CHESTERFIELD

town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Derbyshire, England, at the junction of the Rivers Rother and Hipper. The borough comprises the town of Chesterfield and surrounding areas, including the town of Staveley. Recent excavations have confirmed the extent of Roman military and civil occupation near the Rother, and the Roman road from the south, Rykneld Street, bears a pre-Roman name. The ancient borough and market town received boosts to industrialization following the construction of the canal from Chesterfield to the River Trent (1777) and the Midland Railway (1841). George Stephenson, locomotive maker and railway engineer, lived and died in Chesterfield and assessed the commercial potential of local coal and ironstone. By 1900 the town possessed railway stations on each of three companies' lines. Staveley nearby grew rapidly after the establishment in 1845 of the Staveley Iron and Coal Company. The 14th-century parish church, dedicated to St. Mary and All Saints, has a lead-covered wooden spire 228 feet (69 metres) high, which, as a result of timber warping, is twisted nearly 8 feet (2.5 metres) out of the vertical. Area borough, 25 square miles (66 square km). Pop. (1991) town, 71,945; (1998 est.) borough, 100,200. county, northeastern South Carolina, U.S. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the east by the Great Pee Dee River, and to the west by the Lynches River; it is also drained by Black Creek. It lies for the most part in the Fall Line sandhills and is heavily forested in pines, hardwoods, and mixed forests. Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, Sand Hills State Forest, and Cheraw State Park constitute much of the county's centre. Catawba Indians inhabited the area in the late 17th century. Chesterfield county was established in 1798 and named for Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield. The opening of the Great Pee Dee River to boat-particularly steamboat-traffic early in the 19th century was a major factor in attracting settlers to the region. During the American Civil War, Union forces under General William Tecumseh Sherman laid waste to the area. The abandoned Brewer Gold Mine, near Jefferson, was once a major contributor to the county's economy. The raising of livestock (especially turkeys), tobacco, peaches, and soybeans is important. Logging and the manufacture of wood, fabricated metal, clothing, and other textile products are also mainstays of the economy. Chesterfield is the county seat, and Cheraw is the largest town. Area 799 square miles (2,069 square km). Pop. (1990) 38,575; (1998 est.) 41,080.