ALLSTONEFIELD, a parish in the northern division
of the hundred of TOTMONSLOW, county of STAFFORD,
7 miles (N. N. W.) from Ashbourn, comprising
the chapelries of Upper Elkstone, Longnor, Quarnford,
and Warslow, and the townships of Lower Elkstone,
Fairfield-Head, Heathy-Lee, and Hollinsclough, and
containing 5169 inhabitants. The living is a discharged
vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Warslow
annexed, in the archdeaconry of Stafford, and diocese
of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's
books at £8. 11. 4., endowed with £200 private benefaction,
and £900 parliamentary grant, and in the
patronage of Sir George Crewe, Bart. The church, dedicated
to St. Peter, is a large structure in the early
style of English architecture, with a tower ornamented
with pinnacles and battlements: the pulpit, &c. were
presented by Cotton, the poet, who resided here. Allstonefield
forms the northern extremity of the county,
being bounded by Cheshire and Derbyshire, from
which it is separated by the river Dove. It belongs to
the duchy of Lancaster, and is within the jurisdiction
of a court of pleas held at Tutbury every third Tuesday,
for the recovery of debts tinder 40s. Here is a small
free school, founded by German Pole, in 1726.