Chinley

Chinley village is served by the Mobile Library on route N, which makes a stop at Derwent Drive every fourth Monday in the mid-afternoon.

The Chapel-en-le-Frith Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

• The Diary of James Clegg of Chapel-en-le-Frith, 1708-55. In three parts, 1708-36, 1737-47 and 1748-55. Edited by Vanessa S. DOE. 1978 and published by the Derbyshire Record Society (although Vol 1 is out of print).
  
  James Clegg (1679-1755) was a Dissenting Minister but found his income insufficient to support himself and his growing family so he followed friends' advice and also took up medicine. He was apprenticed to a practitioner in Macclesfield for a time, then obtained a degree in Medicine from the University of Aberdeen in 1729. Both as a preacher and a doctor he was in demand over a wide area and the diary mentions journeys to Manchester, Chesterfield, Tideswell, Castleton etc. and contains records of children he baptised along the way.
  
  The books contain a wealth of material covering national, as well as local issues - for instance James even has comments on the Scots Rebellion of 1715! Arguably the definitive guide for anyone researching in the Chinley area, these volumes contain a vivid account of 18th century life.

• The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary.
   
• The church was built in 1908.
   
• The church is in the heart of the village on Buxton Road.
   
• David BEVIS provides a fine photograph of the church on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2012.
   
• David DIXON also has a photograph of the church on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2012.

• The Anglican parish register exists on Dusty Docs for the period 1680 - 1840.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Buxton.
   
• Marjorie Ward advises that the Chinley Church of England does NOT have a graveyard.
   
• An online search of the Family History website finds only about 5 burial records for Chinley
   
• The Independents built a chapel here in 1711. It was later used by the Congregationalists.
   
• David BEVIS has a photograph of the Methodist church on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2012.

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   
• The parish was in the Chapel en le Frith sub-district of the Chapel en le Frith Registration District.

"CHINLEY, a township in the parish of Glossop, in the hundred of High Peak, in the county of Derby, 3 miles N. of Chapel-le-Frith. Together with Bugsworth and Brownside it forms a chapelry. The village is very considerable. There is an Independent chapel, which anciently belonged to William Bagshawe, an eminent Nonconformist divine, who was called “the Apostle of the Peak”."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868), transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]

Depending on the source you read, Chinley is 2 or 3 miles north of Chapel-en-le-Frith.

The parish and township lie 172 miles north of the City of London. Whitehough is a hamlet just south-west of Chinley and a part of Chinley township.

Stop in at the "Tea on the Green" Tea shop as photographed by Robert HARVEY on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2017.

Neil THEASBY offers a photograph of the Village Sign, taken in June, 2015.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ann ANDREWS provides a transcription of the Chinley entry in Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).
   
• In BULMER's 1895 Directory of Derbyshire, the entry is:

CHINLEY, BUGSWORTH, and BROWNSIDE: Form a joint township in the ecclesiastical parish of Glossop, and Chapel-en-le-Frith Union. Under the Local Government Act of 1894 they constituted a civil parish, with a council of seven members, for the management of parochial affair. The total area is 3,835 acres, ratable value £9,911, and the population in 1891 was 1,542.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Chinley to another place.

• The Midland Railway came to Chinley in 1867, but opened a newer station in 1894 when the railway was widened.
   
• Ben BROOKSBANK has a photograph of the Manchester express entering Chinley in 1960 on Geo-graph, taken in April 1960.
   
• Graham HOGG has a photograph of The Paper Mill Inn in Whitehough on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2012.
   
• Jonathan CLITHEROE has a photograph of The Old Hall Inn in Whitehough on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2011. This used to be "The Red Cow" pub. The Inn appears to be leaning to the right, but the photographer is attempting to take the picture on a steep road that falls off to the left.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK049835 (Lat/Lon: 53.348503, -1.927413), Chinley which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The High Peak Hospital for Infectious Diseases opened here in May, 1902. Hospitals did not archive patient records, but you may be able to find administrative and accounting records in the Archives, as well as photographs.

• There is a Chinley Chapel War Memorial, a Portland stone celtic cross on a plinth and two-stepped base.
   
• There are 22 names for WWI on the memorial - all died. There are 7 names for WWII - all died.
   
• There is a Roll of Honour Memorial at St. Mary's Church on the outside south wall overlooking Buxton Road.
   
• David BEVIS also has a photograph of the St. Mary's War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2012.
   
• David DIXON has a photograph of the Roll of Honour at the side of Stubbins Lane on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2012.
   
• Basher EYRE, as well, has a photograph of the Roll of Honour in Chinley on Geo-graph, taken on a wet day in July, 2015.

The War Memorial at St. Mary's church reads:

"To the Glory of God and in Proud and Loving Memory of these men who gave their lives for their country in the Great War -- 1914 - 1919"

The following names are on the memorial (first names derived from other sources):

1. George BARNES
2. Samuel BAINBRIDGE
3. S. BILLCOCK
4. Thomas BLEACKLEY
5. M. BOTTOMS
6. J. K. BURT
7. J. H. CLEGG
8. C. COTTERILL
9. J. P. DAVIES
10. J. H. EDWARDS
11. E. FORD
12. A. T. CRIGG
13. James Edward HAMER
14. William Henry HAMER
15. H. JEFFRIES
16. Mark KIRKHAM
17. N. LOWE
18. Walter LEESON
19. C. METCALFE
20. W. METCALFE
21. A. MOSS
22. A. PEERS
23. W. PEERS
24. W. PHILLIPS
25. J. RATCLIFFE
26. G. REED
27. A. RICHARDSON
28. W. RIVERS
29. G. ROWBOTHAM
30. J. ROWLEY
31. W. ROWLEY
32. A. SCHOFIELD
33. John H. SHARP
34. E. W. SHIRT
35. A. A. SIMPSON
36. W. B. SUTTON
37. C. THEYER
38. A. THOMAS
39. E. W. THORP
40. John WATERHOUSE
41. James WEBSTER

And the memorial concludes with: "Greater love hath no man than this."

• This place was an ancient township in Hayfield Chapelry and an extra-parochial liberty in Derby county.
   
• The Township of Chinley was formed as a separate modern Civil Parish in December, 1866.
   
• This place was in the ancient High Peak Hundred (or Wapentake).
   
• You may contact the Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to help you with family history searches.
   
• District governance is provided by the High Peak Borough Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Chapel-en-le-Frith petty session hearings once each month.
   
• There is an index of Chinley Bastardy Papers held at the DRO on the Yesterdays Journey website. Select "Bastardy Papers" on the left side, then "Chinley, Bugsworth and Brownside" from the list of parishes displayed.
   
• As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a member of the Chapel-en-le-Frith Poorlaw Union.

A Public Elementary School (mixed) was built here in 1886 for 152 children. Average attendance in 1912 was 130.

Ian S. has a photograph of Chinley Primary School on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2019.