Our publications

On this page are details of our publications including:

  • Chesterfield town centre walking trails
  • Our newsletters
  • Local History Notes
  • Occasional publications
  • Our journal.
Don’t forget to look at our newsletters, which you can download for free.

We’ve a dedicated page from where you can download, for free, some of our newsletters, including our very latest editions. They contain an eclectic mix of articles and news on the area’s local history.

We are slowly making copies of our History Papers series available for free download (see below). Hard copies are still available to purchase.

Our Journal can be supplied in digital form with payment by cheque or bank transfer. Paper copies can be ordered and collected at the next CADLHS meeting. We are periodically making back editions available, via the ‘Our Journal’ section below.

Books and most other publications produced by the society can be purchased at meetings or are available by post (plus postage and packing).

To request our publications or find out more please contact secretary@cadlhs.org.uk

Don’t forget to visit our local history resources page, our newsletters page, and our links page which contain downloadable resources and links about our area’s past.


Town Centre Trail

Our historical trail of Chesterfield town centre, written by Vice-Chair Janet Murphy and designed by CADLHS member David Charlesworth The trail is designed to take around 40 minutes, covering some, but not all of the town’s highlights. (The trail was first published March 2023).

The front cover of our town trial.

There’s another trail – of the town centre’s black and white buildings (published and written by Janet Murphy) – available to download below.


Our history papers are listed below. All are A4, with older ones in typescript as this example. We periodically add more of the older papers to this page as free downloads.

History Papers

Our History Papers are listed below. Some are available to download, for free, by using the appropriate download button. Hard copies are still available the price being that in brackets, plus postage. Paper copies can be ordered and collected at the next CADLHS meeting.

1 – Zig Zag Railway (Ankerbold)

By L Garlick (50p). This short article is available as part of our free download – Miscellany of history articles – April 2016 newsletter ‘insert’

2 – Old Chesterfield – interesting reminiscences by Ex-Alderman Dronfield – part 1.

(50p) Transcribed from a 1920s Derbyshire Times this is the first of Ald. Dronfield’s reminiscences of the town in the 1850s.

3 – Chesterfield’s monster cakes

(50p) A transcription from the Derbyshire Times and Courier of a series of articles looking at the 1850s Chesterfield ‘monster cakes’.

4 – The British School Hollis Lane

L. GARLIC

(£1) This local history paper was originally published in 1994. It looks at the British School, on Hollis Lane, which was finally demolished to make way for a slip road from the Inner Relief Road. It was built in 1843 and modernised in 1850. It consisted of two large classrooms and the usual amenities, providing education for about 200 boys.

5 – St George’s Works (a T.P. Wood’s manufactory)

(50p) Extracted from T. P. Wood’s Almanac (1933), this history paper tells the story of St. George’s Works which were originally established in 1862. Here were made and bottled aerated and mineral waters. Our thanks to Brian Smith who found and originally transcribed this extract.

6 – Chesterfield water works

(50p) This short paper was contributed by Mr. S. L. Garlic from notes extracted by Mrs. N. K. Webb.

It reviews a short period in the history of water supply to the Chesterfield district in the early years of the 20th century, including the so-called Barbrook scheme.

7 – Old Chesterfield – interesting reminiscences by Ex-Alderman Dronfield – part 2.

(50p) Transcribed from a series of 1920s Derbyshire Times this is the second of Ald. Dronfield’s reminiscences of the town in the 1850s. In this the Alderman describes the process of charcoal production and of camp life in 1851.

8 – Brampton Enclosure Act 1815

(£1) Mrs. N. K. Webb’s look at the Brampton Enclosure Award of 1815 – in particular the Award of 1827, with an introduction by Maeve Hawkins.

9 – Henry Priestly’s Brickworks

Peter and Maeve Hawkins look at the the history of these brickworks which were situated at The Brushes area of Chesterfield (Sheepbridge). They also take a look at the Priestly family.

10 – Who Lived on Low Pavement ?

Particularly using the 1891 census for Low Pavement, Chesterfield, along with trade directories and old photographs, David Jenkins and Brian Smith take a look at who may have lived where in the area.


