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Chesterfield, Derbyshire

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This article is about the English town. For other places and things called Chesterfield, see Chesterfield (disambiguation)
Borough of Chesterfield
Chesterfield Chesterfield
Shown within Derbyshire
Geography
Status: Borough
Region: East Midlands
Admin. County: Derbyshire
Area:
- Total		 Ranked 284th
66.04 km²
Admin. HQ: Chesterfield
ONS code: 17UD
Demographics
Population:
- Total (2022)
- Density		 Ranked

/ km²
Ethnicity: 96.6% White
Politics
File:Chesterfieldarms.PNG

Chesterfield Borough Council
http://www.chesterfieldbc.gov.uk/
Leadership: Leader & Cabinet
Executive:  
MPs: Natasha Engel, Paul Holmes, Dennis Skinner

Chesterfield is a historic market town and local government district in Derbyshire, a county in England. It lies south of Sheffield, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Including Staveley, the population (2001) is 100,879, although the town itself is 70,260. It is Derbyshire's largest town, although the county town of Derbyshire is Matlock in the Derbyshire Dales. Around 250,000 people live in the immediate area nearby including Dronfield, Bolsover, Staveley, Shirebrook and Clay Cross. It is located at 53°34′N 1°25′W / 53.567°N 1.417°W / 53.567; -1.417 on the A61, fairly close to the M1 (via the A617 to junction 29).

Archaeological excavations carried out in the nineteen seventies provided firm evidence of Roman occupation in Chesterfield as well as revealing evidence of a previously unsuspected Iron Age settlement. It was originally used by the Romans as a military camp but increased in importance as it became a commercial centre for the sale of lead which they mined to the west and south of the town. The name Chesterfield derives from the Roman "Cestrefeld" (the open field near the camp) and is first recorded as having been used in 955 AD in a charter granted by King Eadred to Uhtred Child which gave him the right to build a town and bridge at Chesterfield. Domesday Book in 1086 records Chesterfield as "a berewick" in the Royal Manor of Newbold which is a suburb of the modern town.

Chesterfield now boasts one of the largest regular open air markets in Britain. Records exist of the holding of a market in the town as long ago as 1165 AD on a site just north of the parish church. The first formal grant of market rights was in the charter of King John in 1204 which permitted the holding of two weekly markets and an annual eight day fair in September. This charter also conferred Borough status on the town. At some time during the 1220s the market moved to its present site.er in the year 1204 from King John and around two hundred and fifty stalls can still be found in the town centre every Monday, Friday and Saturday.

The crooked spire

Chesterfield benefited greatly from the building of the Chesterfield Line - part of the Derby to Leeds railway (North Midland Line), which was begun in 1837 by George Stephenson. During its construction, a sizeable seam of coal was discovered during the construction of the Clay Cross Tunnel. This and the local ironstone were promptly exploited by Stephenson who set up a company in Clay Cross to trade in the minerals.

During his time in Chesterfield, Stephenson lived at Tapton House, and remained there until his death in 1848. He is interred in Trinity Church. In 2006, a statue of Stephenson was erected outside Chesterfield railway station.

Chesterfield is perhaps best known for the "Crooked Spire" of its Church of Saint Mary and All Saints and is why the local football team is known as The Spireites. The twisted spire leans 9 feet 5 inches from its true centre. The twisting is probably the result of unseasoned timbers or insufficient cross-bracing, although there are other explanations: One is that the spire was so shocked to learn of the marriage of a virgin in the church that it bent down to get a closer look. Should this happen again, it is said that the spire will straighten and return to its true position. Another is that a Bolsover blacksmith mis-shod the Devil, who leaped over the spire in pain, knocking it out of shape.

A new landmark is being erected on the outskirts of the town - the Solar Pyramid, which will be built by the side of the M1 at Poolsbrook.

Chesterfield's current boundaries date from April 1, 1974, when under the Local Government Act 1972, Chesterfield took in the urban district of Staveley and the parish of Brimington from Chesterfield Rural District.

Chesterfield is the location for the headquarters of the local newspaper, the Derbyshire Times.

Education

The borough of Chesterfield has many schools within and around it. There are several secondary schools in the area (Hasland Hall, Brookfield, Tupton, Parkside, Meadows, Netherthorpe, Newbold, Deincourt, Springwell) almost half have a Sixth Form [1]. There is also a Roman Catholic school, St Mary's (Newbold)

A sixth-form college, Chesterfield College, is located within a 5 minute walk of Chesterfield railway station and offers many courses. It is said to be one of the biggest in Europe. [citation needed]

Local economy

In the last 30 years, the economy in and around Chesterfield has experienced major change, moving the employment base away from the primary and secondary sectors, and towards the tertiary area. The area sits on a large coalfield and the area played host to many coal mines, including:

  • Clay Cross
  • Arkwright
  • Bolsover
  • Grassmoor
  • North Wingfield

From 1981 to 2002, 15,000 jobs in the coal industry disappeared [2] and not a single colliery remains open, although open cast mining continued at Arkwright until a few years ago.

