Chapel Milton is a hamlet on the outskirts of

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish, in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the highland areas between the Saxon lands (below ...

on the road leading from there to Chinley and to

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...

. Within the parish of

Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside is a civil parish within the High Peak, Derbyshire, High Peak district, which is in the county of Derbyshire, England. Partially rural with several villages contained within, its population was 2,794 residents in ...

, it takes its name from the site of a medieval corn mill, Maynstonfield Mill, or “Mainstonefield alias Chinley”. This mill was erected near a stream called Hockholme Brook, which is no longer marked though is thought to converge with the Black Brook at Chapel Milton. Originally built in 1391 for £12 4s 1d, the mill (which adjoined what is now Milton House) was demolished in 1946. The hamlet is notable for two major features. The first is Chapel Milton Viaduct, bifurcating double railway viaduct crossing the Black Brook, tributary to the Goyt, on which Chapel Milton is situated. One section of the viaduct diverges and curves to the west whilst the other (built a little later) curves to the east as the line, coming up from the south, links up with the main line between

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. At one time the western section carried express trains from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

( St Pancras) to Manchester Central Station. The viaducts now carry considerable loads of quarried stone from the works around

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

. The other major feature is Chinley Chapel.Chinley Chapel website
The Christian congregation, which has continuously occupied this site almost since its foundation (in a barn at nearby Malcoff), was founded in 1662 at the time of the post-Cromwellian struggle between a Presbyterian or Episcopalian form for the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. The present 'chapel', of considerable simplicity and beauty, was built, against considerable local opposition, in 1711. It flourishes as a centre of Christian (

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

) worship. It is part of the

Congregational Federation The Congregational Federation is a small Christian denomination in Great Britain comprising 235 congregations, down from 294 in April 2014. The Federation brings together Congregational churches, and provides support and guidance to member churc ...

, and the current minister is Rev. Edmonde Openshaw.

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

preached in the hamlet on 28 May 1745, when the miller purportedly tried to drown him out with the sound of the watermill. Grace Bennett (née Murray), Wesley's former fiancé, is buried with the husband she later married, preacher John Bennett, in Chinley Independent Chapel. The viaduct and chapel are both listed buildings, the latter at Grade II*.

References

{{reflist Hamlets in Derbyshire High Peak, Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District