Fairfield is a district of

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

, in the High Peak of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. The historic medieval village of Fairfield was centred around a

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

Location

Fairfield is located on the

A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6. * A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile * ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A6 (Sydney), a road conn ...

half a mile to the north east of Buxton's town centre, 340m above sea level. Fairfield is at the head of the narrow dry gorge of Cunningdale, which is part of the

Wye Valley The Wye Valley () is a valley in Wales and England. The River Wye () is the Rivers of Great Britain#Longest rivers in the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The upper part of the valley is in the Cambrian Mountains an ...

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI).

History

The name Fairfield derives from the Germanic meaning 'fair open land', because of its good volcanic soil for pasture.

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monks and

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

nuns founded

monastic grange Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by Monastery, monasteries independent of the Manorialism, manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians, and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, mo ...

s at Fairfield in the early 1200s AD (Nunsfield Farm still exists). In the 13th century Fairfield (being north of the

River Wye The River Wye (; ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn Estuary. The lower reaches of the river forms part of Wales-England bor ...

) was within the Royal Forest of Peak, a hunting ground for the king. Fairfield was a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...

(whereas Buxton was in the

Bakewell Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known for Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, Derbyshire, River Wye, 15 miles (23 km) south-west of Sheffield. It is the largest se ...

parish). Fairfield and Buxton shared a medieval corn mill on the Wye in Mill Dale, where Ashwood Park is now. Fairfield became a town in its own right, complete with town council. The township covered the land north of the River Wye, including The Park and Devonshire Park, until 1859 when a boundary change moved them into Buxton town. In 1811, 1821 and 1831, the chapelry of Fairfield returned a population of 482 inhabitants in the national

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

es.Pigot & Co (1835) The Commercial Directory for Derbyshire In 1866 Fairfield became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, in 1894 Fairfield became an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

, on 1 January 1917 the district was abolished and merged with

, on 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and became part of the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Buxton. In 1951 the parish had a population of 7979. The first chapel was built in Fairfield between 1240 and 1255. Fairfield Church was built in c.1595 and was demolished in 1838 to be replaced by the present St. Peter's (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

). Lying just north of the 'Green', the church was built in 1839, designed by William Swan, the village schoolmaster. St Peter's is a Grade II listed building.

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

visited Fairfleld in September 1784. Fairfield

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapel on Waterswallows Road was built in 1868, replacing the first

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel which was erected in 1844. After 1887 it was used as the Fairfield Local Board Town Hall. The Bull's Head pub on Fairfield Road replaced the previous one which was demolished in 1903. George Kitchen, the Everton, West Ham United and Southampton goalkeeper, was born in Fairfield in 1876. He died in 1965. Fairfield Common Racecourse 1825

Fairfield Common

Fairfield Common was established centuries ago as common grazing land. It was originally known as The Barms Common. Buxton Racecourse was laid out on the common in the early 1800s. From 1821 horse racing and cock fighting meetings were held each year in June. The

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

commissioned a grandstand building which stood in the 1830s. In 1835 The Commercial Directory for Derbyshire wrote that an "excellent round course has been formed where horse races take place". Buxton racecourse closed in 1840 and the grandstand was pulled down.

Buxton and High Peak Golf Club Buxton and High Peak Golf Club at Fairfield, Derbyshire, Fairfield near Buxton in Derbyshire opened in 1887. The course is long with a par of 69. It is the oldest golf course in Buxton and one of the oldest in Derbyshire. Peak Practice golf dr ...

was founded in 1887, after a nine-hole course was laid out on Fairfield Common in 1886. The course was extended to 18 holes in 1893. The 9th par 5 hole is called Standside, which refers to where the grandstand once stood.

Fairfield Halt railway station Fairfield may refer to: Places Australia * Fairfield, New South Wales, a western suburb of Sydney **Electoral district of Fairfield, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Fairfield City Council, in Sydney * Fairfiel ...

was open between 1907 and 1939. It was built on the Buxton to Manchester line, to serve the Buxton Golf Club. The Roman road between

Aquae Arnemetiae Aquae Arnemetiae was a small town in the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia. The settlement was based around its natural warm springs. The Roman occupation ran from around 75 AD to 410 AD. Today it is the town of Buxton, Derbyshire in E ...

(Roman Buxton) and Melandra fort (near

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...

) runs along the western wall of Fairfield Common.

References

{{Reflist Villages in Derbyshire Former civil parishes in Derbyshire Buxton

Location

History

Fairfield Common

See also

References