Heritage news 21.pmd - South Derbyshire District Council

SOUTH DERBYSHIRE
HERITAGE NEWS
The design and heritage newsletter of South Derbyshire District Council & Sharpe’s Pottery
Issue 21
Winter 2005/2006
TOURISM BOOST FOR
SWADLINCOTE
“A Tourist Information Centre? In Swad?”
The idea would have seemed scarcely
thinkable just 20 years ago, but the fact that
Swadlincote is now set to have a TIC at
Sharpe’s Pottery is a potent symbol of the
rapid development of South Derbyshire in
recent times.
The new TIC acknowledges Swadlincote’s
strategic location in the National Forest,
and the dramatic improvements made
recently to the local environment of the
town.
It also demonstrates the growing interest
in industrial archaeology over the last 20
years, as shown by visitor attractions on
the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border.
These include Sharpe’s Pottery, Moira
Furnace, Snibston Discovery Park, Hough
Windmill and the Swannington Incline.
Sharpe’s Pottery Trust Chairman John Oake
says: “The Swadlincote TIC is a joint enterprise
Grange Farm is a Winner!
Local property developer Richard Blunt, who restored a decaying Georgian farmhouse at Overseal, was presented with
a prestigious national award during a ceremony at Christie’s, London, on 1 st November.
Grange Farm, which sits alongside the A444, was declared winner of the Georgian Group’s award for “Best Restoration
of a Georgian Building in an Urban Setting”. In clinching the award, it drove off the strong competition of the National
Trust’s project to restore a group of humble back-to-back houses in Birmingham.
The handsome Grade 2 listed farmhouse, which at first sight could be taken for a Burton on Trent townhouse, boasts a
handsome dining room, a library with built in shelves to all four walls, and a restored oak staircase. Currently on the
market, it is hoped that its many charms will seduce a purchaser into making a family home of it once more.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, the District Council Conservation officer Marilyn Hallard said:
“Grange Farm sits on land criss-crossed by fissures and in 1992 a large hole appeared in the classified road in front of it.
When that happened Grange Farm tilted, the then Coal Board promptly bought it and talked to us at the Local Authority
about demolition. The movement was monitored over a couple of years and to everyone’s surprise the building stabilised.
The Coal Authority was eventually persuaded to dispose of it and that is where Richard Blunt stepped in.” Richard, who
had previously taken a keen interest in the equally notable “Overseal House” next door, devised a rescue package and
completed the repairs earlier this year.
Heritage News - 1
with South Derbyshire District Council,
consisting of several elements. The Sharpe’s
museum entrance and shop area will be
improved, specialist staff will be recruited and
there will be improvements to the museum
galleries.
The current lack of road signage will be
addressed through a brown sign scheme and
town centre finger posting. We’re particularly
looking forward to the installation of an
innovative ‘through the glass’ touch screen
system, giving 24-hour access to information
about attractions, accommodation, events,
etc.”
Work is under way to make the Swadlincote
Tourist Information Centre a reality in time for
the start of the 2006 tourist season in April.
• It was the proposed demolition of this
attractive building of 1898 that triggered the
designation of a conservation area in
Swadlincote in 1990. Fifteen years later, the
town is set to get a Tourist Information Centre
as well.
• Grange Farm

Staying Staying Put:
Put:
Wood ood oodville ood ville War ar
Memorial
Memorial
The Woodville war memorial sits in an
inconspicuous spot on Woodville High
Street; a passer-by could easily miss it. It
became a listed building earlier this year
(see Heritage News no. 19), reflecting the
interest that English Heritage has recently
been taking in the preservation of war
memorials generally.
The Parish Council, deeming the current
location of the memorial to be unsuitable,
recently applied for listed building consent
to move the war memorial to a more
spacious location behind the Methodist
Church. A public consultation was
generally favourable to the idea, but local
opinion was not unanimous. Some felt it
was disrespectful to re-site the memorial.
Objections, including those of English
Heritage, led to a refusal of permission for
the removal.
The present position is that the war
memorial is likely to stay on its current site,
pending necessary repairs.
From Hepworth’s to
Morrison’s
It is a strange experience to visit the former
Hepworth’s site and see nothing behind
Swadlincote High Street except flat land
and a large hole in the ground where the
Morrison’s supermarket is to be built. The
listed chimney and the buildings attached
to it now stand isolated, and South
Derbyshire’s last remaining beehive oven
is no more.
Even so, a walk across the site still reveals
the remains of kiln bases and of broken
bricks, pipes and toilets made on the
premises. One such piece that I picked up,
complete with its transfer-printed badge,
turned out to be from Humpherson’s
“Beaufort” closet first made in 1884 - the
first, fully-fledged, modern ‘wash-down’
loo.
Work on the supermarket itself is due to
start in the New Year, and the store is
expected to open during the Autumn of
2006.
