DERBYSHIRE, a county (inland), bounded on the
east by the counties of Nottingham and Leicester, on
the south by that of Leicester, on the west by the
counties of Stafford and Chester, and on the north by
the county of York; it extends from 52° 38 to 53°
27 (N. Lat.), and from 1" 13 to 2° 3 30" (W. Lon.),
and contains one thousand and twenty-six square miles,
or six hundred and fifty-six thousand six hundred and
forty statute acres. The population, in 1821, amounted
to 213,333. The tract of country now forming the
county of Derby, was, in the time of the Britons, part
of the territory occupied by the Coritani, and, under
the government of the Romans, was included in Britannia
Prima. During the Heptarchy it formed part
of the kingdom of Mercia; and the inhabitants of Derbyshire
and Nottinghamshire were called North Mercians,
those two counties lying for the most part north
of the river Trent. The earliest historical event recorded
in connexion with Derbyshire is the invasion by
the Danes, in 874, when they expelled Burrhed, King of
Mercia, and fixed their head-quarters at his royal residence
of Repandune, now Repton, in this county, where
they remained until the following year. Derbyshire was
recovered from their possession in 918, by Ethelfleda,
the celebrated Countess of Mercia. Derby, however,
was not long afterwards again in the power of the
Danes, and was retaken from them by King Edmund,
in 942. In the rebellion of Prince Henry against his
father Henry II., the castle of Duffield was held against
the king by Robert, Earl Ferrars; and in the reign of
John, William, Earl Ferrars captured Bolsover and Peak
castles from the barons. In 1264, Henry III. sent his
son, Prince Edward, into Derbyshire, to take vengeance
upon Robert, Earl of Derby, then one of the most active
of the barons in rebellion against him, with orders to lay
waste his manors with fire and sword: the earl made
his peace by the promise of a large sum of money, and
by taking a fresh oath of allegiance; notwithstanding
which, he again appeared in arms, in 1266, with other
barons, and knights, and having assembled a numerous
force at Duffield Frith, marched thence to Chesterfield,
where being surprised by the king's nephew, Plenry,
the greater part of them was put to the sword,
the earl himself .was made prisoner, and such of his
adherents as made their escape withdrew into the
Forest of the Peak, where they remained leading a predatory
life for two years. The earl's life was spared,
but his earldom was taken from him, and its extensive
possessions being given to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster,
eventually furnished a considerable part of the revenue
of the duchy of Lancaster. The most remarkable historical
circumstance connected with Derbyshire, from
this period until the reign of Charles I., is the captivity
of Mary, Queen of Scots, who, while in the custody of
the Earl of Shrewsbury, resided much in this county,
at the seats of that nobleman. Charles I., after having
erected his standard at Nottingham, marched to Derby,
at which period the inhabitants of the whole county
declared for him, so at least Sir John Gell states, in his
own Memoirs, in which he also claims the merit of
having been the first who appeared in arms in this
county for the parliament. Repairing to Hull, in October,
1642, he obtained the command of a regiment of
foot, consisting of one hundred and forty men, with
which he advanced into Derbyshire; reaching Chesterfield
on the seventeenth, he there raised two hundred
men, and marched to Derby, where he collected a
regiment of horse, and garrisoned the town. At that
time, Lord Clarendon observes, there was in Derbyshire
no visible party for the king, the whole county being
under the power of Sir John Gell, who maintained this
ascendancy throughout the war; the transactions of
which within the county, though carried on with spirit,
consisted chiefly in the attack and defence of small garrisons.
It may, however, be particularized, that in
the year 1643, Sir Thomas Fairfax came to Derby, and
staid there three days, for the purpose of procuring
a supply of men from the Derbyshire garrisons, and
that, after the battle of Naseby, the king, with three
thousand horse, passed from Bewdley into Derbyshire,
about the middle of August, 1645, and having defeated
Sir John Gell in some skirmishes at Sudbury and
Ashbourn, marched through the Peak to Doncaster. In
1745, Charles Edward Stuart, commonly called the young
Pretender, having penetrated into the heart of the kingdom,
entered Derby with his army on December 4th:
his advanced guard secured the passage of the Trent
at Swarkston bridge, but on the evening of the fifth he
held a council of war, at which, after a warm debate, it
was determined, in consequence of the little encouragement
he had met with in England, and the near approach
of the Duke of Cumberland with a superior
force, immediately to commence a retreat northward;
which resolution was accordingly carried into effect
early the next morning. On the 9th of June, 1817, a
number of miserably deluded people of the lowest order
broke out into open insurrection at South Winfield, in this
county, and proceeded towards Nottingham, within a
few miles of which they were met by a party of the
military, and speedily dispersed: the well known termination
of this affair was the trial at Derby, in October
of the same year, by special commission, of a number
of the insurgents, when twenty-two of them were convicted
of high treason, of whom three were executed .at
Derby, on the 7th of November following, and the rest
were transported for life.
