Hide

Fairfield

hide
Hide

From John Marius WILSON's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-72:

"FAIRFIELD, a chapelry in Hope parish, Derby; near the Buxton railway, 1 mile ENE of Buxton. It has a post office under Buxton. Acres, 3, 914. Real property, £6, 093; of which £61 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 574; in 1861, 1,075. Houses, 185. The manor belongs to the Duke of Devonshire. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £160. Patrons, Trustees. The church was rebuilt in 1839. There is a Wesleyan chapel. An endowed school has £39."

Hide
topup

Archives & Libraries

Use the Library at Buxton.  Their Local Studies section will be a real help.

Fairfield is served by the Mobile Library on route N, which makes two stops every fourth Thursday at mid-morning. The first is at St. Peter's Church Hall and the second is at the Victoria Park Road shops.

topup

Bibliography

  • OWEN, David - Images from a Fairfield Camera. Bingham Trust, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9554845-1-3.
     
  • OWEN, David - The Spirit of North Road School Fairfield, 2006. No ISBN.
     
  • OWEN, David G. The Old Road to Fairfield, 1996, Caron Publications, paperback 104 pg. ISBN 978-0-9478481-3-2 Out of print.
topup

Cemeteries

We have a pop-up window of Parish Register burials in a text file for your review. Your additions are welcomed.

And don't forget to search Find a Grave for ancestor burials.

Basher EYRE has a photograph of St. John the Baptist churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015. This church stands just off the A6 road at the start of Fairfield Commons.

topup

Census

  • There are large parts of the census that are labelled "Fairfield" which are traditionally parts of "Buxton".
     
  • The parish was in the Buxton sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1851H.O. 107 / 2151
1861R.G. 9 / 2545
1891R.G. 12 / 2778 and 2779
topup

Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter.
     
  • The original Christian church was built here in the Tudor period.
     
  • The current church was built in 1839 on the site of the older church.
     
  • A new organ was installed in the church in 1893.
     
  • The church seats 300.
     
  • Alf BEARD has a photograph of the entryway to St. Peter's Church on Rosemary LOCKIE's Wishful-Thinking site, dated April, 2007.
     
  • Peter BARR has a photograph of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2010.
     
  • Basher EYRE has a photograph of St. Peter's in late July on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.
     
  • David BEVIS has a photograph of St. Peter's church tower on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2015.
topup

Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1738. Earlier registers were reportedly destroyed.
     
  • Marriages at Fairfield, 1756-1837 are available in Nigel BATTY-SMITH's database of scanned images of Phillimore's Parish Registers.
     
  • Rosemary LOCKIE has Memorial Inscriptions for Fairfield at her website, contributed by Alf BEARD. She notes that the list is not complete because of the size of the churchyard.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Buxton.
     
  • The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1887 to seat 200.
topup

Civil Registration

  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
  • The parish was in the Buxton sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
topup

Description & Travel

"FAIRFIELD is a chapelry, in the parish of Hope, in the same hundred as Buxton, 1 mile N.N.E. from that town. Here is an ancient church, dedicated to St. Peter; the living is in the gift of trustees residing in the parish and the present incumbent is the Rev. Geo. Mounsey. On a large tract of waste ground, an excellent round course has been formed, where horse races take place. on the Wednesday and Thursday in the week after the meeting at Newton ith' Willows; for the accommodation of visiters, a handsome stand has been erected. From this village, the best panoramic view of Buxton crescent, &c. is obtained. The population returns of this chapelry present a singular coincidence, the number of inhabitants being 482, at the several censuses taken in 1811, 1821 and 1831."

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

The River Wye divides this parish from the township and village of Buxton. Fairfield lies one mile northeast of Buxton. To the north of the village is a fine golf course.

Roger MAY has a photograph of The clubhouse at Buxton High Peak golf course (really Fairfield) on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2005.

You can see pictures of Fairfield which are provided by:

topup

Directories

topup

Gazetteers

topup

History

  • In the early 19th century a round track for horse races was built.
     
  • The land in this parish was primarily used for grazing prior to World War One.
     
  • The parish has Bronze age round barrows wherein burials have been found. Richard LAW provides a photograph of one of these Barrows on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.
topup

Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK080750 (Lat/Lon: 53.272239, -1.882161), Fairfield which are provided by:

topup

Medical Records

Devonshire Hospital was in this parish, but hospitals were exempt from archiving their records.

There is a Fairfield Hospital in another county in England that is NOT related to Derbyshire.

topup

Monumental Inscriptions

There is a mural tablet in the church inscribed to William DAKIN, a merchant of London (1848):

"Strike Dakin; the Devil's in the hemp."

There is another memorial to Edward DAKIN who died in 1809.

 

topup

Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient Chapelry in Hope parish in Derbyshire and became a modern Civil Parish in December, 1866.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • In January, 1917, a portion of this parish was incorporated as "Green Fairfield Civil Parish", taking some 1,666 acres.
topup

Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Roland SWAN's charity of £4 was given to the poor in books each year.
     
  • The Rev. Francis GISBOURNE's charity of £6 10s was given annually in flannel.
     
  • William VERNON's charity of £4 6s and the interest from £100 from Sarah LONGDEN was distributed yearly in coal and warm clothing.
     
  • Bastardy cases would be heard at the Buxton petty session hearings.
     
  • As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Chapel en le Frith Poorlaw Union.
topup

Population

Year Inhabitants
1811 482
1831 482
1871 2,003
1881 2,817
1891 3,854
1901 5,274
1911 6,097
topup

Schools

An Endowed School was erected in 1862 and was enlarged in 1895 to hold 450 boys and girls.

A new Infants School was erected in 1907 for 200 children. By 1912, that school was full..