Clay Cross

Industrial town in Derbyshire, England, 10 km/6 mi south of Chesterfield on a ridge between the rivers Rother and Amber; population (2001) 8,800. Clay Cross was formerly a mining town; its main industries are now engineering and iron works.

Clay Cross developed in the first half of the 19th century. Coal and iron deposits were discovered by the engineer George Stephenson when he was building a rail tunnel through Clay Cross Hill in 1837. The company he formed to exploit these mineral finds was to become the Clay Cross Company after Stephenson's death.