SWARKESTONE - South Derbyshire District Council

CONSERVATION AREA HISTORIES:
SWARKESTONE
DISTRICT OF SOUTH DERBYSHIRE
The Crewe and Harpur Arms, Swarkestone, 1946. By courtesy of the Derby Daily
Telegraph Ltd.
Swarkestone is a small village on the north bank of the Trent. It is
dominated by Swarkestone Bridge (1) and its mediaeval causeway that
meanders, for nearly three quarters of a mile, across the flood plain to
the village of Stanton by Bridge.
The bridge once stood on the medieval King’s Highway from Derby to
Coventry and may well have been a major route and river crossing for
centuries before the Norman Conquest. Lowes Lane (2) remained the
main road to Derby well into the 18 th century. Swarkestone Bridge is first
documented in 1204 as the “ponte de Cordy” and was probably made of
wood. Remains of two early wooden bridges over a former course of the
Trent were discovered a few miles downriver in the early 1990s, close to
one another in gravel workings at Hemington. They were thought to date
from the 11 th and early 13 th centuries.
Swarkestone tak
was granted lan
874. Swerkir m
perhaps the land
strategic import
between Round
achieved some
Prince Charlie’s
the Second Wo
traps against the
More properly
extra flourish t
indicates that it
Indeed there is
the village to sh
Swarkestone si
Age (2600-1600
five or six tumu
most were plou
anything like its
the tumuli were
or sixth centuri
round them in t
Slightly to the n
and Romano Br
showing crop m
the farm on bo
which gave its
Swarkestone, m
Weston on Tren
Canal.
A local tale credits the building of the bridge to two maiden ladies called
Bellamont, who saw their lovers drown while trying to cross the flooded
Trent meadows in the 13 th century. It is said that they devoted their lives
and their fortune to the building of the bridge, and died as starving paupers.
Despite an assertion that the ladies were buried at Prestwold, Leicestershire,
there is no hard evidence whatever that the story is true. The Bellamont
family was certainly associated with Swarkestone, but not until a much
later period.
However, the stylistic evidence suggests that Swarkestone Bridge was rebuilt
in stone during the late 13 th and early 14 th centuries, which accords with
three Royal grants of tolls for bridge “repair” between 1324 and 1347. The
river bridge itself was rebuilt in 1795-97 after a disastrous flood had reduced
its predecessor to ruins. The mediaeval causeway, widened and strengthened
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, survives. It remains heavily
used today as a vital link on the A514 from Derby to the southern part of
the County, connecting with the nearby network of motorways.
- 1 -
The river and
13 th century ref
Swarkestone’s p
the present settl
main channel o
valley. High rive
invades the lane

IES:
E
IRE
y Daily
he Trent. It is
causeway that
flood plain to
from Derby to
er crossing for
remained the
e Bridge is first
bably made of
r course of the
1990s, close to
hought to date
n ladies called
ss the flooded
oted their lives
rving paupers.
, Leicestershire,
he Bellamont
t until a much
dge was rebuilt
h accords with
and 1347. The
d had reduced
d strengthened
mains heavily
uthern part of
ways.
Swarkestone takes its name from a Dane called Swerkir who, it is surmised,
was granted land in the aftermath of the Danish occupation of Repton in
874. Swerkir may have been posted here to defend an important route, or
perhaps the land was simply a reward for services rendered. Swarkestone’s
strategic importance has subsequently been marked by a minor battle
between Roundheads and Cavaliers in January 1643, and the Bridge has
achieved some notoriety as the place where the advance guard of Bonnie
Prince Charlie’s Army finally turned back to Scotland in 1745. Even during
the Second World War it was defended by gun emplacements and tank
traps against the threat of a German invasion.
More properly called Swarkeston (a nineteenth century vicar added an
extra flourish to the name of his parish - and it stuck), the suffix “ton”
indicates that it was an Anglo Saxon settlement long before the Danes.
