TIDESWELL is a small market-town, in the parish of its name, in the hundred of High Peak, 160 miles from London, 32 N.N.W. from Derby. 25 S.E. from Manchester, 17 E. by S. from Sheffield, 6 W. by N. from Buxton, and 5 S. from Castleton. Tideswell was formerly celebrated for its ebbing and flowing well, from which it is asserted by some authorities to have derived its name; but the first account of the place is in Domesday book, in which, under the name Tiddeswall, it is mentioned as a royal demesne, having a chapel, which in 1215 was given by King John to the canons of Lichfield.

The present town is situate in a valley, among moorish and bleak hills, having a clear rivulet running through it, on each side of which are scattered the buildings, the houses being, with the exception of a few, mean in appearance. In the neighbourhood are some cotton manufactories and spinning works, but the majority of the labouring class are employed in agriculture.

The places of worship are, the parish church, and chapels for Wesleyan methodists and Roman catholics. The church, the greatest - indeed the only ornament of the town, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a remarkably fine cruciform structure, of the thirteenth century, principally in the decorated style of English architecture, having an embattled tower at the west end, surmounted by pinnacles. The church contains some ancient and interesting tombs, and monumental brasses, and two screens - one of carved oak, the other of stone, enriched with tracery. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the dean and chapter of Lichfield: the present incumbent is the Rev. Thomas Brown.

The free grammar school, here, was founded in 1560, under letters patent from Queen Elizabeth, obtained by Robert Pursglove, who endowed it with lands and a certain rent charge, the income arising from which, at present, amounts to about £227. per annum. In the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield is vested the privilege of appointing the master, and they, with the vicar and churchwardens, constitute a body corporate. In the vicinity is Monsal Dale, very much admired for its romantic scenery and picturesque beauty.

At Tunstead, a village two miles hence, was born Mr. Brindley, the celebrated engineer, employed in the stupendous undertakings of the late Duke of Bridgwater: he was the first person in this country who made aqueducts subservient to the purposes of canals. The market is held on Wednesday; and the fairs take place on the 3rd of May, the second Wednesday in September, and 29th October, principally for cattle and sheep. The parish of Tideswell contained, in 1821, 2,666 inhabitants, and in 1831, 2,807, of which last number 1,553 were returned for the town.

WORMHILL is a chapelry, in the parish of Tideswell, about two miles and a half W.S.W. from that town. The river Wye runs, in its vicinity, through the most picturesque scenery, particularly that of Chee Dale, in this chapelry. The rocks on both sides of the stream present a bold face of limestone and lava in alternate strata, which, when viewed from the narrow dell, appear, by the uniformity of their indentions and projections, to have been once united, and rent asunder, by some remarkable convulsion of nature.

‘Chee Torr’, a stupendous piece of rock, rises perpendicularly from the bottom of the dale to an altitude of nearly 400 feet, and is almost insulated by the river Wye, which flows at the foot of the mountain, The chapel here is dedicated to St. Margaret: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of certain trustees.

The chapelry contained, at the last census, (taken in 1831), 313 persons.

PEAK FOREST is all extra parochial liberty, in the hundred of High Peak, about three miles and a half north-west from Tideswell. This district is in the honour of Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster, and within the jurisdiction of a court of pleas, held at Tutbury every third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The chapel here is dedicated to King Charles the Martyr: the living is a perpetual curacy in the peculiar jurisdiction of the dean and chapter of Lichfield, and in the patronage of the Duke of Devonshire. A free school here has a small endowment, for the education of ten poor children. The liberty contained, in 1831, 573 inhabitants, being fewer by thirty-four than were returned for it thirty years previous; and a reduction in the population of 107 persons since the census of 1821.

POST OFFICE:- George Inn, TIDESWELL, Joseph Leech, Post Master:- Letters arrive from STOCKPORT every evening at eight, and are despatched every afternoon at two. The names without address are in TIDESWELL.

Description(s) from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835.
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie in May 1996.