• What’s this? Answer on back page
Thumbs up for Festival!
The first Melbourne Festival took place back in September, blessed with mild, sunny
weather. The town was alive with visitors, unanimous in their admiration for the event, if
a little overwhelmed by the
amount of material on show.
Over 1,500 trail guides were
sold and many visitors hit the
trail on both days.
Surprises for visitors (to
mention but a few) included
impromptu lute performances
in the appropriate setting of the
tithe barn, traditional (i.e.
‘politically incorrect’) Punch
and Judy, and the breathtaking
sight of spirited metal
sculptures in the Dower House
garden against the backdrop of
Melbourne Pool. Here was a
splendid opportunity for
education, entertainment, or
simply for invited nosiness on • Feeding the ducks and swans at Melbourne Pool
private property, made respectable with a permit.
The 2006 Melbourne Festival will take place from Saturday 8 th to Sunday 17 th September.
There will be a programme of concerts & lectures in the evenings (separately ticketed)
and a weekend trail over the 16 th and 17 th September. As in 2005, art and other exhibitions
will be hosted in private houses, churches, chapels, halls and community buildings, many
of them Grade II listed and not normally open to the public.
The Festival Committee has taken account of the successful and less successful aspects
of this year’s experience and intends to modify the content accordingly. The Trail itself
will be the same size geographically with new host houses, about the same number of
painters, but more potters, jewellers, milliners and sculptors. As one 11 year-old said in
2005, “Mum, paintings are great but I’ve seen quite enough for today thanks”.
Excavated kiln is still a mystery!
Over at Sharpe’s Pottery, the steel-framed
warehouse of 1928 alongside Alexandra
Road has been taken down. The owners of
the site wished to reduce the ground levels
where the building stood, which is
beneficial for the pottery buildings as it will
help to divert the surface water that
occasionally floods the Sharpe’s Pottery
buildings.
• James Whitaker of Sharpe Bros. and Co. Ltd. (right) and an archaeologist,
photographed as the remains of the kiln began to come to light.
It was known, however, that the remains
of structures from an early phase of the
pottery’s history would almost certainly be
discovered during the work, and we have
not been disappointed. Careful uncovering
Heritage News - 2
of the remains, funded by the site owners
and done by them in conjunction with an
archaeological contractor, has revealed the
base of a small 19 th century kiln, and part
of the base of one of the original kilns of
1821. As expected, there has been no
shortage of shattered toilets, urinals,
basins, teapots (especially teapot lids!),
mixing bowls and banded yellow ware.
Interestingly, little
or no mocha ware
has been found on
this part of the site
so far.
The function of the
kiln that has been
found is open to
debate. Even
Marilyn Palmer, a
well-respected
industrial
archaeologist
based in
Leicestershire, was
mystified. It is
much smaller than
a conventional
kiln, and the doors
ways into it are oddly placed. It is expected
that the remains will be preserved in situ,
as the ground levels can be reduced to the
required gradient without disturbing them.

“No Pool! No Village!”
Between the Clock Garage at
Woodville and the Maurice Lea
Memorial Park at Church Gresley lies
a desolate area with its centre at Pool
Village, where there is now neither
pool nor village. Much of the land is
in an intermediate state, reclaimed
from opencasting and mineral
extraction, but in an unproductive
condition pending redevelopment.
The area is the subject of a special study
currently being carried out by the District
Council, with the aim of identifying, listing
and interpreting all potential
archaeological sites there. This work will
feed into future work undertaken for the
“Woodville to Swadlincote Town Centre
Area Action Plan”, and will help to ensure
that due account is taken of archaeological
matters within the planning process.
Readers may be interested in a few
snippets of information from the study:
The site occupied by the present T. G.
Green factory, and by Ensors on the other
side of the railway line, is the bed of a large
pond known as the Windmill Pool, formerly
the property of the Gresleys of Drakelow.
It was also known as the Upper Pool, to
distinguish it from the “Lower Pool”
downstream. The purpose of both pools
was apparently to drive Gresley Mill,
further downstream
The stream that was dammed to form the
Windmill Pool was once the county
boundary, but eventually the water level
on the southern edge of the pool came to
be recognised as the boundary instead. It
is interesting to note that, some 180 years
after the pool was drained, its old surface
water level still forms the county boundary
today! The area remained marshy, so T.
G. Green devised his own system of piled
foundations to overcome the problems
when his new works was built c1880: “He
employed his own labour force and
directed operations in his typically
forthright manner, using a remarkable
vocabulary of oaths that gave him the
nickname “swearing Tom”.” (Paul
Atterbury, in Cornish Ware and Domestic
Pottery by T. G. Green (2001).
T. G. Green’s Top Bank, represented today
by the premises of Neville Lumb, also has
interesting origins. Originally, this spot was
enclosed out of Gresley Common to
provide a house for the warrener who
looked after the rabbit warren on the
common. It was quite usual for commons
to house colonies of commercially-farmed
rabbits. A rabbit warren could be quite
lucrative to the lord of a manor, who would
rent it out or employ a warrener directly.
