The town of ASHBOURN, situated on the east side of the river Dove, over which is a stone bridge.— It is a neat market-town, having a Free Grammar-school, founded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by voluntary contributions. Near the entrance of the town from Derby is a neat Chapel, and a row of Almshouses for six poor men or women, erected and endowed in the year 1800, by a native of Ashbourn, named Cooper. The Church, which was dedicated to St. Oswald, by Hugh de Patishull, Bishop of Coventry, in the year 1241, as appears from a brass plate still extant, and found some years since in repairing the edifice, is built in the form of a cross, with a square tower in the center, terminated with a lofty octagonal spire, enriched with ornamental workmanship. The roof is supported by several pointed arches. It contains many monuments of the Cockaines, Bradburnes, and Boothbys; and the windows are ornamented with the arms of different families in stained glass. An elegant tomb to the memory of the daughter of Sir Brook Boothby, Bart. was a few years since executed in this church, by Mr. Banks, which does great credit to the abilities of that eminent artist. On the top is the figure of this much-lamented girl, lying on her side, carved in white marble; and round the tomb are inscriptions to her memory in four different languages. On another monument, erected to the memory of Sir B. Boothby, Bart. and Dame Phoebe his wife, the former of whom died in the year 1789, and the latter the preceding year, are the following pleasing lines :

"Here blameless pair, with mild affections blest, Belov’d, respected, much lamented, rest.

Life’s shelter’d vale secure in peace ye trod, Your practice, virtue ; your reliance, God. Long days, longloves, indulgent Heaven bestow’d, And sweet content to gild your calm abode : Friends, who through life their faith unalter’d kept;

Children, who lov’d, who honour’dand who wept. Heroes and kings, life’s little pageant o’er, Might wish their trophied marbles were no more." At Ashbourn Hall, the seat of Sir Brooke Boothby, situated in this town, are some good paintings; and the park and gardens are laid out with great taste.

A short distance to the west of Ashbourn is Thorp Cloud, a vast hill, rising to a great height, and formed like a truncated cone, at the foot of which is the valley called Dove Dale, a narrow winding glen, situated among a variety of hills, rocks, and hanging woods, which are extremely various, and the hills in particular of a very bold and striking character, spreading on all sides in vast sweeps inexpressibly magnificent. The rocks are grey, of a wild and grotesque appearance, rising in various shapes from banks of hill and wood, and forming an assemblage of really romantic objects. About a mile from the entrance, the dale, suddenly contracting its dimensions, is scarcely wider than the rocky channel of the river; and on each side the rocks of grey lime-stone, abrupt and vast, rear their grotesque forms, covered with moss, lichens, yew-trees, and mountain ash. Of the several caverns in this vale, one particularly attracts attention, having a perforated crag rising just before it in the form of a magnificent arch : its height is about 40 feet, and its width 18; in shape it nearly approaches to the sharply-pointed Gothic; this leads to a cavern called Reynard’s- hall, and to another called his kitchen. The rocks continue some distance beyond this, and are then lost by degrees, shooting to a very considerable height, in the most fantastic shapes, those on the left being diversified with wood. "The river (says Mr. Whately) is never less than ten, nor so much as twenty yards wide, and generally from three to four feet deep; and transparent to the bottom, except when it is covered with a foam of the purest white, under water-falls which are perfectly lucid. These are very numerous, but very different: in some places they stretch straight across, or aslant, the stream; in others they are only partial, and the water either dashes against the stones, and leaps over them, or, pouring along a steep, rebounds upon those below: sometimes it rushes through several openings between them, and at other times it is driven back by the obstruction, and turns into an eddy. In one particular spot, the valley, almost closing, leaves hardly a passage for the river, which, pent up and struggling for a vent, rages, and roars, and foams, till it has extricated itself from the confinement. In other parts the stream, though never languid, is often gentle, flows round a little desert island, glides between aits of bulrushes, disperses itself among tufts of grass and of moss, bubbles about a water-dock, or plays with the slender threads of aquatic plants, which float upon the surface."

