The parish is roughly bounded by land features such as the Kinder Scout nature reserve to the north and east, the Chinley-Edale rail link and the A6 road to the south, and the River Goyt to the west.

Outside these, it is primarily farming and pasture land throughout the parish, with patches of forested areas, mainly along the A6 corridor to the south west and at Chinley Head to the north.

The bedrock of the parish consists of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones of various types such as Milnrow, Chatsworth, Roaches and Kinderscout grits, most formed between 329 and 319 million years ago during the Carboniferous period.

There are superficial deposits of coal west of Chinley and peat in the upland area towards Brown Knoll, formed between 2.588 million years ago and the present during the Quaternary period.

[20] A carved stone head with Celt stylings, appearing to date from much older although generally were medieval creations, was found in the Hough area north of Buxworth after the millennium.

[28][29][30][31] In around 1157 the ancient parish of Glossop was established, Bowden Middlecale was a southern subdivision for taxation reasons, and it eventually contained ten hamlets including Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside.

[38] North-west Derbyshire is said to be ‘a vast extent of rough grazing’, with ‘short, cool summers, harsh winters and 60 inches of rain', and with a resulting landscape that sets hard expectations with what is achievable when farming.

[31] After the English Civil War during the middle 17th century with the monarchy's power much lessened, the status of much of the royal forests were abolished or largely reduced by 1635, along with the sale of much of the land within.

Because of the relatively undeveloped character of the area, there was some interest in improving communications due to the strides made elsewhere in the country because of the Industrial Revolution as well as exporting the produce, so turnpike roads were built, with a petition put to Parliament in March 1792 by "the Gentlemen, Clergy, Merchants, Principal Tradesmen, and Inhabitants, residing in or near the Towns of Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chapel Milltown, Chinley....", the subsequent Act enabling a road from Chapel en le Frith to Hayfield, which was built by 1795 and is numbered as the present-day A624.

[58] This was linked there to the Peak Forest Tramway which was an early horse-drawn railway, both designed by Benjamin Outram, and a major shareholding held by Samuel Oldknow.

[59] The Buxworth interchange became the busiest and largest inland canal port, but it was initially planned further downstream at Chapel Milton which was the closest practical location to getting narrowboats to these upland areas However, to avoid building locks at Whitehough, and on realising the water basin might not be guaranteed a good water supply and that a reservoir would have to be built at Wash village, which would incur additional expense, along with the discovery of gritstone deposits at Crist and Barren Clough which was en route curtailed these.

[58][60][51] There were several historic industrial locations utilising the natural energy of the fast flowing Black Brook; Whitehall Mill was established around 1781, 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) south west of Chinley and claimed during its time to making the largest rolls of paper in England.

[69] From 1796 until 1830, the transportation of limestone had little competition, and a large area of storage sheds and lime kilns built up around the Buxworth end of the canal,[70] becoming over time a 24 hour operation.

[75] Another line, the Dore and Chinley Railway, with support from the Midland was opened from 1893-1894, connecting Sheffield and Manchester via a tri-junction and additional viaduct at Chapel Milton.

After Rev Bagshawe's death in 1702, the members of the church led by James Clegg started the work on finding a suitable area for building of a new worship place.

Around 1870 the Midland Railway were erecting sidings within the quarry at Dove Holes and they began to take the output away faster and at cheaper costs than the tramway and canal.

[40] Brierley Green adjoins Buxworth and is to the north of the Hope Valley railway line, in the early 19th century one of the cottages was the home of the Clayton family.

[14][88][89][90] As a high-profile centre of the limestone trade, Buxworth was known by the 19th century as Bugsworth and from 1854 began to court with a new identity due to local apathy with the name.

The parish council agreed to having local voters decide in September 1914, but by then World War I had begun and it did not take place, the question again coming to a head 15 years later in 1929, the new push being promoted by the local vicar, Reverend Dr J R Towers and the village schoolmaster W T Prescott, although dissenting opinion came from the adjoining parish of Chapel-en-le Frith, which contained part of the village and wanted to retain the original name.

In 1969, Pat Phoenix, actress in the long-running television serial drama Coronation Street, became the licensee of the Navigation Hotel, and while a co-star Joan Francis (playing Dot Greenhalgh in the series) assisted as bar staff.

[103][104] More growth was evident with the Whaley Bridge water treatment works built in 1912 adjacent to Furness Vale, straddling the parish boundary to the west.

[105] The upper areas of the Peak District have seen a number of aircraft involved in accidents due to the high ground, inclement weather and visibility at times.

[107] In the late 1990s, locals began to campaign for reverting back to Buxworth's original name, spurred in part by the then canal renovations and the area still continuing to be known as Bugsworth Basin.

[92] Rec Rocks was an annual music festival run during 2014-2017 from Clough Head farm north of Buxworth, raising money for various local charitable efforts.

[111] A new community centre to replace the existing Chinley building, which was built in the 1960s, was formally approved by the High Peak district council planning team in 2022.

Other local industry during that period included some quarrying, with slate workings at Cracken Edge alongside Chinley Churn and smaller, later locations such as limestone at Crist and Barren Clough and sandstone along Hayfield Road.

[74] There are several business types throughout the area mainly based at mill buildings and farm areas which reuse agricultural buildings and storage facilities, including plastics manufacturing,[117][118] metal fabrication, pet bereavement services[119] and pet care,[120] holiday accommodation,[121] stone masons,[122][123] medical research[124] and a water treatment facility.

[130] With the parish only containing villages, the nearby towns of Chapel-en-le-Frith and Whaley Bridge are accessed by residents for larger or weekly shopping items, petrol stations, secondary school education and markets.

The Pennine Bridleway is 205 miles (330 km) long, from Peak Forest village it enters the parish via The Roych area, and follows an old packhorse route to South Head before continuing onto Hayfield and beyond.

[142][143] There are a number of monument items throughout the parish commemorating local personnel who served in the World War I and WWII conflicts: Chinley, Buxworth, Brierley Green, Chapel Milton, Leaden Knowl, New Smithy and the Rosey Bank housing development are catered to with public transport services.