It shares a boundary with the borough of Chesterfield, along with the parishes of Calow, North Wingfield, Temple Normanton, Tupton as well as Wingerworth.

[3] The parish paradoxically does not include the majority of the nearby built-up suburb of Hasland which is now within an adjacent unparished area of Chesterfield.

The parish is roughly bounded by land features such as Hasland cemetery and Winsick housing estate to the north, the Midland Main Line to the west, Calow Brook to the east, and Hagg Hill to the south.

Primarily farming and pasture land throughout the parish outside the populated areas, there is some forestry throughout, mainly to the east at Grassmoor Country Park.

Being a few miles from the Peak District National Park, the composition of the parish is broadly similar, with clay, coal, ironstone and gritstone featuring in the geology of the wider area.

It rises through mudstones, sandstones, shales and siltstone, making up the Pennine Middle and Lower Coal Measures Group formed between 309 and 318 million years ago during the Carboniferous period.

[5] Along the River Rother, there are superficial deposits of alluvium comprising gravel, sand, silt and clay, being formed between 11.8 thousand years ago and the present during the Quaternary period.

It appears Grassmoor was recorded as a non-settled area during the 1086 Domesday Survey called Gre(y)hirst meaning 'grey copse'.

[13][14][15] Grassmoor, Hasland and Winsick lay in what was the Scarsdale hundred, which was one of the six ancient divisions of the county, dating back from medieval times until 1894.

[16][17] Peter Perez Burdett's Derbyshire map of 1762 shows Grassmoor to be land bounded on the west by the River Rother, to the east by the Chesterfield to Mansfield road, on the south by Lings and in the north by the area now known as Hasland.

Approximately in the centre of Grassmoor village a pathway branched off westwards (modern day Mill Lane) passing a windmill on the left, then falling sharply to ford the River Rother and pass a water mill on a tributary of the river before joining the Derby-Chesterfield road near Wingerworth Park.

Following the Industrial Revolution and smelting of coke to produce iron, which stimulated the demand for coal, deeper mine workings were sunk in Grassmoor in the mid 19th century by Alfred Barnes.

[24] The Avenue Coking Plant was built in 1935, and although mostly in nearby Wingerworth parish (its railway sidings were in Grassmoor) it provided a sustained source of local employment until its closure in 1993.

Following a lengthy 20 year clean up process, the area is now clear and redevelopment is ongoing, including the Avenue Washlands Nature Reserve on the site of the former sidings.

Grassmoor Country Park is situated at the northern end of the Five Pits Trail which provides an off-road route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

The park includes former nearby colliery and coking plant tar lagoons which have been reclaimed to provide a recreational site for the benefit and enjoyment of the local community.

[38] There is one location of architectural merit throughout the parish with statutory listed status at Grade II, the 1850 built Church of St Paul at Churchside.

[4] Although the Derby to Sheffield Midland Main Line forms the western edge of the parish, the nearest railway station is at Chesterfield.