GENERAL

 

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

 

OF

 

DERBYSHIRE.

 

IN the time of the Britons Derbyshire is found included in the number of counties that made up the kingdom of the Coratini. During the government of the Romans, it formed part of Britannia Prima, and when England became divided under the Saxon monarchs into seven kingdoms, called the heptarchy, Derbyshire constituted part of Mercia, and Repton, then called Repandune, appears to have been a residence of the Mercian kings. It is a midland and almost central county, being situated nearly at an equal distance from the German ocean on the E. as from St. George’s channel on the west. It is bounded on the N. and north-west by Yorkshire and Cheshire, on the south and south-east by Leicestershire, on the east by Nottinghamshire, and on the west by Staffordshire. It lies between 52 deg. 40 min. and 53 deg. 29 min. north latitude, and 1 deg. 12 min. and 2 deg. 3 min. west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich. The form of the county is extremely irregular, especially on its western side, and there is a small isolated part of it in Leicestershire. Its greatest length from north north-west to south south-cast is 56 miles, and its breadth from east to west is about 33 miles. It has an area of 1029 square miles, comprising 658,803 acres, which 510,000 are arable, pasture, and meadow lands. At the census in 1851 it contained a population of 313,641 inhabitants, of whom 156,360 were males, 157,281 were females.  The number of occupied dwelling houses were 56,745, at the same time 2,686 were unin­habited, and 458 were building. In 1801 the population was 161,567, and the annual value of the land and buildings, as assessed to the county rate in 1815, was £887,659. The annual value of real property assessed to the property and income tax for the year ending Lady-day 1851, was £1,999,550, and of property assessed to the relief of the poor for the year ending 25th March, 1850, was £1,058,851. The average value of land per acre for the whole county is l8s. 10d., and the ANNUAL VALUE of every parish or township may be seen by referring to the work. The COUNTY, before the passing of the Reform Bill, sent only four members to parliament, but now sends six, viz., four for the county at large, and two for the borough of Derby. The six hundreds of which it is composed form the north and south divisions of the county, each of which sends two members. The Northern division comprises the hundreds of Scarsdale, High Peak, and part of Wirksworth; and the Southern division, the hundreds of Appletree, Morleston and Litchurch, Repton and Gresley, and part of Wirksworth. For the North division, the polling places are at Bakewell, Chesterfield, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Alfreton, and Glossop, the place of election being at Bakewell. Those for the South division are Derby, Ashbourn, Melbourne, Wirksworth, and Belper, the place of election being at Derby. The chief market towns are Alfreton,

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Ashbourn, Blakewell, Belper, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chesterfield, Derby, Glossop, Riddings, Tideswell, Winster, and Wirksworth. Derbyshire is included in the diocese of Lichfield, and province of Canterbury, in which it forms an archdeaconry, comprising the deaneries of Ashbourn, Castillar, High Peak, Chesterfield, Derby, and Repington, which contain 58 rectories, 52 vicarages, 116 perpetual curacies, 6 donatives, and 1 peculiar. There are also in the county 396 dissenting places of worship, of which 45 belong to the Independents; 34 the Baptists, 289 the (different branches of) Methodists, 10 the Unitarians, 5 the Friends, 2 the Swedenborgians, 1 the Latter Day Saints, 1 the Free Gospellers, and 8 the Roman Catholics. The Barmote courts for the regulation of mineral concerns, and determining all disputes relating to the working of the mines, are held at Monyash, Ashford, Eyam, Stoney Middleton, Crich, and Wirksworth. The assizes are held at Derby, as are the quarter sessions, except the Easter, which are held at Chesterfield. Derbyshire and Not­tinghamshire formed but one shrievalty, until the year 1569, and the assizes for both counties were held at Nottingham till the reign of Henry III. They were then held alternately in each county, till 1569, since which time they have been uniformly held at Derby. Judge Blackstone says, England was first divided into counties, hundreds, and tithings, by Alfred the Great, for the protection of property and the execution of justice. Tithings were so called because ten freeholders with their families formed one; ten of these tithings were supposed to form a hundred. Wapentake, from an ancient ceremony, in which the governor of a hundred met all the aldermen of his district, and holding up his spear they all touched it with theirs, in token of subjection and union to one common interest. An indifferent number of these wapentakes or hundreds form a county or shire, for the civil government of which a shire-reeve or sheriff is elected annually. The king­dom was divided into parishes soon after the introduction of Christianity, by Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 636, and the boundaries of them, as marked in Domesday book, agree very nearly with the present division. The custom which still continues of making the hundreds responsible for the excesses of a lawless mob, is an ap­pendage to the Saxon system of tithing.

Historians all agree that the aborigines of Britain were a tribe of Gauls who emigrated from the continent, probably a thousand years before the Christian era. Previous to the Roman conquest, the ancient Britons inhabiting the southern portion of the island had made some little progress towards civilization, but those on the north were wild and uncultivated, and subsisted chiefly by hunting, and the spontaneous productions of the earth, wearing for their clothing the skins of animals killed in the chase, and dwelling in habitations formed by the interwoven branches of the forest. Their religion was Druidical, but its origin is not known; some assert that the Druids accompanied the Gauls in early ages, and others, that Druidism was first introduced into England by the Phœnicians, who were the first merchants who traded to this island, and for a considerable time monopolized a profitable trade in tin and other useful metals. Their government, according to Diodorus Siculus, the ancient historian, though monarchial, was free, and their religion, which formed one part of their government, was Druidical. Justice was dispensed, not under any written code of laws, but on equitable principles, and on difference of opinion in the assembled congress, appeal was made to the Arch Druid, whose decision was final. Their religious ceremonies were performed on high places, and in deep groves, and consisted in wor­shipping the God of nature, and rendering him praise on the yearly accession of the seasons. The means by which religion was supported was by voluntary tithes and offerings, and in this respect we trace a similarity with all the nations of antiquity. Despite of the corrup­tions and philosophical atheism in which the Druidical religion became involved, candour demands of us that the Druids were in possession of learning as extensive and more useful than some of their Christian posterity, who from the eighth century to the reformation, were almost wholly employed in scholastic divinity, metaphysical or chronological disputes legends, miracles, and martyrologies; and Dr. Kennedy informs us that in St. Patrick’s time, no fewer than 300 volumes of their books were burnt, and no doubt the same was

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practised so long as a volume could be found. By this destruction a wide chasm has been made in the historical details of this country. Julius Cæsar, his “Commentarii de Bello Gallico,” informs us that the Druids inculcated the doctrine of the immortality and transmigration of the soul, and discoursed “with the youth about the heavenly bodies, their motion, the size of the heaven and the earth, the nature of things, and the influence and power of the immortal Gods.” The misletoe was their chief specific in medicine, and nothing was held so sacred as the misletoe of the oak, which being scarce, was gathered with great ceremony on a certain day appointed for their general festival. In the civil government of this ancient people, capital offenders were sentenced to death, and sacrificed in the most solemn manner, on the altars of their temples, while those convicted of minor crimes were excommunicated from all civil and religious liberty. At the time of the Roman invasion, the British Druids exerted their utmost zeal in opposing the usurpation of that foreign power. The invaders, on the other hand, fired with equal resentment, endeavoured to establish their security by the extermination of the Druidic order, and its priests were sacrificed to this barbarous policy; many fled to the Isle of Anglesey, and afterwards perished in the flames, by the orders of Suetonius, and great numbers of them were cut off in an unsuccessful revolt of the Britons, under Queen Boadicea, after which the power and splendour of the Druids rapidly declined.

Julius Cæsar invaded Britain 55 years before the birth of Christ, and after a protracted struggle, succeeded in establishing a Roman government, but being distracted by domestic wars, which ended in the establishment of an absolute monarchy at Rome, the conquerers had little force to spare for the preservation of distant conquests, the Britons were therefore soon left to themselves, and for nearly a century after the invasion of Cæsar, enjoyed unmolested their own civil and religious institutions. In the interval between the first and second invasion of Britain by the Romans, the founder of the Christian religion had accomplished his divine mission, in a province of the Roman empire, but almost without observation at Rome: and AD. 43, Claudius sent over an army to this country, under the command of Plautius, who was afterwards succeeded by Suetonius Paulinius; this general succeeded, after many sanguinary struggles, in completing the conquest, and caused great numbers of the Druids to be burnt in the fires they had prepared for their captive enemies; he also destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars, and abolished their rites and ceremonies. But the dominion of the Romans was not finally established till AD. 80, when they were placed under the command of Julius Agricola. The first care of the conquerors was to introduce civilization and law, and by multiplying the wants of the people, to incline them to habits of industry, and finally to incorporate them with the Roman empire.  Agri­cola endeavoured to secure his conquest by erecting a chain of forts across the isthmus between the Frith of Forth and Clyde, and in the year 84 he extended a chain of Stations from Solway Frith to Tynemouth, which was afterwards connected by an earthern rampart raised by the Emperor Adrian, as an obstruction to the Caledonians, who frequently de­scended and committed the most dreadful ravages in the Roman territories. In AD. 208, this earthern barrier was strengthened by the great wall, 12 feet high and 8 feet thick, built by the Emperor Severus, across the island from Solway Frith to the river Tyne, stretching a distance of 80 miles. From this time York was made the capital of Maxima Cæsariensis, the great Roman province in which Derbyshire was comprised. The Emperor Constantine, son of Constantius was born at York, of a British Princess, in the year 312, and was the first imperial convert to the Christian faith. During the residence of the Romans in this island, comprehending a period of 400 years, many great public works were accomplished, and they left behind many monuments of their skill and industry. The conquered country was divided into six provinces, each of them governed by a præter, and quæstor, the former charged with the general administration of the government, and the latter with the management of the finances.

ROMAN ANTIQUITIES — The great Camo on Holy Hill, near Arnold, is supposed to have been the central station of the Roman forces in this district. The Roman Station,

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Derventio, at Little Chester, near Derby, is on the great Roman road Ilkenild street, which was examined by Mr. Pegge, about seventy years ago, with so much attention, as to leave us but little to add to his observations. It enters Derbyshire at Monks’ bridge, about two miles to the north-east of Burton-upon-Trent, and extends in a direct line over Egginton Heath to Little Over. From this village it ran in a north-east direction to the town of Derby, where it was carried across Nun’s Green, to the station at Little Chester. It is generally allowed there was once a bridge over the Derwent, at this place, in the same line with the street; from this place the road is very evident in dry seasons, in the pastures on the north side of the village. It passes to the east of Breadsall Priory, across Morley moor, and appears very conspicious a little east of Brackley gate, after which it is visible in Horsley Park; it afterwards crosses the road leading from Nottingham, near Horsley Woodhouse, to Wirksworth. After crossing Bootle Brook, it goes by Smithy-houses, and may be seen in Street-lane, from whence it may be traced through the fields to the road which lies between Heage and Ripley, and passes on to the east side of the camp on Pentrich common, and extends towards Okerthorpe, through the Day Carrs, at Shirland Hall, for Higham, from which it keeps the turnpike road to Clay Cross, and thence to Chesterfield, where it is supposed there was a Station; from this place no marks of the road are visible, but it is supposed to have extended on the east side of the Rother to the west of Killamarsh Church, and through the parish of Beighton into Yorkshire. Another Roman road, called Bathom gate, or Bath gate, was clearly traced from Brough to Buxton, both by Mr. Pegge and Mr. Whitakcr: on leaving the station at Brough, it is discoverable bearing to the south west, and enters the lane leading to Smalldale, where the right hand edge stands upon it. It was also visible on Tideswell moor, retaining its original breadth of 18 or 20 feet, sweeping in a long streak of vivid green over the purple surface of the heath, till it reached Fairfield common, from which place it was found to have kept the same line to the hill above Buxton.

The SAXON ANTIQUITIES of this county are numerous and exceedingly interesting. They consist of tumuli, encampments, vestiges of castles, and religious houses, as will be seen in the various histories of Derby, Duffield, Gresley, &c.

Though we meet with few records or monuments to illustrate tho history of Britain previous to the appearance of the Romans; however, Pilkington in his “View of Derby­shire,” published in 1789, says, “That from an attentive survey, we shall find that at the distant period the state of the county is not involved entirely in darkness. One of the most striking monuments of antiquity in Derbyshire, is situated in the parish of Youl­greave, and in the hamlet or township of Middleton, is the famous temple of Arbor Lowe, or Arbe Lowe, as it is generally called by the country-people; it is a circle of large unhewn limestones, surrounded by a deep ditch, outside of which rises a large and high vallum. The area encompassed by the ditch is about fifty yards in diameter, and of a circular form. The stones which compose the circle are rough, unhewn, masses of limestone, apparently thirty in number, but this cannot, be determined with certainty, as several of them are broken, most of them are from six to eight feet in length, and three or four broad in the widest part; their thickness is more variable, and their respective shapes are different and indescribable. They all lie upon the ground, many in an oblique position, but the opinion that has prevailed of the narrowest end of each being pointed towards the centre, in order to represent the rays of the sun, and prove that luminary to have been the object of worship, must have arisen from inaccurate observation, for they almost as frequently point towards the ditch as otherwise. Within the circle are some smaller stones scattered irregularly, and near the centre are three larger ones, by some supposed to have formed a cromlech or altar, but there are no perceptible grounds for such an opinion. The width of the ditch which immediately surrounds the area on which the stones are placed is about six yards; the height of the bank or vallum, on the inside (though much reduced by the unsparing hand of time), is still from six to eight yards; but this varies throughout the whole circumference, which on the top is about two hundred and

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seventy yards. To the enclosed area are two entrances, each of the width of ten or twelve yards, and opening towards the north and south. On the east side of the southern en­trance is a large barrow, standing in the same line of circumference as the vallum, but wholly detached except at the base.” This barrow has been several times unsuccessfully examined, and remained an antiquarian problem, until the summer of the year 1845, when it was again opened by Thomas Bateman, Esq., of Youlgreave, a gentleman well known for his scientific and persevering researches into British antiquities, and from whose valuable work on the “Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire,” we have in this instance availed ourselves of —

     “On the 23rd of May, 1845, operations were commenced by cutting across the barrow, from the south side towards the centre. A shoulder blade and an antler of the large red deer, were found in this excavation, which also produced an average quantity of rat’s bones. On reaching the highest part of the tumulus, which, owing to the soil and atones removed in the former excavations, is not in the centre, but more to the south, and is elevated about four yards above the natural soil, a large, flat stone was discovered, about five feet in length by three feet in width, lying in a horizontal position, about eighteen inches higher than the natural flour. This stone being cleared and carefully removed, exposed to view a small six-sided cist, constructed by ten limestones, placed on one end, and having a floor of three similar ones neatly jointed. It was quite free from soil, the cover having most effectually protected the contents, which were a quantity of calcined human bones, strewed about the floor of the cist, all which were carefully picked up, and amongst them were found a rude kidney-shaped instrument of flint, a pin, made from the leg-bone of a small deer, and a piece of spherical iron pyrites. At the west end of the cist were two urns of coarse clay, each of which was ornamented in a peculiar and widely dissimilar manner. The larger one had fallen to pieces from the effects of time and damp, but has since been restored, and is a very elegant vase; the smaller one was taken out quite perfect, and is of much ruder design and work­manship. In addition to these urns, one piece of the ornamented upper edge of ano­ther, quite distinct from either of them, was found. The floor of the cist was laid upon the natural soil, and the cist was strewed with rat’s bones, both within and without.”

The following observations on the general character of deposits, serve to shew in a great measure, the dates of the interments in these Lows. If, for example, bones are found, especially burnt bones, unaccompanied by any, even the rudest instruments; we may safely affirm that these belonged to the aborigines, and are of the remotest anti­quity. The discovery of flint and bone pins, of barbarous workmanship, with occasional rude earthern vessels, with the human remains, may be called the second era in the funeral history of the early Britons, whilst the third epoch is clearly defined by the brass dagger or celt of elegant proportions, and probably of Phœnician origin, which are found near the head of the principal interment, and sometimes accompanied by a stone hammer or celt. The iron knife and spear head, with shield of the same metal, are certain proofs of a Saxon barrow; whilst Roman tumuli are remarkable for the beauty of the pottery, and the coins universally found therein, and it is by no means unusual to find the primeval interment of burnt bones beneath a secondary one, when the bronze instrument of the Briton, or iron spear, or knife, or shield, of the Saxon denote a much later era.

The EARLY COMMERCE of the ancient Britons was carried on by barter without the aid of money, but about the commencement of the Christian era, a mint master was invited over into Britain from the continent. A mint was erected at Colchester, and money of gold, silver, and copper, was coined in that city, about forty different speci­mens having reached our time. Mines both of silver and gold were worked in the island during the reigns of Augustus and Trajan. Cambden asserts, a gold mine was discoved in Bedford, a few years before his time. The Romans drew their revenues

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from various sources, commerce, mines, legacies, houses, and heads, all contributed to supply their exactions, and as they had suggested to the natives the mode of making money, they did not fail to supply the exhausted treasury at Rome, from the industry of Britain. A succession of ages had almost identified the Britons with their Roman conquerers, and when the emperors pressed by difficulties at home and weakened by their possessions abroad, began to withdraw their legions from this island, the inhabitants importuned them to remain, to protect them from the incursions of the Picts and Scots; the wall of Severus was no longer a barrier to these semi-barbarians. In AD. 450, two years after the last Roman legion had quitted England, Hengist and Horsea, two brothers, the descendants in the fourth generation from Woden, one of the principal gods of the Saxons, embarked their army to the number of 1600, on board three vessels, and landing in the isle of Thanet, immediately marched to the defence of the Britons, who had invited them over to protect them against their northern invaders. Having expelled the enemy, the fertility and richness of the country presented a temptation too strong to be resisted by the ambition of these newly acquired friends who soon began to aspire to the possession of the island. Roused by this display of treachery, the native inhabitants flew to arms, and for near a century maintained a conquest of dubious success.

Foremost among their defenders was the renowned King Arthur, who was crowned at the early age of fifteen. In his person was united a love of country and a love of military fame. He was soon in arms against the common foe over whom ho gained twelve pitched battles; his chief opponent being Cedric, the great Saxon captain, whose invading forces he had nearly succeeded in expelling, when his death took place after a glorious reign of thirty-four years, which gave new hopes to the Saxons, who renewed their efforts, and at length succeeded in firmly consolidating their power.

