Description: From an old engraving showing the Market Place at Higham with the Black Bull Inn (now Bull Farm) visible to the left of the cross. Higham being on the main thoroughfare between Chesterfield and Derby, was ideally situated for a market the regular market days ran for 500 years - from a charter given to Sir John de Grey in 1243 until the late 18th Century. The popularity of the Higham market only declined due to competition from Alfreton which rapidly became the focal point of the communications network of the county after the opening of the Higham to Alfreton Turnpike in 1792. Taken from A History of Shirland & Higham by Gladwyn Turbutt, published 1978.