases whereabouts of the documents will be unknown, but sufficient details of the property involved and of buyers, sellers, mortages, &c. is provided to make them a useful research tool. Added 9 Mar 2007.

• Details of a selection of leases relating to 17th century property rental (cottages and land) may be found amongst Catalogue of Leases from the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire estates of the Dukes of Portland (PI E12/8) available as part of the University of Nottingham Manuscripts Online Catalogue.

• The Harvard Law School Library's English Deeds Collection contains detailed summaries of some Deeds relating to Derbyshire. The site 'Search' for 'derbyshire' may be expected to return eight entries. Updated 27 Apr 2006.

• Robin Alston has created The Country House Database, a very useful reference source, "listing country houses in the British Isles from the late medieval period to ca. 1850, together with an index to all the families so far traced as having occupied them." Includes a section on Derbyshire.

Return to top of page

Law and Legislation

• The Equity/Chancery Court Pleadings Database (on the Public Record Office's website) provides an online index to some of the Chancery Pleadings in series C6. Searches can be made by both name and place.

• Names from Criminal Registers (PRO Class HO 27) 1805-1816 are available for purchase on floppy disk or microfiche through Family History Indexes (the link to Criminal Register Indexes is part way down the page).

Return to top of page

Manors

• Portions of the book Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire, Volume I 1892 (The High Peak) by Joseph Tilley, are been transcribed/OCR'd from G4TIFF images available as part of David Blackwell's work scanning old, and out-of-copyright books.

Return to top of page

Maps

• Access to various satellite map sites (Google, MS Live, &c.) via the convenient front end of Flash Earth. Added 16 Jun 2007.

• Burdett's 1791 Map of Derbyshire (on David Blackwell's site)

• Paul Jones is providing a Lower Dove Valley Tithe Map Viewer - maps cover parishes of both Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

• The London Ancestor site has maps from the 1885 Boundary Commissioners report for all parts of the British Isles, including Derbyshire. Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1885.

• Interactive Road Map of Seventy Miles About Sheffield. This detailed map is dated between 1893 and 1902, and may help to find placenames not recorded on more modern maps. There is more detail than the one mentioned above, but it is harder to read.

• A most useful set of maps for the whole of England and Wales, showing parish boundaries, on a one inch to the mile scale, is available on CD-ROM for a modest price - see:

  Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348.

• The Old Maps web site has a wonderful series of 1:10,560 scale historical maps for the whole of the UK available online. The Derbyshire ones are dated circa 1883.

• The Genmaps site contains a fine collection of Old Maps of the British Isles for Genealogists and Historians. In particular, see Old Maps of Derbyshire.

• The above Genmaps Links pages lists Great Britain - Medieval Maps, which in turn provides several maps including an intriguing Ecclesiastical Map of the British Isles in the Middle Ages, which shows the principal Monasteries, demonstrating some of the earliest centres of habitation and influence.

• Detailed Maps of the area you may be interested in Derbyshire are viewable at the UK Street Map Page. The site provides a most useful service, with superb address searching and street map facilities for anywhere in mainland Great Britain.

• Whilst not in Derbyshire, John Speed's map of Lichfield in 1611 may be of interest because at that time Derbyshire was part of Lichfield Diocese. The Cathedral is immediately recognisable, but otherwise it seems so tiny!

• Malcolm Farmer's collection of Old Maps includes Derbyshire, dated 1878 (image around 2MB). Added 5 Jul 2007.

• Or see it a bit at a time: Old Maps - Derbyshire, 1878 with interactive browsing.

• Clear, Large Type and Braille Maps. Added 11 Feb 2006.

  David Hawgood has produced maps of Derbyshire with large print labels or Braille labels to help people with visual disabilities, with similar maps for other English counties.

  There is an article on David's website, Production of Tactile maps with Braille labels explaining how these maps have been produced.