On entering Dove Dale, the Rev. Mr. Davies observes, it is impossible not to be struck with the almost instantaneous change of scenery, which on proceeding gradually, increases in majesty and rudeness. Now those objects which at a distance seemed to have been ruins, are found to be huge pyramids of rock, and grand isolated masses, ornamented with ivy net-work, rising in the middle of the vale. The loneliness and silence that reign here, entitle it to the appellation of the Vale of Fancy, or another Vaucluse; and as there is but one rugged narrow footpath, it has more the air of being the haunt of imaginary beings than human ones. The rock known by the name of Dove Dale church, is pleasingly contrasted by the little pastoral river, and its verdant turfy banks below.

The rock on the right hand at the termination of the dale, has two large excavations called the Dove Holes, the largest a regular arch of sixty feet in span, the other of the same shape but of less dimensions.

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ASHBORNE (mentioned in Domesday Book as “Esseburn” and in Queen Elizabeth’s time styled “Ashburne”), on the slope of a hill, is a market and union town, parish, township and head of a petty sessional division and county court district; it is the terminus of the branch of the North Staffordshire railway from Rocester, and has also a station on the branch of the London and North Western railway from Buxton; it is 147 ¼ miles from London by railway and 139 by road, 23 ¾ from Burton, 32 ½ from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 30 ¾ from Derby by railway and 13 by road, 56 ¼ from Glossop, 11 from Uttoxeter and 9 south-west from Wirksworth, in the Western division of the county, Wirksworth hundred, rural deanery of Ashbome, archdeaconry of Derby and diocese of Southwell. Compton, which lies on the opposite side of the Henmore stream, is now a part of the parish of Ashbome. The town was governed by a Local Board from 1868 until under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), an Urban District Council was established Under the “Local Government Act, 1894” and the “Divided Parishes Act” the urban parts of Clifton and Compton, Offcote and Underwood and Sturston, were added to Ashbome parish, thus making the Urban district of Ashbome one parish for all administrative purposes. The town has one main street running east and west, and a square open space to the north-east, forming the Marketplace: the houses are nearly all built of red brick and the streets paved and lighted with gas from works situated in Mayfield road, the property of the Ashbome Gas Company; the water supply is derived from wells in the neighbourhood.

