Pleaseley (St. Michael)

PLEASELEY (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Mansfield, hundred of Scarsdale, N. division of the county of Derby, 3½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Mansfield; containing, with the chapelry of Shirebrook and the hamlet of Stoney-Houghton, 679 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Nottingham to Chesterfield, and comprises about 3000 acres of land, chiefly arable; 300 acres are woodland and plantation, consisting of oak, elm, larch, and ash. Limestone abounds; and here are some considerable manufactories for cotton-thread, hosiery, &c., principally for the Nottingham market. Pleaseley had anciently a market on Monday, granted in 1284 to Thomas Bec, Bishop of St. David's, with a fair for three days; the former has been long disused, but fairs are still held on May 6th and October 29th, for cattle, horses, and sheep. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 4. 7.; patron, W. P. Thornhill, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £643, and the glebe consists of 55 acres. The church is an ancient stone edifice, remarkably long and narrow: in the steeple is a large chasm, caused by the shock of an earthquake, which was felt over a great part of the midland counties, on March 17th, 1816. There is a chapel of ease at Shirebrook. In a park adjoining the cotton-mills is a large inclosure with a double vallum and intrenchments, two sides of which are secured by natural precipices; it is 250 feet in length by 195 in breadth, and is evidently a Saxon work.