England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Chapel en le Frith St Thomas a Becket

The Parish

The parish of Chapel en le Frith, the phrase is an early English equivalent of "in the forest", a reference to the former Royal hunting forest of Peak Forest, sits in the extreme northwest of Derbyshire roughly 6 miles north of the spa town of Buxton. Chapel en le Frith formerly sat on the route of the A6 road which connected Derby through to both Stockport and Manchester, that road now bypasses the town to the east and north. Chapel en le Frith is a market town, albeit one much diminished, and an industrial town, it stands west of the main Peak District range making it more in common with the cotton towns of Cheshire & Lancashire than its own county of Derbyshire. In early times this was a wild and dangerous area with the extra-parochial Peak Forest the scene of much extractive industry and not a little banditry, Chapel en le Frith, itself, had a few coal mines until modern times but its chief economic driver was its market as a centre for trade & specialist skills. The industrial revolution brought cotton mills to the town exploiting the soft water running from the Dark Peak. The water was also used by paper mills which held lucrative contracts with London newspapers. Further industries included a rope-walk and iron forge, Chapel en le Frith was a hive of industry. The wider parish covered a lot of hill country with much upland grazing for hardy sheep whilst more sheltered areas held cattle. Modern developments came aplenty with the Peak Forest Canal arriving first exploiting the valley of the River Goyt, railways to both Stockport, Derby and Sheffield soon followed, some are closed but the line between Manchester & Sheffield still travels through the lengthy Cowburn Tunnel to the hiking delights of Edale. Nowadays even the once tedious A6 has been upgraded to fast dual carriageway around the town and onward to Whaley Bridge. Nowadays Chapel en le Frith is just the highest of a string of former industrial towns that line the A6 all the way into the Greater Manchester Metropolis. Chapel en le Frith is drained northwestwards by the Goyt which begins life on the moors above the town, the Goyt meets the Mersey in Stockport turning water westwards to the Irish Sea arriving through the Mersey Estuary between the twin port of Liverpool & Birkenhead. Chapel en le Frith covers heights between 200 metres above the sea by the Goyt to around 240 metres in its suburbs, land rises strongly eastwards reaching 470 metres to the east at Eldon Hill and 569 metres to the northeast at Brown Knoll, both home to extensive tracts of peat hags. Whilst not the most extensive in its county Chapel en le Frith parish was certainly large covering close to 8,400 acres and supporting a population of around 3,200 parishioners. In common with other settlements near to Royal hunting forests Chapel en le Frith is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Thomas' church stands at the eastern end of the market place where the normal sized street compresses into a series of narrow lanes such as Burrfields which passes south of the church. The church was originally built as a chapel for the foresters of the Peak Forest and that chapel is documented as completed in 1225, today's church, however, is a much larger church which replaced the simple chapel during the early 14th century, the size of the church reflected the town's status as a market. The nave and 4-bay aisles are the main fabric showing the early 14th century styling of the Decorated period. The church originally had a Decorated styled western tower, too but this was largely replaced between 1731 & 1733 in a program of work which also remodelled the south front, parts of the original tower remain internally within its replacement. A further extensive piece of work followed in typical Victorian times when the chancel was rebuilt between 1890 & 1893 replacing what had previously been a Perpendicular structure. Market Place has short-term parking bays long its northern side for the lucky, a car park might be a safer bet. As you approach eastwards along that road the church remains hidden with only the metal gates in view, sadly for the photographer the southern side of the churchyard is thickly wooded removing the favoured aspects, views from the north are available but subject to the usual difficulties of sunny conditions.