Low Pavement is a short street located in Chesterfield,

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. It connects West Bars to Vicar Lane. The street is a shopping district. Low Pavement, as well as the adjoining roads and the market square, is part of Chesterfield Town Centre Conservation Area. The road was also included in the Revitalisation that was awarded a European Heritage medal in 1981. A shorter road, Central Pavement, connects the road to the east to Vicar Lane.

History

Chesterfield Market, one of the largest open air markets in the country, dating back to at least 1165 stands on the street. In the Medieval period the properties in Low Pavement were built on the northern edge of

burgage Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...

plots that extended southwards beyond Beetwell Street to the

River Hipper The River Hipper is a tributary of the River Rother in Derbyshire, England. Its source is a large expanse of wetlands, fed by the surrounding moors between Chatsworth and Chesterfield, known as the ''Hipper Sick'' on Beeley Moor, which is pa ...

. The plots were long and narrow and subsequently built on so that a warren of alleyways developed behind them. It is known that the route of Low Pavement existed during the Mediaeval period, but it does not appear by name in any contemporary charters. W. E. Godfrey hypothesises that it may have been named "Cowgate" at the time, a name which does appear but which is of uncertain location. From 1882 until 1927, the street was a terminus of the Chesterfield tramway. In 1889, the

Derbyshire Miners' Association The Derbyshire Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1880 to represent coal miners in northern Derbyshire, as a split from the South Yorkshire Miners' Association. Although it initially aimed to ...

moved its headquarters to the former Falcon Temperance Cafe, on the street, and remained there until 1893, when its purpose-built headquarters were opened. During the 1970s, the town council considered demolishing a large portion of the buildings on the street to construct The Pavements Shopping Centre, the buildings together were considered to be of 'township merit' and many became listed during this period giving them legal protection from unauthorised development or demolition. In early 1982, ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' in a feature on Derbyshire noted the shops on Low Pavement had been in "a sad state of dilapidation", but were being "beautifully restored". The facades of many were left. In November 1981, The Pavements Shopping Centre was officially opened by the then

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

and

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

. In July 2021 it was reported that Chesterfield Borough Council, who already owned the freehold, had acquired the leasehold of the shopping centre.

Listed buildings

* 1 and 1A Low Pavement (

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

) * 3 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 5 and 7 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 9 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 35 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 39 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 41 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 43 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 45 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 61, 61A, 61B 63 and 63C Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 67 Low Pavement (The Peacock) (Grade II listed) * 69 and 71 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 73 and 75 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) * 77 Low Pavement (Grade II listed) In addition, the Lamp standard outside 63 Low Pavement is Grade II listed, as is the Lamp post outside no. 35.

References

{{coord, 53.2352, -1.4292, scale:4000_region:GB, display=title Streets in Chesterfield Shopping streets in England