Peak Forest, Derbyshire Genealogy

England Derbyshire



Parish History
Peak Forest St Charles King and Martyr was originally an extra parochial peculiar. The chapel was built in 1657 and is now considered a parish. The hamlet of Dove Holes, Derbyshire was added in 1983

PEAK FOREST, an extra-parochial chapelry, in the union of Chapel-en-le-Frith, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 3½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Tideswell; containing 575 inhabitants. It lies on the road from Tideswell to Chapel-en-le-Frith, and comprises 1360 acres. In the northern part of the liberty, and about a mile distant from the village, is Eldon Hole, a celebrated perpendicular chasm, the mouth of which is ninety feet in length, and thirty in breadth in the widest part, with a strong wall erected round it to prevent accidents. The credulity of travellers has often been imposed upon by tales respecting its immeasurable depth. In the days of Elizabeth, the Earl of Leicester had a man let down into it, who, when drawn up, was speechless, and, it is said, shortly afterwards died. Catcott has noticed the chasm at some length in his treatise on the Deluge, and instanced it as a proof of his theory; Cotton, also, the natural poet of the Peak, has given an elaborate account of it. John Lloyd, Esq., F.R.S., descended in 1770, and reached the bottom 186 feet from the mouth, the light from which was sufficiently strong to permit him to read the smallest print. The interior of the chasm he described as consisting of two parts, communicating with each other by a small arched passage; the one small; the other spacious, in form like the dome of a glass-house, and containing large masses of sparkling stalactite. His account was published in the 61st volume of the Philosophical Transactions, and has been confirmed by several persons who have since descended at different times. In the liberty is a chapel, a small neat structure, dedicated to King Charles the Martyr: the living is a donative; net income, £70; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Devonshire. A school is endowed with £10 a year.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 540-542. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51206 Date accessed: 02 April 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
Peak Forest is an extra-parochial place. Search surrounding parishes for records and information. See England Jurisdictions 1851 for surrounding parishes.

Peak Forest St Charles King and Martyr was originally an extra parochial peculiar. The chapel was built in 1657 and is now considered a parish. The hamlet of Dove Holes, Derbyshire was added in 1983

Derbyshire Record Office reference D3578 has deposited registers Bap 1698-1898 Mar 1698-1847 Burials 1678-1936 Banns 1876-1938

Lichfield Record Office has deposited Bishop's Transcripts Bap 1813-1867 Mar 1813-1831 Burials 1813-1867 Missing Bap &amp; Bur 1832-1847, 1849-1862

Poor Law Unions
Chapel en le Frith 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