Derbyshire is in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry,
and province of Canterbury; it forms an archdeaconry,
comprising the deaneries of Ashbourn, Castillar, Chesterfield,
Derby, High Peak, and Repton, and contains
one hundred and thirty-seven parishes, of which fiftytwo
are rectories, fifty-four vicarages, and thirty-one
perpetual curacies: there are also fifty dependent
chapels. For civil purposes it is divided into the hundreds
of Appletree, High Peak, Morlestou and Litchurch,
Repton and Gresley, Scarsdale, and Wirksworth. It
contains the borough and market-town of Derby, and
the market-towns of Alfreton, Ashbourn, Bakewell,
Belper, Buxton, Chapel en le Frith, Chesterfield, Cromford,
Tideswell, Winster, and Wirksworth. Two knights
are returned for the shire, and two representatives
for the borough of Derby; the county members are
elected at Derby. This county is included in the
midland circuit: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire formed
but one shrievalty until the year 1569, and the
assizes for both were held at Nottingham until the reign
of Henry III. From that period until the division of the
shrievalty, they were held at Nottingham and Derby alternately;
but since 1569, the assizes for this county
have been held uniformly at Derby, except once in the
year 1610, when, on account of a commotion at that place,
they were removed to Ashbourn. The Epiphany, Easter,
and Michaelmas sessions are held at Derby, and
the Midsummer sessions at Chesterfield. A new county
gaol and house of correction has recently been erected at
Derby, the expense of which, including the purchase of
the site, tread-mill, &c. was £63,335. 5. 6.; on its completion,
in 1827, prisoners were ordered to be removed
to it from the houses of correction at Ashbourn, Chesterfield,
Tideswell, and Wirksworth. There are fifty-four
acting magistrates. A great part of the county is
within the jurisdiction of the duchy of Lancaster court,
held at Tutbury, for the recovery of small debts, for
determining on trespasses, assaults, &c. Many of the
parishes in the hundreds of High Peak, Scarsdale, and
Wirksworth, are within the jurisdiction of the Peverel
court, of the same nature, held at Lenton in Nottinghamshire.
The barmote courts, for regulating the mineral
concerns of Derbyshire, and determining all disputes relative
to the working of the mines, are held at Monyash,
in the Peak, and at Wirksworth. The rates raised in the
county for the year ending March 25th, 1827, amounted
to £97,532; the expenditure to £99,518. 5., of which
sum £76,568. 13. was applied to the relief of the poor.
Derbyshire, as a manufacturing county, ranks next
after Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire. Cotton
spinning is extensively carried on at Belper, Cromford,
Calver, Hayfield, New Mills, &c. The woollen manufacture
is chiefly in the parish of Glossop, on the Yorkshire
border; worsted-spinning at Derby, Melbourne, Tideswell,
&c. The silk-mill was introduced at the beginning
of the last century, the manufacture being chiefly at
Derby. The manufacture of stockings is principally
at Derby, Belper, and Chesterfield, and in the villages
on the eastern side of the county; this branch of
manufacture is carried on for the most part in private
dwellings. The manufacture of cotton, excepting that
used in making stockings, was first established in
this county by Sir Richard Arkwright in 1771, and
in 1773 Sir Richard, in conjunction with two other gentlemen,
made, at Derby, the first successful attempt
to establish the manufacture of calicoes in this kingdom.
