Charlesworth

CHARLESWORTH, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish and union of Glossop, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby; containing 2856 inhabitants, of whom 1732 are in the township of Charlesworth, 3½ miles (S. W.) from Glossop. This district, which comprises, the townships of Charlesworth, Chisworth, and Simmondley, is about 3½ miles in length and a mile and three-quarters in breadth. The soil is chiefly light; the land pleasingly wooded; and there is much hill and dale, intersected with many rivulets, by which seven mills of various kinds are worked. The river Etherow separates the district from the parish of Mottram, in the county of Chester; and the Etherow viaduct on the Manchester and Sheffield railway, unites it with that parish. Several cotton-mills are in operation, and an extensive coal-trade is carried on. The houses of the upper town of Charlesworth are very old, many of them having been built in the 16th and 17th centuries; but the new town, or rather village, is quite modern. The district was constituted in June, 1845, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37; and a room has been licensed for divine service. The oldest place of worship here, is one for Independents; it was once a chapel of ease under Glossop church, but in some way, now unknown, fell into the hands of the Independents, who still retain it: the churchyard, however, is the burial-place of the inhabitants. There are, also, another place of worship for Independents, one for Baptists, and three for Methodists.