Chesterfield (Derbyshire)

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Borough of Chesterfield
Chesterfield (United Kingdom)
Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Location in Derbyshire
Basic data
status Borough
region East Midlands
Administration County Derbyshire
Administrative headquarters Chesterfield
surface 66.04 km²
population City: 71,000, Borough: 103,780 (2011, approx.)
ONS code 17UD
Website www.chesterfield.gov.uk

Chesterfield is a city in the English county of Derbyshire . It is located south of Sheffield at the confluence of the River Hipper in the Rother and has around 103,000 inhabitants. Chesterfield is not only the administrative seat of the Borough of Chesterfield , but also of the surrounding district of North East Derbyshire . The name of the city is made up of the Anglo-Saxon words caester = castrum (Roman fortification) and feld (pastureland). In the Domesday Book , a land register of England from the late 11th century, the entry was made as Cestrefeld , a hamlet of Newbold ).

The crooked spire ( Crooked Spire )

history

In what is now Chesterfield's town center, excavations have dated a former Roman fortification to 80-100 AD, which was located in what is now Chesterfield's town center. In 1204 King John Ohneland granted the town market rights , which gave Chesterfield the status of a free borough . In 1266, followers of Simon de Montfort , including Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby , and Baldwin Wake , Lord of Chesterfield, holed up in the city towards the end of the Second Barons' War . On May 15, 1266, a royal force attacked by Henry of Almain , a nephew of Henry III. , was led, at the Battle of Chesterfield and won. In 1594, Queen Elizabeth I extended Chesterfield's rights and granted him a mayor and other councilors and members.

It grew to a major city in the 19th century when it was connected to the railway line from Leeds to Derby , built under George Stephenson , and when larger coal deposits were discovered around the city during construction.

Attractions

St Mary and All Saints' - The Crooked Spire

The town's landmark is the leaning steeple of the 14th century church of St Mary and All Saints' . The tip deviates about 2.9 meters from the center of the cone base and is twisted by an eighth around its own axis. A dendrochronological report dates the 150 t wood construction of the church spire to around 1362. It was not until 1639 that the 50 t lead cladding was attached. Until then, the top was probably covered with oak shingles.

The cause of the curvature is not clear. The Friends of the Parish Church of St Mary and All Saints see a difference in the spiral-like twisting of the tower, which should not have been unusual in church construction at that time, and in the inclination that developed over time. In one view, oak twisted into fresh oak as it dried out. Others suspect improper bracing, as there was a lack of well-trained craftsmen after the great plague epidemic in the middle of the 14th century and there was also a lack of heat, as the wood on the south side of the tower has changed more than on the north side. The most likely cause lies in the lead sheets that replaced the original wooden shingles about 300 years after they were built. The wooden structure was not designed for this weight and deformed.

Popular belief has developed its own stories about the twisting of the church tower, most of which contain the devil. Legend has it that the church tower was so amazed one day when a virgin stepped in front of the church's altar that he bent down to take a closer look at the bride. This left him hunched over. Others add that as soon as a virgin steps in front of the altar, he will straighten himself out. According to another legend, a blacksmith from Bolsover shod the devil's hooves so roughly that he gave the church tower a kick when he passed Chesterfield. Another story goes that the devil was resting on the church tower when he had to sneeze because of the incense smell and his tail, which was wrapped around the tower, twisted it.

The church is now a Grade I listed building monument.

Chesterfield is also the namesake of the Chesterfield seating , as the 4th Earl of Chesterfield Philip Dormer Stanhope commissioned it from the well-known English furniture maker Robert Adam around 1770 .

Town twinning

Chesterfield is twinned with:

sons and daughters of the town

swell

  1. ↑ a b Chesterfield (All Saints) . A Topographical Dictionary of England, Ed. S. Lewis, London 1848, at: British History Online (BHO) website, accessed February 26, 2016
  2. ↑ a b Magna Brittannia: Vol. 5, Derbyshire. Chesterfield . From: British History Online (BHO) website, accessed February 21, 2016
  3. ↑ Chesterfield Roman Fort on: Website Historic England, accessed February 27, 2016
  4. ↑ 1266: The Battle of Chesterfield , at: magnacarta800th.com, accessed February 27, 2016
  5. ↑ Chesterfield at: information-britain.co.uk, accessed February 27, 2016
  6. ↑ Crooked Spire Church , at visitchesterfield.info, accessed February 28, 2016
  7. ↑ a b c The Spire 'Story' ( February 28, 2016 memento in the Internet Archive ), at: friendsofthecrookedspirechesterfield.co.uk, accessed on February 28, 2016
  8. ↑ Chesterfield Crooked Spire , at: Derbyshire Heritage website, accessed February 28, 2016
  9. ↑ Entry on: Historic England, accessed February 27, 2016
  10. ↑ Twinning Links ( memento of July 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on: chesterfield.gov.uk, accessed on February 28, 2016

Coordinates: 53 ° 14 ′  N , 1 ° 26 ′  W