Chesterfield Vacations, Chesterfield Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Chesterfield Vacation Guide

Chesterfield is a historic market town in Derbyshire, a county in England. It is Derbyshire's largest town, although the county town of Derbyshire is Matlock in the Derbyshire Dales.

Chesterfield has retained much of its town centre from the pre-war era and is home to one of the oldest, largest open air markets in Britain, the stalls sitting either side of the historic Market Hall. In the middle of town, a collection of narrow medieval streets make up "The Shambles", which houses The Royal Oak, one of Britain's oldest pubs.

Chesterfield is perhaps best known for the "Crooked Spire" of its Church of Saint Mary and All Saints and is why the local football team is known as The Spireites.

The spire is both twisted and leaning, twisting 45 degrees and leaning 9 feet 6 inches from its true centre. The leaning characteristic is believed to be the result of the absence of skilled craftsmen (the Black Death had been gone only twelve years prior to the spire's completion), insufficient cross-bracing, and the use of unseasoned timber…personally I think the labourers were just being lazy!!