The church of St. Oswald, King and Martyr, so dedicated, as appears from an ancient brass affixed to one of the columns in the south transept, by Hugh de Pateshul, Bishop of Coventry A.D. 1241, is a cruciform building, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, south aisle, transept, north and south porches and a central tower, with lofty octagonal spire, 212 feet in height, ribbed with ball flower ornaments and pierced with twenty dormer lights in five tiers of four each; this spire, a work of great beauty and remarkable lightness, is called the “Pride of the Peak,” and was raised to its original height and thoroughly restored in 1891—4, at a cost of £5,000, Mr. W. White being the architect: the tower contains a fine peal of 8 bells, all cast in 1815, and an ancient sanctus bell: the south aisle is divided from the nave by an arcade of four Decorated arches supported on handsome columns: the church is 176 feet 6 inches in length and 98 feet 6 inches from north to south across, the transepts: the chancel is mostly Early English, but the east window is Perpendicular, and has been filled with stained glass, presented by Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Corbet, of the Grove, Sturston; on each side are six lancets, six of which have been filled with stained glass by the Errington family: on the 25th February, 1884, a statue of St. Oswald, carved in hard red sandstone, by Mr. Bridgeman, of Lichfield, was placed in an ancient niche (the base and canopy of which have been restored) in the great central buttress of the west end: the carved oak screen was erected 2 April, 1884, as a memorial to the Rev. J. R. Errington, for many years vicar of Ashbome, and is surmounted by the figures of four kneeling angels, executed in oak: in the south wall are three sedilia with pointed arches, and beyond these a piscina, under a small trefoil niche: on the north side is a richly ornamented and canopied tomb, with crocketed pinnacles, said to be that of Robert Kniveton, of Underwood Grange (1471); and there are monuments to Christopher and Mary Harland (1810), the Rev. John Saunders, late rector of Leigh, the Rev. Thomas Goodread, vicar of Ashbome (1702), George Errington esq. (1769), and his son George (1795), to Lieut.-Col. Bainbrigge, killed at the battle of Egmont-Op-Zee in 1799, and Rachel, his wife, and to Lieut. Edward Bainbrigge, killed in the trenches before Sebastapol in 1855: in 1877—8 the chancel was thoroughly restored at a cost of £2,500, under the direction of the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A.; the Cokayne chapel, adjoining the chancel on the north side, is also chiefly in the Early English style, and contains the tombs of the Cokayne, Boothby and Bradburne families; an arcade of two bays divide it from the chancel, a handsome parclose of Decorated design inclosing the whole; on the east side are two stained lancet windows, one to Thomas Hartshorne esq. (1860) and the other to Capt. Holland R.N. (1860), erected as a mark of respect by the inhabitants of Ashbome: on an altar tomb of excellent character, in freestone, are the recumbent alabaster figures of John Cokayne, in the costume of the 14th century (1372), and Edmund, his son, clad in the knightly dress of that period, who was slain at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1404; the next is an altar tomb entirely of alabaster, enriched with plain shields, and bearing the recumbent figures of Sir John Cokayne, eldest son of Edmund (1447) and bis first wife, Joan, the figure of the knight affording a good example of the armour worn during the time of Henry V. and Henry VI.: an altar tomb of Purbeck marble bears an alabaster slab, incised with the figures of a knight clad in armour, and his lady, representing Sir Thomas Cokayne, knighted by Henry VIII. at the siege of Tournay, and Dame Barbara his wife (1537): under the north window is an altar tomb of Purbeck marble, with brasses (renewed at the expense of a descendant of Lord Cullen) to Francis Cokayne esq. (1538) and Dorothy his wife; there is also an alabaster slab to John Cokayne (1505), son of Sir John Cokayne, and an altar tomb of freestone, upon which are the recumbent figures in alabaster of Sir Humphrey Bradburne, knight, of Lea (1581), and Elizabeth his wife, the sides of the tomb bearing figures of their sons and daughters, with a shield of arms: here also are the effigies of John and Ann Bradburne, and a monument to Jane, daughter of Sir Henry Bradburne knt. and wife of Henry Sacheverell esq. of Morley: in this transept are many memorials of the family of Boothby, including one to Ann, wife of Brooke Boothby (1750), an alabaster monument to Sir Brooke Boothby bart. (1789) and Phoebe, his wife (1788), and the exquisitely pathetic and yet simple marble monument to Penelope, only child of Sir Brooke Boothby bart. who died in 1791, aged five years, by T. Banks R.A: there is also a mural monument to Sir William Boothby bart. (1706) and Dame Hill, his wife (1704); another to Hill Boothby (1756); a monument in freestone to Sir William Boothby bart. (1824), and Rafeld his wife, with others of his family from 1805 to 1846: these tombs and monuments were restored in 1878 by Geo. Edwd. Cokayne esq. M.A., F.S.A. Clarencieux King of Arms in the Heralds’ College: the organ, placed in the Bradburne chapel, was erected in 1840 as a memorial to Mir. Corden; this chapel has a large Perpendicular window of seven lights on its south side, probably inserted by the Bradburnes at the foundation of their chantry in 1483: the transepts are Decorated, the north transept, restored in 1879—80, at a cost of £600, containing a fine stained window, erected in 1877 by the Misses Hartshorne in memory of their parents, and another to John Lister, who died in 1854; one lancet window has been filled with ancient glass taken from the south transept, which has a memorial window, erected in 1874 by the inhabitants of Ashbome, to the Rev. J. R. Errington M.A. for 22 years vicar of Ashbome; here is also a similar memorial to John Robert Dalby (1870); and in the south aisle is a window to members of the Wise family: the font is Early English, and there is a brass lectern, presented in 1878 as a memorial of Lady Bent by her grandchildren: under the north transept window is a stately mural monument of marble, in the Renaissance style, to Sir Thomas Cokayne (1592) and Dorothy his wife (1595), representing the knight and his lady kneeling towards a reading desk, while underneath appear in bas-relief the figures of their ten children; there are also monuments to James Sherratt (1710), the Rev. William Rawlins (1783) and Hannah his wife (1786), with their son William (1817), as well as to the Rev. Samuel Shipley M.A. 44 years vicar of Ashbome, d. 1850; a handsome monument in freestone to Sir Matthew Blakiston bart. d. 1862, and a brass to Nicholas Spalden (1713): the nave, south aisle, and other portions of the church were carefully restored during the years 1881—3, at a cost of about £4,000, the west end of the nave being entirely rebuilt: the plate includes a paten, presented by Sir William Boothby bart. in 1687: the churchyard is well kept and has a fine avenue of limes on the north side, and an ancient yew. The register dates from the year 1538, but its earlier portion is in a fragmentary condition, although a copy only of the original: original entries begin in 1604; some early entries of special interest have been stolen, among which was a record of King Charles I. having attended divine service in August, 1645: the Mapleton register, dating from 1704, is also kept here. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the consolidated rectory of Mapleton, net yearly value £150, with 7 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Southwell, and held since 1898 by the Rev. Ernest Edwin Morris M.A. of Jesus College, Cambridge, rural dean of Ashbome, surrogate, and J.P. Derbyshire; the vicarage house, situated on an eminence, is a well-built edifice of stone in the Tudor style: the rectorial tithes, yearly value £1,425, are held by the trustees of George H. Errington esq. as lessees under the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

