Brampton (St. Peter)

BRAMPTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Chesterfield, hundred of Scarsdale, N. division of the county of Derby, 3 miles (W. by N.) from Chesterfield; containing, with Cutthorpe township, 3937 inhabitants. This parish, which was formerly part of that of Chesterfield, is situated on the road from Chesterfield to Bakewell, and comprises 7956 acres, of which 1080 are common or waste, and 250 woodland; the soil is mostly a strong clay, and the higher grounds are peaty. Coal and ironstone are found in abundance, and clay of good quality for pottery-ware is also plentiful. There are very extensive works for brown earthenware, employing several hundreds of persons; a manufactory for tobacco-pipes on a large scale; and an iron-foundry comparatively small. Many of the inhabitants are occupied in a mill for the making of candlewicks, near the boundary of the parish; in a small spinning-mill; and some bobbin-mills. The mines of coal and ironstone are in active operation; there are quarries of stone for building and the repair of roads, and slate of a very durable nature is wrought.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield: the great tithes have been commuted for £410, and those of the incumbent for £90; there are 13½ acres of glebe belonging to the appropriator, and 12 to the curate. The church, which was rebuilt at a remote period, and repaired within the last twenty years, is in the Norman style, but much disfigured by modern alterations; it contains some ancient monuments to the family of Clarke. A district church dedicated to St. Thomas was consecrated in 1832, the expense of its erection, £3000, having been borne partly by subscription, and partly by the Parliamentary Commissioners: it stands on the Chatsworth road, about a mile west of the town of Chesterfield, and is in the style of architecture prevailing in the fourteenth century, presenting a pleasing object in the surrounding landscape. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Bishop; net income, £150. There are places of worship for Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. In the eastern moor were, until lately, vestiges of a burying-place called Cor-Lowe, considered to be of greater antiquity than the period of the Roman occupation of Britain. In various parts of the high grounds of the parish are found oysters, muscles, and other shell-fish, in a fossil state; and the cactus and other tropical plants are also met with imbedded in the stone. The living was for some time held by Dr. Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the powerloom and carding-machine.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.