Return to top of page

Medical Records

• Holdings of Lambeth Palace Library - a Directory of medical licences issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1535-1775 lists some early practitioners in Derbyshire.

• Medical Heritage of Great Britain, a site produced by the Bath & Wessex Medical History Group, providing detailed information on a county level of the history of medical treatments, and locations of some associated buildings .

• A CDROM of Lunacy in 19th Century Derbyshire, compiled by Sylvia Wright, is available for purchase from Ivor and Valerie Neal.

Return to top of page

Military History

• An article by Julie Bunting on Archery (in Warfare) - "Bending the Bow". Added 10 Mar 2007.

• Two very comprehensive sites featuring Castles and Fortifications - CastleUK.net, and The Gatehouse. Added 3 Sep 2005.

• The Age of Nelson - a website providing general information about the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815, and specifically searchable databases of those present at Trafalgar (and more) and of all Commissioned Naval Officers 1787-1822.

• Jean Durbin has extracted the Derbyshire entries from a list of Military Deserters 1828-1840 posted in the Police Gazette (hosted on John Palmer's Wirksworth site).

• Chesterfield Sherwoods on the Somme A site commemorating the men of Chesterfield and surrounding districts of North Derbyshire who died during the Battle of the Somme. A very evocative, and thought provoking site, which warrants a study in depth.

• Names from Musters of the Derbyshire Militia 1781-82 are available for purchase on floppy disk or microfiche through Family History Indexes (the link to Militia Musters is part way down the page).

Return to top of page

Names, Geographical

• Cameron, Kenneth, The place-names of Derbyshire. One of the English Place-Name Society Series; Volume XXIX. Published by Cambridge: University Press (1951-2). In 3 Volumes:
  1. Part 1: Introduction, river-names, High Peak Hundred, Maps.
  2. Part 2: Scarsdale, Wirksworth, Morleyston & Litchurch Hundreds.
  3. Part 3: Appletree, Repton & Gresley Hundreds; Analyses and Indexes.

• John Palmer has created an online DERBYSHIRE PLACENAMES Index, listing 7,000 places within the county, including the parish and Hundred each lies in, and with a simple (text) map to locate the parish.

Return to top of page

Names, Personal

• Lists of some Derbyshire Lead Miners may be found in a Petition of miners of Derbyshire to the House of Commons for relief from the tax on lead, PRO Ref: E101/280/18. This was a petition to the Long Parliament in 1641 or 1642 to reduce the tax on lead from 48 shillings to 28 shillings per fother. It lists by name miners in the lead mining townships of the Hundred of High Peak, the Wapentake of Wirksworth and the townships of Crich and of Ecton in Staffordshire. The list of about 1900 names is almost complete, being slightly damaged for Castleton, Hope, Youlgreave and Stanton. By the name of each miner is the number of his dependants and servants. The Derbyshire Record Office have a handwritten transcription - DRO Ref: D3504/1/1-2.

• The same bundle, DRO Ref: D3504/1/1-2, also contains a handwritten transcription of the 1642 Protestation Return, a document in the House of Lords Record Office in the Main Papers for Feb 26 1642. The townships included are Tideswell, Monyash, Bakewell, Sheldon, Birchill, Rowsley, Overhaddon, Ashford, Longsden [sic], Baslow, Taddington, Beeley, Hope and Castleton. I am indebted to Lynn Burnet for this, and the previous item of information.

• What's in a Name?, a series of articles from The Peak Advertiser featuring the derivation of surnames - with special emphasis on their occurrence in Derbyshire - reproduced by kind permission of their author, Desmond Holden.

• Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section: Indexes to parish returns towards the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral, ca.1678, with their Library Reference numbers. The returns themselves, which need to be consulted by personal visit, promise to be useful, as a record of those individuals who contributed, and in a number of instances those who did not. A number of the returns indicate status of the contributors, e.g. widow, or servant.

• The Derbyshire Surname-Interests List, complete with location index, is hosted by Hugh Winters.

