Derbyshire is punctuated in the north by the Peak District, extending into the Pennines, and by its largest settlement, Derby, in the south. The county also contains the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain.

During the Roman invasion the invaders were attracted to Derbyshire because of the lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county, including near Buxton, famed for its warm springs.

Following the Norman Conquest, much of the county was subject to the forest laws, protecting game animals and their habitat.

Derbyshire was traditionally divided into six hundreds, Appletree, High Peak, Morleyston and Litchurch, Repton and Gresley, Scarsdale, and Wirksworth. These were based on the seven earlier wapentakes recorded in the Domesday Book, with the merging of Repton and Gresley.

Derbyshire came into existence as an administrative division of the Kingdom of Mercia. The actual date for this is unclear but would be in the mid to late 10th Century.

Derbyshire had a detached part in north-western Leicestershire, surrounding Measham and Donisthorpe. This escaped regularisation in 1844, and was incorporated into Leicestershire in 1888. The thin strip of Leicestershire between the exclave and Derbyshire, containing Overseal and Netherseal, is now considered part of Derbyshire. Some parishes in historic Derbyshire, including Dore, Norton and Totley, are now in the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire.

Derbyshire has a mixture of a rural economy in the west, with a former coal mining economy in the northeast (Bolsover district), the Erewash Valley around Ilkeston and in the south around Swadlincote. The rural landscape varies from arable farmland in the flat lands to the south of Derby, to upland pasture and moorland in the high gritstone uplands of the southern Pennines.

Derbyshire is rich in natural mineral resources such as lead, iron, coal, and limestone, which have been exploited over a long period – lead, for example, has been mined since Roman times. The limestone outcrops in the central area led to the establishment of large quarries to supply the industries of the surrounding towns with lime for building and steel making and, in the 20th century, cement manufacture. The Industrial Revolution also increased demand for building stone, and from the late 19th century the railways’ arrival led to a large number of stone quarries being established. This industry has left its mark on the countryside and is still a major industry.

Derbyshire’s relative remoteness in the late 18th century and an abundance of fast-flowing streams led to a proliferation of the use of water power at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, following the mills pioneered by Richard Arkwright.

Census data provided to us exclusively by leading data website TheGenealogist.co.uk shows the importance of agriculture, mining and the textile industry – farm labourers, miners, cotton spinners, weavers and frame knitters dominate the 1841 census; by 1911, the number of railway workers was also significant. The county’s population doubled in the 70 years between, from 272,000 to 551,000.

Census data from TheGenealogist also reveals common surnames in the county over time. These include Harrison, Turner, Shaw, Holmes, Jackson, Cooper, Hill and White. In 1841, Fletcher and Bennett were also common; as was Ward by 1911.

See visitderbyshire.co.uk for details of the many places to visit in the county which reveal its history; and derbyshire.gov.uk for details of Derbyshire Record Office, based in Matlock.