Whitfield is a hamlet and former parish in Derbyshire, England. It is half a mile (1km) south of GlossopTown Hall, south of Glossop Brook between Bray Clough and Hurst Brook.[1]
Whitfield was one of the original townships in the ancient Parish of Glossop. Up to the latter part of the 18th century the hamlet was devoted mostly to agriculture with an area of 2,608 statute acres.[2] The area rises from about 169m[3] to about 266m[4] above mean sea level.
The Manor of Whitfield was conveyed in 1330 to John Foljambe. Though held with the manor of Glossop, the land in Whitfield was mostly not part of the Norfolk estate unlike most of the manor of Glossop. When it was enclosed by act of parliament in 1810 it was recorded as being 1,577 acres (6.38 km2). Included in Whitfield are the villages of Charlestown and Littlemoor.
The Turnlee Paper factory was in Littlemoor. St James, Littlemoor, was consecrated in 1845[13] and is built in the Early English style, with tower and 114-foot (35 m) spire. There is a Methodist Chapel at Whitfield; the Wesleyan Reformers and Independent Calvinists had chapels at Littlemoor.[14]
When Glossop expanded, and the Howardtown Mills were constructed, Whitfield was subsumed into the new town. Power looms were introduced into these mills in 1825. In 1835 Whitfield church was extended to take the increased congregation, and a Church of England primary school was built in 1848; an infant school was added by Anne Kershaw Wood in 1913.[15]
The area known as Hobroyd[m] is on the lower slopes of Whiteley Nab to the south-west of Glossop.[19]
The name Hobroyd was recorded in 1843.[n][20] The toponym might be "Hob hole in a wood".[o][p]
A map of Glossop from 1896[21] shows a mill with a "Rope Walk", suggesting that it may have a similar history to the Holehouse Mill at Chisworth.[q][r] A map of Glossop from 1954[19] shows a paper mill on the same site, which later became a farm and is now Pennine View nursing home.[22]