Of the Saxon system of goverment it may be observed, that it had in it the germ of freedom, if it did not always exhibit the fruit. In religion they were idolaters, and their idols, altars, and temples, soon overspread the country; they had a god for every day in the week. Thor, the god of thunder, represented Thursday; Woden, the god of battle, repre­sented Wednesday; Friga, the god of love, presided over Friday; Seater, over Saturday, and had influence on the fruits of the earth; Tuyse, the tutelar god of the Dutch, conferred his name on Tuesday: they also worshipped the sun and moon, each conferring a name on one of the days of the week,—Sunnam, on Sunday, and Monan, on Monday. The merit of eradicating this baneful superstition, by the introduction of Christianity, was reserved for a Roman Pontiff, Gregory, surnamed the Great, who in the year 597, sent Augustine, a monk, into the south, and Paulinus to the north of England, by whose preaching the Christian religion made such rapid progress that it soon became the prevailing faith, and Augustine was elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Canterbury, and Paulinus, Arch­bishop of York, who was the first to preach Christianity in Mercia, where he followed the victorious arms of Edwin, king of Northumbria. The Danes being dissatisfied with the Saxons having possession of the largest and richest island in Europe, made various incur­sions, and fitted out a large fleet, and entered the Humber in 867. After frequently penetrating into the interior of the country, they took possession of the kingdom of Mercia, and made Repandune (Repton) their head quarters. These pagan marauders burnt and destroyed villages and monasteries, and spared neither age nor sex, which caused the Anglo Saxon monarchs to confederate for their mutual defence, and the invaders were at length subdued. At this time the sovereignty of Mercia fell into the hands of Alfred the Great. All the kingdoms of the heptarchy became united in one great state in 823, near four hundred years after the arrival of the Saxons in Britain, and the crown was placed upon the head of Egbert.  Union in the government gave the people hopes of settled tranquillity, but these fair expectations were speedily blasted by the re-appearance of the Danes, who for some ages had kept the Anglo Saxons in a state of perpetual alarm. For upwards of forty years, and through five successive reigns, the Danish invaders continued the struggle, and at the death of Etheldred, his brother Alfred, the successor to the throne, was obliged

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to abandon the field, and seek an asylum in the cottage of a swineherd. Emerging after­wards from his retreat, he expelled the invaders, and contributed essentially to lay the foundation of those institutions, on which the glorious superstructure of English liberty was finally erected. Alfred soon perceived that an island without a maritine force must ever be at the mercy of every piratical plunderer; he therefore determined to store his ports with shipping, and vessels larger than those in use in the surrounding nations were built, many of which carried sixty oars. The unremitting attention of this illustrious prince to the navy, contributed to increase the blessings of his reign, and has obtained for him the title of the Father of the British Navy. William of Malmesbury, speaking of the English at this remarkable period, says,-“ They wore clothes that did not reach beyond the middle of the knee, their heads were shorn, and their beards shaven, only that upon the upper lip was always let grow to its full length.”

In 1013, Sweyn, king of Denmark, landed with an army in this country, to revenge a cruel massacre of the Danes, which had taken place a short time before, having brought his fleet up the Trent to Gainsborough, and landed his forces, it created such terror that the whole kingdom was soon brought under his yoke. He, however, did not long enjoy his success, for he died the following year, and was succeeded by his son, Canute, between whom and Edmund the Saxon, several sanguinary engagements took place, and the kingdom was for a short time divided. In 1041, Edward the Confessor was, by the unani­mous voice of the people, raised to the throne: having reigned twenty-five years he died, and with him ended both the Saxon and Danish rule in this kingdom. Harold, the son of Godwin, was the next to take possession of the throne, but he was opposed by his brother Tosti, who entered into confederacy with Harfragor, king of Norway; he having entered the Humber with a considerable force, landed his troops in Yorkshire, where in a deadly conflict they were completely overthrown by Harold, who left his brother and Harfragor amongst the slain. Harold having retired to York to rejoice over his victory, received information that William, Duke of Normandy had landed with a numerous and warlike army, at Pevensey in Sussex. To meet this unexpected foe, Harold immediately marched his forces to Hastings, where, in an unsuccessful battle he lost his life. William the Conqueror had no sooner taken possession of the throne than he set up various claims to his new possessions, but his principal right was that of conquest, and if his sword had not been stronger than his titles, so many English estates would not have been placed at his disposal. William brought in his train a large body of Norman adventurers, and the Roll of Battle Abbey given by Ralph Hollinshead, contains the names of 829 Normans, who all became claimants upon the fair territory of Britain, and the Saxon lords were forced to resign their possessions. The Conqueror, in parcelling out the lands of the kingdom amongst his followers, gave all the lands and tenements upon them in Derbyshire, to seventeen distinct proprietors. King William, the Bishop of Chester, the Abbey of Burton, Hugh the Earl, Roger of Poicton, Henry de Ferriers, William Peverel, Walter de Aincourt, Geoffrey Alselin, Ralph the son of Hubert, Ralph de Burun, Hascuit Musard, Gilbert de Gaud, Nigel de Stafford, Robert the son of William, Roger de Busli, Thanes of the King. The tenants who occupied land under these different proprietors are also sometimes noticed, and in the course of the work some of the most curious and remarkable of the tenures will be given.

After so mighty an agitation as that produced by the conquest, some years were necessary to restore a calm; a violent struggle was made to expel the Normans, and York was the rallying point of the patriot army. To suppress this formidable insurrection, William repaired in person into the north, at the head of a powerful army, swearing by the “splendour of God,” which was his usual oath, that not a soul of his enemies should be left alive. According to William of Malmsbury, confirmed by others, the whole country was laid waste from the Humber to the Tees, and for nine years neither the spade nor the plough was put into the ground, which is the reason why vasta so often occurs in Dooms­day book, in Yorkshire. Knowing the detestation in which he was held, the Norman

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bastard, as historians designate him, entertained a constant jealousy of the English, and he obliged them every night at the hour of eight o’clock, to extinguish their fires and candles, at the toll of a bell, which obtained the name of the “curfew.” Having by these sanguinary atrocities reduced the country to repose, the Conqueror in 1080 caused a survey to be undertaken of all the lands in the kingdom, on the model of the book of Winchester, compiled by order of the Great Alfred. This survey was registered in a national record called Doomsday Book, in which the extent of land in each district, the state it was in, whether meadow, pasture, wood, or arable; the name of the proprietor, the tenure by which it was held, and the value at which it was estimated, were all duly entered. In order to make this document complete, and its authority perpetual, commissioners were appointed to superintend the survey, and the returns were made under the sanction of juries of all orders of freemen in each district. After a labour of six years, the business was accomplished, and this important document, the best memorial of the Conqueror, written in Roman with a mixture of Saxon is still preserved in the Chapter-House at West­minster. For many centuries Doomsday Book remained unprinted, but in the 40th year of the reign of George III., his majesty, by the recommendation of parliament, and with a proper regard to the public interest, directed that it should be printed for the use of the members of both Houses of Parliament and the public libraries of the kingdom, which order has been duly obeyed. The counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland and Durham, are not described in Doomsday Book,—probably owing to the desolation in which they were at that time involved. Through all ages this “Book of Judicial Verdict,” will be held in estimation, not only for its antiquity, but also for its intrinsic value. At the time when it was completed, it afforded the king an exact knowledge of his own land and revenue, while the rights of his subjects in all disputed cases were settled by it; and to the present day it serves to show what manor is, and what is not ancient demense. The parish histories in this work will contain much information from this ancient document of all that is important relative to the manors and estates of Derbyshire. It may be necessary to explain the land measures and other obsolete feudal terms used at the time to which it refers. A perch, five yards and a half; an acre, 160 square perches; an oxgang or bovate, as much as an ox can till, or twenty-eight acres; a virgate or yard of land, forty acres; a carucate, carve, or plough land, generally eight oxgangs; an hide, as much as one plough would cultivate in a year; a knight’s fee, five hides or 200 acres of land; berewicks are manors within manors; merchet or maiden’s rent, a fine anciently paid by inferior tenants for liberty to dispose of their daughters in marriage; heriot, a fine paid to the lord at the death of a landholder; tol, a tribute for liberty, to buy and sell; theam, a liberty to a lord of a manor for judging bondmen and villains in his court; infangtheof, a privilege of certain lords of manors to pass judgment of theft committed by their servants within their districts; thelonia, a writ lying for one who has the king’s demense in fee farm, to recover reasonable toll; sockmen, tenants who are held by servile tenure; borders, cottagers; villain, a member belonging to a manor. After the conquest, much of the land in Derby­shire passed to the church and the religious fraternities; but at the Reformation most of it reverted to the crown, and was subsequently granted to such persons as were then in royal favour.

CLIMATE.—The climate is much colder in the northern and western parts, which terminate the principal middle chain of hills from the north, than in the southern, lower, and more sheltered regions. Dr. Aikin, in his “Description of the Country round Man­chester,” observes, that the mountainous parts of this county is distinguished from the rest by the greater quantity of rain which falls in it. At Chatsworth, which is by no means the highest tract, about 33 in. of rain have been found to fall annually at a medium. The High Peak is peculiarly liable to very violent storms, in which the rain descends in torrents, so as frequently to cause great ravages in the lands; it is also subject to very high winds. These causes, together with the elevation of the country, render it cold, so that vegetation is backward and unkindly. Some kinds of grain will not grow at all in the

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Peak, and others seldom ripen till very late in the year. The atmosphere is, however, pure and healthful, and the higher situations are generally free from epidemic diseases; though agues and fevers sometimes have prevailed in the valleys. One disease, however, is endemic in these parts, and even as far south as Derby ; this is the bronchocele, or Derby neck.

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire had but one high sheriff till the tenth of Elizabeth; and they appear to have been divided into eighteen hundreds; for in Domesday Book we find that if the king’s peace, given with his hand or seal, was broken in Debyscyre or Snottinghamscyre, it was to be amended by the eighteen hundreds, each hundred paying eight pounds; of this amends the king hath two parts and the earl one. In the same document it is also written, “If any man according to law shall be banished for any guilt, none but the king can restore peace to him. A thane having more than six manors, doth not give relief of his land, except to the king only eight pounds. If he have six or less, he giveth relief three marks of silver; wheresoever he remaineth in a borough or out. If a thane having soc and sac forfeit his land between the king and the earl, they have the moiety of his land and money: and his lawful wife, with his legitimate heirs, if there be any, have the other half.” The earl here referred to was the Conqueror’s legitimate son, William Peverel, who was the governor of Nottingham Castle, and lord of the extensive honour of Peverel, which extended largely into both counties.

THE MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS in this county were, including all kinds, fourteen, and at the general dissolution, were calculated to be of the value of £728 15s. 5d. At Derby an abbey and canons, not of long continuance, being afterwards transferred to Derley Abbey; a priory of Benedictine nuns, a priory of Preaching or Dominican friars, and an hospital (if not two) for leprous persons. At Gresley, a small priory of canons; at Calke, a convent of regular canons, of the order of St. Austin; at Repton, a monastry of religious men and women, which afterwards was a priory of Black canons; at Lockhay, or Locko, a preceptory of the order of St. Lazarus; at Dale, Dale Abbey, of the Premonstratentian order; at Yeavely, an hermitage or preceptory; at Beauchief, a monastery of Premonstra­tentians, or White canons; between the villages of Hope and Castleton, an hospital ; at Birchover, an hermitage. The particulars of each, and the grants of the lands of these houses at the dissolution of the monasteries, will be recorded in each parish where they were situated. These institutions were mostly founded during the two centuries imme­diately following the Norman conquest; afterwards the people seem to have lost their taste for such institutions. The total revenue of all the religious houses in England, at their dissolution, has by some been estimated at £140,000; whilst others have thought it not less than £200,000 per annum.

EMINENT MEN. — Mr. Flamstead, one of the most eminent astronomers whom England or any other country ever produced, was born at Derby, in 1646, and received the first part of his education at the free school, in that town, but was interrupted by a bad state of health in his preparation for the university. During his sickness, having met with an astronomical work, he received much entertainment from the perusal of it, and formed a taste for those studies, from the successful prosecution of which he afterwards acquired the most distinguished reputation. His first attempts in astronomy were calculations of the places of the planets, and of an eclipse of the sun by the Caroline tables. By means of the latter of these observations, he became acquainted with Mr. Imanuel Halton, a mathe­matician of some eminence, who resided at Wingfield manor, and supplied him with the best astronomical works then extant. From this time Mr. Flamstead prosecuted his favourite study with great success. In the year 1669, he calculated some remarkable eclipses of the fixed stars with great precision. This display procured him the thanks of the Royal Society, and the correspondence of some of its most learned members. In the year 1674, passing through London on his way to the University, he was informed by Sir Jonas Moore, that a true account of the tides would be highly acceptable to His Majesty; and he embraced the opportunity of recommending himself to the favour of the king by

10                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

gratifying his wishes. He also constructed two barometers, at the request of Sir Jonas Moore, who showed them as great curiosities to the king and the Duke of York, and accompanied them with Mr Flamstead’s directions, for judging of the weather by these instru­ments. This great patron and friend, Sir Jonas, the following year, brought Mr. Flamstead a warrant to be astronomer to the king, with a salary of £100 a year, payable out of the ordnance. This appointment did not lessen his inclination to go to the church, and a few months afterwards he was ordained by the Bishop of Ely. He resided at Greenwich in the year 1675, whilst the Royal Observatory was built, and began his observations in the character of astronomer to His Majesty. In the year 1684 he was presented to the living of Burstow, in Surrey; but his attention was still principally directed to that science which had been the means of raising him to the honourable situation in which he was then placed. After having made many important discoveries and improvements in astronomy, as may be seen from perusing the Philosophical Transactions, published at this time, he died on the last day of December, 1719. About six years after his decease, his great work, “Historia Cœlestis Britannica,” was published and dedicated to the king. It had been prepared and part printed before his death, and will be a lasting and noble monument to his memory. He composed the “British Catalogue of Fixed Stars, containing about three thousand, which is twice the number of those contained in the catalogue of Hevelius. To each of these stars he has annexed its longitude, latitude, right ascension, and distance from the pole-star; together with the variation of right ascension, and declination, while the longitude increases a degree. The great accuracy and extent of Mr. Flamstead’s observa­tions are deserving of admiration, nor has any age or country produced a more eminent astronomer, if we except the late Dr. Herschel, whose discoveries have raised the astonish­ment of all Europe.

James Brindley, the celebrated engineer, was entirely self-taught. He was born at Tunstead, near Wormhill, in 1716, and from the time he was able to do anything, was employed in the ordinary descriptions of country labour. From the extreme poverty of his father, this great genius received little or no education, and to the end of his life he was barely able to read, and his knowledge of the art of writing hardly extended farther than the accomplishment of signing his name. At the age of seventeen, he bound himself apprentice to Mr. Bennett, millwright, of Macclesfield. Being frequently left to himself for whole weeks together, to execute works concerning which his master had given him no previous instructions, Mr. Bennett was frequently astonished at the improvements intro­duced into the wheelwright business. After remaining with his master some years, he set up in business for himself; his connections became gradually more and more extended, and at length he began to undertake engineering in all its branches. In 1755, it was determined to erect a new silk mill, at Congleton, and another person being appointed to preside over the execution of the work, and arrange the more intricate combinations, and Brindley was engaged to fabricate the larger wheels, and coarser parts of the apparatus. It soon became manifest, however, that the superintendent was unfit for office, Brindley being obliged to remedy several blunders into which he had fallen, at length the entire work was confided to him, which was completed in a very superior manner. His ever active genius was constantly displaying itself by the invention of the most beautiful simplifications, one of these was a method for cutting all his tooth and pinion wheels by machinery, which till then had been done by hand. But he had not yet found an adequate field for the display of his vast ideas and almost inexhaustible powers of execution. Happily, however, this was at last afforded by a series of undertakings which were destined, within no long period, to change the whole aspect of the internal commerce of the land. The Duke of Bridgewatcr having an estate extremely rich in coal mines, which had hitherto been unpro­ductive, owing to the want of sufficiently economical means of transport; the object of supplying this defect had for some time engaged the attention of the young Duke, as it had indeed done that of his father, who, in 1732, obtained an act to enable him to cut a canal to Manchester, but had been deterred by the immense outlay, and the formidable natural

HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.                                                 11

 

difficulties. When the idea was now revived, Brindley was applied to, to survey the ground. Confident of his own powers, he expressed his conviction that the ground presented no difficulties which might not be surmounted. On receiving this assurance, the Duke at once commenced the undertaking. The canal was of uniform level throughout, and consequently had to be carried across the Irwell in order to bring it to Manchester. Thinking it due to his noble employer to give him the most satisfying evidence of its practicability, he requested that another engineer might be called in. This person Brindley accompanied to the place where he proposed to rear his aqueduct, and explained to him how he intended to carry on his works; but the man only shook his head and remarked that “he had often heard of castles being built in the air, but never before was shown where any of them were to be erected.” The Duke, nevertheless, retained his confidence in his own engineer, and the work was begun in September, 1760, and finished in July following. This was the first of a succession of works of the same description, in which the great engineer displayed the originality and fertility of his genius, and from this may be dated the commencement of that extended canal navigation which has formed so important a part of our means of internal communication. The vigour of his conception in regard to machinery was so great that however complicated the machine, having once fixed its different parts in his mind, he would construct it without any difficulty. When much perplexed with any problem he had to solve, his practice was to take to bed, where he would sometimes remain for two or three days thus fixed to his pillow. The case affords us a striking example of what the force of natural talent will sometimes, do, where not only all education is wanting, but all access to books. Brindley’s multiplied labours and intense application rapidly wasted his strength and shortened his life. He died at Turnhurst, in Staffordshire, in 1772, in the 56th year of his age.

The birth-place of two eminent literary characters, who are known to have been natives of Derbyshire, are not known; Dr. William Outram, the learned divine of the 17th century, who wrote upon sacrifices, and Samuel Richardson, author of Sir Charles Gran­dison, and other novels, which acquired so much celebrity in the reign of George II.

Amongst the distinguished characters of the 12th and 13th centuries, who flourished in this part, was ROBIN HOOD, the famous archer and freebooter, of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, who was born at Chellaston Manor House, in this county, but whose excursions often extended into the High Peak, where several places bear his name, partic­ularly a high ridge of rocks about two miles from Hathersage, a short distance from the Sheffield road; the recess, two yards deep and one wide, formed in the rock, is called Robin Hood’s chair, and according to tradition Little John, Robin Hood’s companion, lies buried in Hathersage church yard.

LONGEVITY.—Amongst the numerous instances of longevity, in Derbyshire, we will notice the following: in the reign of Edward II., Sir Ralph Vernon, styled the long liver of Sudbury, aged 150 years; 1640, William Cooke, of Barlborough, aged 100; 1657, Adam Woolley, of Allen Hill, near Matlock, aged 100; 1669, Grace Woolley, wife of the afore­said, aged 110; 1718, November 19th, in Taddington churchyard, William Heward, aged 118; 1789, Cornelius Crich, of Ashover, aged 101 ; 1792, Mary Bate, of Beighton, aged 105; 1795. Mary Gratton, of Taddington, aged 105; 1820, Sarah Hollins, of Sommer­cotes, aged 102; l82l Alice Buckley, of Taddington, aged 106; 1827, Thomas Withers, of Heath, near Chesterfield, aged 102; 1827, December 4th, Mrs. Turner, of Morewood Moor, aged 103. The Derbyshire Chronicle, of June 13th, 1845, notices fifteen persons living at Blackwell, whose united ages amounted to 1249 years, averaging 83 years each and in the village of Eyarn, three persons whose united ages amount to 264 years. At the census of 1831, the county of Derby contained 189 persons who were 90 years old, and 28 persons who were 100 years old and upwards. There is now, 1857, living at Morewood Moor, South Wingfield, a woman, in the possession of all her faculties, named Rhoda Flint, in her 100th year. There is also a man residing at the same place who was at the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21st, 1805, and served on board the “Victory”—the vessel on which Lord Nelson was killed.

