In 1835 Chesterfield was described as an ancient corporate and market-town, and parish, in the hundred of Scarsdale, 150 miles from London, 48 S.E. from Manchester, 24 N. from Derby, the like distance E. from Buxton, 12 E. from Bakewell, the like distance S. from Sheffield, and 8 N. by E. from Matlock. It is a large but irregularly built town, pleasantly situate between two rivulets, the Hyper and Rother, in the beautiful and fertile vale of Scarsdale, and is the second considerable town in the county of Derby. The Saxon appellation of Ceaster proves it to have been a place of great antiquity and considerable importance, and it is imagined to have originated from a Roman station.

Chesterfield is famous for the crooked spire of its parish church.