The Shambles (Chesterfield, Derbyshire)

The town of Chesterfield in North East Derbyshire was historically speaking one of the most important market towns in northern England. During the Middle Ages there was a weekly food market and people would travel from many miles around to trade their produce. The Shambles area of the town was the centre for these trading activities but more especially it was the home of the meat traders. For many years Chesterfield was the nearest large town to where I lived and during that period I would visit regularly. These days I only get the chance to visit Chesterfield a few times each year but when I do I always love the old feel of the town and like to see its black ...  Read the complete review

I recently wrote a review on Chesterfield and was suprised to see The Shambles as a topic as it is such a small area and isn't really noticed by anyone who lives in Chesterfield! I can see how it can be of interest though as it is quite a pretty feature of the town and very historic. The Shambles is basically a square plot of buildings with three streets running through it. One running through the middle and two cutting across it. Most of the buildings date back to tudor times and one building dates back to the 12th century. This building is now joined to another building from the 16th century and forms Chesterfields oldest pub, The Royal ...  Read the complete review