Ashbome had anciently attached to it the six chapelries of Kniveton, Mapleton, Thorpe, Bentley, Bradley and Edlaston, besides three of a more dependent nature, viz. Parwich, Alsop and Hognaston.

St. John's church, formerly Ashborne Free Church of England, in the Buxton road, opened 28th May, 1871, and licensed by the bishop in 1883, is a building of stone, consisting of apsidal chancel, nave, aisles, and a western tower, forming the entrance, and containing a clock and one bell: the interior of the tower is fitted as a gallery, the organ was presented by Messrs. Bradley and T. O. Farmer; the total cost was about £8,000, defrayed by the late Francis Wright esq. of Osmaston Manor, who also endowed the church with £100 yearly and a residence: there are 600 sittings, about one-third being free. The living is a perpetual curacy, net income £200, with residence, in the gift of the trustees, and held since 1896 by the Rev. Albert Peter Neele; the parsonage is in St. John street; connected with the church are school-rooms, used for the Sunday school and other meetings.

The Catholic church, Bellevue, dedicated to All Saints, is an edifice of stone, erected in 1887, and has 120 sittings.

The Primitive Methodist chapel, in Station street, erected in 1894, at a cost of £1,700, is an edifice of red brick, with Stanton stone dressings, and has 400 sittings.

The Wesleyan chapel, in Church street, erected in 1880—81, at a cost of about £4,860, is an edifice of red brick, relieved with Stanton stone, in the Italian style, and has 500 sittings: a Sunday and day school is held in rooms beneath the chapel.

Sion Congregational chapel, in the Derby road, is a structure of brick, built and endowed by the late John Cooper esq. in the year 1800, together with the minister’s house and almshouses adjoining, there is also a good schoolroom with class rooms, erected at a later date: the chapel seats 400.

The Gospel Mission hall, in South street, erected in 1888, will seat 100 persons.