In 1817, the number of cotton-mills in Derbyshire
was one hundred and twelve, of which one half
were in the parish of Glossop; several others in the
Peak; and others at Matlock, Pleaseley, Wilne, Measham,
&c. In the same year, there were forty-three
factories for calico-weaving, fifteen bleaching-grounds,
four calico-printing works, three factories for weaving
cambric, two for fustian, eight for muslin, and two- for
tape. Machines for the cotton-factories, stockingframes,
&c. are made at Derby, Alfreton, Glossop,
Belper, Heanpr, Matlock, Butterley, &c. The linen .manufacture
is not of great extent: flax is spun at Darleydale,
and there are linen-yarn mills in the parishes of
Ashover and Glossop; linen-weaving is carried on in
those of Belper, Turnditch, &c,, and lace-weaving at
Derby and Melbourne. There are many tan-yards in
various parts of the county, and several paper-mills.
Connected with the iron trade are various manufactories,
some of them very extensive. In the cast-iron
works at Chesterfield, Butterley, &c. a large quantity
of cannon, cannon-balls, &c. was cast during the war.
Agricultural utensils are made in various parts of the
county; scythes, sickles,. hoes, and spades being made
chiefly in the northern part between Chesterfield and
Sheffield. Cutlery, and other articles of steel are
made at Derby and Chesterfield, and in the villages
north of the latter. There are six chain-manufactories,
principally in the northern part of the county, and nailmaking
is carried on to a considerable extent, chiefly
in Belper and its neighbourhood. Whet-stones and
hones are made in great quantities within a few miles
north-east of Derby, and sent to the southern counties.
There is a large manufactory for spar or fluor ornaments
at Derby; and there are saw-mills, for marble
and stone, at Bonsall, Lea-Bridge, andWirksworth. There
is a long established porcelain manufactory at Derby,
and one of later establishment at Pinxton; there are
also potteries at and near Chesterfield, Alfreton, Belper,
Ilkeston, Gresley, Hartshorn, Tickenhall, &c. A great
quantity of hats is made for exportation at Lea-Bridge,
Chesterfield, &c.; and shoes are made for the wholesale
trade at Chesterfield and other places.
The surface of the southern part of Derbyshire is
for the most part tolerably level, containing nothing remarkable
in its hills, and little that is picturesque in its
scenery; but in that part which lies norjth of Derby the
hills begin gradually to rise; and in the north-western
part of the county some of them attain a considerable elevation,
forming the commencement of that mountainous
ridge which from this place divides the northern part
of the island: the four highest points in Derbyshire
are Kinderscout, Holme-Moss, near the north-western
extremity of the county; Ax-edge, about three miles
south-west of Buxton; and Lord's Seat, near Castleton;
the altitudes of which, according to observations made
during the Trigonometrical survey, are, of the first,
two thousand one hundred and fifty feet, of the second
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, and of the
two latter, .one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one.
Some of the valleys in this tract are very beautiful, particularly
those of Castleton, Monsall-dale, and Glossop;
but the most picturesque and remarkable scenery is composed
of the great number and variety of smaller valleys
or dales with which the limestone district abounds, the
general characteristics of which are precipitous rocks of
singular and striking forms, with mountain streams and
rivulets winding through the lower parts, which are frequently
well-wooded. The most celebrated of these are,
Matlock-dale, on the river Derwent; Monsall-dale, on
the Wye; Middleton-dale, Eyam-dale, and Dove-dale,
the latter on the river Dove. Except in these valleys,
however, the scenery is by no means beautiful or agreeable;
it consists chiefly of uncultivated moors, on some
parts of which large masses and groups of rock are seen
projecting, some of them in very grotesque forms.
The southern and middle portions of the county are
for the most part in cultivation. Extending northward
from Ashover and Darley, through the parish of Bakewell
and its chapelries, almost to the northern limit of
the county, is the great East Moor, a considerable part
of which lies waste. And in the northern part of the
Peak, bordering on Yorkshire, in the parishes of Hope
and Glossop, are most extensive sheep-walks, called the
Woodlands, without any sort of fences to separate the
different manors, parishes, or counties. A great quantity
of excellent wheat and barley is cultivated in the
southern and eastern parts of the county. The arable
land in the Peak is chiefly tilled for oats, of which there
is a great local consumption, oaten cakes being still, as
they have long been, the principal species of bread eaten
by the poorer class. On an average, more corn is produced,
of every sort, than is consumed in the county. The
principal dairy district is the neighbourhood of Ashbourn:
about two thousand tons of cheese are said to be annually
sent from the wharfs at Derby, Shardlow, &c.