Indeed there is ample archaeological evidence on the river terraces above
the village to show that there has been human activity and settlement in
Swarkestone since the arrival of the “Beaker People” in the early Bronze
Age (2600-1600BC) at least. Collectively known as Swarkestone Lowes,
five or six tumuli (3) dominated the skyline to the east of Lowes Lane until
most were ploughed out in the 20 th century. Only one now remains in
anything like its former glory, lying by the road to Lowes Farm. Some of
the tumuli were reused as burial places by early Anglian settlers in the fifth
or sixth centuries, and an exercise track for horses (4, 4) took a circuit
round them in the eighteenth century.
Slightly to the north west of Lowes Farm is the site of both an Iron Age
and Romano British settlement (800BC – 500AD),while aerial photographs
showing crop marks suggest that there was some sort of settlement below
the farm on both sides of the road to Barrow. The name “Russewijk”,
which gave its name to a furlong in one of the old common fields of
Swarkestone, may signify a Dark Age farmstead. It lay near the road to
Weston on Trent and the neighbouring stretch of the Trent and Mersey
Canal.
The river and cottages at Swarkestone. By courtesy of the Derby Daily Telegraph Ltd.
13 th century references to lands lying on “the Brink” are a reminder of
Swarkestone’s perilous position at the floodplain edge. However, when
the present settlement was first established it perhaps seemed safer, as the
main channel of the Trent may then have run on the Stanton side of the
valley. High river levels still cause anxiety today, and floodwater occasionally
invades the lanes of the village.
- 2 -
By 1086 Swarke
history. The Do
land that had be
berewick of Me
land of four fre
documents of S
bought out the
into a single own
Crewe estate du
The Swarkest
Geoffrey de B
name appears in
a clergyman) of
at Barrow to the
Harpur Crewe
century.
The Church (5)
Hospitallers in
lord. It certain
tympanum carv
this was lost wh
Chapel built be
tower save for
now an exercise
Opposite the c
converted for u
events and in b
house in the late
In the mid four
the Manor and r
at Law, bought
John Rolleston
monuments to
d1577), his son

, it is surmised,
n of Repton in
ortant route, or
Swarkestone’s
a minor battle
the Bridge has
uard of Bonnie
5. Even during
ents and tank
icar added an
e suffix “ton”
re the Danes.
terraces above
d settlement in
e early Bronze
estone Lowes,
wes Lane until
ow remains in
Farm. Some of
tlers in the fifth
took a circuit
By 1086 Swarkestone was already a well-established community with a long
history. The Domesday survey shows that King William held the same
land that had been held by King Edward the Confessor and described as a
berewick of Melbourne, whilst Henry de Ferrers was rewarded with the
land of four freemen. This division of land is reflected in deeds and
documents of Swarkestone until 1632, when the Harpur family finally
bought out the last freeholder. The village and parish were thus united
into a single ownership that survived, largely intact, until sales by the Harpur
Crewe estate during the 1980s.
the last Sir John
the florid monu
Willoughby.
During the 16 th
John amassed, b
Staffordshire. U
was the princip
Elizabethan cou
wine cellar and
The house was
appears to have
the first half of t
of the Harpur es
of Swarkestone
suggest that a
incorporated in
together with th
Hall lay in and a
Alley House (8
main road (9).
th an Iron Age
al photographs
ttlement below
e “Russewijk”,
mon fields of
ar the road to
nt and Mersey
legraph Ltd.
a reminder of
owever, when
ed safer, as the
ton side of the
ter occasionally
The Swarkestone Pavilion. SDDC Collection.
Geoffrey de Bec is the first recorded Lord of the Manor in 1215. His
name appears in a document transferring the advowson (the right to appoint
a clergyman) of the church in Swarkestone from the Knights Hospitallers
at Barrow to the de Bec family. The advowson still nominally lay with the
Harpur Crewe family as Lords of the Manor until the last year of the 20 th
century.
The Church (5) was possibly built as a daughter chapel for the Knights
Hospitallers in the mid 12 th century, or some years earlier by a manorial
lord. It certainly boasted a chevron ornamented chancel arch and a
tympanum carved “with monstrous quadrupeds”, both Norman, but all
this was lost when the church was rebuilt in 1876. However, the Harpur
Chapel built before 1577 remains little altered, as does the 14 th century
tower save for the loss of its corner pinnacles. The rest of the church is
now an exercise in Victorian Gothic, designed by F.J. Robinson.
