Derbyshire

Derbyshire (där`bēshər, –shĭr) county (1991 pop. 915,000), 1,016 sq mi (2,632 sq km), central England. The county seat is Derby. The terrain of the county is flat in the south, rising in the north to more than 2,000 ft (610 m) in the Peak district. The region is drained by the Trent River, with the Dove, the Derwent, and the Wye flowing into it. Much of the county is used for agriculture. Dairy farming and sheep and cattle raising are important occupations. There is also wheat and oat cultivation, as well as market gardening. In the eastern part of the county are coal deposits. Textiles, steel, porcelain, and paper are produced in Derby, Chesterfield, Alfreton, Glossop, and Ilkeston. Tourism is also important. Paleolithic cave art dating to c.10,800 B.C. is found at Creswell Crags in E Derbyshire. In the Anglo-Saxon period Derbyshire was part of the kingdom of Mercia. There are pre-Roman, Roman, and Norman remains. The great house of the dukes of Devonshire is at Chatsworth.

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Derbyshire

 or Derby

Administrative (pop., 2001: 734,581), geographic, and historic county, central England. The landscape varies from the moorlands of the north to the Trent lowlands in the south. Industry ranges from tourism in the High Peak district to mining and engineering in the eastern and southern coalfields. Apart from gaining the rural district of Tintwistle from Cheshire, the traditional county was unaltered by the administrative reorganization in 1974; its county seat is Matlock.

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Derbyshire

a county of N central England: contains the Peak District and several resorts with mineral springs: the geographical and ceremonial county includes the city of Derby, which became an independent unitary authority in 1997. Administrative centre: Matlock. Pop. (excluding Derby city): 743 000 (2003 est.). Area (excluding Derby city): 2551 sq. km (985 sq. miles)

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Derbyshire 

a county in Great Britain. Area, 2,540 sq km; population, 884,300 (1971). The town of Derby is the administrative center.