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     SURFACE, MONNTAINS, DALES, CAVES, &e.—There are few counties in England, the general surface of which exhibits so irregular an appearance as that of Derby. Indeed the southern and northern parts of it are a striking contrast to each other. The former is not remarkable for hills and dales; whereas the latter is distinguished in an eminent degree by a long and continued succession of hills, romantic dales, and beautiful valleys. In this part of the kingdom, the country begins gently to rise into hills, which in their progress to the north, swell gradually into mountains. These extend in one great chain, usually termed the backbone of England, to the southern extremity of Scotland. They first divide Yorkshire and Lancashire then, entering Westmoreland, they spread over the whole face of that county, and a part of Cumberland and Northumberland; after this they contract again in a ridge or chain, and form the limits between Cumberland and Northumberland. Continuing their direction northward, they enter Scotland. These mountains in their course are distinguished by many different names, and vary considerably from each other in their respective elevations and circumference. Ingleborough, in Yorkshire, has been estimated at 20 miles in circumference at its base, and 600 yards in height above the neighbouring valley, but 787 above the level of the sea. Whernside and Pennigant, the former 2,384 feet, and the latter 2,270 feet above the level of the sea. These are the most lofty heights at the north-western extremity of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Scaw Fell, Helvellyn, and Skiddaw, in Cumberland, rear their heads 3,000 feet high. Snowden, in Wales, is 3,600, and Ben Nevis, in Scotland, 4,000 feet above the level of the ocean. In respect to that part of Derbyshire where these high lands begin, though the mountains are not equal in height and extent to those mentioned, yet they approach nearer to them than may at first sight be imagined. The ground in the southern extremity of the Peak rising gradually into hills, and these lying one behind another in a continued series, a common observer can scarcely form an accurate idea of their elevation above the surrounding country. However, of this he becomes fully sensible, when he begins to descend, in the neighbouring western counties. In some particular situations, the prospects into Cheshire and Lancashire are remarkably distinct and extensive. The two highest mountains in the north-west part of Derbyshire are Axe Edge and Kinderscout. The former, about three miles south-west from Buxton, is about 2,100 feet higher than the town of Derby, 1,000 feet above the valley in which Buxton Old Hall stands, and 1751 feet above the level of the sea. Holme Moss, the most conspicuous point of Kinderscout, is 1859 feet high. These separate the basins of the Humber and the Mersey. Main Tor, or the Mother or Shivering mountain, near Castleton, and other ridges, branch off in various directions, across the High Peak, and the Eastern Moor, until they are lost in the fruitful plains that embank the Trent. From near Axe Edge, a tract of high land runs south-east, separating the basins of the Derwent and the Dove. Another east of the Derwent, and running south-east, separates its basin from that of the Rother and the Sheaf. The Low Peak, of Wirksworth Hundred, though hilly, is not so elevated. Of the dales or valleys, Dove Dale is undoubtedly the most celebrated. It extends nearly north-west, from Thorpe, between Derbyshire and Staffordshire, about five miles along the course of the Dove. There are high and elevated rocks in this picturesque dale, called Dovedale Church, Thorpe Cloud, Lover’s Leap, &c. The valley in the High Peak, perhaps the most interesting, is that in which the town of Castleton stands. It is at least 800 feet deep, and in many parts nearly two miles wide; extending a distance of five or six miles. The view from the east, as you stand on the Sheffield road, a little above Hathersage, is exceedingly interesting. Sur­rounded by the bleak and barren moors, scattered over with gigantic rocks, thrown by some terrible commotion in the wildest confusion, the valley suddenly opens to view in all its loveliness and beauty. The steep sides of the vale are seen dotted over by a series of well-cultivated, enclosures; and the village of Hope, with its heaven-pointed spire, standing in the distance; while the Derwent is seen winding its silent course, here and there darting its silvery rays through the thickly interwoven foliage, and giving to the whole a charm of the most exquisite beauty. Another pleasing and romantic view is seen as you enter the valley from the hills above Castleton. Directing your eye on the north

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side of the valley, you see the country boldly swelling into hills, and at length terminating in several high points, at a considerable distance. At the bottom is seen the town of Castleton, and to the south of it, the ruins of an ancient castle, standing on a bold and abrupt eminence. Descending from this elevated position, fresh objects no less striking present themselves. Mam Tor raises his lofty head, and seems with an awful majesty to overlook this scene of beauty and grandeur. The valley does not extend westward beyond the town of Castleton, but here forms a most noble and magnificent amphitheatre; its back rising in many parts 1000 feet, and the diameter of its front measuring nearly two miles. If the valley be pursued down the vale of the Derwent, it is of great length, extending to the distance of forty miles, even below the town of Derby. In the course of the valley the views are extremely diversified, and the most beautiful and romantic scenery continually presents itself in the most delightful succession.

The course of the Derwent from Hathersage, by Chatsworth, Darley, Matlock, and Duffield, as far as the town of Derby, will be fully illustrated in the course of the present work; as well as Bonsal Dale, Matlock Dale, Monsal Dale, Middleton Dale, Cave Dale, and Lathkill Dale, &c.

The MOUNTAIN LIMESTONE ROCK, on the north-west, is noted for the striking appearance it presents, and the singular CAVERNS which often engulf the streams, tra­versing them in subterraneous courses several miles in length, constitute the most pecu­liar features of Derbyshire. These caverns, the more important of which are at Castleton, Matlock, and Buxton, are entered by natural arches or fissures at different elevations of the sides of the hills in which they are situated, and lead to alternate passages and chambers, being in one or two instances of palatial size, and of noble height and proportions; in some cases roofed with a flat surface of rock, in others with arches of different forms and sizes. In the great Peak Cavern, at Castleton, these arches, from their height, span, proportions, and harmony, as to character and extent with the chambers, their canopy fill the mind with a sense of grandeur and beauty, scarcely inferior to that produced by the interiors of the large cathedrals. In some instances, the constant dripping of water from the roofs of these caverns, charged with calcareous matter,—in others, the constant oozing and welling of such water over large faces of the rocky sides of the caverns, have, in process of time formed stalactites of great size and curious variety, or produced surfaces of crystalline character. In a cavern in Chelmorton Dale, a miner found a ring, though he could discover no en­trance except the one he had made. Similar instances are noticed by other miners of human skeletons having been found at various depths of the earth, particularly in the neighbourhood of Monyash and Sheldon. There are several openings of the ground on the north-west side of Peak Forest, called “swallows,” by the country people; they derive this name from the total disappearance of small streams of water which fall into them.

SOIL AND PRODUCE.—The soil consists chiefly of clay, loam, sand, and peat, very irregularly intermixed: the southern part, which is the most fertile, consists principally of a red loam on various under-soils. The sub-strata of which, comprised within a line drawn east and west from Sandiacre to Ashbourne, consists of gravel, intermixed with large portions of red marl of very irregular forms, in several parts of which are beds of gypsum of considerable extent. The sub-strata of the other parts of Derbyshire, are limestone of various kinds, with toadstone, gritstone, with shale, and coal, with indurated clay, all of which appear in the surface in certain parts, owing to their dipping in various directions. The soil on the banks of the rivers is partly alluvial. The southern and eastern parts are employed both for pasture and tillage. Most kinds of grain are there cultivated, and pro­duce a fair return. Dairy farms are numerous in the southern and northern parts; and the annual produce is said to he about 10,000 tons of cheese, which is sent to all parts of the kingdom. In 1846, the quantity of cheese made was about 8,000 tons, and forty years ago it did not exceed 2,000 tons. Barley is cultivated to some extent in the southern division of the county, and more particularly so in the Repton and Gresley Hundred,

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where it finds a ready market at Burton-upon-Trent, a town long celebrated for the ex­cellency of its ale. The quantity of barley converted into malt annually in the town of Derby, is about 14,000 quarters; in the whole county, about 40,000 qrs., and in the town of Burton alone, 88,000. In the northern parts, the land is mostly used as pasture for sheep and cattle, and though the climate is raw, yet much of the land is excellent for feeding, the cattle becoming fat in a short time. The sheep on the High Peak are smaller than those on the Leicester border. They weigh only from 14 to l7lbs. per quarter; those on the gritstone lands being about 3lbs. lighter than others of the same breed fattened on the limestone soil. The fleeces of the former are much lighter and thinner than the others. Merino sheep were introduced in the beginning of this century; and George III. honoured the patriotic endeavours of Mr. W. B. Thomas, of Chesterfield, the introducer, by pre­senting him with two Merino ewes. The horses in the northern are of a different breed from those of the southern parts; the latter being strong and heavy, while the former are light and active, and are much employed in the Peak for carrying limestone and lead ore. Oats are grown on the high lands in the northern parts, and the natural grass is mostly very rich, which, though occasionally ploughed, and sown with oats, two or three years in succession, soon recovers its rich herbage, and is much improved by the moss to which it is subject being destroyed. Great quantities of camomile, besides valerian and elecampane root, were formerly raised in the county, which though it has never ranked decidedly high for its agriculture, it has been considered to be on an equality with the most favoured dis­trict, more especially in respect to the dairy produce—cheese, which is sought after in other counties.

AGRICULURAL IMPROVEMENTS.—During last century the improvements by enclosure, drainage, and superior management, have been wonderful; but when, with Mr. J. L. Mechi, of Triptree Hall, Essex, we consider that we have a superfluous capital, with a super abundant unemployed population, threatening in its continuance ultimate destruction to the nation, and that to ship off our labourers and our money is nothing less than suicide ;—he says, the denser our population, the greater our power and our trade, provided we keep our capital at home and at work amongst ourselves. To accomplish which he points to his own operations at Triptree Hall, and says,—lf every capitalist expends forty-six pounds sterling money in improving each acre of poor and indifferent land, the sum total would be many hundred millions. The magical effects of this expenditure on our trade, commerce, and manufactures, scarcely need pointing out, Mr. Mechi’s letters and im­provements are worthy of the notice of the nobility, gentry, yeomen, and capitalists, and if found practicable, it is hoped they will endeavour to follow the example, to restore the prosperity and stability of the British Empire. England contains 32,590,429 acres of land, of the average value of 19s. 2d. per acre. It is asserted by eminent writers on the principles of population, that England alone could maintain 60,000,000 souls, and some say more.

FARMS—In the southern division of the county, the farms are nearly equally divided between pasture and tillage; while the northern parts, from the poverty of soil, and the rawness of the climate, are mainly used as pasture for sheep and cattle. The farms, though not extensive, are generally larger in the southern portions of the county than in the north; and after all that has been said in favour of large farms, it it pleasant to see a whole county in a high state of cultivation, inhabited by respectable yeomanry, although few farms exceed £300 per annum. There are many small farms, particularly in the north, the rental of which does not exceed £20 a year; yet the occupants maintain themselves in honest respectability; which would not be the case, if ten or twenty of these little spots were thrown together.

FARM-HOUSES AND COTTAGES.—The farm-houses have been considerably improved within the last thirty years, and in most instances particular attention has been paid to the convenience of the outbuildings and farm-yards. In the south, they are principally built of brick, and covered with tiles; while in the north, they are almost exclusively built of

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stone, and covered with slates: most of the old houses, which were covered with thatch, have given way to more modern erections. The cottages have generally small plots of ground attached to them, and agritultural labourers are better off than in most other counties, from the facility of obtaining employment in mining, or the various branches of manufactures carried on in most parts of the county.

RENTS.—The rents, as in most other counties, were considerably advanced during the late war, about forty-five years ago, owing to the extraordinary rise which had previously taken place in the price of provisions and other agricultural produce. However these have been greatly reduced since that time; and on the repeal of the Corn Laws, still further reductions were made, to meet the temporary depression in agricultural produce, but which during the last two years has more than recovered its original position.

TENURES are in all the variety of freehold, copyhold, and leasehold, and there is a con­siderable portion of church lands. The freeholders are more numerous than extensive, and the principal occupants of the soil are mostly tenants at will; a system which prevents those extensive agricultural improvements, which would undoubtedly take place, if leases were more generally granted. The tithes are in most instances commuted, and in others they are paid by a moderate composition.

STRATA AND GEOLOGY.—The geology of Derbyshire is in the highest degree interest­ing and instructive. The general disposition of the superior strata may be stated as follows, viz. :—lst. Argillaceous Grit, and its accompanying beds of clay, coal, ironstone, &c., varying in thickness according as the surface is more or less uneven, and containing a great variety of impressions, particularly the bamboo of India, the euphorbia of the East Indies, the American ferns, corn, grass, and many other species of the vegetable kingdom not known now to exist. 2nd. Coarse Silicious Grit, composed of granulated quartz pebbles, of various sizes. This stratum is about 120 yards in thickness, but not productive of minerals; frequently it contains crystalized flour and barytes. 3rd. Shale or Schistus of a dark brown or blackish colour, bituminous, and appearing like indurated clay; its thickness varies from 120 to 150 yards. In its sparry veins are frequently cavities incrusted with a fine variety of crystalizations of calcarcous spar; impressions of marine substances are sometimes discovered in it. 4th. Limestone regularly stratified, and varying in thick­ness, and seeming to be wholly composed of marine exuviœ, in which is found a great variety of shells, entrochi, corallois, madrepora, and many other species of crustaeeous animals. In it are found the principal veins or fissures which contain galena, sulpheret or native oxide of zinc, a variety of ochres, fluors, barytes, calcareous crystalizations, pyrites, &c. This limestone forms a variety of beautiful marbles, some black, others of a brown red, much used for chimneypieces and different ornaments; some mottled grey, of a light stone colour. On the surface of this stratum rottenstone is sometimes found.  5th. Toadstone, a substance of a dark brown colour, with a greenish tinge, and very full of holes; sometimes filled with calcareous spar, and sometimes with green globules; not laminated, but consisting of one entire mass, and breaking irregularly in all directions. 6th. Limestone, similar to that already described, below which no miners in Derbyshire have yet penetrated. Whatever stratum in the preceding generally occupies the surface in any part of the county, the subsequent beds invariably follow in the order already enumerated. The new red sandstone extends into Derbyshire from the other midland counties, and occupies the southern districts as far north as Ashbourn, Duffield, and Sandiacre. ROCKS are divided into primary, secondary, and ternary. Primary consists of granite, gneis, micaceous-schistus, hornblende-schistus, argillaceous-schistus, kiezel-schistus, chlorite-schistus, sienite, porphyry, quartz, primitive limestone, serpentine and topaz rock; which produce platina, gold, silver, mercury, tin, bismuth, antimony, nickel, cobalt, arsenic, molybdena, scheelium, uranium, &c., with the precious stones, accompanied with several ores of the metals found in the secondary.  The Secondary consists of limestones, grits, sandstones, coals, ironstones, aluminous-schistus, basalt, basaltic amygdaloid, &c. The Ironstone and Coal Strata found laminated in the concavities on the surface of the grit

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stratum, may by some be accounted ternary; if so, the lavas compose a fourth formation; hence the basis of a quaternary division. The following delineation of the strata is from Mr. White Watson’s work —“ Grit Stone, a stratum four yards thick; the surface of ground where its bassets is covered with the fragments of the incumbent beds, whose abrupt termination makes it probable to conclude that these fragments have been shook off by some convulsive violence. Grit, ten or twelves yards thick, the ending of this rock, occupies a considerable portion of ground, and makes some of the best land in the valley; in this stratum are numerous organic remains, having the appearance of large striated reeds, phytolithus, sulci culmis, and striati culmis. After which a thin bed of grit, at the termination of which the Dawlee winds through the valley.”

Ferruginous Grit is of a white colour, fine grained texture, and slaty structure, easily decomposed by the air into clay. The surface undulated, in the concavities of which are formed beds of coal and ironstone. The convexities form conical hills, as at Duckmanton, Calow, Chesterfield, &e: This stone is hardened by torrification in kilns, which makes it a better material for roads.

Whetetone Grit, of a light hair brown colour, fine grained texture and concboidal fracture, forming a stratum three yards thick, much esteemed for whetstones, tombs, paving, &c.

     Grit, commonly called Cankstone, from its hardness, is much noted for roads; a bed of about ten inches thick; incumbent thereon is a bed of fire clay, used in the potteries, &c.

     Organic Grit, provincially crowstone, gannister, galyard, of a very fine grained com­pact texture, abounding with impressions of a peculiar vegetable phytolithus plantites, &c. It forms a stratum of from six inches to upwards of three feet thick, and is much used for roads. Beneath this stratum is a thin bed of coal.

     Argillaceous, or Shale Grit, of a straw yellow colour, forming an undulating surface, subject to faults from its commencement at Chatsworth, to its basseting at Bakewell Edge. The upper beds are used as slates for covering roofs, the lower beds for building; but it is necessary to place the stones in the same position in which they lay in the quarry, or they will separate and soon perish. It contains petrified plants. Bakewell church is built of this stone, from Bakewell Edge; and the fronts of Chatsworth, and the principal part of the Crescent at Buxton; though the same stone bassets on the spot, a circumstance at that time unknown.

        Spheroidal Basalt with Basaltic Arnygdaloid, provincially toadstone, blackstone, dunstone, channel, &c., is not in beds, but is an undulating stratum of irregular thickness, composed of irregular shaped nodules of various sizes, of different colours and textures, totally void of petrifactions, and easily decomposing on exposure to the air; some being basalt, often in concentric laminæ, containing hornblende and olivin, others amygdaloid, having the vessels filled with carbonate of lime, calcedony, and jasper, of various colours, in concentric circles, which frequently interrupt each other, forming beautiful zoned agates; others containing quartz, compact and radiated; and others green earth, steatite, raystone or actynolitc, &c. This stratum is separated from the limestone by beds of blue clay, called wayboard, which abounds plentifully with sulphuret of iron, crystalized in cubes, and in balls composed of cubes in mass.

Crystalized Granular Limestone—This stratum forms the surface from Langwith, (where the Poulter river divides this county frorn Nottinghamshire) to Bolsover, where it bassets out, and is composed of seven various beds. On breaking a block in Bolsover field in the year 1795, of a ton and a-half weight, a toad was discovered alive in the centre, which died on being exposed to the air.  Pipe-clay used at the pipe mauufactories of Bolsover, separate many of these beds. Compact shell limestone, forming an undulating surface from Bakewell to Chelmerton Lowe, is composed of fourteen laminæ of different colours and textures, all of them abounding more or less with marine petrifactions. Compact sugar limestone forms the surface from Chelmerton to near Sherbrook. Compact sugar limestone consists of three laminæ, nearly of the same colour and texture, which are separated by irregular beds of very fine porcelain clay.

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The stratum of the compact shell limestone, which is composed of fourteen laminæ, is very much broken and dislocated, abounds with fissures, which are many of them filled with spars, &c. When they contain minerals, and are under four inches wide, they are termed scrins, and veins when thicker, which when perpendicular are called rake veins; and when the dislocation is very extensive, and one side of the vein sunk considerably below the other, they are termed faults. The minerals in these veins are formed alternately on their checks (or sides of the vein), and when there was not a sufficiency of matter to fill the vein, the last deposited substances crystalized; hence the formation of the beautiful crystals which adorn the cabinets of the curious, which, varying in their figure in different districts of the same stratum, and peculiar mines being unworked, occasions some crystals to be very scarce. Crystals of the same substance, sometimes vary in the figure in the same specimen, and frequently assume different figures in different parts of the same mine. Scrins often descend to what is termed pipe veins, when they are termed leaders, where the minerals are formed between the bedding of the rock in concentric laminæ, resemb­ling oblate spheroids; sometimes the minerals are formed in hemispheric cups, consisting of alternate layers, found detached in mineral soils, with their mouths upwards and reversed. The oblate spheroids are often conjoined, when the places of union ore called twitchings, and often stratified over each other, having their leaders passing through the centre of the whole, when they are termed feeders, which generally terminate below the pipes in small strings. When the minerals are formed in horizontal laminæ between the beds of the rock, they are termed flat-works.