The grass lands in the parishes of Beighton, Eckington,
and Norton, chiefly supply the town of Sheffield with
milk, which is carried thither in barrels slung on horses
or asses. A considerable quantity of camomile is cultivated,
for medicinal purposes, in the parishes of Ashover,
Morton, Shirland, and North and South Winfieldj
this plant having been introduced into the county about
the year 1740; about eighty acres are now planted, the
cultivation and gathering of which afford employment
to a great number of women and children. Neat cattle,
chiefly for the purposes of the dairy, form a principal
feature in the economy of the Derbyshire farms, although
the county possesses no original nor distinct
breed, notwithstanding that some of the breeders call
their stock the New Derbyshire Long-horned breed.
The practice of making cheese from the new milk, and
butter afterwards from the whey, is either entirely
unknown, or very little practised in the greater; part
of England, though here well established and approved.
The breeds of sheep now most prevalent .are, -the
Woodland sheep, in the northern tract'stillcalled-the
Woodlands (though now nearly bare of wood)/and the
New Leicester, in the southern and eastern parts of the
county. Derbyshire has long been celebrated, and
ranks next to Leicestershire of all the English counties,
for its stout, clean-legged breed of work horses, principally
black. The number of asses kept in the county is
considerable; they are chiefly employed in carrying coal
from the pits in the vicinity of the towns, for the supply
of the poor, and in hawking pottery. This being so considerable
a dairy county, a great number of hogs is kept in
it, though there is no particular or characteristic breed.
The soil consists chiefly of clay, loam, sand, and
peat, very irregularly intermixed: the southern part,
which has been distinguished by the name of the fertile
district, consists principally of a red loam on various
under soils. Peat mosses abound in the northern part
of the county, denominated the High Peak. The substrata
of the southern part, comprised within a line drawn
east and west from Sandiacre to Ashbourn, consist of
gravel, intermixed with large portions of red marl, of very
irregular forms; in several parts of which are beds of
gypsum of considerable extent; the gravel occupies a tract
of nearly seventy-seven thousand acres, and the red marl
eighty-one thousand. The sub-strata of the other parts
of Derbyshire are, limestone of various kinds, with
toad-stone; grit-stone, with shale; and coal, with indurated
clay; all of which appear in the surface in certain
parts, owing to their dipping in various directions. The
lowermost of these is a stratum of limestone, the thickness
of which has not been ascertained; it occupies a
narrow space on the western side of the county, extending
southerly from the mountain called Mam Tor, to
Hopton and Parwich, and nearly to Thorp, and contains
forty-thousand five hundred acres: it abounds in caverns,
of which several are of great extent, many are lined with
incrustations of stalactite, and some have subterraneous
streams running through them. Immediately above this
stratum of limestone are three others of limestone, and
three of toad-stone, in alternate layers, occupying nearly
fifty-one thousand five hundred acres of the surface,
and extending from Castleton, southward, to Hopton;
and from Matlock, Youlgrave, Bakewell, and Stony-
Middleton, on the eastern side, to Wormhill, and Chelmorton,
on the western. The limestone is the true metalliferous
rock of Derbyshire, and exclusively occupies
the attention of the miner; there are few situations in
the Peak where this rock does not contain numerous
veins of lead-ore, or calamine. The several strata are
also very abundant in corallines, shells, and various
organic remains. In different parts the limestone is of
so compact a quality as to be used as marble, particularly
at Ashford, where it is black, and at Monyash,
where it is of a mottled grey colour. The respective
thicknesses of the six alternate strata of limestone and
toad-stone, in a section between Grange Mill and Darley
Moor, are stated by Mr. Whitehurst, in his "Inquiry into
the Original State and Formation of the Earth," to be,
" Of the first or uppermost limestone, fifty yards; the
first toad-stone, sixteen yards; the second limestone, fifty
yards; the second toad-stone, forty-six yards; the third
limestone, sixty yards; and the third toad-stone, twenty
two yards:" there are detached portions of these alternate
strata in several parts of the county, but of no
great extent. The strata which come next in succession
above those of limestone and toad-stone, are millstonegrit
and shale; the former being, according to Farey's
View, from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and
seventy yards thick., and resting on the latter, which is
about the same thickness. This district is surrounded
by the grit-stone district, as it is called, though in several
parts the grit-stone is wanting, only the shale appearing.
