Thorpe, Derbyshire Genealogy

England Derbyshire



Parish History
Thorpe St Leonard is an Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Hanson Grange.

THORPE (St. Leonard), a parish, in the hundred of Wirksworth, S. division of the county of Derby, 3¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Ashbourn; containing 196 inhabitants. It includes the Derbyshire side of Dovedale, which abounds with striking scenery. Thorpe Cloud on the right, and a towering pile of massive rocks on the left, of the southern entrance of the vale, form ramparts of majestic elevation, between and beyond which the river winds with varied course, sometimes rushing with tumultuous effort along the bases of stupendous cliffs, and at others expanding into a smooth and placid surface, reflecting the luxuriant verdure of its woodcrowned banks. At intervals, rude rocky masses of grotesque form, which have been fancifully denominated My Lady's Chair, Dovedale Castle, the Church, the Twelve Apostles, the Lion's Head, the Sugar Loaves, and the Lover's Leap, rise in succession throughout this enchanting dale, in which the more simple and the more sublime beauties of nature, in all their variety, are strikingly combined. The river flows from north to south. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 1. 6.; net income, £129; patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The church is partly in the Norman style, and being situated on the brow of a hill, and surrounded with trees, forms a very pleasing object in the landscape. In Domesday book the place is called Torp; at the time of that survey it was a royal possession, and it appears afterwards to have belonged to the Ferrers family.

From: 'Thornville - Thorpe', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 341-342. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51338 Date accessed: 28 March 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
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Poor Law Unions
Ashbourne Poor Law Union, Derbyshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Derbyshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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