GENUKI: Edensor, Derbyshire

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“EDENSOR, a parish in the hundred of High Peak, county Derby, 2 miles N.E. of Bakewell. It is situated on the river Derwent, and includes the townships of Pilsley and Edensor with Chatsworth. The village is beautifully situated within the park of Chatsworth. Three fourths of the parish are included in the park, the remainder is chiefly pasture. There are several quarries of gritstone.

The living is a donative curacy in the diocese of Lichfield, value £300. The church is dedicated to St. Peter, and contains monuments of the family of the dukes of Devonshire. There are charities of about £14 per annum, a part of which is for apprenticing youths. There is a parish school, with a small endowment."

"CHATSWORTH, a township in the parish of Edensor, in the hundred of High Peake, in the county of Derby, 157 miles from London, 25 from Derby, and 84 from Matlock. It appears in Domesday Book as Chatesvorde, and was then owned by William Peveril. Through the Leches, or Lukes, and Agards, it descended to Sir William Cavendish, who in 1570 began to build the old seat, which was afterwards finished by his widow, the Countess of Shrewsbury. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned at Chatsworth. It was garrisoned by the parliamentarians in 1643, and by the royalists in 1645.

In the church of St. Peter at Edensor are monuments to the first Earl of Devonshire, to the celebrated Elizabeth Hardwick, whose fourth husband was George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, and to James Beton, a favourite servant of Mary Queen of Scots, who died while Mary was a prisoner at Chatsworth. The population of Chatsworth in 1861 was 53, with 8 inhabited houses.

Chatsworth House, the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, was rebuilt by the first Duke from designs by Talman and Wren. The great stables were built about 1760; the north wing since 1820, by Wyatville. There are many exquisite marbles, pictures, carvings, and frescoes at Chatsworth House, including Raphael's cartoons in Ghobelin tapestry; the Jewish Rabbi, by Rembrandt; Belisarius, by Murillo; Queen Mary, by Zucchero; Henry VIII., by Holbein; Philip II., by Titian; Charles I., by Jansen; Duke of Albemarle, by Sir Peter Lely; George IV., by Sir Thomas Lawrence; besides other valuable pictures by Myttens, Vandyck, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and other eminent artists. In the sculpture gallery are some of the finest works of Canova, Nollekens, Chantry, Campbell, and Thorwaldsen.

The state-rooms are 190 feet long; the music-room 35 feet by 30 feet; the grand drawing-room 45 feet by 28 feet; the library 90 feet by 22 feet; the dining-room 58 feet by 30 feet; and the ball-room, which, With its adjoining chambers, forms a suite of 557 feet; this last has a Corinthian temple over it, and commands a magnificent view. The park is nearly 12 miles round, well laid out, and stocked with deer. The gardens were laid out by Loudon and Paxton, and are now under Sir Joseph Paxton's care; they have long had a high and well-deserved reputation.

In the grounds is Queen Mary's Bower. The grand conservatory covers about an acre of ground; it is 320 feet by 145 feet, and has 70,000 square feet of glass in it; the orangery is 189 feet long, 27 feet wide; and 21 feet high, lighted by a glass roof; the kitchen garden is 12 acres in extent; the arboretum of trees and shrubs covers several acres.

The water works and great cascade were designed about a century ago by Grillet: one fountain is supplied from a hill 4 miles off, and has a jet of 200 feet; the stream then disappears amidst the rocks, and passes underground to the river. Here may be seen Queen Victoria's oak (her Majesty having visited Chatsworth when Princess Victoria in 1832, and again in 1843, when the pleasure-grounds and grand conservatory were illuminated), the Duchess of Kent's chesnut, and the Emperor Nicholas's chesnut. Marshal Tallard was allowed to remain here on parole, and Hobbs spent many years of his life at Chatsworth. Christian VII. visited it in 1768, and the Archduke Nicholas of Russia in 1861."

"PILSLEY, a township in the parish of Edensor, hundred of High Peak, county Derby, 2 miles N.E. of Bakewell.”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

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Archives & Libraries

The Buxton Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

Visit the Chatsworth Library to look at their unique displays.

Bibliography

BUNTING, Julie, The Earls and Dukes of Devonshire. Derbyshire Heritage Series, 1999. ISBN 1 874754 70 5.
NAYLOR, Diane - The Chatsworth Villages - Beeley, Edensor & Pilsley. Landmark, 2005. ISBN 1-84306-198-8.
TAYLOR, Keith - Baslow, Rowsley, Edensor, Pilsley, Beeley. Ashridge Press/Country Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-906789-06-0.

Cemeteries

Trevor RICKARD has a photograph of the Duke of Devonshire family graves on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2011.

Philip HALLING has a photograph of the Grave of Kathleen Devonshire (nee Kennedy) on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2014.