Return to top of page

Newspapers

• If you get a chance to visit the Peak District of Derbyshire, look for a copy of The Peak Advertiser, available at Post Offices, and local village shops, free of charge. Although this is a free advertising newspaper, each issue usually contains one or more local history articles, a family walks feature, and on the back page "What's in a Name" in which the author offers his own unique insight into the meaning behind readers' surnames. Website link added 20 Jan 2007.

• Flindall, Roger - What The Papers Said .... Published by The Peak District Mines Historical Society.
  
  • ISBN 0 904334 24 4.
  Derbyshire in Nottingham Newspapers 1714-1776 - "Researchers using What the Papers Said ... will have at their fingertips full and accurate transcriptions of significant references without need to consult the original newspapers"... read more in this Review of ‘Derbyshire in Nottingham Newspapers 1714-1776’ (Peak Advertiser, 11th September 2000)

• You can search online at The Newspaper Library at Colindale to find details of the newspapers which have been published and which are held at by the Newspaper Library. Search results give the catalogue reference numbers and dates held at Colindale for the title concerned. A note section tells you, for example, if it is held on microfilm only. If the publication continued under another title, it tells you and gives similar details for that title as well.

• The Burton Daily Mail and associated publications cover large parts of the county, particularly South Derbyshire.

• The following sites, sponsored by the appropriate local newspaper, all have a similar "Look-and-Feel"
  • Belper News
  • The Buxton Advertiser
  • The Derby Evening Telegraph
  • The Derbyshire Times
  • The Ilkeston Advertiser
  • The Matlock Mercury
  • Ripley News
  • The Star - Sheffield evening newspaper but also features North Derbyshire news.

  Links to Newspapers' sites are provided not only for the Newspaper content, but also because they may contain links to other items or sites of local interest.

• For other English Newspapers see OnlineNewspapers.com - England.

• Derbyshire Newspaper Articles (Historical) - from The Derbyshire Times, Saturday, January 20, 1923

Return to top of page

Occupations

• Pubs and Breweries of the Midlands past and present - select 'Pub Histories' for listings by county. Added 2 Nov 2005.

• Derbyshire apprentices in London - list compiled by Jean Durbin. Added 5 Sep 2005.

• Photographers and Photographic Studios of Derbyshire - a site created by Brett Payne, provides an index of Derbyshire Photographers, mainly from trade directories, together with biographies of selected photographers, also plenty of hints and tips for dating old family photographs. There is already a substantial collection of examples from the various studios; however further contributions of images are always welcome to this ever-growing collection.

• Registers of the Company of Stationers, London : Apprentices from Derbyshire, transcribed by Leslie Mahler.

• "BYGONE INDUSTRIES OF THE PEAK - copies of a series of article by Julie Bunting, published in The Peak Advertiser, relating to various old occupations.

• "TAKE A LOOK AT: Inn Signs" - copy of an article by Julie Bunting, published in The Peak Advertiser, 27 Jan 2003 (p1 & p7) - fascinating account of how the names of many of Derbyshire's Inns were derived.

• An account of The Apprentice System, with particular reference to Derbyshire Cotton Mills is provided by Frank Hackett. This is part of his account of A Hackett Family History - the Story of a Derbyshire Mill Owning Family which may provide background material for those interested in the Derbyshire Cotton Industry.

• A wonderful resource, the Hallamshire Cutlers: List of Apprentices and Freemen are provided by Eric Youle. If you think they are just Sheffield-based, think again! There are many individuals from North Derbyshire who were apprenticed to Master Cutlers, and even from further afield. I even noted apprentices from as far afield as Edinburgh and Belgium!

• The Society of Brushmakers' Descendants assists those with Brushmaking Ancestors, or with an interest in discovering more about the brushmaker's trade.

• A List of Coal Mines in Great Britain, 1880 - includes all the Mines in Derbyshire, giving the name of the Colliery, where situated and who owned it.

