The main locales are:[2] Shirland, Higham, Hallfield Gate and Stonebroom were once separate villages which over the 20th century have grown and formed a single built-up area.

Primarily residential, traditionally it was considered to be along Main Road and Town End, It maintains services such as hospitality, church and cemetery, primary school and village hall.

[2] Lying to the north west of the parish, and 2⁄3 mile (1.1 km) from Shirland, it is a wider area spread across a number of roads including the A61 and B6013.

It developed around Main Road which is of some antiquity parallel to the nearby river, an offshoot named New Higham was formed around Strettea Lane.

It is primarily a linear settlement along Birkinstyle Lane and High Street, with a small nucleated portion.

[2] The parish rests on the edge of the valley of the River Amber, and it rises steeply towards the various settlements which sit atop a plateau, the surrounding land to the south and east being noticeably lower.

Substantial areas of trees are few, with a small coppice to the north of Mickley, and scattered clusters to the parish east around Morton Brook and west of Higham surrounding ponds.

The highest area is a point between Higham and Mickley atop a reservoir west of the A61, measuring 177 metres (581 ft).

[6] Higham was first recorded in the middle 12th century as 'high village' in reference almost certainly to its location atop the River Amber valley ridge.

[9] In 1066, at the time of the Norman Conquest, the area was held by Leofric (son of Osmund), and by 1086, the Domesday Book recorded the Shirland lord of the manor was Warner (father of Robert) who answered to the overall tenant-in-chief, William Peverel.

[11] In the year 1243, John de Grey was granted a market in the manor and a fair for three days at the festival of St. Peter ad Vincula.

[13] A market cross commemorating this is located in Higham up to the present day, although it was reconstructed a number of times.

Originally housing was built to the eastern end of Stonebroom Lane, later following westwards in a linear settlement formation.

[20] The original Stonebroom and Morton colliery cottages were minimally maintained and from the 1920s the properties were frequently condemned by local authorities, but with a shortage of housing to relocate displaced tenants and employees, which was a situation common in many coal mining communities throughout the north-east of the county in both post war periods, little was done until post World War II, when the local authorities began building 270 new houses at the new Mickley estate from 1947 onwards to relieve the appalling conditions[21] The original builds at Stonebroom were eventually knocked down as the community expanded westwards with a new centre essentially completing by the middle 1960s, the original Stonebroom cottages location becoming the Stonebroom Industrial Estate from the 1970s.

The parish sustained some industry, containing a substantial rural area meant agriculture was a core activity.

[31] However, the location was named for an early 17th century blast furnace, with possible ironstone being mined closeby at the nearby Delves farms.

[33] In the later 20th century Stonebroom Industrial Estate was built atop the original mining community location, and in early 1980s Reeve Burgess, a coachbuilder, obtained premises to expand operations there, but this was closed in 1991.

George Stephenson started building the North Midland Railway through the west portion of the parish in 1837-1839.

[36] A mixed public elementary school was built at Shirland in 1851, and enlarged in 1884 to hold 194 boys and girls and 50 infants.

The parish became part of the Chesterfield poor law union in 1837,[37] this formed a parallel sanitary district in 1875 gaining additional local powers.

The Shirland church was rebuilt in the middle 15th century into the present structure using sandstone blocks, possibly after the Shrewsburys obtained the manor in the time of Edward IV (1461-1483).

[40] Toadhole Furnace was a relatively early non-conformist centre, opening a Friends meeting house, cemetery and school in 1743.

[41] The land was donated by Matthew Hopkinson, a member of the family from the nearby Ufton Farm in Alfreton, his name was added to the fabric of the building.

The majority of housing stock is of the semi-detached type (58%), then detached (27%) or terraced (13%) and the remainder comprising flats, maisonettes or apartments or caravans (2%).

The large majority of these (>1,200) are owner occupied, with other tenure including shared ownership, social and private rentals.

Surrounding and within Mickley are some retail, a play field, BMX track,[61] camping and caravan parking facilities.

[63] There are 42 items of national architectural merit throughout the parish, St Leonard's Church at Shirland holds a statutory designation of Grade II*, the rest have Grade II listed status, and comprises varied features such a number of houses, churches, mileposts, and bridges.

[64] These are areas (usually urban or the core of a village) of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which is considered worthy of preservation or enhancement.

[2] There are a number of monument items at the Anglican churches in the parish commemorating local personnel who served in the World War I and WWII conflicts: Shirland is relatively accessible by public transport, services travel between Alfreton and Chesterfield.

It is a scheduled route, with buses on half hour intervals on weekdays and Saturdays, with some longer periods between services on Sundays and bank holidays.