There are many detached patches of the grit rock, under
which, on all sides, the shale is conspicuous, both in
the grit-stone and in the limestone district. Within this
extensive stratum of shale are several masses of dark
blue, or black limestone, one of which, immediately
north of Fenny-Bentley, and another north-west of
Balcewell, and south-west of Ashford, are of considerable
extent. That portion of the county in which the gritstone
and shale strata appear, comprises one hundred
and sixty thousand five hundred acres.
The coal strata, usually termed coal measures, occupy
a large portion of the eastern side of the county, bounded
on the north by a part of Yorkshire, on the west extending
to Duffield; on the south to Dale Abbey, and
nearly to Sandiacre; the seams vary in thickness, and
are separated by numerous strata of grit-stone and argillaceous
earth, known by the names of bind, clunch,
and shale. Several of the coal shales contain heds of ironstone,
and an abundance and variety of impressions
of ferns and other plants. Part of the coal field, of
which Ashby de la Zouch lies nearly in the centre, extends
into this county, near its southern extremity, in
the parishes of Hartshorn, Gresley, and Measham, being
surrounded by the layer of red marl, to which it dips in
every direction. There are also small veins of coal at
Axe-edge, and Chinley hills. Mr. Farey computes the
total extent of the coal measures at one hundred and
ninety thousand acres. On the eastern side of the
county is a stratum of yellow magnesian limestone, extending
from Barlborough, southward, to Hardwick, and
bounded on the west by Barlborough, Bolsover, and
Hault-Hucknall, occupying about twenty-one thousand
six hundred acres, In several parts of the county, more
especially in the coal district, the strata are broken and
dislocated in various directions; and these fractures, some
being of great extent, are, by the miners, called faults.
The chief subterraneous productions, as articles of
commerce, are lead, iron, calamine, fluor, gypsum, coal,
marble, and various sorts of stone. It has been satisfactorily
ascertained that the Derbyshire lead mines
were worked by the Romans, and probably by the Britons.
They are chiefly in the hundreds of Wirksworth,
and High Peak, so far north as Castleton: there are
lead mines also an the parishes of Ashover and Crich.
The whole number enumerated by Mr. Farey, in his
View of the Minerals of this county, amounts to about
two hundred and fifty, of which twenty-two are stated
to produce an abundant supply of ore; the latter are
situated in the parishes or chapelries of Ashover, Matlock,
Cromford, Wirksworth, Bonsall, Youlgrave, Elton,
Winster, Hope, Eyam, Great Longstone, and Monyash.
The annual quantity of lead raised in Derbyshire, about
1789, as stated by Pilkington, was between five and six
thousand tons; but of late years, not above half that
quantity has been raised, many mines having  ceased
working on account of the reduced price of lead. The
most productive mine, of late years, has been the Gangmine,
in the liberty of Cromford. The lead was originally
smelted by wood fires, on hills in the open air; but
this inconvenient mode was succeeded by hearth-furnaces
the last of which was pulled down about the year 1780,
the improved cupola furnace, now in use, having been
introduced from Wales. The smelting business has of
late been on the decline, and there are now only nine
cupolas -at work in the county. A considerable quantity
of lead is sent from Cromford to Derby, where it is used
in making white lead, red lead, sheet-lead, pipes, and
shot: the remainder is chiefly sent down the canal from
Chesterfield to coasting vessels in the Trent, for the
Hull and London markets. Several of the lead mines
produce ores of zinc in considerable quantity; the more
valuable of which, the calamine, or oxyde of zinc, is
found in twenty-four mines, in the parishes of Matlock,
Bonsall, Carsington, Castleton, Bakewell, Youlgrave, and
Bradborne; the most productive being the Whitlow
mine, in the parish of Bonsall. The principal source
of demand for this mineral is its utility in the composition
of brass, first discovered about sixty years
ago; the average annual quantity raised for the four or
five years preceding 1817, wasfour hundred tons; its
price in 1817, in a crude state, was from £5 to £6. 10.
per ton; and in a-prepared state, from £14. 10. to
£15. 10. per ton. A great quantity is sent to Sheffield,
for the brass company at that place. The other
species of zinc-ore is called blende, or black-jack, which
is found in thirteen of the mines; it is of inferior value,
and less  used. Fluors of varioxis colours are found in
several of the mines, being much used in the fusion of
brittle and churlish ore; the more beautiful specimens,
called Blue-John, are wrought into vases and various
other ornamental articles, at the manufactory at Matlock.