• For further information about Coal Mining generally visit the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

Return to top of page

Periodicals

• Ann Andrews has provided a transcription of the Derbyshire section of The Gentleman's Magazine Library, English Topography Part III, Derbyshire - Dorsetshire (1893). Content includes notes on archaeology, and history, brief biographies and "Eminent Natives", with topographical articles on many of Derbyshire's towns and villages - a wonderful, and unique resource!

Politics and Government

• Amber Valley Borough Council.

• Bolsover District Council.

• Chesterfield Borough Council.

• Derby City Council.

• Derbyshire County Council.

• Derbyshire Dales District Council.

• Erewash Borough Council.

• High Peak Borough Council.

• North East Derbyshire District Council.

• South Derbyshire District Council.

Return to top of page

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Board of Guardians 1837-51. Lists of names of those who were examined as being in need of poor relief, transcribed by Michael Spencer. Covers Poor Law Unions of Bakewell, Belper, Shardlow, Hayfield, Ashbourne and Chesterfield. The records for Derby Union have been lost.

• The Workhouse a site "dedicated to the workhouse - its buildings, its inmates, its staff and administrators, and even its poets..." created by Peter Higginbotham - promises to be a rich source of reference.

• The Rossbret Web site provides extensive information about Workhouses and Poor Law Institutions, but also includes Asylums, Almshouses, Gaols (Prisons), Dispensaries, Hospitals (Infirmaries), Reformatories (Industrial Schools), and Orphanages, in many cases listing individual premises.

Return to top of page

Postal and Shipping Guides

• Eunice and Ron's Shanahans Homepage has information on British Postal History and a fascinating collection of Old British Letters.

  The Regency Collection has a section on Postal History, and also includes other interesting material relating to the Regency period - e.g. Turnpike Trusts, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, and more.

Return to top of page

Probate Records

• We have begun a collection of pages listing details of Derbyshire Probate Records. You are invited to submit abstracts of Wills collected during your own research, as well as to use the information for locating those elusive female lines. Please help us in building this collection!

• Leslie Mahler's abstracts of Wills from the Commissary Court of London 1629-1634 contain a few entries for Derbyshire.

• See also Derbyshire Probate Records Online for an overview, and links to online collections elsewhere.

Return to top of page

Religion and Religious Life

• The General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) of the United Methodist Church has a list of John Wesley's Preachers, 1740-1791. Added 10 Jul 2006.

• John Blaylock provides Definitions of Words and Phrases used in the history pages of his Website, which include brief definitions of terms such as 'Advowson', 'Curate', 'Rector', 'Tithes', &c., useful in the Religious context (part of his web page devoted to a History of the Parish Church of Boulton by Derby.

• The Derbyshire Papist Returns of 1705-6, Edited by Richard Clark. 1983. provides a detailed list of the names of Papists, or those of the Catholic faith, together with their estimated wealth of their property, their occupations, and any ecclesiastical patronage they received.

  Although recusancy in Derbyshire was concentrated in a small number of parishes, virtually all parishes made a return for the two years in question, although for most the return is Nil. The parishes featuring a large concentration usually had the common factor of a member of the Catholic gentry living there, or possessing large estates. For instance, Ashbourne had the Pegges & Whitehalls; Hassop, the Eyres; Barlborough & Eckington, the Poles; Norbury, the Fitzherberts; West Hallam & Wingerworth, the Hunlokes.

  Tideswell, Wormhill and Hathersage are the exceptions, where the origins of Catholicism can be traced back to influence of Catholic gentry during Elizabeth I's reign. In Tideswell, these were Bishop Robert PURSGLOVE (c1503-1580), and William FIELDSEND (the rector between 1551 and 1576); in the case of Hathersage, the EYRE and FITZHERBERT families.

  Purchasing details are available in the list of Derbyshire Record Society Publications.

