Cromford, Derbyshire Genealogy

England Derbyshire  Derbyshire Parishes  Cromford

Parish History
Cromford is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Derbyshire, created in 1798 from chapelry in Wirksworth,_DerbyshireAncient Parish

CROMFORD, a chapelry, in the parish and hundred of Wirksworth, union of Bakewell, S. division of the county of Derby, 1 mile (N. by E.) from Matlock; containing 1407 inhabitants, and comprising 1308 acres, of which 125 are common or waste land. This place, which is pleasantly situated on the river Derwent, was an inconsiderable village prior to the year 1776, when Sir Richard Arkwright, having purchased the manor, erected mills, which were the first ever put in motion by water, and established a cotton-manufactory of large extent. Since this period it has greatly increased, and at present it is a flourishing place, consisting chiefly of neat and commodious dwellings for the persons engaged in the factories, many of them built round an open space where a small customary market is held on Saturday, and others chiefly in detached situations. The cotton manufacture affords employment to more than 1000 persons; there are a manufactory for hats, one for ginghams on a small scale, and a paper-manufactory. In the neighbourhood are extensive mines of lead and calamine, and quarries of marble and limestone: a great quantity of lapis calaminaris is exported annually. The Cromford canal communicates with the Erewash canal near Langley bridge, and commodious wharfs and warehouses have been constructed on its banks. The Cromford and High Peak railway, for the conveyance of minerals and merchandise, commences at this place, and pursues its course to the Peak-Forest canal, near Whaley bridge; the whole line is thirtythree miles, in which it attains a rise of 990 feet above the level of the Cromford canal: it was opened in 1830. The chapel, a small neat building in the Grecian style, begun by Sir Richard Arkwright, in 1794, and completed by his son, Richard Arkwright, Esq., who endowed it with £50 per annum, was consecrated in 1797. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £96; patrons, the family of Arkwright: the great tithes have been commuted for £90, and the vicarial for £11. The Wesleyans have a place of worship.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 729-733. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50906 Date accessed: 05 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
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes

Contributor: 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
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Bakewell 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
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.