Iron has been known as the produce of this county
from a very early period: the district in which the ironstone
is found extends from the neighbourhood of Dale
Abbey, northward, throughout the hundred of Scarsdale
into Yorkshire. Mr. Farey ranks Derbyshire as the
fourth county in England as to its produce of pig iron.
Until about the year 1770, all the cast and bar iron
in Derbyshire was made by small charcoal furnaces; the
first furnace of the modern construction, heated with
coke, or pit-coal, having been erected at Morley-Park.
Of the eleven furnaces which were in full work in 1806,
some have not, of late, been regularly worked, on account
of the low price of British iron. There are eight
forges in the county, in which bar iron is made from the
pigs. The lead mines in the Peak, and in the hundred
of Wirksworth, belonged at an early period to the crown.
The dukes of Devonshire have long been lessees of those
in the hundred of High Peak; and the lease of those in
the hundred of Wirksworth having been sold under
a decree of Chancery, is now vested in Richard Arkwright,
Esq. The mines and miners of this county are1
governed by certain ancient customs and regulations,
which were ascertained by a jury under a commission
granted in the year 1287, but which vary in different
manors. The mining concerns are under the superintendence
of an officer, called a bar-master, who holds
courts twice a year, at which all questions are decided respecting
the duties payable to the crown or the lessee;
all disputes are settled relative to working the mines, and
punishments are inflicted for all aggressions upon mineral
property. Debts incurred in working the mines are also
cognizable in the bar-mote courts, which are held for
the High Peak at Monyash, and for the hundred of Wirksworth
at Wirksworth. One of the most remarkable of the .
ancient mining customs is that by which any adventurer
who shall discover a vein of lead unoccupied, in the king's
field, has a right to work it on the land of any person, without
making any compensation to the proprietor; this
custom is still in force, but it is understood that gardens,
orchards, and highways, are excepted; it is the office of
the bar-master, being applied to for that purpose, to put
adventurers in possession of such veins by them discovered.
The duties, or tolls payable to the crown, and
to the lord of the manor, are of great antiquity, and
vary much in different manors. Tithe is paid for leadore
in the parishes of Eyam and Wirksworth. The
brazen dish, by which the measure of the ore is regulated,
and which appears from the inscription upon it to
have been made in the year 1512, is kept at Wirksworth.
It is probable that some of the Derbyshire collieries
were worked by the Romans; there is evidence of their
having been known to the Saxons; and it is on record that
those at Derby, which are still considered to produce
some of the best coal in the county, were worked so
early as 1306, The principal coal district is the same
as that of the iron-stone, including the greater part of
the hundred of Scarsdale, and extending, southward,
on the eastern side of the county, as far as Dale Abbey.
The coal exported is chiefly of the hard kind, being that
which finds the readiest sale in the midland counties, to
which the Derbyshire coal is sent. Gypsum, or alabaster,
is obtained in considerable quantities, chiefly in the
parish of Chellaston; the average annual quantity raised
from the pit at that place was, about the year 1817,
nearly one thousand tons. In its native state it is used
for columns, chimney-pieces, and ornamental buildings,
as also for tomb-stones and monumental efhgies:
in a calcined state it is applied, at the potteries
and elsewhere, to all the uses of plaister of Paris; the
inferior sort is used for plaister-floors. The limestone of
this county forms an important article of its mineral
produce. Mr. Farey enumerates forty-six quarries,
and sixty-three kilns, in which it is burned for sale, and
from which great quantities are sold, chiefly for agricultural
purposes, for the use of this and some of the neighbouring
counties; the largest quarries are at Ashover,
Buxton, Crich, and Calver, near Baslow: a considerable
quantity of lime is sent from Calver into Yorkshire, and
from the neighbourhood of Buxton into Cheshire and
Staffordshire. A species of the Derbyshire limestone is
in request as marble, for chimney-pieces, slabs, &c.: the
quarries from which this sort of limestone, commonly
called Derbyshire marble, is procured, are nineteen in
number, and are situated in the parishes of Bakewell and
Matlock. The number of stone quarries is one hundred
and thirty-eight, some of which produce stone of a good
and durable quality for building, which has been much
used in the principal private and public edifices in the
county, and is exported in large quantities, especially
from the quarries in the parish of Wingerworth. Grindstones,
of the millstone-grit, are obtained from nineteen
quarries; they are in great request, and are extensively
shipped by the canals to the south-eastern parts
of England. Stones for whetting scythes are procured
from thirteen quarries; finer whet-stones from seven
others; and the finest, called hones, from quarries at
Codnor Park and Woodthorp, near Wingerworth. Several
of the mines produce ochres, and a few of them
small quantities of china-clay, which has of late years
been sent to the potteries in Staffordshire. Few counties
exhibit a greater number or variety of extraneous fossils
than this; the several strata of limestone, and some
of those of grit-stone, containing an abundance of organic
remains, both animal and vegetable.