These veins are productive of various ores of lead, as the sulphur of leafy camellar fracture, compact and spread over, which last is termed slickensides; the carbonate, phos­phate, muriate and brown. The ores of zinc, as the native oxide and sulphate, provincially, “Black Jack.” Also, ores of copper, iron, manganese, very rarely antimony. A variety of clays and ochres, &c.; accompanied with various earths of lime, as carbonate, fluate, and sulphate; varieties of sulphate of baryte, quartz, &e. Native sulphur is found com­pact, mixed with sulphur of lead, and in a friable state, within balls of sulphate of baryte, accompanied with crystalized sulphuret of iron.

LEAD MINES are of great antiquity in this county, and were much worked by the Romans, as appears by legends on pieces of lead taken out of the old mine hillocks, three of which were deposited some years ago in the British Museum. The first was found on Cromford Moor, in 1776, which was made in the reign of the Emperor Adrian; the second was found near Matlock Bank, in 1783, which appears to have been the property of Lucius Aruconius Verecundus, lead merchant, of London; and the third was found near Matlock, in 1787, belonging to Tiberius Claudius, of Chesterfield, Triumvir, “drawn from a silver-mine.” There are lead mines at Alport, Bakewell, Castleton, Crich, Eyam, Haddon, Hassop, Wren Park, Calver Sough, Matlock, Monyash, Winster, Wirksworth, &c. Of these we will just notice the Eyam Mining Company, which was formed about ten years ago, by a number of gentlemen principally residents in Sheffield, who are in possession of much that is of a prospective character—in fact, taking the current reports, as bequeathed to the present generation by the ancient miner, the more valuable portions of the Eyam possessions are those which have not yet been approached by either level or engine-shafts; and by saying this much we are by no means disposed to underrate the resources of the Dusty Pit—the principal mine at present developed on this sett, and which, by the bye, has been effected by a ten-horse engine—clearing the same of water, and draining the entire quantity of mineral to surface, a distance of fifty-two fathoms, as well as grinding the mineral and working the timber saw. The dusty pit has, within a few days, become increasingly rich, and is raising from two to three tons of first-class lead per day.

The Wren Park and Calver Sough Company will in future be denominated the North Derbyshire Mining Company.

IRONSTONE AND COAL STRATA.—Formed within concavities named troughs, sancums, &e., imbedded in clay, whose laminæ frequently abound with charcoal, carbonate of iron,

B

18                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

sulphuret of iron, crystals of sulphate of lime, &c., lie at the bottom, and are more or less separated by clay; the bottom beds of ironstone are in nodules frequently containing vegetable impressions of ferns, galiums, nuts, and a variety of flowers, insects, &c., which are sometimes accompanied with particles of sulphur of lead. Above these beds are nodules, which contain impressions of larger plants, and incumbent are compact layers of nodules. Above these are compact beds, abounding with petrified muscle shells, incrusted with conic clay, composed of multifarious concentric ramified cones; and nearer the surface are oblate spheroids, containing septariæ of carbonate of iron, some of which septa, towards the centre of the nodule, are hollow, and lined with crystals of carbonate of iron, sulphuret of iron, sulphur of lead, sulphate of zinc, &c, Some of these beds have an inclination of about eight degrees to the east, others of about eighteen, and others a similar inclination to the west.

Rock Coal, abounding with nodules of sulphuret of iron, termed bases, bats, &c., used in making sulphate of iron (copperas). In this stratum, near Buxton, veins of sulphuret of lead are found in faults, having coal attached on both sides, accompanied with sulphuret of iron.

Aluminous Shale or Slate—Of a brownish black colour, earthy texture, which freely cleaving when exposed to the air, decomposes to clay; in which state it is used for making bricks; thin beds of grit and ironstone frequently occur in this stratum. It is also pro­ductive of alum, and cavities are frequently found herein, heretofore made by the miners, in sinking through for veins of lead ore in the limestone below; these cavities are lined with plumose vitroil of iron, and needle-like crystals of plumose alum; nodules of iron­stone, called shale binds, also occur stratified with admixtures. Miners consider this stratum to be a cover for veins of lead ores in the limestone beneath.

The most ancient method of working the lead mines, appear to have been by making fires upon the veins, to crack the cheeks, and to loosen the vein materials; after­wards gunpowder was introduced, and a hole bored into the rock several inches deep and gunpowder put at the bottom, upon it was placed a slug and clippit; afterward, the gun or jumper was invented; from both which methods, in the ramming, sparks ensued, which often injured the workmen. About the end of the 17th century, some miners were invited from Saxony, who introduced the skewer and fuse, the practice still in use.

When the lead ore is got from the mine, it is separated from its mixtures, termed “deads,” by knocking with different shaped iron hammers into three assort­ments, called Bing, Peasy, and Smytham; bing is the largest size, peasy is the size of pease, and smytham small grains; they are washed well, in which process, the very minute particles are carried away into reservoirs, and are afterwards collected by the name of bolland, and measured by the dish or standard measure, which was wrought in the reign of Henry VIII., and contains fourteen pints. It is placed in the Barmote Court at Wirksworth. This measure being liable to great imposition, by refuse being mixed with the ore, a dish has lately been introduced, by which the ore is sold by weight, at the same time that it is measured; it was introduced for the first time on the 10th of Sept., 1803, at Gregory Mine, near Ashover, and gives general satisfaction, both to the buyer and seller.

The most ancient method of obtaining lead or iron from the ores recorded in this county, appears to have been by fires made upon blocks of sandstone, termed boles, placed on the summits of high hills, exposed to the action of the westerly winds, as being most prevalent; and in many places are hills which go by the name of Bole Hill, from the above circumstance; as at Bakewell, Ashover, Norton, &c.; afterwards improved upon by the blast furnace; and in 1698, the cupola was introduced from Holywell, in North Wales, soon after which the blast furnace went out of use for smelting lead ore, the last of which was taken down at Rowsley, near Bakewell; but they are still used for obtaining lead from the cupola slag and called slag hearths. In 1777, an horizontal chimney was placed to the

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cupola in Middleton Dale, to collect the sublimated particles of sulphur; and an improve­ment in respect to the fire was made in the cupola at Stannage, near Ashover, in 1802.

MINERAL COURTS, CUSTOMS, &c.—The principal part of the county where lead ore is found in considerable quantity, is known by the name of the King’s field. Nearly the whole hundred of Wirksworth comes under this denomination. This does not appear always to have been the case, for in the time of the Saxons it belonged to the Abbey at Repton. But Mr. Pegge imagines that in the year 874, when this religious house was destroyed by the Danes, it was escheated to the crown; since it appears to have been in its possession when Domesday book was compiled. As to that part of the King’s field which is situated in the High Peak, it is supposed that ever since the Norman conquest, it has been the property of the crown, and in the same custody with the castle. All that part of the county which comes under the denomination of the King’s field, has been from time immemorial let upon lease. The present lessee of the mineral duties in the High Peak, is the Duke of Devonshire; and in the hundred of Wirksworth, Peter Arkwright, Esq. They have each a steward and barmasters in the different districts which they hold under the crown. The steward presides as judge in their great barmote courts, and with twenty-four jurymen, chosen every half-year, determine all disputes which arise respecting the working of the mines. For this purpose, they meet twice in the year, and if requisite, may, upon proper notice, be summoned still oftener. In the High Peak, the courts are held at Monyash, and in the hundred of Wirksworth, at that town. One great barmote court is also held annually at Ashford, for the liberty of Ashford, Tideswell, Peak Forest, and Hartington, of which the Duke of Devonshire is lord; and one great barmote court, annually, held alternately at Stoney Middleton and Eyam for that liberty, of which the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Chandos, and Sir Richd. Tufton, Bart., are lords. And under the Wirksworth Mining Customs and Mineral Courts Act, passed in I 852, two great barmote courts are to be held in each year, for the soke and wapentake of Wirks­worth, viz.—one within a month after the 25th of March, and the other within a month after the 29th of September. Small barmote courts are also held when required for the trial of causes. The barmaster for the soke and wapentake of Wirksworth is Mr. John Alsop, who resides at Wensley, near Matlock, and there are also several deputy barmasters within the district. The Queen in right of her Duchy of Lancaster is seized of the manor and wapentake of Wirksworth, and of the lead mines within the King’s Field, and is entitled to the mineral duties within certain parts of the soke and wapentake of Wirksworth, of which James C. Newbold, Esq., of Matlock Bath, is steward. The office of barmaster consists of various branches; but the most material are, putting miners in possession of veins which they had discovered, and collecting that portion of the ore, to which the lessee of the crown or lord of the manor has a claim. When the miner has found a new vein of ore in the King’s field, provided it be not in an orchard, garden, or high-road, he may aquire an exclusive title to it by a proper application to the barmaster, of the liberty. The method of doing which is, in the presence of two jurymen, making out in a pipe or rake work two meares of ground, each containing twenty-nine yards, and in a flat work, fourteen yards square. In recompence for the tronble, the barmaster is entitled to the first dish of ore which is gotten. If a miner neglects, beyond a certain limited time, to avail himself of his discovery, the barmaster may then dispose of it to any person who may wish to try his fortune in it. The superintending the measurement of the ore, and taking that proportion to which the lessee or lord of the manor is entitled, is attended with some trouble and difficulty to the barmaster; for these claims are exceedingly different in various parts. Peasy and bolland were formerly considered exempt. In the year 1761, the Duke of Devonshire asserted and established the claim of the crown on them in the High peak; and the success of his Grace induced the other lessee, Mr. Rolles, a very short time after, to contest the point with the miners in his division; and for this purpose, he threw the cause into Chancery, and obtained a verdict in his favour; so that all sorts of ore are now subject to a toll throughout the Peak of Derby-

                        B2

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shire. However, the proportion of ore which is due, and that which is really taken, are in very few places the same. The lessees of the mineral duties seldom insist upon the full extent of their claims. That part of the King’s field in Wirksworth hundred is divided into eight liberties, which though leased by the same person, and subject to the same duties, pay in very different proportions. In Bonsall and Brassington, every thirteenth dish is due, but a twenty-fifth only is taken; neither is subject to tithe. Cromford pays every thirteenth dish. The tithe, smytham and bolland excepted, is every fortieth. In Elton, the twenty-fifth dish is taken, and every tenth is due as tithe to the Duke of Rutland; at the capital mines he takes every nineteenth, but at the smaller ones at discretion. One-half of the liberty of Matlock pays a thirteenth, and the other a twenty-fifth, but no tithe. In Wirksworth, which produces a larger quantity of ore than any other liberty, a twenty-fifth is taken in some places, and a thirteenth in others; a fortieth is due to the vicar as tithe. The reason of this difference arose from the resistance made to the lessee of the crown, when he asserted his right to every thirteenth dish of all kinds of ore. These observations have solely a reference to the King’s field; but in the Low Peak, there are also mines which are private property; in which case it concerns each party to engage on the most advantageous terms to themselves. The customs and regulations are not mate­rially different, in the High Peak, from those of the hundred of Wirksworth. A meare in the King’s field is here somewhat larger; it measures 32 yards; two meares are given to every miner who discovers a vein, and the miner can dispose of the vein as he pleases. In the King’s field, every thirteenth dish is due to the crown, but a twenty-fifth is commonly taken. The tithe is every tenth, of which a third is paid to the executors of the late Philip Gell, Esq., of Hopton. The Duke of Devonshire, as lessee, generally takes every fifteenth dish for his share of lot and tithe. Castleton is a royal manor; it pays every twenty-fifth to the crown, and every tenth dish as tithe to the vicar. There are also several private lordships in the High Peak. In Ashford, the tolls are the same as in the King’s field, in Eyam and Stoney Middleton, the lot taken is every thirteenth dish. The tithe due to the rector of Eyam is a penny for every dish; in Tideswell, the lot or toll is every thirteenth; the twentieth is taken; at Litton, every twentieth is taken, but it is not subject to tithe. There are a few other liberties in which lead ore is obtained; but the laws and customs are so near the same as those mentioned, that it is needless to recite them. Besides the claims which have been mentioned, there is another called cope. In the Wirks­worth hundred, it is fourpence, in the High Peak, sixpence per load, and is paid by the buyer of the ore, to the lessees of the mineral duties or the lord of the manor. Some years ago, attempts were made to extract silver from the lead, but there are now no works of this kind.

Sulphur is contained in lead ore, which when smelting rises upon the surface, and is carried up the chimney, where, by means of a vault or horizontal chimney, a considerable quantity may be collected. Dr. Watson says, that Derbyshire ore contains between an eighth and a ninth part of sulphur.

In the year 1782, the mines in the hundred of Wirksworth yielded 1,306 fodders, and those in the liberty of Crich about 200: At Ashover, during the six years preceding 1782, the mines had produced annually upon an average, 2,011 fodders; about 2000 fodders were estimated as the produce of the High Peak; so that the annual produce of lead in Derby­shire was between five and six thousand fodders or tons.

Many valuable mines have at various periods been abandoned, from their being over­powered with water; to remedy which, many levels to carry of the water have been driven at very great expense, and in many instances, steam engines have been erected at a considerable cost for the same purpose. The Gregory Mine, near Ashover, by the aid of a steam engine, as early as 1758, yielded lead in the twenty-five years following, to the value of £105,986; the produce annually being 1,511 fodders. it is said the Portaway Mine, near Winster, about the same period, produced ore to the value of £4000, in seven weeks. Such favourable changes support the spirits of the miners; and whilst they continue to take

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place, the working of the lead mines in Derbyshire will not become totally disregarded or neglected.

The original inhabitants of this county, at the most early period, who happened to be engaged in the prosecution of mineral concerns, would soon perceive the expediency of being governed by some kind of regulations. No doubt their laws and customs were superseded by the Romans, and by their regulations; still it appears that private adventurers were to pay a tenth to the crown and a tenth to the owners of the land; and mention is made by Heineccius of the procuratores metallorum, officers that exactly answer to the bergmasters, or as the word is now pronounced, bar-masters of the present time. For berg signifies a mine, as appears from the word rabbit burrow, still in use. Since the time of the Romans, the mineral laws of Derbyshire have undergone several changes. Edward I. directed the sherriff of the county to call a meeting, at Ashbourn, of such persons as were best acquainted with the rights said customs of the mines. On this occasion, it appears the miners petitioned that these rights and customs should be confirmed to them under the great seal, by way of charity, in consideration of the danger to which they were exposed. In the reigns of King Edward VI. and of Queen Mary also, the mineral laws received some additions and improvements; and of late years, new regulations have been proposed, approved, and passed into laws, at the great Barmote Courts of Derbyshire.

The Carbonic Acid termed sweet damp, choke or chalk damp, sometimes occurs in mines, caverns, &c. It extinguishes flame and kills animals; but quicklime, by absorbing this acid, soon renders the air pure again and fit for respiration.

Betwixt Chelmorton and Buxton, some great convulsion of nature has rent the strata, which after being basseted successively westward from Bolsover Castle to this place, a distance of about thirty miles, suddenly change their bassets to the east, and then descend in succession with a rapid westward inclination to Combs Moss, a distance only of five miles, which terminates the county. These strata, basseting towards each other, but separated by a distance of twenty-one miles, indubitably shew that some extraordinary pow­er must have been the agent to effect their separation at Sherbrook, where the bottom of the fracture so evidently appears, and there can be no doubt that this shock was produced by the effect of heat in some grand convulsion of nature, though beyond the annals of re­corded time.

The First Ornament made of Derbyshire spar, was a vase of massive fibrous carbon­ate of lime, commonly called Watricle (constantly forming in limestone caverns), by Mr. Henry Watson, statuary, of Bakewell, in the year 1743, at the request of Lord Duncannon, from the accidental circumstance of his lordship’s horse, when riding down Middleton Dale, striking against this spar lying in the road, which on his lordship examining, he so much admired, that he expressed a wish that an ornament should be made of it, and sending Mr. Watson a design, a vase was accordingly made; from whence arose the manufacture of the amethystine fluate of lime, commonly called Blue John, of which each district produces its peculiar colour, and other fossils so universally admired. Gypsum, alabaster or plaster stone, classed by geologists, amongst the earths, is found in great purity amongst the red marl of this county: at is also sent to the potteries. The Derbyshire Diamonds, for which see Buxton. Petrosilex, chert, or china stone is found in most of the limestone districts, and sent to the potteries.

The MINERAL PRODUCTIONS of this county embrace nearly every species of subterra­nean wealth; but coal, lead, iron and marble are those which chiefly engage the industry and enterprise of the inhabitants. The Coal Field lies along the eastern border, and is from 12 to 15 miles in width, with narrow branches extending from it into Nottinghamshire and along the border of Leicestershire, southward. On the Yorkshire border, the field or rake, itself widens, and occupies a large district of that nothern county. The whole extent of the coal field in Derbyshire is about 190,000 acres. The principal colleries are Alfreton, Ashgate in Brampton, Butterley, Clay Cross, Codnor Park, Denby. Ilkeston, Morley Park, New Hall, Pinxton, Ripley, Harthsay in Pentrich, Staveley, Shipley, Swan­wick, Wingerworth, Wingfield, &c.

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IRONSTONE is found in the coal stratum, except at Chinley hills. The ironstone beds near Heanor, Alfreton, Chesterfield, and Staveley, are the most valuable. The celebrated Alfreton or Butterley iron works are very extensive. The massive and magnificent castings executed here have rendered the iron works of Derbyshire universally celebrated.

SPRINGS.—There are in this county calcareous or petrifying springs. There are also numerous medicinal and tepid springs, in the mountainous ridges and elsewhere, variously impregnated with salt, sulphur, or other mineral combination. The ebbing and flowing well, the fifth wonder of Derbyshire, lies in a field, close by the roadside, six miles from Castleton. In rainy seasons this well flows about every quarter of an hour, and, it is calculated, dis­charges about twenty hogsheads per minute.

RIVERS.—Besides the Trent, which forms the south-west boundary for a short distance between Buxton and its confluence with the Erewash, the rivers of this county are nume­rous. The principal are the Derwent, the Dove, the Wye, the Erewash, the Etherow, the Goyt, and the Rother. The Derwent is the chief, as respects this county. It rises on the Moor, in the alpine ridges of the High peak, at the north—east extremity of the county, and flows southward about 46 miles, during which it receives many tributary streams, and passes Chatsworth Park, a little below which it receives the Wye; at Matlock it flows in a deep channel between lofty rocks, to Belper and Derby, where it leaves the beautiful scenery of the highlands, and becomes navigable, though since the canals were cut it has been little used. In the vicinity of Derby it enters the wide valley of the Trent, and after collecting the waters of nearly 300,000 acres of land, discharges them into that river. The Dove has been the theme of poets, the study of painters, and the resort of scientific naturalists. It rises near Buxton, in the same hill as the Wye, and is for many miles the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire, till it falls into the Trent a little below Burton. As far as Ashover, its course is in a deep valley in the hilly region, and in its course presents many scenes of startling grandeur and beauty. The Wye rises north of Buxton, and flowing past Bakewell joins the Derwent at the village of Rowsley, passing on its way a great variety of valley scenery of remarkable beauty. The Erewash rises on the skirts of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, and during the greater part of its course is the boundary between that county and Derbyshire, passing by Pinxton, and near Ilkestone and Sandiacre, falls into the Trent about one mile and a half east from Long Eaton. The Rather has its source in the junction of several small streams near Chesterfield, which it passes, and quits the county near Beighton on the Yorkshire border. Thus the drainage of the whole county belongs to the basin of the Trent, except a few inconsiderable streams. The Etherow, which rises at the north-east extremity, and the Goyt, which rises near the Dove head, bound the county on the north and north-west, and, uniting their streams, become tributary to the Mersey. The Sheaf and the Meersbrook bound the Scarsdale Hundred on the North, separating the parishes of Norton and Sheffield, and uniting their streams at Heeley, terminate the county; soon after which the Sheaf, at Sheffield, has its confluence with the Don.