Return to top of page

Schools

• An account of the setting up of Schooling and Employment in the Mills, provided by Caroline Densham.

• A brief history of Education in England (3 parts).
  

• If you are interested in finding out whether your dearest school friends are also researching their family trees, check out Friends United, a site devoted to reuniting old school and college friends.

Return to top of page

Social Life and Customs

• An article by Julie Bunting on Customs of Marriage and Married Life. Added 10 Mar 2007.

• Mother Bedford - "a website devoted primarily to the history of Old-Bedford County, Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War period" - a fascinating site including items of general historical interest eg:
  1. Apposite to the time of adding: The Celebration of Christmas.
  2. Examples of music our ancestors may have enjoyed: The Music of the 1770s: a Directory.

• "TAKE A LOOK AT... - copies of a series of article by Julie Bunting, published in The Peak Advertiser, relating to various social activities with special emphasis on the Peak District.

• Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 - The Gazetteer, compiled by Dr Samantha Letters is a catalogue of Markets and Fairs in Medieval England and Wales. First comprehensive National Survey, with detailed information about grants of Charters to all Market Towns. Mentions some names of grantees - eg for Bakewell, "John (Gernoun, kn) successfully claimed that he and his ancestors had held the fair from time out of mind".

• Victorian Social History: An Overview - Public Health, Education, Conditions of Life and Labour.

• Costume History - from Ancient Babylon through to 1990s - a very comprehensive site on Fashion and Dress through the ages. Has images to illustrate what my great*6 aunt Mary OUTRAM might have been wearing on top of her "second best stays", one of the items she left in her will of 1769 to a young female relative!

Return to top of page

Societies

• Derbyshire FHS
• Chesterfield & District FHS
• Derbyshire Ancestral Research Group (DARG)
• The Derbyshire Archaeological Society
  This is an excellent site, and includes a search engine for back issues of the Society's Journal (DAJ), and image-map searches on Grid Reference.
• The Derbyshire Record Society
• Peak District Mines Historical Society

Return to top of page

Taxation

• The E 179 Database (on the National Archives website) contains detailed information about over 26,000 documents relating to the taxation of lay people in England and Wales between c.1200 and c.1700. These documents are likely to contain many names.

• The Hearth Tax, popularly referred to as "Chimney Money" was introduced in 1662 but presumably like our 1980s Poll Tax, it was not a popular form of taxation, as by 1689 it was withdrawn. However, for the purposes of genealogical research the returns provide a unique "head count" and assessment of the social status of one's ancestors - the more hearths they paid taxes for, the larger the house they lived in. The Hearth Tax Assessments have been transcribed for Derbyshire, and purchasing details are available in the list of Derbyshire Record Society Publications.

  Derbyshire Hearth Tax Assessments, 1662-70.
  Edited by David G. Edwards. 1982.
  

  • ISBN 0 9505940 9 1.

  The volume lists the names of heads of households, and the number of hearths they were taxed for.

Return to top of page

Voting Registers

• Marjorie Ward has transcribed A Copy of a Poll taken for the County of Derby The 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th days of May 1734 to include Voters in Bowden Middlecale & district and Other areas of (North) Derbyshire. Her transcription also lists where the Freehold land which made the Voter eligible was situated (this was not necessarily the place where he lived) and for which of the three candidates he voted (Lord Charles Cavendish, Sir Nathaniel Curzon Bart. or Henry Harpur Esq.)

Return to top of page

INDIVIDUAL TOWNS AND PARISHES - See Alphabetical Listing

[Beginning on 12th March 1999 - maintained previously by Clive Henly.]

© Copyright GENUKI and Contributors 1996-2007, &c.
GENUKI is a registered trade mark of the charitable trust GENUKI, see About GENUKI as an Organisation

Are you lost in the Genuki hierarchy or arrived here from a Search Engine?
If so, use the up-arrow(s) at the top of the page to go up the hierarchy.

URL of this page: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/index.html