Opposite the church lies a small house of the early 19 th century, later
converted for use as a parish room (6). Used for vestry meetings, parish
events and in between times as a “reading room”, it became a private
house in the late 1970s.
In the mid fourteenth century the Rolleston family became the Lords of
the Manor and remained so for 200 years until Richard Harpur, a Serjeant
at Law, bought their land in 1557. A fine Chellaston alabaster tomb to
John Rolleston who died in 1482 survives in the church, as do the grand
monuments to Richard Harpur (Judge at the Court of Common Pleas
d1577), his son Sir John Harpur (d1622) and their wives. The memorial to
- 3 -
Old Hall Far
Bowl Alley Hou
Banqueting Ho
Swarkestone’s b
of age and marr
became heir to
Two heirs died
Young Sir John
granddaughter
Cavendish, later
in 1632. It seem
architectural con
twin events.
The building tak
indeed a banqu
a pavilion to reti

nity with a long
held the same
described as a
arded with the
in deeds and
r family finally
re thus united
s by the Harpur
r in 1215. His
right to appoint
ts Hospitallers
lly lay with the
ear of the 20 th
or the Knights
by a manorial
cel arch and a
orman, but all
er, the Harpur
e 14 th century
f the church is
nson.
century, later
eetings, parish
ame a private
e the Lords of
rpur, a Serjeant
aster tomb to
s do the grand
ommon Pleas
e memorial to
the last Sir John Harpur of Swarkestone (d1679) amounts to a postscript on
the florid monument to his second wife, the much-married Lady Frances
Willoughby.
During the 16 th and early 17 th centuries Richard Harpur and his son Sir
John amassed, between them, vast tracts of land in South Derbyshire and
Staffordshire. Until 1679 and the absence of a direct male heir, Swarkestone
was the principal family seat. In the 1620s Swarkestone Hall was a fine
Elizabethan country house (7) boasting a gatehouse, some 45 rooms, a
wine cellar and a dovecote.
The house was damaged during the Civil War but repaired afterwards. It
appears to have been little used after c1715 and was pulled down during
the first half of the 18 th century. Thereafter Calke Abbey became the hub
of the Harpur estates and Swarkestone’s importance declined. Some ruins
of Swarkestone Hall yet remain in the grounds of Old Hall Farm. They
suggest that an older house (perhaps that of the Rollestons) was
incorporated into Richard Harpur’s splendid new one. Other fragments,
together with the evidence of aerial photography, suggest that the Old
Hall lay in and around the close adjacent to the ruins and towards the Bowl
Alley House (8). An impressive pair of stone gate piers survives by the
main road (9).
Old Hall Farm. By courtesy of Barbara Foster.
Bowl Alley House, also known variously as the Balcony, Pavilion, Stand, or
Banqueting House, was completed in 1632 and rivals the bridge as
Swarkestone’s best known landmark. It was built just in time for the coming
of age and marriage of John Harpur of Breadsall who, as an 11 year boy,
became heir to the estate in 1622 - a singularly tragic year for the Harpurs.
Two heirs died in succession that year, along with “Old Sir John” himself.
Young Sir John survived a fractious wardship to marry Catherine Howard,
granddaughter of the Earl of Suffolk and stepdaughter of William
Cavendish, later the 1 st Duke of Newcastle. Sir John entered his inheritance
in 1632. It seems probable, therefore, that the Bowl Alley House - an
architectural confection if ever there was one – was built to celebrate these
twin events.