CANALS.—Among the numerous canals which intersect this county, the most important is the Grand Trunk, or Trent and Mersey canal, completed in 1777; it enters the county by crossing the Dove near its confluence with the Trent, and passing Stenson, meets the south­ern Derby Canal near Swarkeston, and proceeds by Shardlow to the Derwent, near its con­fluence with the Trent. This has hitherto formed a principal part of the great line of com­munication between Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, and London. The Erewash canal, began in 1777, proceeds from the Trent, between the termination of the last and the confluence of the Erewash and the Trent. After successively giving off the Beeston Branch to the east, and South-eastern Derby Canal and the Shipwash branch to the west, it runs northwards along the valley of the Erewash, towards its source near Alfreton; after which, it is joined by the Nottingham canal to the north east of Langley, and shortly after by the Cromford canal, near Langley Mill bridge. The Cromford canal proceeds thence across the Erewash to Codnor Park ironworks. Shortly after it enters a tunnel 2,978 yards in length. At Lea Bridge, it is carried over the river Derwent by an aqueduct 200 yards in length and 30 feet

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high, built in 1792, it then crosses the Amber, a tributary stream of the Derwent, by another aqueduct of the same length, 50 feet high. A reservoir of 50 acres near the great tun­nel, is the principal feeder of this canal, which is about 18 miles in length. The Chester­field canal, commenced in 1771, and completed in 1776, proceeds from Chesterfield, along the east bank of the Rother, through a country abounding in coal. This canal after passing an aqueduct at Killamarsh, enters Yorkshire, and is, in its course to the termination (at West Stockwith, in Nottinghamshire,) about 45 miles in length. The Peak Forest canal, pro­ceeding from the Ashton-under-Lyne canal, enters the northern part of Derbyshire at Wbaley bridge, and proceeds towards Milton. This canal was commenced about 1794, and finished in 1806. The Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal crosses the isolated part of this county which is surrounded by Leicestershire, passing by Meashamn and Oakthorpe, and was com­pleted in 1805. The two Derby Canal alluded to, were completed in 1794. There is a prolongation northwards to Little Eaton, and from thence there is a tramsway five miles in length to the colleries.

ROADS.—The great road from London to Manchester enters Derbyshire at Cavendish Bridge, and passing through Derby and Ashbourn, enters Staffordshire at Hanger Bridge, about a mile and three quarters beyond the latter town. A principal branch passes north­wards, through Buxton to Whaley, thence to Stockport, joined at Whaley by another principal line from Derby, through Duffield, Wirksworth, Matlock, Bakewell, and Chapel­ en-le-Frith; whence a branch proceeds by Glossop to Ashton-under-Lyne. A principal road to Sheffield passes from Derby through Chesterfield and Dronfield. An act was obtained in 1856 for making the road from Derby to Chellaston a turnpike road, besides which many other roads radiate from Derby.

RAILWAYS.—This county now enjoys by its railroads pro-eminent means of facilitating general communication and commercial intercourse.

Of these the Midland Railway formed in 1844, by the amalgamation of the Midland Counties, North Midland, and Birmingham and Derby Junction Railways, and since successively enlarged by the purchase and construction of several other lines and branches claims our first attention.

The Midland Counties section of this Railway, or as it is now called, the South Branch, is 58½ miles in length, including branches, and commences from a junction with the London and North Western Railway, at Rugby, passing by Leicester and Loughboro’ and entering this county at its South-eastern corner, near the confluence of the Rivers Trent and Soar. At this point called the Trent Junction, a branch of about 7 miles in length, is thrown off to Nottingham, passing by Long Eaton and Beeston. From the Trent Junction the Main Line of the Railway proceeds in a North-westerly direction, passing by Sawley, Breaston, Draycott, Borrowash, and Spondon to Derby. Between Long Eaton Station on the Nottingham Branch, and a point on the main line, nearly midway between the Trent Junction and Sawley Station, a short loop line is constructed of about 1 mile in length, to enable trains to be run direct from Derby to Nottingham. At Long Eaton also are the two Junctions with the Erewash Valley Branch, described under that head. The cost was about £3,000,000, though the estimate was only £1,500,000. The whole line was completed in little more than three years. George and Robert Stephenson, with their assistant, Mr Swanwick, were the engineers. It was opened through all this county, and as far as Mashro’, on the 11th of May, 1840; and throughout the whole line on the 1st of July, 1840. This railway is a splendid exception to the comparatively uninteresting scenery of railways in general. Its course lies along the valleys of the Derwent, the Amber, the Rother, the Don, the Dearne, the Calder, and the Aire; affording views of beautiful parks, seats, villages, woods, and ruins. It is bordered nearly all the way by fertile meadows and pastures, skirted with wooded hills, which constitute, in passing them, an almost uninterrupted panoramic picture; and the magnificent viaducts, acque­ducts, and bridges with station houses of tasteful architecture, contribute much to give admiration and delight to the traveller.

24                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

The North Midland Section or North Branch, which together with the South-west (Birmingham and Derby) Branches constitute a central link between the other important railways in the North, Centre, and South of England, is 73¼ miles or with sundry small coal branches, 75½ miles in length, with upwards of 200 Bridges and 7 tunnels in its course, the latter measuring together about 2¼ miles.

From Derby the North Midland Railway runs northward by Little Eaton, (near which place is the junction with the recently constructed Ripley Branch,) Duffield through Milford Tunnel, 836 yards in length, with rich and handsome arched frontings, and by Millard to Belper, through which it runs in a cutting lined with masonry; at this place it has no less than 11 bridges crossing it in the space of one mile. It then by two timber bridges, each about 400 feet in length, crosses Belper Pool, where the Derwent expands in a broad sheet with a wooded island in the midst. Another timber bridge, a short tunnel, a fine viaduct, and another short tunnel are passed, and the Junction of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock, and Midland Junction Railway is reached at the Ambergate Station, after which comes the interesting works at the acqueduct of the Cromford Canal. The river runs in the bottom of the valley with the turnpike road at some distance above it; the railroad passes obliquely over both, by a magnificent viaduct, and the same place is itself crossed by the canal in an aqueduct built by the company. Bull bridge, and Lodge-hill tunnel, 250 yards in length, and South Wingfield station are then passed; the column of Crich Stand, where mountain limestone abounds, being seen on the left on the distant hills. After passing a deep and extensive cutting, opened out into the romantic valley of the Amber, the summit of the line in Derbyshire is reached at Clay Cross tunnel, which is l¼ mile in length, the entrance being fronted with a Moorish gateway, having a castellated circular tower on either side, and an arch of the unusual figure of three parts oval, with two fine rounded mouldings. Here a coal railway joins the North Midland which passes on to Chesterfield, a a distance of 24 miles from Derby. Various other stations are then passed, including Eckington station, for Worksop. The line then proceeds on the vale of the Rother to Beighton, where it enters Yorkshire, at 34 miles distance from Derby.

The Derby and Birmingham section, or West branch, is 49¼ miles in length, including the branch of 7¼ miles from Whitacre to Hampton, in Warwickshire, and the Birmingham extension of three quarters of a mile, constructed for the purpose of running into the London and North Western Railway and so on, to the Bristol and Birmingham Branch of the Midland Railway. This line commences at the Grand Central Station, at Derby between which and Willington, the Mersey and Trent canal is crossed by an oblique iron bridge. From Willington it runs parallel with this canal for some miles, crossing the border of the county on entering Staffordshire, and running by Burton-upon-Trent and Tamworth to Hampton and Birmingham, the latter distant 41½ miles from Derby. The Original act was obtained in 1836, but the works were not commenced till 1837. The line was opened throughout on the 2nd August, 1839. The Company was authorized to raise £630,000 in £100 shares, and further to borrow £200,000; and the works did not exceed the sum thus sanctioned.

The Erewash Valley Branch of the Midland Railway runs from a point near Long Eaton on the South Branch to Birchwood, near Alfreton, a distance of 15¼ miles. It was proposed at first to carry it through to Clay Cross on the North Branch, and the act of Parliament was obtained for the purpose.

THE CROMFORD AND HIGH PEAK RAILWAY commences at the Cromford canal to the south-east of Cromford, and terminates at the Peak Forest canal at Whaley bridge. It is about 34 miles in length, and in its course passes over some very high ground, its greatest elevation being 990 feet above the level of the Cromford canal. This ascent is accomplished by means of several inclined planes, up which the waggons are drawn by stationary steam engines. The summit level is maintained for l2½ miles, and in its course the railway passes through a tunnel 638 yards long. 52 bridges and archways have been built. Contrary to the usual practice, cast iron rails instead of malleable have been adopted. They are cast in lengths of 4 feet each, and weigh 84 lbs., or 63lbs. per yard.

                                                                                HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.                                                 25

 

THE SHEFFIELD AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY crosses the north-west verge of the county for about 10 miles. The line is 40 miles in length. The act was obtained in 1837, and was opened in 1845. The Sheffield end to Dunford bridge was opened 14th July, and the Manchester end some months previous. The original capital for this line, which pre­sented very great engineering difficulties, was £933,000. It commenced at the Bridge­houses Sheffield, on a rapid acclivity on the north bank of the river Don, and adjoining Spital hill. On leaving this station it immediately passes under a short tunnel up the picturesque and romantic vale of that river, N.N.W., to Beeley and Wharncliffe woods, to Wortley and Penistone; from which it runs nearly west to the summit near Dunford bridge, near the source of the river Don, and the eastern side of a high point which separates the counties of York, Chester, and Derby, (22 miles 26½ chains from Manchester, and 18 miles 40 chains from Sheffield), under which it passes by a tunnel (Woodhead) 5300 yards in length and 16 feet wide, for one track, which is nearly 943 feet above-the level of the sea, and has a gradient of 20 feet per mile, the transit occupying about 10 minutes. It emerges in the township of Tintwistle, in the county of Chester, near the source of the Etherow, which separates that county from Derbyshire, and flows to the Mersey. The railway passes down the Vale of the Etherow, on the verge of Derbyshire; to Dinting, about one mile north from Glossop—to which place there is a short branch—then by a sweep to the south, it crosses Dinting Vale at a considerable elevation, turning wes­terly on the north of Upper Gamesley; crosses the Etherow, where the vale is narrow, by a viaduct of great elevation into Cheshire; after which it crosses the valley of the Tame, at an elevation of forty feet, and enters Lancashire, running west; sending off a branch to Ashton-under-Lyne and Staley Bridge, 2 miles 44½ chains in length, and proceeds to the Birmingham and Manchester railway station, Store street, Manchester. An act, during the session of 1845, was obtained for a continuation of this line from Sheffield to Great Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, at the mouth of the Humber, which was opened in 1849, and was amalgamated with the Manchester Line, nodes the title of “The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway,” which has a handsome Station in Sheffield, approached from the Cattle Market, by an excellent road of gradual ascent made on arches,—and from the Wicker, by a long flight of stone steps.

Since which period, several other railways have been opened to the use of the public, of which the Derby and Ripley branch, the Derby, Uttoxeter, and Stafford, and the Leicester, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and Burton-upon-Trent branches, are a portion.

NEW AND OLD POOR LAWS—To give a digest of these would require more space than our limits will allow; the former passed in 1834, the latter in the reign of Eliza­beth. Much has been said about the mal-administration of the old law, and succes­sive administrations had declared it an evil; that it was like a canker eating into the heart of the nation, pauperizing the labourers of whole counties. Many attempts at improvements were made, but to no effect; the evil kept steadily increasing. The law of Elizabeth ordered the setting to work all able bodied poor, and the providing for age, infirmity, and youth. The average poor rate of the kingdom in 1748, 1749, and 1750, was £730,135; for the year 1776, it was £1,720,316; and the average of the years 1783, 1784, and 1785, was £2,167,748; in 1803, the amount was £5,348,204;— in the years 1813, 1814 and 1815, the average amount expended for the poor was £6,123,177 but this sum enormous as it is, was surpassed in the single year ending the 25th of March, 1818, when the sum expended amounted to £7,870,801. This last year was one of great hardship to the poor, in consequence of the dearness of provisions, the average price of wheat during the year 1817, having been 94s. 9d. per qr. Certainly the time had arrived for a full investigation, and an endeavour to point out the true cause, as the only sure way to order a remedy. To do this, a parliamentary commission was appointed, with certain powers, and an investigation made through all the kingdom; and a mass of evidence the most appalling was produced. The domestic industry of the country had been swept away, and the time arrived when the parish officers could by no means

26                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

find profitable employment for the poor. The labourer got what he could for his labour, and received the remainder in parish pay; a most humiliating and degrading state, which went on increasing, both in the agricultural and manufacturing districts. The Parliament framed a law, from the report of this commission of inquiry, which, they said, would restore the prosperity and independence of the labourers and operatives, and raise them from the degradation into which they had fallen. To effect this, they were thrown on their own resources, and refused all relief, except they resided in the Union-house; the power of the magistrates to order relief was taken away, with various other changes from the old law. To carry out this great object, a Poor Law Commission was appointed, having three commissioners, who each receive £2,000 a year; eighteen assistant commissioners, who receive together £12,600 a year; with secretaries, clerks, &c., in the whole amounting to £50,173 per annum; under whom guardians of parishes and townships are appointed, according to the population, to act with and assist the com­missioners in carrying out this great measure. In the session of 1844, the Govern­ment, through Sir James Graham, passed a bill to make some improvement in that of 1834; which principally consists in giving to the guardians more power to order relief, but still subject to the controlling gower of the Commissioners. The amount expended for the relief of the poor in England and Wales, in the individual years, when the census was taken, was as follows, viz. —In 1801, £4,017,878; 1811, £6,566,105; 1821, £6,358,703; 1831, £6,798,888; and 1841, £4,911,498.

REBELLIONS.—It appears that during the rebellion of Prince Henry against his father, Henry II., the Castle of Duffield was held against the King, by Robert, Earl Ferrars; for it is related that amongst others who came to make their submission to the victorious monarch, in the month of July, 1174, was that Earl, who then delivered into the King’s hands the Castles of Tutbury and Duffield. During the civil wars in King John’s reign (in 1215), William Earl Ferrars, with an armed force, took Bolsover and Peak Castles, which were then in the possession of the rebellious barons.

In the year 1264, King Henry III. sent his son, Prince Edward, into Derbyshire, to wreak vengeance upon Robert Earl of Derby, then one of the most active of the barons in rebellion against him, with instructions to lay waste his manors with fire and sword. The Earl having made his peace, by the promise of a large sum of money, and having taken fresh oaths of allegiance, broke both his word and his promise, and appeared in arms again in Derbyshire, in the year 1266, with Baldwin Wake (Lord of Chesterfield), John D’Egville, and other barons and knights, and assembled a numerous force at Duffield Frith, whence they marched to Chesterfield. Here they were surprised in their quarters by Henry, the King’s nephew, and the greater part of them put to the sword. The Earl of Derby was then taken prisoner, having been betrayed, as it is said, by a woman, who pointed out his place of confinement in the Church. De Ferrars had his life spared, but was divested of the Earldom of Derby, with its large possessions, which were given to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, and eventually formed a considerable part of the reveuues of the Duchy of Lancaster.  Wake, D’Egville, and the other barons and knights, made their escape. Some of the knights and other ad­herents withdrew into the forest of Peak, where they continued for two years, leading a predatory life.

Nothing of consequence seems to have occurred till the civil wars in the reign of Charles I. (1662), when all Derbyshire declared for the King; of which full accounts are given in the progress of the work.

MANUFACTURES, TRADES, &c.—Derby ranks the fourth on the list of manufacturing counties, and its character has for years been rising in national estimation. It participates with Nottinghamshire in the manufacture of hosiery and lace, with Lancashire in that of cotton, and with Yorkshire in those of iron, cutlery, and woollen cloth. The latter is carried on at the north extremity of the county, and has nearly given place to the manufacture of cotton, introduced into this county by Sir Richard Arkwright, in 1771. The parish of Glossop,

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situated in the mountainous tracts of the High Peak, has, within the last half century, become by far the most important seat of the cotton manufacture in the county. The silk manu­facture was introduced into the town of Derby in 1717; and Derby, conjointly with Nottingham, is considered the centre of the silk hosiery trade. Ribbons are manufac­tured to some extent, and cotton hosiery, smallwares, and lace, are extensively manu­factured in various parts of the county; as also earthenware, china, hats, and spar ornaments. Collieries are worked along the northern and eastern side of the county; and the iron furnaces, and cast and bar iron manufactures are noticed with Butterley, Clay Cross, Codnor, Renishaw, Staveley, &c. The northern border of the Hundred of Scarsdale is included in the Corporation of Cutlers of Hallamshire, and partakes largely of the Sheffield trade in the manufacture of scythes, sickles, &c. Chesterfield, at the north-west extremity of the Scarsdale Hundred, is the centre of an extensive manufacture of brown earthenware, and stoneware bottles, which are in great repute throughout the kingdom. The extensive lead mines and lead smelting establishments are chiefly confined to the northern division of the county, and will be noticed in their respective places. In addition to the above may be added the valuable mineral productions of this county, which consists of stone slate, marble, gypsum, lime, calamine, chert, fluor, spar, copperas, grind and millstones, and fire clay. The whole forming a very important branch of our export trade. Cheese and malt are extensively made in various parts of the county, and the agricultural produce finds a ready market at Sheffield and Nottingham; except wool, which is much esteemed at Huddersfield and Leeds. The Import Trade principally con­sists of raw cotton and silk, groceries, wines, spirits, and other foreign produce; to these may be added foreign cattle, under Sir Robert Peel’s New Tariff. For the Official account of the imports and exports for the six months ending June 30th, 1856, see page 104.

IRON TRADE—The quantity of Iron made in England and Wales in 1740 was only 17,350 tons, the produce of fifty-nine furnaces; in 1788 it had increased to 68,300 tons, from 85 furnaces; in 1796 to 108,793 tons, from 104 furnaces; in 1806, 250,000 tons was produced; in 1823, 442,066 tons; in 1825, 581,367 tons; in 1828, 702,584 tons; in 1830, 653,417 tons; and in 1836, the produce was 1,200,000 tons; which in 1840 was increased to 1,390,400; while in the year 1848 the total produce was 2,093,736 tons, from 452 furnaces.

HOSIERY TRADE.—The chief seats of the hosiery manufacture are the counties of Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester; in the last named of which nearly all the frames in which wool is employed are to be found; while Nottingham contains the largest number of frames for the production of cotton hosiery. The use of silk in this branch of manu­facture is almost wholly confined to Derby and Nottingham. According to a return made in 1844, there were 42,768 hosiery frames employed in the United Kingdom, of which number 5,836 were employed in the county of Derby, 14,595 in Nottingham, 18,494 in Leicester, and the remainder in other English counties, Scotland and Ireland. The weight of material used in the same year was 9,746,960 lbs., producing 5,705,600 dozens of hose.

CHARITIES.—The parochial accounts of the posthumous charities are given from the voluminous Reports of the Commissioners deputed by Parliament to enquire into the state and appropriation of Public Charities in England. This commission commenced in 1817, and was not finished till 1839, though up to the year 1827 £138,850 had been paid to the Commissioners for salaries and other charges. The amount of benefactions left for chari­table uses in the town of Derby is nearly £2,000 per annum, and for the whole county £15,261 7s. 3d. per annum; in addition to which nearly an equal amount is subscribed for charitable and benevolent institutions.

