A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHESTERFIELD
By Tim Lambert
EARLY CHESTERFIELD
Chesterfield began as a Roman fort, which was built around 70 AD. However by the early 2nd century the area was pacified and the Romans moved on. The old fort was abandoned.
Yet the old Roman fort gave its name to the area. After the Romans left Britain the Saxons arrived. They called a Roman fort a caester. They called open land where animals grazed a feld. So the area around the fort was called Caester feld. In time the name changed to Chesterfield. By the 10th century a village had grown up at Chesterfield.
CHESTERFIELD IN THE MIDDLE AGES
During the 12th century Chesterfield grew from a village into a town. By 1165 Chesterfield had a market. (In those days there were very few shops and if you wished to buy or sell anything you usually had to go to a market).
By 1182 Chesterfield had a fair. In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year. People would came all over Derbyshire and South Yorkshire to buy and sell at a Chesterfield fair.
In 1204 Chesterfield was granted a charter. (A charter was a document granting the townspeople certain rights).
In Chesterfield workers of one type usually lived in one street. So knife smiths lived in Knifesmith. Glumangate was where the minstrels lived. (Gluman or gleeman was an old word for minstrel). The street name 'gate' is from the old Danish word 'gata' meaning street. It has nothing to do with gates in a wall. Saltergate was the gata or street where salt was bought from Cheshire.
In the Middle Ages the main industry in Chesterfield was making wool. However there was also an important leather industry. There were skinners, tanners, glovers and saddlers.
In the Middle Ages Chesterfield had a leper hostel dedicated to St Leonard. Chesterfield's most famous landmark its bent spire was erected at the beginning of the 15th century. The most likely explanation for its strange shape is that the builders used green, unseasoned wood which warped.
CHESTERFIELD 1500-1800
In the 16th century the wool industry continued in Chesterfield but in the 17th century it declined. However leather working continued to prosper throughout this period and in the 18th century there was an important brewing industry in Chesterfield. However it remained a quiet market town.
A grammar school was founded in Chesterfield in 1594.
In 1598 Chesterfield was given a new charter.
Like all towns in the 16th century Chesterfield suffered outbreaks of plague. There was a severe outbreak in 1586-87. The plague struck again in 1608.
In the 18th century towns like Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby were transformed by the industrial revolution. However Chesterfield was largely unaffected. However the town continued to quietly grow.
In the 18th century turnpike roads improved communications. These were privately owned roads, which you had to pay to use. The first turnpike was built to Worksop in 1739. In 1777 a canal was dug to Chesterfield.
In the early 18th century Daniel Defoe described Chesterfield as: 'a handsome, populous town, well built and well inhabited.'
CHESTERFIELD IN THE 19th CENTURY
George Stephenson the creator of the famous locomotive, The Rocket, lived at Tapton House from 1838 to 1848. He is buried in Holy Trinity Church.
In 1800 a dispensary opened in Chesterfield where the poor could obtain free medicines. A gas company was formed in 1826. In 1881 during a gas strike the streets of Chesterfield were lit by electricity, but it was only a temporary measure.
The first police force in Chesterfield was formed in 1836. A fire brigade was formed in 1839.
The railway reached Chesterfield in 1841. From 1882 horse drawn trams ran in the streets.
A Market Hall was built in 1857. Stephenson Memorial Hall was built in 1879. (It is now a theatre). Queens Park opened in 1887.
The nearby settlement of Brampton became industrialised in the 19th century and had metalworking and pottery industries. However it did not become part of Chesterfield until 1892 when the boundary of the borough was changed.
CHESTERFIELD IN THE 20th CENTURY
Chesterfield gained electric street lighting in 1901. In the early 1900s the trams in Chesterfield were converted to electricity but they stopped running in 1930.
Eastwood Park opened in 1911.
In the early 20th century Chesterfield at last became industrialised. A heavy engineering industry grew up and prospered.
During the 1920s and 1930s the first council houses were built in Chesterfield. (Some of them were built to replace slums). Many more council houses were built after 1945. Furthermore in 1910 the boundary of Chesterfield was changed to include Hasland. In 1920 it was changed to include Newbold.
A new Town Hall was built in 1938. The Pomegranate Theatre opened in 1949. Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital opened in 1984.
In the late 20th century manufacturing industry declined in Chesterfield as it did in other towns and service industries such as tourism and retail became more important. Pavements Shopping Centre opened in 1981. Vicar Lane Shopping Centre opened in 2000.
CHESTERFIELD IN THE 21st CENTURY
Today the population of Chesterfield is 98,000.
To read a history of Sheffield click here.
To read a history of Bakewell click here.