Very little evidence of the industry remains today; a cyclist and walkers route, the so called "Five pits trail" now links some of the former collieries and most of the sites are now indistinguishable from the surrounding countryside.

Within the town itself, large factories and major employers have disappeared in the last 10 years including:

  • Bryan Donkin's (Partially demolished and awaiting further development)
  • Chesterfield Cylinders (now Alma Leisure Park)
  • Markham & Co. (The Channel Tunnel between England and France used Tunnel Boring Machines manufactured here. The factory site is now a private housing estate).
  • Dema Glass (site for Chesterfield's new football ground)

Whilst others have downsized significantly:

  • GKN plc
  • Robinson's (has demolished several buildings and cut thousands of jobs)

Manufacturing employment has fallen by a third since 1991, though the percentage of the population employed in manufacturing is still above the national average [3], underlining how critical it has been to Chesterfield in the past. Today, smaller scale firms are to be found on several industrial estates, the largest of which is located at Sheepbridge.

There is a Morrisons on the junction of Chatsworth Road (A619) and Walton Road (A632), a Sainsburys on Rother Way (A619 for Staveley), and a Tesco on the junction of the A619 and A61 (known as the Tesco Roundabout). The Institute of Business Advisers is based on Queen Street North. The Chesterfield Royal Hospital is on the A632 out towards Calow and Bolsover. Peak FM broadcasts from Sheepbridge on 107.4 via the nearby Chesterfield Transmitter, which also has Radio Sheffeld on 94.7. There are no DAB transmitters in Derbyshire yet. The town's biggest employer is the large and newly constructed Post Office located in the town centre. The Royal Mail's Pensions Service Centre is in the town on Boythorpe Road.

Sport

Chesterfield is home to the Football League One club Chesterfield F.C. who play at the Recreation Ground (better known as Saltergate). In 2005 plans were announced to build a new stadium on the old Dema Glass site in the north of the town; however the start of the building work is yet to be confirmed. The team's most notable achievement of recent years occurred in 1997, when they reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to Middlesbrough in a replay following a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford. It turned out to be one of the most controversial games in recent history with Chesterfield having a goal not given when referee David Elleray decided the ball had not crossed the goal line from a Jonathan Howard shot, a decision which was later proved incorrect by video replays. Had the goal stood the club would have progressed to the final of the FA Cup for the first time in its history - a feat which no club in the third tier of the league has achieved. The team has a fierce rivalry with neighbouring town Mansfield. In 2006 Chesterfield FC beat Premiership heavyweights Manchester City and West Ham to move into the last 16 of the Carling Cup.

Also Chesterfield has a competitive athletic team which competes regularly all over England. Chesterfield & District Athletic Club is based at Queen’s Park Annexe - near Boythorpe Road south of the town centre, close to the cricket club. Chesterfield Swimming Club is based at the Queens Park Sports Centre on Boythorpe Road.

Transport

Chesterfield is located on the Midland Mainline and the former Great Central Railway (see Chesterfield railway station for more information), with Midland Mainline providing services to London and Sheffield, Virgin Trains to Newcastle, Birmingham and Bournemouth and Central Trains to Liverpool, Nottingham and Norwich.

As well as railways, Chesterfield had a tramway system, built in 1882, and closed in 1927.

Junction 29 of the M1 motorway links Chesterfield to the motorway network, via the A617 dual-carriageway. Other major roads include the A61 (with a dual carriageway begining in the town centre and continuing to Sheffield) and the A619 (a major inroad to the Peak District, eventually joining the A6 near Bakewell) and the A632 to Matlock.

Stagecoach plc are the predominant operator of buses, the only other significant operators are TM Travel and Trent Barton. A new coach station was recently built, with services provided by Megabus and National Express. The Stagecoach depot at Stonegravels is notable for its size and many vehicles stored there are not in regular use. Several firms operate taxi services.

When travelling by air, Sheffield City Airport is closest to the town but has no scheduled flights; passengers arriving by air usually do so via East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Doncaster Finningley and Manchester airports.

Famous People

Famous people to come from Chesterfield include:

Other famous people associated with the town:

Twinnings

Chesterfield is twinned with:

It should be noted that very little fanfare is made of this and most residents are unaware that town is twinned with anywhere at all.

International Events

Chesterfield is home to gluten free beer, with the first ever international gluten free beer festival held in Chesterfield in February 2006[1]. The event was hailed internationally as a success, and the organisors are working to repeat the event for 2007. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) hosted the event with the cooperation of Glutenfreebeerfestival.com and brewers of gluten free beer from all parts of the globe have announced that they wish to attend and present their brews to the public at the next Chesterfield event, under discussion between the organisors and the local authority.

References

  1. ^ "CAMRA & The First International Gluten Free Beer Festival". Carolyn Smagalski, Bella Online. 2006. {{cite web}}: Text "Carolyn Smagalski" ignored (help)

References

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