Full list of our History papers:

Our newer history papers are A4 with illustrations.
  1. (Available for free download – see above)
  2. (Available for free download – see above)
  3. (Available for free download – see above)
  4. (Available for free download – see above)
  5. (Available for free download – see above)
  6. (Available for free download – see above)
  7. (Available for free download – see above)
  8. (Available for free download – see above)
  9. (Available for free download – see above)
  10. (Available for free download – see above)
  11. Ironmasters of North East Derbyshire – 50p
  12. Chesterfield Racecourse – £1
  13. Chesterfield Silk Mill – £1
  14. Great Lacemaking Machine – 50p
  15. Crich Mineral Line – £1
  16. Chesterfield’s Last Town Crier* – 50p
  17. Chesterfield Motor Omnibuses – £1
  18. Seaman’s Photographic Establishment* – 50p
  19. The Hunloke Mausoleum – £1
  20. The Whitecotes Colliery – £1
  21. Calow Iron Works, Mines and Brickworks – £1
  22. Random Recollections – £1
  23. History of Bradbury Hall – £1
  24. Turnpikes South and West of Chesterfield – 1 – £1.50
  25. Turnpikes South and West of Chesterfield – 2 – £1.50
  26. Elephant Stampede – £1
  27. W.G. Grace & United South XI – £2
  28. Father Edmund von Wurtzburg – £1
  29. Derbyshire Boundary Changes – £1
  30. John Ogilby – Map Maker – 50p
  31. Monkwood Colliery and Oliver’s – £1
  32. Chesterfield Water – £1
  33. The Bentinks – £1
  34. The Old Shambles – 50p
  35. The Canal Tavern – This paper is withdrawn. To see an extended and up-to-date version see the article in Brimington (and Tapton) Miscellany 1 – available here for free on Brimington and Tapton Local History Group’s website.
  36. Frederick Calder – Headmaster and Rector – £1
  37. Chesterfield Wagon Works – £1
  38. Lady Ottoline Morrell – £1

John King’s Patent Safety Detaching Hook for Mine Cages – 50p

The Mansfield & Pinxton Railway  – 50p

*These papers consist of extracts taken from the Derbyshire Times


David Edward’s A5 card covered 1997 publication on Wingerworth is available to purchase as a pdf.

Books published by the society

Brampton Feast – £6 (very few copies left – A4, stapled).

David Edwards: The Glumangate Story – £2 (A5 card cover, illustrated).

David Edwards: Wingerworth Landscape – Available to purchase as a pdf only (1997, 38pp, A5).

Hasland Times Past – £1 (A5 card cover, illustrated).


Our journals are usually A4, stapled, illustrated and with card covers.

Our Journals

No. 1 (2012) is available by clicking the download button below. The contents are:

  • Richard Barrow
  • John Toplis and Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee
  • The First Oliver Engine                                  
  • The Victoria Foundry                                      
  • Dental care 1899                                            
  • Fire at Broad Oaks Works                             
  • Spoilt for Choice (Chesterfield a two-circus town!)                                               
  • Holywell House                                                   
  • The Palace Theatre Fire                                      
  • A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (alterations on Lordsmill Street and Hollis Lane in 1921)         
  • Dame Edith Sitwell                                              
  • John Middleton (a 19th-century town clerk)                                         
  • Crooked Spire – Charles Markham’s plans to replace the lead with copper.   

No. 2 (2013) is available by clicking the download button below. The contents are:

  • Scandal, Suffragettes and Soldiers – the Amazing Story of Spital Lodge by Janet Murphy
  • The Great Ejection as Experienced in Chesterfield by Rodney Ward
  • Orientation Anglican Churches in North Derbyshire by David Edwards
  • Mr Robert Eyre, Manufacture & Wholesale Merchant: Ironmonger and Hardware Dealer
  • The Women’s Land Army 1939-1950 by Ernest Burdis
  • The Late Alderman Spooner’s Estate
  • Wingerworth’s Quarter Milestones by David Edwards

No. 3 – (2014) is available by clicking the download button below. The contents are:

