Chesterfield Tourist Information & Travel Guide
Chesterfield is a historic market town and is situated north of Derby near the rivers Rother and Hipper. Traveling to Chesterfield whether by road or rail is fairly straight forward. Chesterfield is Derbyshire’s largest town and is located just off the A617 which is Junction 29 of the M1.There are train main land train services to London, Sheffield, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bournemouth and Edinburgh ,Liverpool, Nottingham and Norwich.
Chesterfield is best known for its “Crooked Spire” at the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints. The leaning characteristic is believed to be the result of the absence of skilled craftsmen, possibly due to the Black Death as this happened only 12 years previous. There have been other reasons given however. One is that the spire was so shocked to learn of the marriage of a virgin in the church that it bent down to get a closer look. It is said that if this were to happen again, the spire will straighten and return to its true position. Another saying is that a Blacksmith from Bolsover mis-shod the Devil, who then leaped over the spire in pain, knocking it out of shape.
Chesterfield received its market charter in 1204 from King John and now has one of the largest open air markets in Britain and the stalls are either side of the Market Hall, which in its own right, is a historical building. In the middle of town there is a collection of old and narrow streets that make up “The Shambles”, which houses one of Britain’s oldest pubs.
There are plenty of shopping opportunities in Chesterfield. Vicar Lane was redeveloped in 2000 and was made into a pedestrianised, open-air shopping area. This resulted in most of the existing buildings being demolished. In the process two new streets were created in their place and there are now plenty of major brands, such as Woolworths, Marks and Spencers, Co-Op and Argos to choose from.
Other developments include a large area, between the Low Pavements and New Beetwell Street being completely flattened in the 1980’s to build “The Pavements” shopping centre, better known by local residents as “The Precinct”. This is where you will find the larger shops including Somerfield, Boots and WH Smiths. It has entrances opposite Chesterfield Market and also escalators lead down to New Beetwell Street.
There is also a multi-storey car park which was built at the same time. Chesterfield Library’s main entrance is also located just outside the Pavements and at another exit you will find the local McDonald’s. Despite all this development, Chesterfield has retained its character and much of its town centre from the pre-war era.
Chesterfield has lots to offer in the Leisure and Entertainment Industry. The Queens Park is located within the town centre and on the outskirts of the park is the Queens Park Leisure Center which has a good size swimming pool and gym. There are also several indoor courts (for a variety of sports) and outdoor tennis courts too. There are plenty of Gymnasium Clubs for those wishing to keep fit. All of this plus Bowling, Golf and even Ice Skating, in Sheffield, which is only about 20 minute’s drive from Chesterfield.