The building takes its name from the close in which it was built, but it was
indeed a banqueting house built at the very height of their fashion. It was
a pavilion to retire to after feasts, for conversation, for enjoying a dessert
- 4 -
Ruins of the O
course of swee
rooftop. The acc
from its inceptio
amounts of mon
The Bowl Alley
was partly respo
castle at Bolsov
involved at Swa
known) at Swar
of the Smythson
£111 12s 4d, wi
The Bowl Alley
care was taken
family pride an
visited Swarkes
built a short-liv
recent times th
Alley House fo
restored by the L
Nearby lies the
sixteenth or ear
and original fea
century it was “
Its gardens bac
arrangement of b
The gravelled p
them (7) and th
Close which is r
Old Hall Farm it
with mullioned
century, but its s
was still standin
and a fine “new

a postscript on
d Lady Frances
and his son Sir
erbyshire and
ir, Swarkestone
Hall was a fine
e 45 rooms, a
d afterwards. It
d down during
ecame the hub
ed. Some ruins
all Farm. They
llestons) was
her fragments,
st that the Old
ards the Bowl
urvives by the
Ruins of the Old Hall. By courtesy of Barbara Foster.
course of sweetmeats, fruit and wine, and to admire the view from the
rooftop. The accommodation included a cellar. Puddings apart, it was used
from its inception as a place for card and dice games where considerable
amounts of money changed hands!
The Bowl Alley House is built in the style of John Smythson (d1643), who
was partly responsible for the rebuilding of William Cavendish’s fairytale
castle at Bolsover, but there is no evidence that Smythson was directly
involved at Swarkestone. The “surveyor” (as architects of the day were
known) at Swarkestone is named as a Mr Wooldridge, perhaps an associate
of the Smythsons. The building was constructed by Richard Shepherd for
£111 12s 4d, with extra being paid for the lead for the domes.
The Bowl Alley House was abandoned when the Hall fell out of use, but
care was taken to preserve the masonry shell as a folly, or as a symbol of
family pride and history. Sir Henry Crewe of Calke (1763-1819) clearly
visited Swarkestone from time to time, as he had a boathouse there and
built a short-lived “casina” or fishing lodge near it in 1809 (10). In more
recent times the Rolling Stones have famously posed in front of Bowl
Alley House for a record sleeve, and in the early 1980s it was lovingly
restored by the Landmark Trust for use as an unconventional holiday home.
vilion, Stand, or
the bridge as
for the coming
n 11 year boy,
or the Harpurs.
John” himself.
erine Howard,
er of William
his inheritance
y House - an
celebrate these
built, but it was
fashion. It was
ying a dessert
Nearby lies the “Tithe Barn”, now a house (11), and dating from the
sixteenth or early seventeenth century. It is unlikely, considering its size
and original features, to have ever been a tithe barn. In the nineteenth
century it was “the stables” and was possibly used as such from the start.
Its gardens back onto the presumed site of the Elizabethan Hall and an
arrangement of brick and stone walled enclosures that once housed gardens.
The gravelled paths of a formal garden have been recorded in one of
them (7) and the bricks were almost certainly made in the nearby Brickiln
Close which is recorded c1585.
Old Hall Farm itself is, as yet, a bit of a mystery (12). Its style and detailing,
with mullioned windows, suggest a date in the first half of the seventeenth
century, but its site is curious, given that the Old Hall itself was so near and
was still standing then. The house was extended in the nineteenth century
and a fine “new model farmyard” of c1840 stands nearby.
- 5 -

Agriculture was the main activity of the village until relatively
recently. Half of the land was enclosed by 1632 and the common
fields were finally enclosed in 1777. There is however evidence of
a cottage weaving industry, a stone mason’s yard (?13) and large
scale maltings (?14) in the eighteenth century. Swarkestone briefly
boasted its own school in 1649. Shoemakers flourished from the
seventeenth to the nineteenth century, and there was the usual
complement of butchers and bakers. The blacksmith perhaps turned
his hand to candlestick making! On each side of the bridge, on the
Swarkestone bank of the river, there were wharves associated with the
“raff” or timber trade, which no doubt gave Woodshop Lane its name. It
was floating timber, pinned against the river bridge by the current, that
destroyed the old bridge in 1795. Another wharf at Cuttle Bridge on the
Trent and Mersey Canal (15) served the plaster pits at Chellaston from the
1780s, and resulted in a realignment of what is now the main road to
Chellaston and Derby.