There are several almshouses: —

Owfield’s:-Roger Owfield, by will, dated prior to 1630, gave £100 to build almshouses for eight poor people of Ashbome, which were completed by his widow at her own expense: Thomasin Owfield, by deed, 28th January, 1630, made over one almshouse and £100, to pay the alms people £1 each; Samuel Owfield, by deed, 2nd November, 1640, granted two messuages and a piece of land to the trustees of the Grammar school to maintain the same; altogether Thomasin Owfield built 8 almshouses, which are all occupied; Paul Taylor, by will dated 24th December, 1640, gave £12 10s. the interest amounting to 2s. 6d. each, to be given to the eight alms people every Good Friday, and this sum was augmented by Robert Webster in 1659 to £13 10s.: John Owfield and William Owfield, on the 7th June, 1652, granted 7 acres, supposed to have been substituted for the £100 left by Thomasin Owfield as above: George Taylor, by will dated 2nd March, 1668, gave £100 to pay 1s. annually to each of the alms people: Jane James, by will dated 13th July, 1669, gave a yearly rent-charge of £2: Richard Peters, by will dated 18th May, 1708, gave the yearly sum of £4; Nicholas Spalden, by will 16th April, 1710, gave 13a. 0r. 34p. at Parwich, realising a yearly rent-of £39; these gifts being intended for the benefit of Owfield’s alms people; the whole rents (with the addition of the amount left by Edw, Corden) now allows a weekly sum of 4s. each to the eight tenants, the surplus being applied to repairs.

Christopher Pegg, by will dated 12th June, 1669, directed six almshouses to be erected on his property in Ashborne for six poor inhabitants of the town, and for their maintenance gave his farm in trust, now producing £193 15s. yearly, two-fifths of which goes to the Grammar school: German Pole, by will dated 6th October, 1682, gave 29a. 0r. 30p. the rent to be distributed amongst the six alms people: part of the ground belonging to the almshouses produces two guineas a year, which is also divided among the alms people: altogether each tenant receives about 5s. a week, and £1 worth of clothing every two years.

Spalden’s:-Nicholas Spalden, by will, dated 16th April, 1710, gave all his property in Ireland in trust to purchase land in Ashborne, and build thereon ten alms-houses, to keep the same in repair and pay each tenant 2s. 6d. per week, with £1 worth of clothing yearly: Thomas Chatterton, by will, dated 20th Feb. 1811, gave money in the funds for increasing the allowance of the ten alms people, producing a sum of £80, afterwards increased 10 £500 by the next of kin and the inhabitants of Ashborne, and invested in £3 10s. per cent. Consols; the dividend, £17 10s. is distributed among the ten alms-people, each one receiving 8d. per week; the persons appointed to these houses must be married men of the town, and in case of a husband dying first, the widow is usually allowed to remain.

Every third vacancy in Owfield’s almshouses is filled up from the widows or widowers in Spalden’s Houses.

Edward Corden, by will in 1843, transferred a sum of Consols into the names of trustees to pay (besides other tilings) £52 yearly amongst the occupants of these houses; they now receive 5s. each per week.

Clergymen’s Widows :-Nicholas Spalden, by will, dated 6th April, 1710, directed that if there should be any surplus arising out of certain property mentioned in his will, it should be applied to the purchase of land and the building thereon of four houses, for the widows of four clergymen of the Church of England, and that £10 yearly should be paid to each tenant so long as she continues a widow: the surplus, proving sufficient, was accordingly applied as directed: Isaac Hawkins, by will, gave a sum of £400, which was invested in the funds, and the yearly dividend, amounting to £14, is also distributed among the four widows.

Edward Corden augmented the income of the charity to the extent of £48 a year, and Jesse Watts Russell, of Ham, in 1841, also increased the income by £40 a year, each resident now (1899) receives about £40 a year.

Elizabeth Hartshorne, who died in 1895, left a sum of £2,000 to be added to the endowment of this charity, and the pension now payable with each of the houses is about £45 a year.

Nicholas Spalden, by will, dated 16th April, 1710, gave £340 to be placed at interest, from which £8 yearly should be paid to the vicar for reading divine service, morning and evening, every Wednesday and Friday through the year, £8 yearly to the lecturer and £1 to the bell ringer: if the above directions should not be complied with, the dividends were to be applied as follows:-£2 yearly to the poor of Snelslon; £1 to the poor of Clifton; £2 to the poor of Mayfield; £1 to the poor of Mapleton, and the remaining £11 to be laid out in coal for the poor of Ashborne.

Spalden’s:-Nicholas Spalden, by his will, dated 16th April, 1710, directed that any residue arising from his will should be applied to the purchase of land, and the building thereon of a school-house for the instruction of 30 poor boys, children of inhabitants of the town of Ashborne. This property has been purchased by the Wesleyan chapel trustees. The schools had not been used as such for many years. The proceeds of this property have been invested and the income is now applied-one-half to the Church National Schools and one-half in the maintenance of two Spalden Scholarships at the Grammar School.