Provident Institutions—A great relief to the poor’s rate is that laudible desire which exists amongst the labouring classes and mechanics to render themselves, as far as possible, independent of the workhouse, by providing funds for their mutual relief, is the establish­ment of Friendly Societies, Lodges, &c., which are numerous in the county. There are also umerous Money and Building clubs.

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Savings’ Bank give encouragement to the provident habits of the industrious classes, and afford them a safe and profitable investment for what they are enabled to lay by against a time of need. The amount of deposits and number of depositors are given at the places where established.

Enclosure of Commons, State of the Poor, &c.—The periods of the different enclo­sures are given in the parishes in which they have respectively taken place; but considerable tracts of the mountainous districts of the High Peak still remain unenclosed. Enclosures, though necessary with a rapidly increasing population, have had some effect in deteriorating the condition of many poor persons; to remedy this, in some instances landowners have made small allotments to the labouring poor, at a moderate rent, for spade culture, a practice we are glad to observe very much increasing, as it not only tends to prevent poverty, but gives encouragement to industry and economy.

The Population of Derbyshire.—Bede, an early Saxon writer, informs us that in his time the inhabitants of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire amounted to 7,000 families. There is reason to suppose, that at the Norman survey population was not so flourishing as it had been in the reign of Edward the Confessor, for when Domesday book was compiled, the resident burgesses at Derby were reduced from 240 to 100, and 40 who were minors. At this period there were 103 houses empty, which paid tax to the king. There is no certain data on which to form an estimate of the population till the census of 1801, previous to which it had been rapidly increasing, particularly since the accession of the House of Hanover to the throne of England.

The following table shows the area, in acres, of each hundred in the county, with their population from 1801 to 1851:-

Hundreds.	Acres.	Value.	POPULATION.
		£	1801.	1811.	1821.	1831.	1841.	1851.
Appletree	89,649	159,052	21,319	23,858	28,444	29,546	32,926	32,809
Morleston & Litchurch	72,451	144,895	23,668	28,148	32,256	35,626	40,093	67,695
Repton & Gresley	55,677	102,688	15,268	16,373	17,848	19,110	21,524	22,357
Wirksworth	77,659	103,994	18,782	21,046	33,345	23,938	25,030	24,478
High Peak	182,939	196,420	30,135	34,373	43,607	45,584	56,006	61,747
Scarsdale	144,614	241,771	38,031	41,616	48,282	53,792	61,330	68,825
Derby	2,970	-	12,469	19,648	19,648	26,728	36,395	35,730
Total	625,959	948,820	159,672	180,354	223,430	234,324	273,304	313,641

 

AREA AND POPULATION OF ENGLAND, WALES, THE BRITISH ISLANDS, AND SCOTLAND, in 1851, was as follows viz :—ENGLAND, 32,500,429 acres of land, and a population of 16,921,888 persons, of whom 8,281,734 were males, and 8,640,154 females; WALES, 4,734,486 acres, and 1,005,721 inhabitants, of whom 499,491 were males, and 506,230 females; THE BRITISH ISLANDS, 252,000 acres, and 143,126 inhabitants, of whom 66,854 were males, and 76,252 females; SCOTLAND, 20,047,462 acres, and 2,888,742 inhabitants, of whom 1,375,479 were males, and 1,513,263 females, and Ireland, a population of 6,553,178; making a grand total for the UNITED KINGDOM of 57,624,377 acres, and 27,512,655 inhabitants. The number of persons absent from GREAT BRITIAN and from their USUAL PLACES of abode on the 31st of March, 1851, including men in the ARMY, NAVY, and SEAMEN on board ships in the MERCHANT SERVICE, &c., was 162,490. The number of seamen, boys, and other persons on board VESSELS in the PORTS of GREAT BRITAIN and the ISLANDS of the BRITISH SEAS, on the 31st of March, 1851, was 51,748, of which number 7,843 were foreigners. The number of persons who have emigrated from the UNITED KINGDOM during the 26 years from 1825 to 31 March, 1851, was 2,624,070; and the estimated number of persons sleeping in barns, tents, and the open-air on the 31st of March, 1851, was 18,249.

PERSONAL AND REAL PROPERTY.—According to Mr. Porter, in his “Progress of the Nation,” section vi. chapter 2, the personal property of the county was calculated, in 1814,

                                                                                HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.                                                 29

 

to amount to £1,200,000,000; in 1824, £1,500,000,000; in 1834, £1,800,000,000; and in 1845, to £2,200,000,000. The addition of £1,000,000,000 to the value of property during thirty-one years’ peace will not appear improbable, if we recall to mind the facts that during the last ten years of the war the public expenditure exeeeded, on the average, £83,000,000,000, while the average has in the following 24 years not exceeded £50,000,000. The difference between these two sums would alone suffice in that period to make up the sum of £1,000,000,000. Taking the real property of England at rather less than one-half, consisting of land at only twenty year’s purchase, that would show a total value, in 1815, of £993,214,560; and in 1843, of £1,616,381,580; the accumulation between the two periods being £617,167,120, or something more than twenty millions annually during the whole period. On the other hand, a considerable sum has of late years been transferred from the form of real to that of personal property, through the appropriation of land to the purposes of railway construction. What the amount may be which has thus passed in transfer, it is not possible to state, nor even to estimate, with any confidence; and indeed it is very certain that if we could ascertain the amount of money which has changed hands in the operation it would not afford us any certain information, since it is notorious that in many, or most cases, other considerations than that of the actual value of the land purchased has been made to govern the price.

COURTS OF LAW.—The assizes are held twice a year, generally in the last weeks of March and July, at the County Hall, Derby, where commissions of “Oyer and Terminer, and general gaol delivery” are opened, both for the County and the Borough of Derby.

QUARTER SESSIONS—The Epiphany, Midsummer, and Michaelmas are held at Derby, and the April at Chesterfield. Sessions for the Borough of Derby are held quarterly. Petty Sessions are held weekly, before the County magistrates, in most of the Market towns, and a few of the villages.

THE SHERIFF’S COURT, for the trial of actions for debt under £20, will be held in 1857, at the following times and places, during the sherievality of William Hatfield de Rodes, Esq., of Barlborough Hall, viz. —the last Thursday in each month, at the County Hall, Derby. Writs must be delivered at the Sheriff’s Office, Derby, three clear days before the day appointed for the trial of causes in the Sheriff’s Court. The Court will sit at 11 o’clock each day.  Under Sheriff, John James Simpson, Esq. County Clerk, Mr. William Whiston, junior.

THE NEW SMALL DEBTS’ ACT, or COUNTY COURTS.—This important act which has created a revolution in law proceedings, on actions for claims and demands not exceeding £20, took effect throughout England and Wales, on the 15th of March, 1847 and in August, 1851 was extended to £50. By an order in council, all courts for small debts were abolished, on the 13th of March, with the exception of a few, from which day the excepted courts were to be holden at County courts, and governed by the provisions of the act, so to be enforced. Each district court to be presided over by a judge, who is to appoint a clerk, being an attorney, and he is to appoint other officers; the fees allowed by the act are to be exhibited. The salaries of the judges and clerks, may by an order be fixed, so that in no case a judge is to be paid more than one thousand two hundred pounds, or a clerk, more than six hundred pounds a year:  By the New Act, which came into operation on the 1st of October, 1856, some considerable and important alterations were made in the jurisdiction and practice of these useful institutions, and, which is perhaps of more importance to the public, the expense of proceeding in them is materially diminished. In the first place the burdensome tax, called “The General Fund,” which was levied on every suitor in the Courts when the amount sought to be recovered exceeded 20s., is entirely abolished. Nei­ther are any fees to be taken for paying money into or out of Court, a most grateful relief both to plaintiff and defendant. Again, there will no longer be any mileage for serving summonses or executing process, however distant the place from the Court town, so that a

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summons or other process against a defendant, residing, say 12 miles, from the Court town, will cost no more than a summons or process against a defendant residing in the town itself. Nor will there, as at present, be any additional fee for a summons against a defen­dant residing out of the district of the Court, nor will any fee be charged for a subpœna to witnesses; and the fees payable on plaints for recovering possession of tenements, instead of being calculated, as at present, on the annual rent of the property (whether let by the week, month, or year), are to be calculated on the amount of the weekly, monthly, or annual rent of the tenement according to the letting; so that a landlord may, in a very short time and at a very trifling expense, eject a refractory tenant; and he may also, in the same process, include a claim for arrears of rent, instead of having, as at present, to bring in a separate action for such arrears. Another great boon will be a reduction of the fee on judgments by confession or agreement, from the present amount of 2s. 3d. in the £, to 1s. in the £ only; and the same reduction is to take place in cases of judgment by default. The main alterations in the jurisdiction and practice of the Courts are the following. From the 1st day of October, 1856, the County Courts will have jurisdiction in all per­sonal actions where the debt, damage, or demand does not exceed £50, whether consisting of an original demand of £50, or of a larger amount reduced by a set off to that sum; and by consent of parties, the Courts have jurisdiction to any amount and for any cause of action, except only actions for crim. con, and a summons against a defendant residing out of the jurisdiction of the court may be obtained at the office without previous application to the judge in court. In an action for a debt exceeding £20, a plaintiff may either issue a summons in the present form or in a form given in the New Act; and in the latter case, if a defendant has been personally served twelve clear days before the Return day, the plaintiff may (unless defendant give notice six clear days before such Return day of his intention to defend the action) on, or within one month after the Return day, without giving any proof of his claim, have judgment by default for the amount of his claim and costs. A judgment summons may, by leave of the Judge, issue in the court in which the judgment was obtained, although defendent may not reside in the district. This is a very important alteration, as it was most unreasonable that a defendant should be able, by changing his residence to a distant part of the country, to compel his Judgment Creditor, at great expense of time and money, to follow him, instead of being able to bring him back (as will now be the ease) to the court in which the judgment was originally obtained.

FEES—For every plaint 10d. in the £.—For every judgment by consent (where parties can agree as to terms) one shilling in the £.—For every hearing 2s. in the £.—For every judgment summons 3d. in the £—For hearing every judgment summons 6d. in the £—For issuing every warrant against the body or goods 1s. 6d. in the £.

COUNTY COURTS are held at the following places, viz. Alfreton, Ashbourne, Bake­well, Belper, Burton-up-Trent, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chesterfield, Derby, and Wirksworth. The jurisdiction of each court is given with its respective parish.

COURT OF THE HONOUR OF TUTBURY, AND THE HUNDRED OF APPLETEEE, commonly called the three weeks’ court, extends to debts and damages under 40s. This court is nearly obsolete.

LITCHURCH COURT—This Court, for the Hundred of Litchurch, for the recovery of small debts, is held twice a year, by the Sheriff of the County.

MANORIAL COURTS.—Courts Leet and Baron are held twice a year for many manors before the stewards of their respective lords; and by custom, the Leets of several manors may be held at once in some certain place within one of the manors.

BARMOTE COURTS, for the the regulation of mineral concerns are held every six months at Monyash and Wirksworth. C. S. B. Busby, Esq., Chesterfield, steward, and James Longsdon, Esq., of Little Longstone, barmaster, of the former; and James C. Newbold, Esq., of Matlock, steward, and John Alsop, Esq., barmaster, of the latter. A Barmote Court is also held at Crich, according to the custom of that liberty Joseph Hall, Esq., Castleton, steward, and Luke Alsop, Esq., of Crich, barmaster.

                                                                                HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.                                                 31

 

An Act of Parliament was passed in 1844, for facilitating the collection of County rates, and for relieving the High Constable from certain duties. The county rates are now collected by the Boards of Guardians of the Poor Law Unions, and by them paid to the County Treasurer.

POOR LAW UNIONS.—Besides the eight Poor Law Unions in Derbyshire, with the Burton-upon-Trent Poor Law Union, in Staffordshire, all of which are fully noticed in the progress of the work; there are 14 parishes or townships, which belong to other Unions not in the county of Derby, viz., Norton, Dore, and Totley, on the North border of Scarsdale Hundred, in the Ecclesall Bierlow Union, of the parish of Sheffield, and West Riding of Yorkshire. Barlborough, Clown, Elmton, and Whitwell, in the Worksop Union, of the Hundred of Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire. Codnor, Codnor Park, Heanor, Ilkeston, and Shipley, in the Basford Union, of the Hundred of Broxtow, Nottinghamshire. Chilcote chapelry forms the south extremity of Derbyshire in a detached portion of the Repton and Gresley Hundred, and is in the Tamworth Union of the Hundred of Offlow, Stafford­shire. Somersall Herbert, and Norbury and Roston, near the north-east extremity of the Appletree Hundred, are in the Uttoxeter Union of the Hundred of Totmanslow, Staf­fordshire. There are also two places in the county which are not comprised in any Union, viz. Calke, and Griffe Grange.

EXTRA PAROCHIAL PLACES—In addition to the parishes, chapelries, and townships in Derbyshire, as in other counties, there are several of those privileged districts called Extra Parochial Liberties. These enjoy a virtual exemption from parochial burdens, and their tithes are payable to the Crown instead of the Bishop of the diocese. They are found usually to have been royal palaces, or the site of religious houses, or of ancient castles, the own­ers of which were unwilling to permit any interference with their authority within their own property; and in rude times the existence of such exemptions was obtained from the crown by purchase or favour.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY—The christian religion was not propagated so early in Derbyshire as in some other parts of Britain. In the year 596, Augustine, by the order of Gregory the Great, came into this kingdom, and in the space of one year converted 1,000 Saxons in Kent. But the gospel was not preached in the kingdom of Mercia till the reign of Penda, long after the abolition of idolatry in all the neighbouring states of the Saxon Heptarchy. At length this monarch, having sent his son Peada into Northum­berland, to solicit in marriage Alchflida, the daughter of King Osway, he was converted to Christianity, by the persuasive discourses of the venerable Bede. The object of his mis­sion being accomplished, he returned to his father’s dominions, accompanied by a number of celebrated divines, who immediateby began to spread the doctrines and precepts of the gospel with great success among the Mercians. The aged Penda seems to have viewed these events with indifference. He soon after entered into a war with Osway, the Northumbrian Prince, and being defeated and slain in battle, his dominions were seized by the conqueror, who, in conjunction with Peada, remained in possession of Mercia for three years, during which Christianity was declared the established religion. At the end of this period, the Mercians, weary of subjection to a foreign yoke, revolted, and being successful, conferred the crown on Wulfere, one of the sons of Penda, who still embraced the Pagan idolatry, and during the early part of his reign, the cause of Christianity was greatly injured; Wulfere, however, in the end, became a convert to Christianity himself.

DERBYSHIRE forms part of the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and consists of the Archdeaconry of Derby, and the Deaneries of Ashbourn, Castillar, Chesterfield, Derby, and Repington. The following is an enumeration, showing the parishes belonging to each Deanery, in which nearly all the Chapelries are omitted.

DEANERY OF ASHBOURN.—Ashbourn, Bonsall, Bradbourn, Bradley, Brassington, Car­sington, Crompton, Edlaston, Fenny Bentley, Hartington, Hognaston, Mapleton, Matlock, Norbury, Thorpe, Tissington, and Wirksworth.

        DEANERY OF CASTILLAR.—Barton, Boylston, Brailsford, Chellaston, Church Brough­ton, Cubley, Dalbury, Denby, Doveridge, Egginton, Etwall, Longford, Marston, Shirley, Somersal, Sudbury, Sutton-on-the.-Hill, and Trusley.

32                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

        DEANERY OF CHESTERFIELD.–Alfreton, Barlborough, Beighton, Blackwall, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Clown, Dronfield, Eckington, Elmton, Ault Hucknall, Heath, Morton, North Wingfield, Norton, Over Langwith, Pinxton, Pleasley, Scarcliff, Shirland, South Normanton, South Wingfield, Staveley, Sutton-in-the-Dale, Tibshelf, Whittington, Whitwell, and Wingerworth.

        DEANERY OF DERBY.—Allestree, Aston, Barrow, Belper, Brampton, Breadsall, Cod­nor, Crich, Duffield, Elvaston, Heanor, Horsley, Ilkeston, Kedleston, Kirk Hallam, Kirk Langley, Mackworth, Mercaston, Mickleover, Morley, Mugginton, Ockbrook, Pentrich, Radbourn, Sandiacre, Sawley, Scropton, Smisby, Spondon, Stanley, Stanton by Dale, Swarkeston, West Hallam, Weston, and Willington.

DEANERY OF REPINGTON.—Calke, Chilcote, Croxhall, Foremark, Gresley, Hart­shorn, Lullington, Measham, Melbourn, Newton Solney, Ravenstone, Repton, Stanton, Stapenhill, Stretton-in-the-Fields, Ticknall, Walton-on-Trent, and Willesley.

ARCHDEACONRY OF DERBY.—Bakewell, Castleton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Edensor, Eyam, Glossop, Hathersage, Hope, Longstone, Monyash, Sheldon, Taddington, Tideswell, Winster, and Youlgreave.

BAKEWELL, HOPE, TIDESWELL, and their chapelries, Chapel-en-le-Frith and Kniveton, are in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield,. Sawley and its chapelries, are in the jurisdiction of the prebendary of that corps, in the church of Lichfield, Calke, Dale Abbey, and Hartington, with the chapel of Sterndale, and Peak Forest, are exempt from ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

From the reports of the ecclesiastical commissioners; the commissioners for building new churches; and the Bishop of the diocese, it appears that prior to the 31st March, 1851, 40 new parishes or ecclesiastical districts have been formed in the county, embracing a population of 99,135 souls.

ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.—The ordinary Ecclesiastical Courts are the Court of Arches, or Supreme Court of Appeal, the Prerogative or Testamentary Court, and the Court of Pecu­liars, the diocesan courts, being the consistoral courts of each diocese, exercising general jurisdiction. The Arches Court exercises the appellate jurisdiction from the diocesan and most of the peculiar courts. It may also take original cognizance of causes; and it has jurisdiction on subtraction of legacy, given by wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Can­terbury. The prerogative court has jurisdiction of all wills and administrations of personal property left by persons having boni notabili, or effects of a certain value. A very large proportion, not less than four-fifths of the whole contentious business, and a very much larger part of what is termed common form business, is dispatched by this court. The Court of Peculiars takes cognizance of all matters arising in certain deaneries. The Diocesan Court takes cognizance of matters arising locally within their respective limits, with the exception of places subject to peculiar jurisdiction. They may decide all matters of spiritual discipline. They may suspend or deprive clergymen, declare marriages, void, pronounce sentence of separation, try the right of succession to personal property, and administer the other branches of ecclesiastical law. The Archdeacons Court is generally subordinate, with an appeal to the Bishops’ Court, though in some instances it is independent and co-ordinate.

MONASTERIES AND RELIGIOUS HOUSES.—Of the Abbot and Abbey. When in a Society of religious persons, whether male or female, one Abbot or Abbess presided it was styled an Abbey. This governor had the sole power over the convent, could appoint or remove any officer at pleasure, and prescribe what rules the monks or nuns should be obliged to observe. The Abbots have enjoyed the power of conferring the lower order of priesthood, but in the essential points of jurisdiction, they were every where subject to the diocesan Bishop.