**Anglican**
St Peter, Edensor, Church of England

Census

The parish was in the Bakewell sub-district of the Bakewell Registration District.
The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

Census Year	Piece No.
1851	H.O. 107 / 2149
1861	R.G. 9 / 2540
1891	R.G. 12 / 2774

Churches

**Anglican**
St Peter, Edensor, Church of England

Church History

The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter.
The church is of Norman origin, but the date of construction is not reported.
The church was almost entirely rebuilt in 1867.
The church seats 250.
Roger McLACHLAN has a photograph of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2006.
Graham HOGG also has a photograph of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2012.
David SMITH also has a photograph of the north-side of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2017,

Church Records

The Anglican parish register dates from 1540.
Michael SPENCER has provided an extract of Parish Register burials for.your use. Your additions and corrections are welcomed.
The church was in the rural deanery of Bakewell.

Civil Registration

Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
The parish was in the Bakewell sub-district of the Bakewell Registration District.

Description & Travel

"EDENSOR-WITH-CHATSWORTH and PILSLEY hamlet forming a parish, in the hundred of High Peak, is remarkable as containing one of the wonders of the Peak, viz. the splendid seat of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, which is situate about four miles N. E. of Bakewell. The house is built in the ionic order, with a flat roof, surrounded by a neat balustrade; its form is nearly a square, of about 190 feet surrounding a spacious quadrangular court, having a fountain in the centre, surmounted by a Statue of Orpheus. The principal entrance, on the west is by a noble flight of steps to a terrace, the whole length of the building; the fronts which form the quadrangle are decorated with rich sculptures, representing military trophies."

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

David SMITH has a photograph of the village from the south-west on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2017.
Chris GUNNS has a photograph of the Emperor Fountain in Chatsworth township on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.
Pilsley sits on a rise above Edensor. It did not have its own church and divine services were held at the local schoolhouse by the vicar from Edensor.

You can see pictures of Edensor which are provided by:

Directories

Rosemary LOCKIE provides a transcription of the Edensor entry under Bakewell from Pigot & Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire (1835).
Ann ANDREWS provides a transcription of the Edensor entry in Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

Gazetteers

The transcription of the section for Edensor from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin HINSON.

Ask for a calculation of the distance from Edensor to another place.

Genealogy

Sir Joseph PAXTON died at his home at Rockhills, Sydenham, in 1865 and was buried on the Chatsworth Estate in St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor.

History

Mary, Queen of Scots, was held prisoner at Chatsworth House in 1570.

The new village of Edensor was built in 1858 on a site close to the old church and invisible from Chatsworth House.

Manors

Ian S. has a photograph of the entrance to Chatsworth House on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2015.

There are also photograph of Chatsworth House decorated for Christmas on Pinterest.

A garden design dating back to 1699 has been revealed in the drought-withered lawns of Chatsworth House. Reported in Archaeology Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018.

Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK245692 (Lat/Lon: 53.21897, -1.635195), Edensor which are provided by:

OpenStreetMap
Google Maps
StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
Bing (was Multimap)
Old Maps Online
National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

Military History

During World War I the Red Cross established Chatsworth Royal Naval Convalescent Hospital here. It opened in September 1915.

The Chatsworth Library was used for storage during World War II.

Military Records

Basher EYRE has a photograph of the memorial plaque to Peverill HALL on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.

Basher EYRE has a photograph of the World War II memorial plaque on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.

Names, Geographical

Most readers will know this already, but just in case not, this place-name is pronounced 'EnZer'!

Obituaries

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar contributes this snippet from the Derby Mercury of December 8, 1803 DIED:"At Edensor, in this county, the Rev. James PEAKE, M.A. Domestic Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, Rector of Kingsley, in the county of Stafford, minister of Edensor, and of Cartmel, in the county of Lancaster."

Occupations

Many local craftsmen and artisans would have been employed at Chatsworth. One such was John GARDOM, an ironsmith of Baslow, who worked as an assistant to Jean Tijou, the French master ironsmith employed at Chatsworth. GARDOM is also believed to have been responsible for the garden gates at Beauchief Hall, and for the garden ironwork at Hassop Hall.
(Ref: A History of Derbyshire, Gladwyn TURBUTT, 1999)

Politics & Government

This place was an ancient parish in county Derby and it became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
This parish was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake) in the Western division of the county.
The citizens of this parish have elected to forgo a formal Parish Council and instead hold periodic Parish Meetings to discuss civic and Political issues.
District governance is provided by the Peak District Council.

Poor Houses, Poor Law

Bastardy cases would be heard in the Bakewell petty session hearings.
As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Bakewell Poorlaw Union.

Population

The population 1811 was 601.

Schools

A Public Elementary School was built here in 1839.

A Public Elementary School (girls and infants) was built in Pilsley in 1843.

Social Life & Customs

The annual Royal Horticultural Society Chatsworth flower show is quite popular and draws tourists from around the country.

Steve FAREHAM has a photograph of the Chatsworth Flower Show on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.

Steve FAREHAM also provides a close-up of one the Stainless steel dandelions on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.