• Part of Burdett’s map of Derbyshire (1791 edition), showing the Windmill Pool half way up
on the right, and the lower pool by the mill house to the south. The black dot above the
Windmill Pool represents the Warrener’s house on Gresley Common.
The low hill that provides the focal point
of Pool Village was known as Windmill
Hill. The windmill that crowned it is long
gone and its precise site is lost.
However, the following snippet shows
that it must have stood close to the
warren house, that later became part of
Green’s “Top Bank”:
“During the summer months a
flock of sheep belonging to
Cooper and Massey grazed on the
common as well as cows, horses,
donkeys and geese belonging to
the commoners. One mound
known as the Warren, on which at
some time a windmill stood, was
covered with bracken and
infested with rabbits”
(H. J. Wain in Burton Observer
and Chronicle, 26 th August, 1977)
Such mounds are commonly associated
with “post mills”, timber-framed and
boarded structures which were sometimes
built on a mound to catch more wind. Post
mills were very common in the 18 th century
and could, with some trouble, be
dismantled and re-erected on a different
site if necessity demanded. Artificial “pillow
mounds” might also be made on rabbit
warrens to encourage the rabbits to
burrow, but the dual-purpose mound on
Windmill Hill, serving both windmill and
rabbits, was presumably a chance
occurrence rather than a deliberate
contrivance!
Heritage News - 3
One of the most famous (and most
unusual) warren houses in England is the
Triangular Lodge at Rushton,
Northamptonshire, built c1593 and now in
the care of English Heritage.
We don’t know for sure when the Warren
House at Gresley first became a pottery,
but it was probably around 1790. The
origins of the domestic pottery industry in
Church Gresley as a whole still remain a
little obscure; the industry certainly
gathered momentum during the 1790s,
but we may discover that its origins go
back a decade or two beyond that.
• The Rushton Triangular Lodge, Northants,
once a warrener’s house. The warrener’s house
on Gresley Common, by contrast, would have
been a plain affair.

Keith Foster writes:
It has been a busy time in the Attic over the last few months,
preparing for exhibitions and publishing new books.
We were invited to The Arboretum at Alrewas on 15th August to
show our “Soldiers of WW2” exhibition. The day was organised
mainly to commemorate VJ day
and to open a new permanent
exhibition dedicated to
Prisoners of War in the Far East
– this is well worth a visit and
includes descriptive panels,
photographs, drawings and
other artefacts relating to
experiences of the prisoners
(www.cofepow.org.uk). We
were also invited back to The
Arboretum on Armistice Day
(11/11) to again show the same
exhibition.
The Civic Trust’s Heritage
Open Days (8 th – 11 th Sept.) -
when many properties normally
closed to the public are open –
was another busy time for us.
The Attic arranged three separate exhibitions, one at the old
factory of T. G. Green in Church Gresley, one at the Methodist
Chapel in West Street, Swadlincote and the third in the Attic
itself. All were well attended – especially the T. G. Green factory
- perhaps as this was possibly the last opportunity for a visit.
In conjunction with the National Forest Co.’s LANDshapes
project (www.landshapes.org) we have mounted two
Marian Adams writes:
News from the Magic Attic
An exciting new project has recently got off the ground
at Gresley Old Hall near Swadlincote, where members
of South Derbyshire’s Mining Preservation Group have
embarked on a journey of discovery into the Arts.
Artist Rob Webster and writer Marian Adams, who are
supported by People Express, have been commissioned
to develop creative ways of expressing Mining Heritage
and Stories, which will be celebrated and reflected in a
permanent sculpture to inspire and inform future
generations.
Over a six-week period, mine workers and their families
will contribute to – and create - the finished piece, which
will be sited at Rosliston Forestry Centre.
“After the chicken comes the old hen”.
Do you know what this means? No? Ask a miner!
• High Street Swadlincote, 1906, as drawn recently by Steve Sharp.
Underground Overground
• A practical sculpting session at Gresley Old Hall, to develop themes for the
finished piece. Left to right: Rob Webster (artist), Roger and Pauline Ward
and Jim Harrison.
Heritage News - 4
photographic exhibitions in Swadlincote – one at the Library
and the other on the 19 th Nov in our premises at Sharpe’s Pottery
Museum.
The Magic Attic has recently purchased a new printer especially
for the production of local
history books. It has been kept
busy and we are now offering
three new and previously
unpublished titles (“Life and
Times in Old Moira”, “The
Pioneering People of
Melbourne” and “Derbyshire’s
Agricultural Heritage”). We
have also completed a reprint
of the classic 1980s study of
Hartshorne “At the Sign of the
Bull’s Head”. We are quite
proud of all these titles and
reviews of them can be read
elsewhere in this issue of
Heritage News.