  • Twenty-Five years of the Local History Society in Chesterfield, 1989-2014 by Maeve Hawkins
  • The Victoria by Janet Murphy                                    
  • Plaques in Chesterfield by Rodney West 
  • The Markham pit disaster 1939 by Sandra Struggles
  • The Chesterfield Benefit Building Society by Janet Murphy
  • Old Brampton’s Well-kept Secret Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) by Peter Hawkins
  • History of Spital Cemetery by Janet Murphy
  • Trinity Church, Chesterfield by Maeve Hawkins
  • The First World War (summary of a presentation given to our meeting) by Maeve Hawkins

No. 4 – (2015) is available by clicking the download button below. The contents are:

  • Robinsons of Chesterfield (1939 articles extracted from ‘The Link’) contributed by Jo Gott
  • Chesterfield’s ancient bowling green by David Howes
  • Where did William Oliver recive his education by Peter Hawkins
  • Holidays at home 1944, by Janet Murphy
  • William Swift, genealogist by Rodney Ward
  • In bygone days (reminiscences of Brampton and Chesterfield town centre) contributed by David Howes
  • Up the filthy river Rother (pollution on the river Rother) by Janet Murphy
  • Walton Hall by Janet Murphy
  • Chesterfield local history on the internet (please be aware that some of the links may not be current).

No. 5 (2017) – £2

  • A Year in the Life of an Overseer of the Poor: The account book of Richard Watson of Wingerworth by David Edwards                       
  • A look back at Nonconformity in Chesterfield by Rodney Ward                                                  
  • Exhumation of a Corpse at Chesterfield            
  • Hipper Leather Works or Slack’s Tannery: The rise and fall of this local tannery by Janet Murphy                                                  
  • Wingerworth Victims of the First World War by David Edwards                                                                 
  • Wartime Memories in Boythorpe                                      
  • Memories of Griffin Mill Holiday work at Robinson’s by Ian Thomason                                                                 
  • The Most Tremendous Storm Ever Remembered            

Free download not yet available.

No. 6  (2018) – £2

  • Geoffrey Clayton – from the Crooked Spire to Cape Town by Rodney Ward                                                     
  • The Jones Sisters – Suffragettes or Suffragists? by Janet Murphy                                                    
  • The Whittington Tramway by Christine Thomason                                 
  • Dixon’s Glassworks                                               
  • The Family History of the Slacks Part 1 by Geoff Marsden                                                                 
  • Chesterfield Borough Police Part 1 1836-1892 by Janet Murphy                                                            
  • Frederick Clench – a Forgotten Name in Chesterfield’s Industrial Past by Peter Hawkins                                                                   

Free download not yet available.

No. 7  (2019) – £2

  • English Grandmother, Australian Grandfather by Janet Murphy                                                    
  • Brampton Congregational Church by Audrey Lilley and Marion Yeldham               
  • Robert Ernest Wardell, Chemist and Druggist by Angela Bridgman                                            
  • Chesterfield’s Swimming Pools by Janet Murphy and Tom Roberts        
  • Chesterfield Borough Police Part 2 1892-1947 by Janet Murphy                                                                     
  • The Family History of the Slacks Part 2 by Geoff Marsden                                             
  • William Oliver (1829-1906) the Early Years by Peter Hawkins                                                                    
  • Fifty Years Ago From T.P. Wood’s Almanac 

Free download not yet available.

No. 8  (2023) – £6

  • Whittington Glass by Christine Thomason
  • Holywell House by Janet Murphy
  • Thomas Humphrey Pedley of Stubbing Court by David Edwards
  • John Adams Wardell and the Livingstone Café by Angela Bridgman
  • Chesterfield Congregational Church part 1, by Janet Murphy
  • The Chesterfield Connection with Sir Harry Lauder, by Michael Jackson
  • Dr Jonathon Stokes, by Janet Murphy
  • The Family History of the Slacks part 3, by Geoff Marsden
  • Chesterfield’s Drill Halls, by Janet Murphy.

Free download not yet available.


Page last updated 7 December 2023.