The Trent and Mersey was completed through Swarkestone in 1777 and a
short-lived link from the River Trent to the Derby canal and the Trent and
Mersey canal was dug in 1795 (16, 16). It was built by the Derby Canal
Company to serve the South Derbyshire coal measures, as part of a
proposed network of canals south of the river. In the event these were
never built. The link closed in the 1820s as a result of lack of trade and
punitive charges by the Trent and Mersey Canal Company (for the use of
both its water and a short length of its course). The best remaining evidence
of it is the entrance from the Trent, just over the wall of the Crewe and
Harpur garden.
The picturesque black and white timbered frontage of the “Crows
Nest” on Woodshop Lane (17) may date from the early seventeenth
century, but its use as a dairy in the 1920s and 30s has meant that
not much else has survived. It is now a private house. Elsewhere in
the village there is some evidence of ancient timber framed buildings
that survived a disastrous fire in 1654. Less spectacular than the
frontage of the Crows Nest, roof trusses at Hollies Farm (18) on
the banks of the Trent probably predate both the fire and the
insertion of a flue before the 1630s. Other timber framed cores
survive elsewhere, but much of the village housing dates from a
“great rebuilding” in the nineteeth century.
Lowes Farm includes a handsome farmhouse (19), originally built as racing
stables by Sir Harry Harpur (1739-1789) in 1777. An exercise course was
laid out nearby (4, 4), which shows clearly on the Swarkestone parish plan
of 1844, and races were held on Sinfin Moor. Soon after Sir Harry’s death,
the stables at the Lowes were converted into a house, which has recently
been divided into apartments.
The River Bri
Bridge House ac
there are indica
and built on eve
the junction of B
for the canal us
Touched by ma
its landscape ca
largely gone, Sw
the twelfth cent
scarcely change
of Derby, the pa
the place where
Barbara Foster
Designed and p
March 2005. Ser
are those of the
views of the Di
If you require
braille or lar
Services Man
An inn, known by “the sign of the Talbot”, could be found at Swarkestone
in the mid sixteenth century. Its site is unknown, but rentals and Quarter
Sessions records suggest that it may have stood by the river bridge on the
Stanton side (20). Certainly an Inn stood there in the 1680s, if not before,
marked as a chapel on OS maps. It was superseded by the Crewe and
Harpur Arms (21) which, together with its fine stable block, was built in the
late eighteenth century in anticipation of the turnpiking of the road to
Ashby. In the event this never happened, but huntsmen and cockfighters
alike gathered in its forecourt for a bit of sport in the nineteenth century.
- 6 -

ntil relatively
the common
r evidence of
3) and large
estone briefly
hed from the
as the usual
erhaps turned
ridge, on the
iated with the
ne its name. It
e current, that
Bridge on the
laston from the
main road to
e in 1777 and a
the Trent and
e Derby Canal
s, as part of a
nt these were
k of trade and
(for the use of
ining evidence
he Crewe and
f the “Crows
y seventeenth
as meant that
Elsewhere in
ed buildings
ular than the
arm (18) on
fire and the
framed cores
dates from a
y built as racing
ise course was
ne parish plan
Harry’s death,
ch has recently
The River Bridge (1795-97). SDDC collection.
Bridge House across the road (22) was built around the same time although
there are indications that the rear section of the house is somewhat earlier
and built on even older foundations. An alehouse known as “The Gate” at
the junction of Barrow Lane (23) served for many years as a watering hole
for the canal users.
Touched by major national events and innovations throughout its history,
its landscape carved through by canals, railways and roads and its farmers
largely gone, Swarkestone nevertheless remains the small village it was in
the twelfth century. Remarkably, in size and configuration the village has
scarcely changed since the sixteenth century and for many of the people
of Derby, the parish boundary on the brow of Chellaston Hill now marks
the place where the countryside begins.
Barbara Foster.
Designed and published by South Derbyshire District Council.
March 2005. Series editor: Philip Heath. The views and opinions expressed
are those of the author(s) concerned and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the District Council.
If you require a copy of this information in another language,
braille or large print format please contact the Customer
Services Manager on 01283 595784.
at Swarkestone
ls and Quarter
r bridge on the
s, if not before,
he Crewe and
was built in the
of the road to
d cockfighters
eenth century.
- 7 -
NB: Swarkesto
Map reproduced wit