One of our more exciting
recent “finds” has been a local
artist, Steve Sharp, who has created a number of pencil drawings
of local sites of interest. Three of his drawings are of Moira and
together with authors of “Life and Times in Old Moira” we
arranged a signing at Moira Furnace on the 19 th Nov.
All the above books and limited edition prints are now available
at The Attic. Other outlets are being arranged.

New Books
The Pioneering People of Melbourne
and the Surrounding District
G. R. Heath, published by the Magic Attic,
Swadlincote, 2005. 62pp, £9.00.
Melbourne has encouraged newcomers,
fostered residents and enjoyed the success
of those who left but maintained the pride
of their birthplace. This publication is an
attempt to record the progress of some of
those people important to the Parish of
Melbourne, straying to record a few just
beyond the parish boundary.
The personalities covered are a diverse and
colourful bunch, from all ranks of society.
Here are tales of self-made Victorian
figures such as Thomas Cook the Travel
Agent, John Borlase Warren of Cincinnati
and J. G. Shields of Donington Park, as
well as the lives of local aristocracy and
gentry.
• Thomas Cook the Travel Agent
Not all are success stories, as the book
actually includes a few men who “came
undone”. William Dexter, for instance, was
indeed a talented painter but led a
Bohemian existence and was not so
successful in other areas of his life, which
was cut short in Australia. And it is
questionable whether Laurence 4th Earl
Ferrers of Staunton Harold should be
included as a “pioneer”; his progress in life
went downhill rather than up, terminating
in his execution at Tyburn in 1760 with a
rope wrapped in silk, for the murder of his
steward.
Derbyshire’s Agricultural Heritage:
Series 1. Articles and photographs
reproduced from the Derbyshire Advertiser
July 1910 – July 1911.
Compiled by Eric and Beryl Tunstall,
published by the Magic Attic, Swadlincote,
2005. 114pp, £10.75.
This publication is of a simple but effective
formula, being a series of articles about
individual farms and the men who farmed
them 95 years ago. The articles are wellillustrated
with photographs of the
farmsteads, farmers and livestock and are
full of interest. It is sad that the
photographs are only of the original
newsprint quality, as the original
photographic material would be a treasure
in its own right. Assuming that it no longer
exists, we have to make the best of what is
left.
The farms covered are spread across
Derbyshire, with a few examples in
Staffordshire and Leicestershire as well.
Several are in South Derbyshire including
Derby Hills Farm, Egginton Dairy, Gould’s
Farm at Willington, Grange Farm at
Weston on Trent, Dale Farm at Willington
and Grange Farm at Barrow on Trent.
The title is a little misleading, as it implies
a look back to the past from a present-day
standpoint. In reality, this is a last
contemporary gaze at the proud days of
Victorian farming before the World Wars
and mechanisation irrevocably changed it
all. The articles are chattily and
intelligently written with a good mixture
of descriptive and factual information, and
have that power to make the reader feel
that he is experiencing these farms at first
hand for himself. This is “series 1”; I
presume we may look forward to more of
the same in “series 2”.
Life and Times in Old Moira by Ashby
Woulds & District Local History Group,
published by the Magic Attic, Swadlincote.
112pp, £8.00.
In the Furnace of c1804 (which survives)
and the Stone Rows of c1811 (which
don’t), Moira had two landmark features
of great interest and historic importance.
The book records the memories of those
who lived in both places, among others.
We are given a vivid insight into the hard
but character-forming routines that most
residents shared in common not so long
ago – a life of tin baths hung out on the
back wall, frugal Christmases, make do and
mend, fetching water, travelling long
distances on foot, hard manual labour and
the occasional killing of the family pig. We
are also introduced to the various social
organisations, the local foundry and mines,
and local dialect. Insofar as those subjects
are concerned, “yo cudna esk frote betta”.
The book is clearly written for a local
audience, as revealed by phrases such as
“Many readers will remember…”, and will
find its main market among the local
residents of the present day. But the content
is wide-ranging and diverse enough to offer
something for the rest of us, throwing light
on this interesting industrial community
through the ages.
The relatively recent scope of the content
should come as no surprise to those that
know Moira, as there was nothing much
there to speak of 200 years ago. The book
does make reference to the earliest days of
the village, but here it is less successful.
The origins of Moira as a part of Ashby
Woulds, developed after the enclosure of
the Woulds, are not adequately explained,
nor are the Baths, and the histories of preenclosure
features such as Barratt Mill and
Pool do not take account of all the available
evidence. And while the book notes that
Heritage News - 5
“Much has been written about the Moira
Furnace and its history”, a summary
sentence or two of useful history would
have taken little more space, for the benefit
of a reader unfamiliar with it.
