Bringing Whittington’s History to Life

Whittington-History

The Civil Development of Whittington

and New Whittington

From township to modern suburb (pre-1800s to 1920)

For most of its early history, Whittington was not a “parish” in the modern civic sense at all. Instead, it functioned as a township within the ancient parish of Chesterfield. This meant that local responsibilities such as poor relief, highway maintenance, and minor administration were handled through Chesterfield’s parish machinery, with Whittington acting as a subordinate unit.

By the seventeenth century, boundaries between Whittington and neighbouring townships (notably Newbold) were already being formally disputed and defined. A documented settlement in 1668 fixed parts of the Whittington–Newbold boundary along the Chesterfield–Sheffield road — an early example of transport routes becoming permanent civil markers.

The 19th-century turning point: public health government

Industrialisation in the Rother valley transformed Whittington from a largely rural township into a mixed industrial settlement. Population growth, housing density, and sanitation problems forced a new kind of governance.

In 1872, Whittington moved into the national Public Health framework and began to be administered by a Local Board / Urban Sanitary Authority. This marked the first real shift away from parish-style administration toward specialist urban government, responsible for:

This is effectively when Whittington becomes a recognisably modern civil community.

1894: Urban District status

The Local Government Act 1894 standardised urban government across England and Wales. Whittington’s existing sanitary authority was reconstituted as Whittington Urban District Council (UDC).

From this point (1894–1911), Whittington operated as a self-contained urban district, with its own council, rate base, officers, and works programmes.

During this period, what we now call New Whittington was developing rapidly as a planned industrial settlement — driven by engineering works, collieries, and railway access. However, administratively it still sat partly within neighbouring civil areas, particularly Newbold-cum-Dunston.

1911: Creation of Whittington & Newbold Urban District

A major rationalisation occurred in 1911.

The civil parish of Whittington was merged with the remaining part of Newbold that lay outside Chesterfield, forming a new authority:

This was not a small adjustment. It created a larger, more coherent industrial district embracing:

The intention was practical: industrial housing, utilities, and transport no longer respected historic township lines, so administration had to follow lived reality.

For the first time, Old Whittington and New Whittington were formally governed together within a single urban authority.

1920: Abolition and absorption into Chesterfield

The decisive civil change came on 9 November 1920.

On that date, Whittington & Newbold Urban District was abolished, and its entire area was absorbed into the Borough of Chesterfield.

From this moment:

This was part of a wider post-First World War expansion of Chesterfield, designed to bring surrounding industrial settlements under unified municipal control.

Although New Whittington would later become a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1927, civilly it had already been part of Chesterfield for seven years. After 1920, “New Whittington” exists in governance terms mainly as a district or ward name, not as a civil parish.

Handley: a separate but related boundary story

The Handleys (Nether, Middle, and West Handley) sit slightly outside the Whittington narrative.

Historically they belonged to the parish and civil orbit of Staveley, Derbyshire. In a later reorganisation — during the 1970s — these hamlets were transferred administratively to Eckington, Derbyshire.

This is the main documented instance locally of “Handley” being formally merged into another district.