Place:Alfreton, Derbyshire, England

:the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Alfreton is a town and civil parish in the Amber Valley District of Derbyshire, adjoining the Bolsover and North East Derbyshire Districts. It was formerly a Norman Manor and in the 20th century an urban district. The population of Alfreton parish was 7,971 at the 2011 UK census. It covers an area of about 5,000 acres (7.81 sq mi). Alfreton was an ancient parish in the Scardale Hundred and included the villages of Ironville, Riddings, Somercotes and Swanwick. In 2011 the population including these was 22,302. For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Alfreton. The "History" and "Economy" sections describe the 19th and 20th century activity in detail. Some of the villages within the parish also have their own articles in Wikipedia. The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography). "ALFRETON, a small town, a parish, and a [registration] subdistrict, in the [registration] district of Belper, Derby[shire]. The town stands on the brow of a hill, about a mile from the new branch railway connecting the Erewash line with the main Midland, and 14 miles NNE of Derby. It is said, but without good reason, to have got its name and origin from a residence of King Alfred. Its form is irregular and straggling; and many of its houses are old. The parish church is variously early, decorated, and later English; and was restored and enlarged in 1869. "The town has a railway station, a head post-office, two banking offices, and two chief inns; and is a polling place. Stocking manufacture is carried on; and potteries, stone-quarries, collieries, and iron-works are in the neighbourhood. A weekly market is held on Friday, and fairs on 26 Jan., Easter-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, 31 July, 8 Oct., and 22 Nov.

"The parish contains also the villages of Greenhill-Lane and Birchwood, the manor of Riddings-with-Ironville, and the hamlets of Summercotes and Swanwick. Acres: 4,550. Real property: £27,414, of which £7,472 are in mines, and £2,000 in iron-works. Population: 11,549. Houses: 2,082.

"The property is divided among a few. The manor of Alfreton belonged to successively the De Alfretons, the Chaworths, the Babingtons, and the Zouches; and now belongs to W. P. Morewood, Esq. Roman relics have been found at Greenhill-Lane. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value: £150. Patron: W. P. Morewood, Esq. The [perpetual] curacy of Swanwick, the vicarage of Ironville, and the vicarage of Riddings with-Summercotes, are separate benefices. The ancient parish church belonged to Beauchier Abbey. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists. An endowed school has £50 a year, and other charities £145. The [registration] subdistrict is co-extensive with the parish."

Research Tips

• Derbyshire Record Office website
• British History Online (Victoria County Histories) does not appear to cover Derbyshire geographically. A History of the County of Derby: Volume 2, edited by William Page is a part-volume covering the religious houses of the county. No further volumes have been found.
• GENUKI main page for Derbyshire which provides information on various topics covering the whole of the county, and also a link to a list of parishes. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. This is a list of pre-1834 ancient or ecclesiastical parishes but there are suggestions as to how to find parishes set up since then. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and therefore the reader should check additional sources if possible.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date and from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851 which gives the registration district and wapentake for each parish, together with statistics from the 1851 census for the area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Derbyshire, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72 which often provides brief notes on the economic basis of the settlement and significant occurences through its history.
• For a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from the following selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile. Sections of the 1900 map showing parish boundaries only have been reproduced on some (but not all) parish pages here in WeRelate.

• Map of Derbyshire illustrating urban and rural districts in 1900 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown.
• Map of Derbyshire urban and rural districts in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown. This is not a repeat of the first map. There were some changes in urban and rural district structure in the 1930s.
• Ordnance Survey map of Derbyshire for 1967 This is the last in this series and was made while Derbyshire was experimenting with the non-metropolitan district structure adopted in 1974. It is a much cleaner map for reading the names of the civil parishes, but the smaller villages are no longer visible.

These are only three of the series of maps to be found in A Vision of Britain through Time.

• Wikimedia Commons map of the post-1974 districts of Derbyshire. The numbers will be linked to the districts on the WeRelate district pages.
• Wikimedia Commons often provides a map of the ancient divisions named "hundreds", but there does not appear to be one for Derbyshire. This 1832 Ordnance Survey map from A Vision of Britain through Time is not as good as those in the Wikimedia Commons series.
• Derbyshire family history societies are listed in GENUKI.
• Towns and Villages of Derbyshire and the Peak District is a locally produced website designed for tourists.