Some of the other content is inconsistent
in the level of detail included. “Chapters”
range from a single paragraph each to a
chapter on the school which occupies a
third of the book. But the prospective
purchaser should not be put off. This is a
document of social history, and makes no
pretence at being a comprehensive history
of Moira. There is plenty here to entertain,
amuse and instruct the reader for several
happy hours.
At the Sign of the Bulls Head: A History
of Hartshorne and its Enclosure. Edited
by Janet Spavold and published by the
South Derbyshire Local History Research
Group, 1984. Re-printed, with minor
amendments and corrections, by the Magic
Attic, Swadlincote, 2005. 154pp, £14.95.
Many will welcome a renewed chance to
buy this popular and well-regarded study
of Hartshorne, first produced 21 years ago.
It was the result of original research which
will not be found published elsewhere. The
same group produced two other books
which also remain essential reading for
local historians in the area: “Pits, Pots and
People: South Derbyshire in 1851” (1981)
and “In the Name of God Amen: Everyday
Life in South Derbyshire 1535-1700”
(1992).
The central theme of the Hartshorne study
is the Parliamentary Enclosure of the
common and open fields of Hartshorne in
1765-66, which involved redistribution of
land and new roads, thus paving the way
for the creation of the modern landscape.
But there is far more to this study than that.
The book hones in on the history of
indivudal families, houses and farmsteads,
and among other things explores the
workings of Hartshorne’s well-known
screw mill (now the Mill Wheel
Restaurant). Not least among the buildings
is the Bulls Head Inn itself, once kept by
Gilbert Raven, and the place where the
enclosure commisioners met to deliberate
the enclosure of the parish.
• The Screw Mill at Hartshorne undergoing
reconstruction, 1987 (Derby Daily Telegraph)

Sharpe’s
Christmas Fayre
John Oake writes:
The weekend of 25th & 26th November
marked Swadlincote’s traditional pre-
Christmas Fair, with the switching on of
the lights, a firework display on Friday
evening and a street funfair across the
two days.
The management, staff and volunteers
at Sharpe’s made great efforts to
maximise the potential offered by the
event, by staging a Victorian Christmas
Fayre and Market throughout the two
days.
Attractions included a fairground organ,
hog roast, hot chestnut seller and mulled
wine, together with a strong contingent
of our Farmers’ Market stallholders,
crafters and fund raising stalls manned
by the Volunteers for Sharpe’s Pottery.
Our catering staff also put on a special
menu, including a Friday evening ‘Bistro’
meal.
The Fayre was a resounding success
for Sharpe’s, adding colour and vibrancy
to one of Swadlincote’s top annual social
occasions and bringing over 2,600
visitors to the Museum in just two days.
John Oake writes:
On 29 th November, BBC1’s ‘Cash in the Attic’ featured
the ‘de-cluttering’ of local collector and Sharpe’s
supporter, Mrs. Pat Paling.
Sharpe’s Majestic Empire Cinema
A national initiative is currently being piloted to bring film screenings back to communities that
are too small to support a commercial multi screen cinema. The main focus is on village halls, but
Sharpe’s Pottery Museum has been chosen as the pilot location for South Derbyshire.
Chairman John Oake says: “Our Conference Room (sponsored by Derbyshire Building Society) is
equipped with a ceiling mounted projector, electric screen and sound system and we have decided
to recall the names of Swadlincote’s two much-loved former cinemas in the title of the project, by
calling it ‘Sharpe’s Majestic Empire Cinema’.
• The former Majestic Cinema at Swadlincote (The Magic Attic)
“We know that we can’t recreate the authentic cinema experience in the conference room, but
hope to make up for that by creating a friendly ‘film club’ atmosphere. It should certainly be much
more enjoyable to be out in company watching a film screening in the Sharpe’s environment than
seeing a video or DVD at home.”
Screenings have started in the run up to Christmas with a short programme of seasonal films
screened on Saturday afternoons. Details of future screenings will appear in Heritage News and
on the Sharpe’s events and activities calendar.
Pat’s Pat’s Pots
Pots
Among the items identified for auction were a
graduated set of three mid nineteenth century
Sharpe’s Pottery ale jugs and two early Sharpe’s
‘Rockingham’ glazed teapots. The ale jugs are
particularly rare, being in superb condition and
carrying Sharpe’s Pottery impressed marks, leaving
• An advertisement for Sharpe’s Pottery, 1891.
their place of manufacture in no doubt.
Pat was anxious that the local items should end up in the Museum collection, so funding was provided through the Volunteers
for Sharpe’s, enabling the Chairman to bid at the auction.
There was considerable excitement and tension, as Pat’s items virtually doubled the expert’s pre auction valuation.
Fortunately we were able to secure the items that we particularly wanted and they are now on display in one of the new
cases, also provided by the ‘Volunteers’.
Although we had to go beyond our original budget, it is encouraging to note the growing interest and value of South
Derbyshire collectable ceramics.
