A Brief History Of Chesterfield

C hesterfield started out as       Manor the right to hold regular    a Roman fort and was built      markets and even a fair, which     approximately 70 AD. The        lasted for 8 days during           Romans probably settled here          September, once a year.            because the area was extremely                                           rich in natural minerals like         In 2004 Chesterfield’s “Open Air   tin, lead and coal. The Roman         Market” celebrated it’s 800th      fort later was discovered to have     Anniversary of it’s official       also been built on an old             opening.                           iron-age fort. It is believed                                            that by the early 2nd century the     As time went on life was not       Romans had no longer a need for       always perfect in Chesterfield.    the fort and moved on leaving it      It’s main industry in the middle   abandoned.                            ages was the making of wool                                              although leather was prominent     The town was later named by the       too with plenty of Skinners,       Saxons. Their name for a Roman        Tanners, Glovers and Saddlers.     fort was caester and they called      The wool industry thrived until    the wide open fields where cattle     the 17th Century before dying out  grazed a Feld. So when the Saxons     but the leather work continued to  arrived and settled they called       prosper until the 18th Century.    the area Caester Feld which by                                           the 10th Century was changed to       None of this was to help with the  Chesterfield. By now though, the      many diseases that were around     small settlement had swiftly          though. Leprosy hit the area so    grown into a thriving village. It     bad that a Leper hostel dedicated  took two centuries for                to St Leonard had to be built.     Chesterfield to become a thriving     Then just like everywhere else in  town. A Charter granted by King       the sixteenth century the Black    John in 1204 gave the Lord of The     Death struck. There was a severe   outbreak in 1586-1587and              introduction of Electric street    unluckily, Chesterfield was hit       lights and trams, which were soon  again in 1608.                        ditched, as Chesterfield finally                                         caught up with it’s neighbouring   Chesterfield was slightly             towns and joined in with the       oblivious to the industrial           industrial revolution. The 20th    revolution of the 18th Century        Century had arrived.               but slowly continued to grow with                                        the help of better communications     With the introduction of Council   helped by the building of             houses in the 20’s and 30’s, the   “TurnPike “roads, the                 further boundary changes bringing  chesterfield canal and the            Hasland and Newbold into the       arrival of rail, courtesy of          folds of Chesterfield and the      George Stephenson, who lived at       building of the new Town           Tapton House from 1838 – 1848 and     Hall(1938),Pomegranate Theatre (   is now buried in the Holy Trinity     1949) and The Nth Derbyshire       Church.                               Royal Hospital (1984),             In 1892 the boundary of the           Chesterfield started to look much  borough was changed and the           the same as it does today.         nearby settlement of Brampton                                            became part of Chesterfield. This     To date Chesterfield boasts, as    was the first of many changes and     well as it’s traditional markets,  a sign that Chesterfield was a        a Shopping centre opened in 1981   thriving and growing town. By         as well as an even newer Shopping  this time it had its own              centre opened in 2000 as tourism   independent police force and fire     of the peak district and the       brigade.                              retail industry have taken                                               precedent over the failing         Many more changes were soon to        manufacturing industry.            come along starting with the                                             So there you have it a brief          computers and the internet have    history of Chesterfield.              in store for this Historic Market  One now wonders what will the         Town.                              current hi tech world of               About the Author: David Green Chesterfield Chesterfield News Chesterfield Events Read more articles by: Dav Green Article Source: www.iSnare.com