Derbyshire
County of north central England
Area:
2,550 sq km/984 sq mi
Towns and Cities:
Matlock (administrative headquarters), Buxton, Chesterfield, Glossop,
Ilkeston, Long Eaton
Physical:
Peak District National Park (including Kinder Scout 636 m/ 2,088 ft);
rivers Dane, Derwent, Dove, Goyt, Rother, Trent, Wye; Dove Dale
Features:
Chatsworth House, Bakewell (seat of the Duke of Devonshire); Haddon
Hall; Hardwick Hall; Kedleston Hall (designed by Robert Adam);
well-dressing at Tissington and other villages; Castleton Caverns
Industries:
Heavy engineering; manufacturing (cotton, hosiery, lace, porcelain,
textiles); mineral and metal working (barytes, gypsum, lead, zinc)
; quarrying (marble, sandstone, pipeclay); motor cars; limestone
quarrying
Agriculture:
Cereals, root crops, and dairy farming (in the south); sheep farming
(in the northern hills)
Population:
(1995 est) 726,000
Famous People:
Samuel Richardson, Thomas Cook, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston; Isaak
Walton fished at Dovedale
Historic Sites and Houses
Derbyshire contains numerous antiquities, including the prehistoric
stone circle of Arbor Low, the most important in England after
Stonehenge and Avebury. There are several ceremonial Bronze Age
sites east of the River Derwent. Other places of interest include
the ruined abbey of Dale, and the Saxon crypt at Repton.
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