The principal rivers are, the Trent, the Derwent, the
Wye, the Dove, the Erwash, and the Rother. The
Trent first becomes a boundary between Derbyshire
and Staffordshire in the parish of Croxall, and so continues
to Newton-Solney, a little beyond which village
it enters the county, crossing it, from west to east, in a
course of about twenty-four miles, and quitting at its
junction with the Erwash, near Nottingham. Pursuant
to an act of parliament procured by the Earl of Uxbridge,
in 1699, the Trent was made navigable to Burton bridge;
but, in the year 1805, the navigation from that bridge
down to Shardlow was given up, by agreement with the
proprietors of the Trent and Mersey canal, which runs by
its side, and,as connected with Derbyshire, it is now navigable
only from Shardlow to the mouth of the Erwash.
The Derwent rises on the moors, at the northern extremity
of the county; it flows by Hathersage, through
Chatsworth park, Darley-dale, Matlock, Cromfbrd, Belper,
and Derby, and falls into the Trent about a mile
beyond Little Wilne, after a course of about forty-six
miles; this river was formerly navigable from Wilne ferry
up to Derby, but the navigation was given up when
the Derby canals were completed, in 1794. The Wye
rises a little above Buxton, and, running through
Monsall-dale, Ashford, and Bakewell, falls into the Derwent
near Rowsley. The Dove, which rises in the same
hill as the Wye, a few miles south of Buxton, is for
many miles the boundary between Derbyshire and
Staffordshire, and, passing through Dove-dale, falls into
the Derwent near Newton-Solney. The Erwash rises on
the skirts of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, and
is, during the greater part of its course, the boundary
between that county and Derbyshire, passing by Pinxton,
and near Ilkeston and Sandiacre, and falling into the
Trent about a mile and a half east from Long Eaton.
The Rother, rising near Padley, runs by Chesterfield,
and enters Yorkshire, between Killamarsh and Beighton.
It having been found of great importance to procure
the convenience of water-carriage for the produce of the
numerous mines and quarries, and the goods of its manufactories,
many canals have in consequence been projected,
and several of them completed, some entirely
within the county, and others commencing or terminating
in it. The great undertaking of the Trent and
Mersey, or Grand Trunk canal, which forms part of the
grand communication between Liverpool, Hull, Bristol,
and London, was begun in 1766, by the celebrated Mr.
Brindley, and completed in 1777, under his successors,
Mr. Smeaton and Mr. Rennie; it passes through Derbyshire,
from Burton to its termination at Shardlow,
following the course of the Trent: its chief utility, as
relates to the produce of Derbyshire, is for the conveyance
of cheese, malt, and gypsum. The Chesterfield
canal was begun in 1771, by Mr. Brindley, and finished
in 1776, by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall: it enters
Derbyshire at Killamarsh, and terminates at Chesterfield.