Field Rents.-The sum of £14 8s. 8d. is received annually from the rent of land awarded at the inclosure, in lieu of common right, and is applied to the purchase of coals and distributed to the poor of Ashborne, with any surplus arising from Spalden’s charities.

Bread Charities.-Nicholas Hurt, in 1637, gave a yearly rent charge of £5 to be given in doles of bread to twelve poor persons of Ashborne and Crompton weekly: £4 is now collected and distributed. Paul Taylor, in 1640, gave £94 to purchase land, the rent charge arising from which, amounting to about £4 16s. is given in doles of bread to six poor persons weekly. Edward Pegge, in 1666, gave £5 4s. annually to be given in doles of bread to six poor people of Ashborne and six of Osmaston weekly. George Taylor, in 1668, caused £100 to be placed at interest, and from the profits gave £2 12s. annually to be expended in doles of bread every Sunday to twelve poor persons of the town.

Miscellaneous Charities.-Johane Denton, in 1619, gave a yearly rent-charge of £5, of which £3 is given in small doles to poor widows and fatherless children in Ashborne and Compton, 30s. to the preacher at Ashborne and 10s. to the Free Grammar School. Paul Taylor, by his will, gave £20 towards the maintenance of the lecturer, as well as the profit of £15 to be given in doles to the poorest widows, widowers and impotent people of Ashborne on Good Friday for ever; besides 20 marks towards raising a stock to set poor people on work; and 5 marks to buy books of “Acts and Monuments,” to be laid safe in some convenient place in the church. Robert Webster, by deed, 28th March, 1659, in consideration of a sum of money paid him by Paul Taylor’s widow, granted a rent-charge out of his land, amounting to 52s. annually, for bread, to be given to six poor people weekly, £1 4s. for poor widows, widowers and impotent people of Ashborne on Good Friday; and £1 for the poor of Owfield’s almshouses: the consideration given to Robert Webster for this rent-charge was the £12 10s. assigned by Paul Taylor for the use of the poor in Owfield’s almshouses; the £50 for bread and the £15 for the poor widows &c.: George Taylor, by his will, dated 2nd March, 1668, gave £100 to be lent on good security to ten young tradesmen at 5 per cent, out of which £2 12s. was to be paid weekly in bread to twelve poor people of the town, 8s. to the poor in Owfield’s alms-houses, £1 to be given to forty poor housekeepers every Christmas, and £1 to the vicar to preach a sermon annually on charity: he also gave out of his Longdoles land £1 yearly for church repairs and £1 yearly to the increase of schoolmaster’s salary: Christopher Pegg, by will, dated 12th June, 1669, gave certain lands, of which a sum of £18 18s. 2d. being half the profits, is given in small amounts to the poor on St. Thomas’ day.

John Hanson, by will, dated 13th January, 1678, charged his lands in Ashborne with the yearly payment of £5, to be distributed in bread by the churchwardens at Easter and Michaelmas day to the most deserving poor of Ashborne.

Catherine Port, by a codicil to her will, 9th February, 1724, confirmed all the charities given by her father, John Port esq, one of which was £5 to be given in wool or money to the poor of Ashborne annually. Elizabeth Buxton, by will, dated 11th July, 1730, gave to the vicar 10s. yearly to preach a sermon, 5s. yearly to the ringers to ring a solemn peal and £1 yearly for forty poor housekeepers in Ashborne.

Gisborne’s Charity.-This charity was founded by the Rev. Francis Gisborne, sometime rector of Staveley, by deed, dated 1817, and was afterwards augmented by will, dated 1818: it consists of a large sum of money in the funds, the dividends of which are distributed in equal portions among 100 rectories, vicarages and curacies in the county of Derby, to be applied by each incumbent in the purchase of flannel and woollen cloth, to be distributed among the poor of each parish every Christmas: among the places mentioned in the schedule is Ashborne, the vicar receiving the sum of about £6 12s. 11d. annually for the purpose above mentioned.