Heritage News - 6

Sharpe’s Pottery Lecture
Programme.
In 2005, the District Council has begun to sponsor a programme of
lectures at Sharpe’s Pottery, to further an appreciation of our local
heritage. It is intended that the subjects covered should be wideranging
and diverse; the only essential criterion is that the topic is in
some way relevant to our local area, or as relevant to our area as to
any other.
To begin with, lectures have been limited to a “Spring lecture” and an
“Autumn lecture”, which have both been well-attended. The Spring
lecture was by Glyn Coppack on “The Archaeology of Monasteries”
and the Autumn lecture was by David Eveleigh on “Bogs, Baths and
Basins”. The established form is that the evenings begin with a
reception at 7pm, when wine is on sale to the accompaniment of live
music in the kiln. The lectures then begin at 7.45pm.
The Spring 2006 lecture will be on the duties and dilemmas faced by
churchwardens of the Church of England, and will be given by Dr.
David Marcombe of Nottingham University on March 29 th . As there
appears to be an appetite for these lectures, a series of four or five is
planned for the winter season 2006-2007. So far, we have lined up
Linda Hall, who will tell us how houses can be dated from such small
features as doorknobs and hinges; Danny Wells who will speak on
(Thomas) Cook’s Tours; and Jeremy Barlow, who will speak on the
illustration, music and history of nursery rhymes (with musical
demonstration!).
We intend that there should be something for everyone in the
programme of lectures we present.
• A diagram of the ingenious water closet patented by Joseph
Bramah (1748 - 1814) in 1778.
Alan Kimber writes:
News from Repton
Repton Village History Group (www.reptonvillage.org.uk) has launched its latest
publication “Notices and Jottings from St. Wystan’s, Repton Parish Magazine
1889-1937". It is a 105 page volume of extracts taken from the magazines and
provides an interesting insight into the life of the village in those days. It covers
both national and local events as well as copies of advertisements from the early
editions. Edited by Gill Hiley, it is available from Sharpe’s Pottery and The Magic
Attic in Swadlincote, Ottakers in Burton, Derby Cathedral Bookshop and Repton
Post Office. The price of £4.95 makes it an ideal present.
On Saturday and Sunday 1 st & 2 nd April, we plan to hold a major 2-day exhibition
of our archives. It will include an extensive photographic display covering Repton,
Milton, Foremark and Ingleby, slide shows and many items from our large collection
of documents including the Census Returns. Our publications will be available
for purchase. Doors will be open from 10am till 5 pm each day.
Heritage News - 7
- Curiosity Corner -
Ancient and Modern…
The Trent at Twyford, meaning the “double ford”, could still be
crossed by a chain ferry as recently as 1963, when the boat
was washed away in floods. This photograph contrasts the
archaic ferry with the chimneys of the “new age” power station
at Willington. The two subjects seem worlds apart in time, but
are captured here together on a photograph taken during their
brief co-existence. Until Victorian times, Swarkestone Bridge
formed the only roadway connection between the southern
extremity of Derbyshire and the rest of the County north of
Trent. Willington Bridge, originally a toll bridge, was opened
in 1839 and the Midland Railway viaduct was built over the
river between Melbourne and Weston in 1867. Other crossing
points were provided by fords and ferries, all long abandoned
with the ascendancy of motor vehicles.
• The Ferry on the River Trent at Twyford
( Brighouse Collection / www.picturethepast.org.uk)
South Derbyshire Mining
Preservation Group
If you are interested in our local mining
heritage, the Mining Preservation Group
would be pleased to welcome you. The
Group Secretary, Monica Hudson, says:
“Our aim is to collect and preserve all we
can of the mining heritage of this area. The
collection of tools, books, photographs and
multi-media is held at Gresley Old Hall and
we meet every first Thursday in the month.
We also take our collection out and about
in the community to Schools, Village Halls
and Galas. Why not join us? Everyone is
welcome!” Monica can be contacted on
01283 225729.

January
Forthcoming events at Sharpe’s Pottery.
To book events requiring tickets or reservations, please telephone Sharpe’s on 01283 222600.
Artists of the Month: Erica Middleton and Sue Clews, painters, in the Coffee Shop, 9 th –31 st Jan.
Saturday 14 th , 10am – 4pm Farmers’ Market in the Courtyard. Admission Free.
February
Artists of the Month: Joanne Sheppard and Jemma Rix, painters, in the Coffee Shop, 1 st – 28 th Feb.
Saturday 4 th , 10am – 3pm Carolyn Bates Floral Masterclass, £12 per person, including buffet lunch.
Tuesday 14 th Valentines Night event (supper and a film, the film
sponsored by Visage Hairdressers), details to be announced.
Saturday 18 th , 10am – 4pm Farmers’ Market in the Courtyard. Admission Free.