A PRIORY.—When the chief person in the monastery bore the name of prior, at was styled priory. These kind of religious houses were of two sorts,—either they were such whose prior was independent, or they were such as depended upon some great abbey, from which they received their prior, and to which they were often obliged to pay a small pen­sion, or annual acknowledgment.

                                                                                HISTORY OF DERBYBHIRE.                                                 33

 

A PRECEPTORY.—Whensoover the Knights Templars or Hospitallers, had any consider­able manors or farms, they erected churches for the service of God, and built a convenient house for habitation, to which they sent out their fraternity under this command of a preceptor.

MONKS AND MONASTERIES.—When the society of religious persons consisted of men, it was called a monastery. There is reason to believe that there were monks and monasteries in Britain before the end of the 4th century. In the course of the 7th century many monaster­ies were founded in all parts of England. These monasteries were designed, in some places, for the seats of the bishops and their clergy; in others for the residence of the secular priests, and in all places they were seminaries of learning for the education of youth.

A CELL.—When a monastery or nunnery was subject to another it was called a cell. The great English Abbeys had many such cells in distant places. Chantries, were chapels erected and endowed for the singing of masses for the souls of the deceased. Chantry rents are still paid to the Crown, by the purchasers of these lands. Hospitals, were small con­vents, occupied by a few monks, and founded for the entertainment of all who went any pilgrimage on religious pretence. Guilds were societies of lay-brethren, who lived together like monks, but were of no professed order.

ECCLESLASTICAL COMMISSIONERS.—Great changes are gradually taking place under the powers of this commission, appointed under an act passed 6th and 7th William IV., in the general improvement and equalization of the dioceses, in dividing extensive parishes and augmenting small livings, and the adoption of such other measures as may conduce to the efficiency of the established church. Several new parishes have already been formed in the county of Derby. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Lincoln, and Gloucester, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord High Treasurer, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with others, form a body politic and corporate, by the name of the “ Ecclesiastical Commissioners of England,” for the purposes of the said act.

PARISH REGISTERS.—The earliest of the parish registers date from the establishment of the Church of England; injunctions to that effect having been issued by Cromwell, Henry’s vicegerent in ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in 1538. The canons of the church now in force, date their authority from the beginning of the James I., AD. 1603. One of these prescribes minutely the manner entries are to be made in the parish registers, and contains a retrospective clause appointing that the ancient registers as far as they could be procured, should be copied in a parchment book. This new regulation appears to have been carried into full effect, so that the only parish register books now extant, are usually transcripts, commencing with Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The parish register act of 1812 obviated some of the previous sources of error, and insured the further usefulness of the registers from that period. But a satisfactory system of registration was not established until the year 1837, when the act of registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, came into operation in England and Wales. The registration of Births is considerably more complete than the old parochial registers of Baptisms, and the register of Deaths is believed to be very complete.

QUEEN ANNE’S BOUNTY.—FIRST FRUITS AND TENTHS.—From the earliest period every bishop and clergyman has been required to pay the amount of his first year’s incumbency into ‘a fund, and every succeeding year one-tenth. These first fruits and tenths were annually collected, at their full value, and applied to the use of the pope, as early as the time of Pope Nicholas IV. (in 1200); for this purpose a valuation was made of all the ecclesiastical livings in England, which is still preserved in the remembrancer’s office, and designated “Valor of Pope Nicholas IV.” At the time of the Reformation, Henry VIII. passed a law, with the sanction of Parliament, declaring that the first fruits and tenths should be appropriated to the use of the state; and he caused an accurate and full valu­ation to be made of the ecclesiastical livings in England and Wales, which were accordingly paid into the public exchequer, till the reign of Queen Anne, with the exception of a short

                                         C

34                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

period in the reign of Philip and Mary. Queen Anne, it is said, deploring the wretched condition in which many of the clergy were placed owing to the insufficiency of their livings, came to the determination that the first fruits and tenths should be paid into a fund called “ Queen Anne’s Bounty,” and that the amount should be appropriated to the livings of the poor clergy. No fresh valuation has been made since 1535, and registered in what is called the King’s book, till that made by the order of the commission, in 1835, on which the payments are now regulated. That the payment might not operate oppressively, the first year’s income was to be paid by four annual instalments, and all livings of small value were entirely exempt, and hence called “discharged livings.” The governors of Queen Anne’s bounty, sometimes aided by benefactions, and at others by Parliamentary grants, for the endowment of churches, have been able greatly to augment many of the poorest livings, and now the resources at the command of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, by various reductions in cathedral and collegiate churches, have caused the church livings to be considerably equalized.

 

PUBLIC OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY.

Lord Lieutenant of the County, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire.

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. North Division—The Hon. George Henry Cavendish, and William Pole Thornhill, Esq.

South Division, William Mundy, Esq., and Charles Robert Colville, Esq.

High Sheriff, William Hatfield de Rodes, Esq., Barlborough.

Under Sheriff, John James Simpson, Esq., Derby.

Sheriff’s Chaplain, Rev. John Hamilton Gray.

Clerk of the Peace, John Barber, Esq., Derby.

Deputy Clerk of the Peace, Francis Barber, Esq., Derby.

County Treasurer, George Crompton, Esq., Derby.

Coroners, William Whiston, jun., Esq., for the County. Bryan Thomas Balguy, Esq. for the Borough of Derby. Appletree hundred, Henry Mozeley, Esq., Derby. High Peak hundred, Francis Grey Bennett, Esq., Glossop. Morleston and Litchurch hundred, William Whiston, jun., Esq., Derby. Repton and Gresley hundred, Joseph

Sale, Esq., Derby. Scarsdale hundred, Charles S. B. Busby, Esq., Chesterfield.

STAMP DISTRIBUTOR, and receiver of Her Majesty’s revenues for the County, John Corden, Esq., Derby.

SUB-DISTRIBUTORS:  Alfreton, Mr. B. Sharp. Ashbourn, Mr. Thomas Maysmoor. Bakewell, Mr. John Goodwin. Belper, Miss Matilda Lee. Buxton, Mr. W. D. Sutton. Chapel-en-le-Frith, Mr. William Carrington. Chesterfield, Miss Ann Walton. Glossop, Mr. John Booth. Winster, Mr. Joseph Heathcote. Wirksworth, Miss Mary Jean Brace.

COUNTY GAOL, Derby, Mr. James Henry Sims, Gaoler, Rev. Henry Moore, Chaplain, and Mr. Henry Francis Gisborne, Surgeon.

POLICE STATION, HEAD-QUARTERS, BELPER. The New County Police Act, passed 19th and 20th of Victoria, Session 56, has just been brought into operation in this County, and at a meeting of the Police Committee, at the County Hall, on the 21st January, 1857, it was resolved, to recommend to the Secretary of State, that the number and pay of the Superintendents and other Constables for the County of Derby should be as under, viz—One First Class Superintendent, at a salary of £140 per annum, and £40 per year additional, for expenses. Three First Class Superintendents, at a salary of £120 per annum each, and £40 a year each, additional for expenses. Four Second Class Superintendents, at a salary of £100 per annum each, and £40 a year each additional for expenses. Five First Class Sergeants, at 23s. per week each, and £8 a year each additional for clothing. Nine Second Class Sergeants, at 20s. per week, each, and £8 a year each additional for clothing. Sixty First Class Constables, at 19s. per week each, and £4 17s. a year additional for clothing. Seventy-three Second Class Consta­bles, at 17s. per week each, and £4 17s. a year additional, for clothing; and One Clerk to Storekeeper, at £90 per annum. These will give a Police Force for the County of 156 men, at an annual cost of £9,024 13s. 0d., exclusive of the Chief’ Constable, who was chosen a few weeks previous, by the magistrates, at a salary of £400 per annum, and £100 a year additional for expenses. Mr. Willoughby G. Fox, is the Chief Constable.

                                                                                COUNTY MAGISTRATES.                                                  35

 

HIGH CONSTABLES: Appletree hundred, Mr. George Pym, Belper. High Peak hundred, Mr. Robert Thornhill, Great Longstone. Morleston and Litchurch hundred, Mr. Henry H. Hutchinson, Derby. Repton and Gresley hundred, Mr. William Whiston, jun., Derby. Scarsdale hundred, Mr. John Wright. Wirksworth hundred, Mr. John Marshall, Wirksworth.

Sheriff’s Officer, Mr. John Cockayne, Derby.

 

                                    MAGISTRATES ACTING IN THE COUNTY OF DERBY.

                                       JOHN BALGUY, ESQ., DUFFIELD, CHAIRMAN.

Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart, Rolleston Hall Sir Henry Fitzherbert, Bart, Tissington Thomas Kirkpatrick Hall, Esq., Lichfeld Sir Matthew Blakiston, Bart., Sandy Brook Hall Edward Sacheverel Chandos Pole, Esq., Radborne John Bell Crompton Esq. Duffield Hall Robert Arkwright, Esq., Sutton Hall John Wright, Esq., Park Hall George William Newton, Esq., Aspinshaw Hall Ashton Nicholas Every Mosley, Esq., Burnaston William Fletcher Norton Norton, Esq., Elton The Right Honorable Henry Manvers Lord Waterpark, Doveridge Cockshutt Heathcote, Esq., Bideford, Devon­shire Sir Henry Sacheverel Wilmot, Bart., Chad­desden Hall The Rt. Hon. George John Venables Lord Vernon, Sudbury William Mundy, Esq., M.P., Markeaton Hall Jesse Watts Russell, Esq., Ilam Hall Edward Nicholas Hurt, Esq., Dorset sq., London Thomas Legh, Esq., Lyme Park, Disley William Pole Thornhill, Esq., M.P., Stanton Charles March Phillips, Esq., Garendon Park John Harrison, Esq., Snelston Francis Green Goodwin, Esq., Wigwell Edmund Gilling Maynard, Esq., Chesterfield John Radford, Esq., Smalley The Right Honorable Lord Belper, Kingston Hall William Milnes, Esq., Stubbin Edge James Newton, Esq., Cheadle Heath William Palmer Morewood, Esq., Alfreton Park Francis Hurt, Esq., Alderwasley Charles Clarke, Esq., Matlock William Edward Nightingale, Esq., Lea Hurst The Earl of Burlington John Henry Barker, Esq., Bakewell Edward Anthony Holden, Esq., Aston Hall William Leigh Clowes, Esq., Broughton Hall

Peter Arkwright, Esq., Willersley Castle Lorenzo Hall, Esq., Barton Hall, Lichfield Thomas Peach, Esq., M.D., Langley William Wootton Abney, Esq., Measham The Hon. George Henry Cavendish, M.P., Ashford Hall Hyde John Clarke, Esq., Hyde Sir Francis Darwin, Knt., Breadsall Priory Thomas Pares, Esq., Hopwell Thomas Guy Gisborne, Esq., Yoxall Lodge Edward Thomas Coke, Esq., Debdale Anthony Radford Strutt, Esq., Milford Hall John Strutt, Esq., Belper Thomas Slacke, Esq., M.D., Slacke Hall Robert Ashton, Esq., Hyde Henry John Pye, Esq., Clifton Hall Tamworth Thomas Bent, Esq., M.D., Derby George Moore, Esq., Appleby Charles Robert Colvile, Esq., M.P., Lul­lington John Sherwin Sherwin, Esq., Bramcote House John Spencer Ashton Shuttleworth, Esq., Heathersage Francis Wright, Esq., Osmaston Manor John Bott, Esq., Coton Hall Henry Bowdon, Esq., Southgate House Peter Bainbrigge Le Hunt, Esq., Ashborne James Salmond, Esq., Langton Hall William Sidebottom, Esq., Etherow House Sir Hugh Seymour Blane. Bart., The Pastures James Sutton, Esq., Shardlow Hall George Vandeleur, Esq. John Goodwin Johnson, Esq., The Callow Edward Radford, Esq., Tansley Wood Samuel Grimshaw, Esq., Errwood House Charles Sprengel Greaves, Esq., Blandford square, London John Slack, Esq., Bowden Hall Henry Clay, Esq., Foremark Hall John Chapman, Esq., Hill End, Cheshire Joseph Hodgson, Esq., East Thorpe, York­shire Michael Thomas Bass, Esq., M.P., Burton-­on-Trent Theodore Henry Dury, Esq., Burnaston Thomas William Evans, Esq., Allestree Hall John Gilbert Crompton, Eeq., The Lilies Edward Valentine Pegge Burnell, Esq., Winkburn

36                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

Joseph St. John Yates, Esq., Wellbank, Cheshire Joseph Thomas Cantrell, Esq., King’s Newton Gladwin Turbutt, Esq., Ogston Hall T.  P. Heywood, Esq., Dove Lees William Needham, Esq., Alfreton James Oakes, Esq., Riddings Hall Edmund Wilmot, Esq., Hopton Hall William Longsdon, Esq., Little Longstone Wilson Overend, Esq., Sheffield Alfred Miller Mundy, Esq., Shipley Thomas Osborne Bateman, Esq., Chaddesden Thomas Charles Geldart, Esq., Netherseal Hall The Honorable A. H. Vernon, Sudbury Hall George Henry Strutt; Esq., Milford House Edmund Buckley, Esq., Manchester Sir Sitwell Reresby Sitwell, Bart, Renishaw J. C. Athorpe, Esq., Dinnington Hall Henry Marwood Greaves, Esq., Ford Hall William Drury Lowe, Esq., Locko Park The Honorable Edward Keppel Wentworth Coke, Longford Hall Charles William Lyon, Esq., Burton-under-­Needwood Robert Holders, Esq., Nuttall Temple William Cox, Esq., Brailsford Francis Bradshaw, jun., Esq., Barton Park Henry Allsop, Esq.			Ashton Mosley, Esq., Burnaston House John Gregory Cottingham, Esq., Chester­field Robert Edward Eardley Wilmot, Esq., Chaddesden Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram, Esq., Hoar Cross, Staffordshire Thomas Need, Esq., Killamarsh Sir Joseph Parton, Knt., M.P., Chatsworth Robert William Mills Nesfield, Esq., Bakewell Edmund Potter, Esq., Glossop Alfred Arkwright, Esq., Wirksworth John Wright, Esq., Hulland Hall Thomas Matthew Gisborne, Esq., Walton-­on-Trent George Newdigate, Esq., Derwent Hall Colonel Charles Leslie, Hassop Hall The Right Honorable Thomas Lord Denman, Stoney Middleton Francis Westby Bagshawe, Esq., The Oaks, Sheffield John Balguy, jun., Esq., Duffield Richard Barrow, Esq., Ringwood Hall Sir Mylles Cave Brown Cave, Bart, Stretton­-en-le-Fields Edward Marsland, Esq., Henbury Godfrey Heathcote, Esq., Chesterfield Frederick Holland, Esq., Ashbourn Hall

 

A LIST OF

THE SEATS OF THE NOBILITY, GENTRY, AND CLERGY,

IN DERBYSHIRE.

 

Abbey Dale Villa, 4½ miles S.W. from Sheffield; John Roberts, Esq.

Aldercar Hall, 4 miles S.E. from Alfreton; George Jessop, Esq.

Alderwasley Hall, 2 miles E. from Wirksworth; Francis Hurt, Esq.

Alfreton Park, 13 miles N. from Derby; Wm. Palmer Morewood,Esq.

Allestree Hall, 2½ miles N. from Derby; Thos. Wm. Evans, Esq., Mrs. Mary Evans.

Alton Manor House, 2 miles S. from Wirksworth; Jas. Milnes, Esq.

Appleby Hall, 5½ miles S. W. by S. from Ashby; G. Moor, Esq. Rectory, Rev. J. M. Echalaz.

Ashbourn Hall, 13 miles N.W. from Derby; Capt. Frederick Holland, R.N. Dovehouse

Green, Thos. Webb Goodwin, Esq. Vicarage, Rev. John Rich. Errington, M.A.

Ashbourn, Peter Bainbrigge Le Hunt, Esq. Compton, Richard Riddlesdon, Esq.

Ashford HaIl, 1 mile N. from Bakewell; Hon. Geo. Henry Cavendish, M.P.

Ashgate, 2 miles W. from Chesterfield; John Gorrell Barnes, Esq.

Ashover, 7 miles NW. from Alfreton; Rev. Jph. Nodder, MA. Hall, Jph. Nodder, Esq.

Aston Hall, 6 miles S.E. from Derby; Edw. Anthony Holden, Esq. Lodge, Mrs. Con­stantia Walker. Rectory, Rev. Fras. Augustus Weeks, MA.

Bakewell, 16 miles W. by S. from Chesterfield. East Lodge, John Henry Barker, Esq. Castle Hill, Robert Nesfield, Esq.

Bank Top Cottage, 2½ miles N. from Ashbourn; Rev. Jermh. Barnes, M.A.

Barbrook Hall, 2 miles S. from Baslow; Sir Joseph Paxton, Knt., M.P.

Barlborough Hall, 8 miles E. from Chesterfield; Wm. Hatfield de Rode; Esq.

Barrow Hall, 6 miles S. from Derby; Mrs. Mary Arkwright, Wm. Sale, Esq.

Barton Blount Hall, 11 miles W. from Derby; Fras. Bradshaw, Esq. The Field, Henry Chandos Po1e, Esq.

Beauchief Abbey, 8 miles N. from Chesterfield; Mrs. Mary Smith.

Beighton Vicarage, 7½ miles E.S.E, from Sheffield; Hon. and Rev. Thee. Erskine, MA.  Grange, Robert Webster, Esq.

                                                                                SEATS OF NOBILITY AND GENTRY.                                37

 

Belper, 8 miles N. from Derby. Bridge Hill House, John Strutt, Esq.

Bentley (Fenny) Hall, 2½ miles N. from Ashbourn; Rev. Alleyne Fitz-Herbert, MA.

Bolsover Castle, 6 miles S.E. from Chesterfield; Rev. John Hamilton Gray, M.A.

Bonsall, 3 miles NW. from Wirksworth; Robt. Clay, Esq.

Bowden Hall, 3 miles N.E. from Chapel-en-le-Frith; John Slack, Esq.

Bradbourn Hall, 5½ miles N.E. from Ashbourn; Nathl. E. Curzon, Esq.

Bradley Hall, 3¾ miles E. from Ashbourn; Sml. Harwood, Esq. Rectory, Mrs. My. Archer

Brailsford House, 7 miles N.W. from Derby; Mrs. Eliz. Cox, and Wm. Cox, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Walter Shirley, MA.

Brampton Hall, 2 miles W. from Chesterfield; John Dixon, Esq.

Brassington Hall, 4 miles W. from Wirksworth; Alfred Charlton, Esq. Ivy Bank, Alex. Dean James, Esq. Roke House, Jas. Swindell, Esq.

Breadsall Priory, 3½ miles N.E. from Derby; Sir Fras. Darwin, Knt. Priory Cottage, Charlton Jas. Wollaston, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Hy. Robt. Crewe, M.A.

Bretby Hall, 3 miles E. from Burton-upon-Trent; Right Hon. George Augustus Frederick,. Earl of Chesterfield. George Philip Cecil Arthur, Lord Stanhope

Brimington Hall, 2 miles N.E. from Chesterfield; Capt. Fras. Sacheverel Wilmot.

Brookfield Hall, 4 miles N.E. from Castleton; Miss Hannah Wright.

Brook Hill Hall, 3 miles E. from Alfreton; Wm. S. Coke, Esq.

Broom House, 2½ miles N. from Chesterfield; Chas. Steade, Esq.