Dame Susannah Boothby, by will, dated 30th April, 1817, gave the remainder of her money in the stocks, after payment of all her debts, and amounting to £374 3s. 4d. to be equally divided between four parishes therein named, of which Ashborne was one, and the sum of £10 17s. 4d. arising from this charity is distributed by the vicar and churchwardens.

Harriet Blunt, who died in the 19th century, left £100 towards an endowment for the Ashborne Orphan Association.

The moneys belonging to nearly all the above mentioned charities and almshouses are invested in the names of the Governors and Assistants of the Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth.

Cooper’s Charity.-John Cooper, of Clerkenwell, London, by deed, dated January 5th, 1801, gave £4,500 to the trustees of Lady Huntingdon’s College, Cheshunt, Herts, in trust for the maintenance of six poor persons inhabiting the six almshouses, which he erected in 1800, and for the support of the minister and the maintenance of divine worship in the Sion chapel adjoining: from the dividends of these investments each tenant receives a weekly sum of 4s. the remainder being devoted to the support of the chapel: the trustees of Cheshunt College appoint both minister and alms people.

A new Police Station was erected in 1896 in Station street, containing three cells, stabling and residence for superintendent and groom.

The Savings Bank is in Church street.

The trade of the town depends on the neighbouring farmers and the numerous fairs. The wholesale stay factory in Compton, carried on by Messrs. Richard Cooper and Co. employs a large number of hands.

A convenient cattle market has been erected at the north-east end of the town.

The fairs are held as follows:-For cattle, sheep and horses, every alternate Thursday. Old chartered fairs: February 13, May 21, August 16, October 20, November 29 and December 15 (statutes). Cheese fairs: second Tuesday in March, 1st Tuesday in September, and Tuesday before November 11. All fairs except cheese fairs are held in the New Smithfield cattle market, Buxton road. Should any of the above fall on Sunday the fair is held on the following day except November 29, which, in such case, is held on the day previous. A fair for horses for agricultural purposes is held the day previous to the February, August and October fairs. The new market is held on the first Saturday after the 6th of January. The feast is the first Sunday after August 16, and market day is on Saturday.

A monument and fountain was erected in the market place in 1873, by public subscription, in memory of the late Francis Wright esq. of Osmaston Manor (d. 1873), for his valuable services to the town and neighbourhood.

Ashborne Hall, the property of William Richard Holland esq. is pleasantly situated on a gentle declivity, at the east-end of the town, in a well-timbered park containing a piece of ornamental water, through which flows the Henmore brook: the mansion is built somewhat after the style of a French chateau, and has still some traces of antiquity: the Cokayne family, who were its earliest owners, resided here from the 12th century until the early part of the 17th century, when it was sold by Sir Aston Cokayne to the Boothby family, by whom it was held until the death of Sir William Boothby: the late Robert Hayston Frank esq. became the owner by purchase in 1861, and on the death of his widow, in 1898, the estate was sold to the present owner; in 1745 the Pretender (Prince Charles Edward), when on his march to Derby, took possession of the Hall and slept there, and again on his retreat from that town: it contains many interesting and ancient relics, and had formerly a private chapel, but this building, after many years’ service as a malt house, was removed by Sir Brooke Boothby about 1785.

Soil, mixed; subsoil, chiefly gravel, clay and limestone.

The Urban Council of Ashborne are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are found under the different townships, Ashborne township being only 30 acres in extent; and the parish 518 acres; rateable value of parish, £14,604; the population in 1891 was 3,809.

List of places in the petty sessional division:-Ashborne, Atlow, Balidon, Bradley, Clifton & Compton, Eaton & Alsop, Edlaston & Wyaston, Fenny Bentley, Hartinton Town Quarter, Hartington Nether Quarter, Hognaston, Hollington, Hulland, Hulland Ward, Hulland Ward Intakes, Kniveton, Lea Hall, Longford, Mapleton, Mercaston, Newton Grange, Offcote & Underwood, Osliston & Thurvaston, Osmaston, Parwich, Rodsley, Shirley, Snelston, Sturston, Thorpe, Tissington, Yeaveley & Yeldersley.