Saturday 18 th “The Viking Coaches” – a booksigning day by Harry Twells, in the kiln.
Admission Free.
Monday 20 th , 10am – 4pm Over 8’s Half Term Craft Day with Angela Hudson: “Up, Up & Away!” £10.00
(children to bring own lunch or bring money to spend in the coffee shop).
Tuesday 21 st , 10am – 4pm Over 8’s Half Term Craft Day with Angela Hudson: “Dangerous Dinosaurs”
£10.00
(children to bring own lunch or bring money to spend in the coffee shop).
Weds. 22 nd , 10am – 4pm Over 8’s Half Term Craft Day with Angela Hudson: “Mad Models” £10.00
(children to bring own lunch or bring money to spend in the coffee shop).
Saturday 25 th , 2pm Sharpe’s Saturday Afternoon Matinee. £3.00 (50 seats only). Film to be
announced.
March
Artists of the Month: Jackie Palmer and Mary Byrne, painters, in the
Coffee Shop, 1st – 31st March.
Saturday 11th , 7.30pm Live music in the Kiln: “Bass-ically Music”
by Fred Thelonious Baker, well known bass
guitarist, tickets £6.00.
Saturday 18th , 10am – 4pm Farmers’ Market in the Courtyard. Admission
Free.
Saturday 18th , 10am – 4pm Antiques Fair in the Conference Room.
Admission Free.
Saturday 25th , 2pm Sharpe’s Saturday Afternoon Matinee: “Best
In Show”: (a film about wacky owners and their
Wednesday 29
pooches, sponsored by “The Pet Shop”, Swadlincote, to coincide with Crufts!).
£3.00 (50 seats only).
th • Fred Thelonious Baker
, 6.45pm Sharpe’s History Lecture: “Churchwardens: Duties and Dilemmas” by Dr. David
Marcombe.Tickets £4.50. Doors open 6.45pm; musical recital in kiln 7pm; lecture
starts 7.45pm.
April
Mon 10 th – Fri 14 th , 10 – 4 Children’s Theatre Workshop with Angela Hudson. £50 for the week.
Saturday 15 th , 10am – 4pm Farmers’ Market in the Courtyard. Admission Free.
Thursday 20 th , 10am – 4pm Over 8’s Half Term Craft Day with Angela Hudson: “Battle Bots” £10.00
(children to bring own lunch or bring money to spend in the coffee shop).
Friday 21 st , 10am – 4pm Over 8’s Half Term Craft Day with Angela Hudson: “Dream Island” £10.00
(children to bring own lunch or bring money to spend in the coffee shop).
Heritage News -8

Recent research in the last few
months has thrown new light on
several historic buildings in our
area.
Foremark:
Historic Buildings under the Spotlight
We have Witan Archaeology to thank for
a survey of Anchor Church at Foremark.
It gets its name for the word “anchorite”
= hermit, and was possibly once occupied
in the Anglo Saxon period by St.
Hardulph, patron saint of the church at
Breedon on the Hill. Perhaps a thousand
years later, the caves were turned into a
picturesque retreat or summer house by
the Burdetts of Foremark. Door and
window frames were inserted, and a lime
mortar floor; there was even a fireplace
with a chimney.
A print published in 1765 shows the site
complete with a party of visitors. A man
plays the flute to a small audience, while
two others carry a picnic hamper. Dogs
play on the grass, men fish, and women
are attentive to their children. Boats ply
the river while local village folk make hay
in the meadows opposite.
Sadly, it is a different scene today. All the
joinery has gone and much of the floor
has eroded away. Natural wear and tear
account for this. Of greater cause for
concern are the graffiti and spray paint
which disfigure the walls. Nevertheless,
this historic site remains atmospheric and
is a Grade II listed building. The Witan
Archaeology survey is a useful record of
what now exists and provides a
benchmark to monitor the condition of the
caves in future.
• Anchor Church, Foremark, engraved by Francois Vivares after a painting by Thomas Smith of
Derby. Published 1765.
Newton Solney:
Over at Newton Solney, the editor has
undertaken some new research in
preparation for the forthcoming
conservation area history leaflet. This
work has shown that the course of events
in the evolution of the park was
substantially different to the story that is
usually told. Previous accounts vary, but
the general gist is that the park was bought
by Abraham Hoskins the elder of Burton
on Trent, who built a new
house (now the Newton Park
Hotel) c1798 and crowned
the nearby hilltop with a
huge folly called “Bladon
Castle”, to be seen from the
house.
Closer inspection (both of
the buildings and
documentary evidence)
casts grave doubts on this,
and is slowly revealing a
different story. The man
behind it all was not Hoskins
the elder at all, but his son
Abraham Hoskins the
Heritage News -9
younger (c1759-1842). Hoskins acquired
the first part of his estate at Newton
Solney in 1798, excluding the site of the
present hotel building which, it seems,
was not part of his initial vision.