Burnaston House, 5 miles S.W. by W. from Derby; Ashton Nicholas Every Mosley, Esq,

Burre House, 2 miles N.N.W. from Bakewell; John Bossley, Esq.

Burton Closes, ½ mile S.E. from Bakewell; Wm. Allcard, Esq.

Butterley Hall, 3 miles S. from Alfreton; Major John Jessop, and Wm. Jessop, Esq,

Caldwell Hall, 5 miles S. by E. from Burton-upon-Trent; Miss Rebecca Evans.

Calke Abbey, 10 miles S. from Derby; Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart.

Callow Hall, 1½ mile W. from Ashbourn; John Goodwin Johnson, Esq

Carnfield Hall, 1½ mile N. from Alfreton; Thos. Radford, Esq.

Castle Gresley Parsonage, 4 miles S.E. by S. from Burton-upon-Trent; Rev. G. Lloyd, M.A.

Catton Hall, 7 miles N.W. from Burton; Lady Anne Beatrix Wilmot Horton.

Chaddesden Hall, 2½ miles E. from Derby; Sir Henry Sacheverel Wilmot, Bart. Moor, Thomas Osborne Bateman, Esq.

Chapel-en-le.Frith, 15 miles N.W. from Bakewell; The Hardern, John De Jongh, Esq.

Charnock Hall, 7 miles N.E. from Chesterfield; Geo. Rhodes, Esq.

Chatsworth House, 3½ miles S E from Bakewell; His Grace The Most Noble William Spencer Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire.

Clay Cross Hall, 5 miles S. from Chesterfield; Chas. Binns, Esq.

Clownholme, 3½ miles N.E. from Uttoxetor; Wm. Webb, Esq.

Cowley Hall, ½ mile S. from Darley; Clement Sorby, Esq.

Cressbrook Hall, 2 miles S. from Tideswell; Henry McConnel Esq.

Crich, 5 miles N. from Belper; Mansion House, Leopold Richardson Saxton, Esq.

Croxall Vicarage, 8 miles S. by W. from Burton-upon-Trent; Rev. Jas. Gisborne, M.A.

Cubley Rectory, 6 miles S. from Ashbourn; Rev. Rich. W. Vevers, MA.

Dalbury Rectory, 6½ miles W. by S. from Derby; Rev. Chas. Evelyn Cotton, L.L.B.

Darley Abbey, 1 mile N. of Derby; Saml. Evans, Esq.

Darley Dale, 5 miles N.W. from Matlock; Benj. Broomhead, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Danl. Vaudrey, MA.

Darley Hall, 3 miles N. W. from Matlock; Mrs. Mary Potter. Derwent Cottage, George Gooddie, Esq. Stancliff Hall, Jph. Whitworth, Esq.

Derwent Hall, 6 miles N.N.W. from Hathersage; Geo. Newdigate, Esq.

Doveridge Hall, 2 miles E. by S. from Uttoxetor; Right Hon. Henry Manners, Lord Waterpark. Vicarage, Hon. and Rev. Thos. Cavendish, M.A.

Drakelow Hall, 13 miles S.W. from Derby; Henry Williams De Vœux, Esq.

Draycott House, 7 miles E.S.E. from Derby, Mrs. Sarah Scott.

Duffield, 4 miles N. from Derby; John Balguy, Esq., Q.C. Hall, John Bell Crompton, Esq.

Egginton Hall, 4¼ mi1es N.N.E. form Burton-on-Trent; Sir Henry Flower Every, Bart.

Elmton Park, 10 miles E. by N. from Chesterfield; John Brown, Esq.

Elvaston Castle, 4 miles S.E.by E. from Derby; Right Hon. Lester, Earl of Harrington.

Eyam Hall, 6 miles N. from Bakewell; Peter Wright, Esq. View, Thos. Gregory, Esq.

Fairfield House 1¼ mile S.W, by S. from Derby; John Tempest Morley, Esq.

Foolow, 1½ mile W. from Eyam; Wm. Wyatt, Esq.

Ford Hall, 2 miles N. from Chapel-en-le-Frith; Hy. Marwood Greaves, Esq.

Foremark Hall, 6½ miles S. S. W. from Derby; Hy. Clay, Esq.

38                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

Gannow House, 9 miles N.E. by N. from Chesterfield; Thos. Need, Esq.

Gate House, Wirksworth; Alfred Arkwright, Esq.

Hackenthorpe Hall, 5 miles S.E. from Sheffield; Jas. Hounsfield, Esq.

Glapwell Hall, 7 miles SE. from Chesterfield; Thos. Hallowes, Esq.

Glossop Hall, 9 miles N. from Chapel-en-le-Frith; Lord Edw. Geo. Fitzalan Howard.

Haddon House, ½ miles S.E. from Bakewell; Sir Mylles Cave Brown Cave, Bart.

Hartshorn Rectory, 4 miles N.W. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Rev. Hy. Wm. Buckley, MA.

Hassop Hall, 3 miles N. by E. from Bakewell; Col, Charles Leslie.

Hathersage Hall, 5 miles E. by S. from Castleton; John Spencer Ashton Shuttleworth, Esq. Nether Hall, Chas. Jas. Peel, Esq.

Hasland Hall, 1½ miles S.S.E. from Chesterfield; Ven. Thos. Hill, B. D. Archdeacon of Derby; House, Misses Claughton

Heanor Hall, 9 miles N.E. from Derby; John Ray, Esq.

Heath Cottage, 1 mile E. by S. from Burton-up-Trent; Thomas Myatt, Esq.

Highfield, 1 mile N.W. from Chesterfield; Bernard Maynard Lucas, Esq.

Hilcote Hall, 3 miles N.E. from Alfreton; Geo. Adlington, Esq.

Holme Hall, 1 mile N. from Bakewell; Thos. John Gisborne, Esq.

Hope Manor House, 4 miles W.S.W. from Hathersage; Willimott H. Billing, Esq.

Hopton Hall, 2 miles W. from Wirksworth; Edmund Wilmot, Esq.

Hopwell Hall, 7 mile E. from Derby; Thomas Pares, Esq.

Horwich House, 3 miles W. from Chapel-en-le-Frith; John Welch, Esq.

Hulland Hall, 4½ miles E. by N. from Ashbourn; John Wright, Esq.

Ilkeston Park, 9 miles E. from Derby; Saml. Potter, Esq. Larklands, Philip Potter, Esq. Field House, Matthew Hobson, Esq. Manor House, John Taylor, Esq. Vicarage, Rev. Geo. Searl Ebsworth, MA.

Ingleby Hill House, 7 miles S. from Derby; Sampson Massey, jun., Esq.

Kedleston Hall, 4 miles N.W. from Derby; Right Hon. and Rev. Alfred Natbl. Henry, Lord Scarsdale, and Farnah Hall.

King’s Newton, 7 miles S.E. from Derby; Joseph Thomas Cantrell, Esq. Hall, Robert Green, Esq.

Kirk Hallam Viearage, 8¾ miles E.N.E. from Derby; Rev. Alfred Newdigate, M.A.

King’s Sterndale Cottage, 2½ miles SE. from Buxton; Mrs. Eliz. Pickford.

Kirk lreton Rectory, 2½ miles S.S.W. from Wirksworth; Rey. Robt. Gell, M.A.

Kirk Langley, 4¾ miles N.N.W. from Derby; Thomas Goodall Copestake, Esq.

Langley Park, 5¾ miles NW. by W. from Derby, Godfrey Meynell, Esq.

Lea Hurst, 2½ miles S.E. from Matlock; William Edward Nightingale, Esq.

Leam Hall, 5 miles N.E. from Tideswell; Thomas Burgoyne, Esq.

Lillies (The), 7 miles N.W. from Derby; John Gilbert Crompton, Esq

Little Longstone, 3½ miles NW. by N. from Bakewell; Wm. Longsdon, Esq.

Locko Park, 5 miles E. from Derby; William Drury Lowe, Esq.

Lomberdale House, 4 miles SW. from Bakewell; Thomas Bateman, Esq.

Longford Hall, 7 miles S.S.E. from Ashbourn; Hon. Edward Coke. Rectory, Rev. T. Architel Anson, MA.

Longstone HaIl, 3 miles N.N.W. from Bakewell; Miss Elizabeth Carleill.

Lullington, 7½ miles from Burton-upon-Trent; Charles Robert Colville, Esq., M.P.

Makeney Hall, 2 miles S. from Belper; Anthony Strutt, Esq.; Lodge, Alfred Holmes, Esq.

Markeaton Hall, 1 mile NW. from Derby; William Mundy, Esq., M.P.

Matlock Rectory, 8 miles S. from Bakewell; Rev. William Rylance Melville, M.A.

Measham Hall, 3½ miles S.S.W. from Ashby-de-la Zouch; William Wootton Abney, Esq.; Field House, Joseph Simmonds, Esq.

Melbourne Hall, 8½ miles S.S.E. from Derby; George Briscoe, Esq.; Shaw Hill House Wm. Muggleston, Briggs, Esq.

Mellor Hall, 8 miles N.W. by N. from Chapel-en-le-Frith; John Moult, Esq.; Lower hall, Jonathan Jowett, Esq.

Mickleover Vicarage, 4 miles W. by S. from Derby; Hon. and Rev. Fredk. E. Curzon, M.A.

Middleton Hall (by Youlgreave), 3½ miles S. by W. from Bakewell; Mrs. Margt. Parker.

Milford House, 6 miles N. from Derby; George H. Strutt, Esq.

Moor Seats, 1 mile N.E. from Hathersage; Thomas Eyre, Esq.

Morley Rectory, 4 miles N.E. from Derby; Samuel Fox, M.A.

Morton Rectory, 3¼ miles N. from Alfreton; Rev. Thomas Lund, B.A.

Mosborough Hall, 8 miles N.N.E. from Chesterfield; Charles Rotherham., Esq.

Muggington, 7 miles NW. from Derby; William Batemam Morley, Esq.

Nether Booth, 3 miles N.N.W. from Castleton; Francis Beresford Champion, Esq.

                                                                                SEATS OF NOBILITY AND GENTRY.                               39

 

Newton Solney, 9 miles S. by W. from Derby; The Park, Wm. Worthington, Esq.

Norbury Hays, 8½ miles S.S.W. from Derby; Charles H. Crewe, Esq.

Norbury Rectory, 4 miles S.W. from Ashbourn; Rev. Clement F. Broughton, MA.

North Lees Hall, 1¼ mile from Hathersage ; Mr. George Eyre, and the Misses Eyre.

Norton Hall, 4 miles S. from Sheffield; Chas. Cammell, Esq. Grange; Hy. S. Johnson, Esq.

Oaks (The). 4 miles S. from Sheffield; Fras. Westby Bagshawe, Esq., and Wormald Hall

Ockbrook Manor House, 5½ miles E. from Derby; Bryan Thomas Balguy, Esq.

Oddo (Winster), 6 miles N.W. from Wirksworth; Andrew Brittlebank, Esq.

Ogston Hall, 3½ miles N. by W. from Alfreton; Gladwin Turbutt, Esq.

Osmaston Hall, 2¼ miles S E. from Derby; Sir Robert Wilmot, Bart.

Osmaston Manor, 2½ miles SE. from Ashbourn; Francis Wright, Esq.

Overton Hall, 7 miles N. from Wirksworth; John Bright, Esq., M.D.

Park Hall, (Hayfield) 4 miles S. from Glossop; John White, Esq.

Pastures, (The), 3 miles SW. from Derby; Sir Hugh Seymour Blane, Bart.

Pig Tor, (Fairfield) 1½ miles E.N.E. from Buxton; George Goodwin, Esq.; and John Deakin, Esq.

Pleasley Vale, 4½ miles N. from Mansfield; William Hollins, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Courtenay Smith.

Quarndon House, 3 miles N.W. from Derby; Miss Dorothy Wilmot Sitwell.

Radbourn Hall, 4½ miles W. from Derby; Edward Sacheverel Chandos-Pole, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Reginald Chandos-Pole, M.A. Old Park House, Edward Sacheverel Chandos-Pole, jun., Esq.

Ravenstone Hall, 4 miles S.E. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch; Leonard Fosbrook, Esq. Rectory Rev. James Thomas Alderson, and Robt. Green Cresswell, Esq.

Repton Park, 4½ miles N.E. from Burton-on-Trent; Edmund Lewis Crewe, Esq.

Reservoir House, ¾ miles W. from Chesterfield; Godfrey Heathcote, Esq.

Riber Hall, 1 mile S.E. from Matlock, Geo. Allen, Esq.

Ringwood HaIl, 4½ miles N. from Chesterfield; Richard Barrow, Esq.

Risley Hall, 7½ miles E. by S. from Derby; Rev. John Hancock Hall.

Rock House, 2 miles S. from Buxton; Miss Ellen Hawkins.

Rock House, 2 miles N. from Wirksworth; Misses Hurt.

Sandy Brook Hall, 1½ miles N. from Ashbourn; Sir Matthew Blakiston, Bart. And Matthew Blakiston, Esq.

Shardlow Hall, 7 miles S.E. by S. from Derby; James Sutton, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Jno. Eaton, M.A.

Shipley Hall, 8 miles E. from Derby; Alferd Miller Mundy, Esq.

Slacke Hall, 3½ miles N.E. from Chapel-en-le-Frith; Thomas Slacke, Esq., M.D.

Smalley Hall, 6 miles N.E. from Derby; John Radford, Esq.

Smisby, 2½ miles N. by W. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch; Wm. P. Dewes, Esq. Pistern Hills William Wilder, Esq.

Sneleton, Hall, 3 miles S.W.from Ashbourn; John Harrison, Esq.

Snitterton Hall, 1¼ miles W. by N. from Matlock; Robert Sybray, Esq.

Somersall Hall, 3 miles E. by N. from Uttoxeter; William Fitz-Herbert, Esq.

Southgate House, 9 miles E. by N. from Chesterfield; Henry Bowdon, Esq.

Spondon Hall, 3 miles E. from Derby; William Thos. Cox, Esq. Field House, Frederick Arkwright, Esq. The Cottage, Samuel W. Cox, Esq., Rev. Josias J. Blandford, and John Sant, Esq. Old Hall, Miss Sitwell.

Springfield House, 9 miles E. from Derby; John Streets, Esq.

Stainsby House, 6 miles N. from Derby; Edward Degge Sitwell, Esq.

Stanton Hall, 4 miles S.S.E. from Bakewell; William Pole Thornhill, Esq., M.P.

Staveley Rectory, 5 miles N.E. from Chesterfield; Rev. James D. Mc. Farlane, MA. The Hagg, Mrs. Elizabeth Crawahaw. Cottage, John Heaton, Esq.

Stoney Middleton, 5 miles N. by E. from Bakewell; Right Hon. Thomas Lord Denman.

Stretton-in-the-Field Hall, 5 miles S.W. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch; Captain Lewis Conran. Rectory, Rev. Wm. Astley Cave Browne Cave.

Stubbing Court, 3½ miles S.S.W. from Chesterfield; Thos. Humphrey Pedley, Esq.

Stubbing Edge Hall, 1½ miles S.E. from Ashover; William Milnes, Esq.

Sudbury Hall, 13 miles W.S.W. from Derby; Right Hon. Geo. John Warren, Lord Vernon, and Hon. Augustus Hy. Vernon. Rectory, Rev. Frederick Anson, M.A.

Sutton-on-the-hill, 8 miles S. by W. from Derby; Rev. German Buckstone, M.A.

Sutton Hall, 4 miles S.E. from Chesterfield; Robert Arkwright, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Michael M. Humble, B.A.

Swanwick Hall, 2½│ miles S. from Alfreton; Rev. John Wood, M.A,

40                                                                            HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE.

 

Swarkestone Old Hall, 5 miles S. by E. from Derby; Sampson Massey, Esq.

Sydnope Hall, 3 miles N. from Matlock; Richd. Bridgeman Barrow, Esq.

Tapton Grove, 1½ mile N.E. from Chesterfield; Mrs. S. B. Meynell.

Thornhill, l½ mile W. by S. from Derby; Miss Elizabeth Trowell.

Thulston Grange, 4½ miles S.E. from Derby; Rev. Fredk. Nathaniel Highmore, M.A.

Tissington Hall, 4 miles N. by E. from Ashbourn; Sir Henry Fitz-Herbert, Bart.

Tupton Hall, 4 miles S. from Chesterfield; Frederick Packman, Esq.

Walton Lodge. 3 miles S.W. from Chesterfield; Rev. John B. Jebb.

Walton-on-Trent Hall, 4½ miles W. from Burton-on-Trent; Thos. Matthew Gisborne, Esq.

West Hallam Rectory, 7 miles N.E. by N. from Derby; Rev. Charles J. Newdigate, MA.

Weston Underwood Lodge, 6 miles NW. by N. from Derby; Hon. Sophia Curzon.

Whittington Hall, 2½ miles N. from Chesterfield; William Fowler, Esq.

Whitwell Rectory, 4½ miles W. by S. from Worksop; Rev. Evelyn Boothby, BA.

Wigwell Hall, 1 mile E. by N. from Wirksworth; Captain Francis Green Goodwin.

Willersley Castle, 2 miles S. from Matlock; Peter Arkwright, Esq.

Willesley Hall, 2 miles S.W. by W. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch; Sir Chas. Abney Hastings, Bart.

Willington, 6½ miles S.S.W. from Derby; Rev. Francis Ward Spilsbury, Mrs. Frances Allsopp and Geo. Smallwood, Esq.

Wingerworth Hall, 2¼ miles S.S.W. from Chesterfield; Wilmer Wilmer, Esq.

Wingfield (North), 4½ miles S.S.E. from Chesterfield; John Wilkinson Clay, Esq. Rectory, Rev. Edward Walter Lowe.

Wingfield Park (South), 2½ miles W. from Alfreton; David Wheatcroft, Esq. New Manor House, Rev. Imanuel Halton, B.D.

Winster, 6 miles N.W. from Wirksworth; Charles Carill Worsley, Esq.

Wirksworth 13 miles N.N.W. from Derby; James Hurt, Esq.

Wormhill Hall, 2¼ miles W.S.W. from Tideswell; Francis Westby Bagshaw, Esq., and the Oaks.

Wyaston Grove, 3 miles S.S.E. from Ashbourn; Mrs. Harriet Alderson.

Yeldereley House, 3½ miles S.S.E. from Ashbourn; Rev. Roger Ryland Vaughton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ERRATA.

 

Page 182, fourth line from top, for Elizabethean, read Elizabethan.

Page 235, under Farmers, for Pakenham, read Pakeman John.

Page 254, twenty-fifth line from top, for Earl of Thanet, read Sir Richard Tufton, Bart. twenty-sixth line, for John Charge, Esq., read Joseph Hale, Esq., Castleton.

Page 373, twenty-eighth line from top, for Thorpe Ernald, read Thorpe Arnold.

Page 384, fifteenth line from top, for “It,’ read The Church.

Page 490, sixth line from bottom, for fresh, read freshest.

Page 514, sixth line from top, for Shellow, read Skellow.

Page 549, eleventh line from top, for Sarby, read Clement Sorby.

Page 569, first line, for the Mode, read the Model.

Page 660, twenty-fifth line from bottom, for on the floor, read on the first floor.

Page 675, fourteenth line from top, for Detbic, read Derby.

Page 678, eighteenth line from top, for delapidated, read dilapidated.

Page 695, twelfth line from top, for sourses, read sources.

Page 708, ninth line from top, for Port House, read Pot house.

Page 785, sixth line from top, for Brown house, read Broom House.