VOLUNTEERS

2nd Volunteer Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment) (C Company), Captain G. D. Goodman, commanding.

ASHBORNE UNION

Board day, alternate Saturdays, at the Council chamber, Town hall, at 10.30 a.m.

The Union comprises the following 60 parishes & townships:-Alkmonton, Alstonefield (Staffs), Ashborne. Atlow, Ballidon, Bentley (Fenny), Bentley (Hungry), Biggin, Blore-with-Swinscoe (Staffs), Bonsall, Bradborne, Bradley, Brailsford, Brassington, Callow, Calton (Staffs), Calwich (Staffs), Carsington, Clifton, Eaton & Alsop, Edlaston & Wyaston, Ellastone (Staffs), Hartington Town Quarter, Hartington Nether Quarter, Hognaston, Hollington, Hopton, Hulland, Hulland Ward, Hulland Ward Intakes, Ible, Ilam (Staffs), Kirk Ireton, Kniveton, Lea Hall, Longford, Mapleton, Mayfield (Staffs), Mercaston, Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Newton Grange, Offcote & Underwood, Okeover (Staffs), Osmaston, Parwich, Prestwood, Ramshorn (Staffs), Rodsley, Shirley, Snelston, Stanton (Staffs), Sturston, Thorpe, Tissington, Waterfall (Staffs), Wetton (Staffs), Woodhouses (Staffs), Wootton (Staffs), Yeaveley & Yeldersley. The area of the union is 97,008 acres; rateable value, £153,848 in 1899; the population in 1891 was 19,930.

The Workhouse is situated on an elevated spot, called Church Banks, & will hold 160 inmates.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of services

St. Oswald’s Church, Rev. Ernest Edwin Morris M.A., J.P. vicar & rural dean; Revs. Frederick Scobel Boissier M.A. & Charles W. Millard B.A. curates; 8 & 11 a.m. . & 3 & 6.30 p.m.; daily at 8 a.m. .; Wed. & Fri. 7 p.m.

St. John’s, Rev. Albert P. Neele, incumbent; 11 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Catholic (All Saints), Bellevue, Rev, Hubert de Burgh, priest; first Sunday in the month, mass at 8.30 & every Sunday at 11 a.m. .; 6.30 p.m.; mass, daily at 8 a.m. .

Congregational (Sion), Derby road, Rev. Geo. P. Silcox; 10.45 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 8 p.m.

Gospel Mission Hall, South street; 3 & 6.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Station street, Rev. Isaac Rains Barnsley; 10 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, Church street, Rev. Alfred Herbert Hopper; 10.30 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

SCHOOLS

Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar, a stone building in the Early Tudor style, situated in Church street, originally founded in 1585 by Sir Thomas Cokayne & others, received a charter from Queen Elizabeth, which is still preserved by the governors: it was originally under the control of three governors & twelve assistant-governors, the first three governors being Sir Thomas Cokayne, John Alsop & Rev. Robert Hurt. In 1879 the school was reconstituted & is now managed by fifteen governors, nine of whom are representative & six co-optative, the former being elected for five years & the latter for eight; W. R. Holland esq. of Ashborne, is chairman: the school maintains ten scholarships, & if the income is sufficient, exhibitions may be established; the amount of endowment is about £250 yearly & is applied to the payment of masters’ salaries & the maintenance of the school. A portion of the front, including one of the carved doorways, has been entirely rebuilt & a class room added. Ashborne has for several years been a district technical school, under the scheme of the Derbyshire County Council, & a science school under the South Kensington department. The number of boys is now (1899) about 45,

Church National (boys), Mayfield road, erected for 230; average attendance, 164.

Church National (girls), Mayfield road, erected in 1876, for 230, with an average attendance of about 183.

Church National (infant), Mayfield road, erected in 1891, for 190; average attendance, 161.

Wesleyan (mixed), Church street, erected in 1880, for 250 children; average attendance, 160.