Apparently, his intention at the time was
to build a new house on Bladon Hill,
where he later built his folly.
For some reason, Hoskins abandoned his
plan to build a house on the hill, and built
Bladon Castle there instead, probably in
1805. Meanwhile, in 1800, he had bought
a farm on the edge of Newton Solney
village from the Every estate, adjoining
the land acquired in 1798. Perhaps he had
intended to install a manager there, but
eventually Hoskins decided to remodel
the farmhouse as his own principal
residence. This is the house that is now
the Newton Park hotel, shorn of its
extensive farm buildings in the mid 19 th
century. Early photographs, once the
property of the Ratcliff family, show the
house as it stood after Hoskins’
remodelling, but before extensive
alterations were made around 1880.
The resulting park is strange, as the
Newton Park Hotel is visually
disconnected from the main body of its
own parkland. It was a desire to
understand the peculiar layout of the park
that stimulated the new research in the
first place. The road in front of the house
was moved further away in 1809, and the
farm buildings at the back were removed
to another site before 1877, but the house
was never made to appear as a convincing
centrepiece to the park. That role still
belongs to Bladon Castle, which was
eventually converted to a house but was
always the secondary house of the
Hoskins estate.
Continued on page 10
• Bladon Castle (Brighouse Collection /
www.picturethepast.org.uk)

Swadlincote:
Unlike the previous two buildings,
Hearthcote House at Swadlincote no longer
exists, but the District Council was
recently made aware of some recording
work that was undertaken by the County
Council when the house was demolished.
The County Council’s Sites and
Monuments Record Officer has kindly
scanned the relevant sketch plans, detail
sketches and photographs onto a CD for
us.
There is some doubt as to whether this
house was the manor house of Hearthcote,
listed in Domesday as a separate place from
Swadlincote, or was simply a farmhouse
belonging to the manor. It was not a large
house; it had two storeys plus attics and a
stone-lined cellar, and just three rooms on
the ground floor. But manor houses were
not always large, and its quality suggested
a house of relatively high status. Had it
survived just a few years longer, it would
almost certainly have become a listed
building.
In 1838 Hearthcote House belonged to a
modest farm of 68 acres rented by Francis
Allen from his landlord S. P. Wolferstan
Esq. In the 18th century the farm was
occupied by the Newbold family.
Hearthcote is one of a group of “-cote”
(=cottage) names in South Derbyshire, the
others being Swadlincote and Brizlincote.
The name takes various forms such as
Hedcote (‘d’ was sometimes pronounced
‘th’), Harcoat, Hathcote and Heathcote, and
probably means “heath cottage”.
The internal walls of the house were timber
framed and the balusters and handrail of
the fine contemporary staircase suggested
• Hearthcote House on the eve of its demolition, c1979 (Derbyshire County Council)
a mid 17 th century date. The entire building
was probably timber framed when first
erected, except for the chimneystacks (of
dressed stone blocks), but the external walls
were later replaced in brick. A rubbing of
the date 1793 on a brick or stone perhaps
indicates when this was done, but we are
not told exactly whereabouts on the
building the date was found.
The staircase balustrades, tenoned into two
posts that ran up the whole height of the
house, were craned out of the building in
one piece and taken into store at Elvaston
Castle. Sadly, a recent search there failed
WE CAN HELP YOU WITH PUBLICITY
“Heritage News” is published by South Derbyshire District Council three times a year around April/May (Spring/Summer issue),
August (Autumn issue) and December (Winter issue). It is circulated to all parish councils / meetings, amenity societies and historical
groups within South Derbyshire, and is also distributed to libraries and to local press contacts. We are always pleased to advertise the
work of local groups where possible, so please call us with any news for our next issue. The deadline for inclusion in No. 22 (Spring/
Summer 2006) is Friday 17 th March.
Contacts:
Philip Heath Heritage Officer / Editor of “Heritage News” tel: 01283 595936 fax: 01283 595850
e-mail: philip.heath@south-derbys.gov.uk
Marilyn Hallard Design & Conservation Officer tel: 01283 595747 fax: 01283 595850
e-mail: marilyn.hallard@south-derbys.gov.uk
Cordelia Mellor-Whiting Curator, Sharpe’s Pottery tel: 01283 222600
e-mail: cordelia@sharpespotterymuseum.org.uk web: www.sharpes.org.uk
The postal address is: South Derbyshire District Council, Civic Offices, Civic Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 0AH. The District
Council has a website at www.south-derbys.gov.uk
Note: The non-editorial contributions to “Heritage News” reflect the views of their authors and may not necessarily coincide with
those of the District Council.
Answer to question on page 2.
A mirrored view looking up the Grade II listed landmark chimney at the Morrison’s site
Heritage News -10
to find any trace of them; it is thought that
they may have been destroyed in a fire there
some time ago. Today, Hearthcote is just a
road name.
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