its objects, as connected with this county, are the exportation
of coal, lead, cast iron, limestone, freestone, pottery-
ware, &c.; and the importation of grain, deals, bar
iron, &c. The. Erwash canal, begun about 1777, has
its line chiefly through Derbyshire, in the vale of the
Erwash: it commences in the Trent navigation, and
terminates at Langley Mill, where it joins the Cromford
canal: it is chiefly serviceable in the exportation of
coal, limestone, iron, lead, millstones, grind-stones,
marble, freestone &c.; and the importation of corn,
malt, deals, &c. The Cromford canal was begun about
1789, and completed about 1793; its line is wholly
in Derbyshire, commencing at Langley Mill, and terminating
at Cromford: its chief use is the same as that
of the Erwash canal. At Butterley is a tunnel, about
fifty-seven yards below the Derwent ridge, two thousand
nine hundred and seventy-eight yards long, and nine
feet wide; at Lea-Bridge near Cromford, the canal is
carried over the river Derwent by an aqueduct, two hundred
yards long, and thirty feet high, built in 1792; and
over the Amber, at Bull bridge, is another aqueduct, of
the same length, fifty feet high. The line of the Derby
canal, which is forty-four feet wide, is wholly in the
county; commencing in the Trent and Mersey canal,
north of Swarkston, passing by Derby, with branches to
Little Eaton, whence is a railway to the collieries
at Horsley, Denby, &c.: its chief use is for supplying
Derby with coal, building-stone, gypsum, &c..; and for
exporting coal, manufactured goods, cheese, &c. The
Nutbrook canal, constructed about 1793, for the exportation
of coal, and the importation of lime-stone, commences
in the Erwash canal, and terminates at Shipley
wharf. The Ashby de la Zouch canal, begun about 1794,
and completed in 1805, is connected with the southern
part of Derbyshire, and by it coal and limestone are
exported. The Peak Forest canal, begun about 1794,
and completed in 1806, enters Derbyshire at Marple
bridge, and terminates at Bugsworth: at Marple is an
aqueduct over the river Mersey, nearly one hundred feet
high, completed in 1797: the objects of this canal, as
connected with Derbyshire, are, the exportation of limestone,
building and paving-stones, and, at its north end,
coal, and the importation of deals, and pig iron; and,
at its south end, coal. The great road from London to
Manchester enters Derbyshire at Cavendish bridge, and,
passing through Derby and Ashbourn, enters Staffordshire
at Hanger bridge, about a mile and three quarters
beyond the latter town. Another turnpike road to Manchester
goes from Ashbourn, by way of Buxton, about
six miles beyond which town, at Whaley bridge, it enters
Cheshire. And a third road to Manchester passes from
Derby through Matlock, Bakewell, and Chapel en le
Frith, joining the last-mentioned road at Whaley bridge.
Derbyshire exhibits few British remains, except the
numerous artificial formations of earth and stones,
called cairns, which have been raised upon the moors,
several of which, on being opened, have been found
to contain human bones, and urns, with beads, rings,
and other relics. The only Roman remains worthy of
particular mention are, the altar preserved at Haddon
hall, the inscribed blocks or pigs of lead found in different
situations, and the silver plate found in Risley
park: Roman coins have frequently been found in
various parts of the county. One of the principal
British roads, the Iknield-street, ran through the whole
extent of the county, from south-west to north-east,
from the borders of Staffordshire to those of Yorkshire.
Derbyshire was also traversed in various directions by
Roman roads; those most distinctly visible being that
called the Bathom-gate, leading from Brough to Buxton;
a second, leading from Buxton towards Little Chester;
and a third, supposed to have come from Chesterton,
near Newcastle, in Staffordshire, to Little Chester. The
undoubted Roman stations in the county are, Little Chester,
Brough, Melandra Castle, in the parish of Glossop,
and Buxton. Many of the churches present considerable
remains of early Norman architecture, the most remarkable
specimens appearing in those of Repton and
Melbourne, and the desecrated church of Steetley, in the
parish of Whitwell. Prior to the Reformation, there were
thirteen religious houses, including two preceptories
of the Knights Hospitallers, and one of the brethren of
St. Lazarus; there were two collegiate churches, and
five ancient hospitals. Of the monastic buildings, the
remains, all of inconsiderable magnitude, are those of
Dale abbey, Beauchief abbey, Repton priory, and the
preceptory at Yeveley, alias Stidd. The only ancient
castles of which there are any-considerable remains, are
those of the Peak, Codnor, Horseley, and Melbourne. The
most remarkable old mansion-houses are Haddon hall
Hardwick hall, and South Winfield manor-house, which
last is in ruins. The custom of rush-bearing still prevails
in the northern part of the county: the ceremony of
strewing the church with rushes annually takes place on
the festival of its tutelar saint, but in the Peak Forest is
always held on Midsummer eve. The ancient custom
of hanging up garlands of roses in the churches, with
a pair of gloves cut out of white paper, which had been
carried before the corpse of a young unmarried woman
at her funeral, prevails in many of the parishes of the
Peak. The most remarkable tepid springs in Derbyshire,
are those of Buxton, Matlock, and Bakewell. There
are different sulphureous springs, of which that at
Kedleston is most used, and various chalybeate Vaters,
the most celebrated being at Quarndon, two miles from
Derby; "there is an ebbing and flowing well, at the distance
of two miles eastward from Chapel en el Frith.