Derbyshire

“ The long, interesting return for Derbyshire, dated March 9th, 1558–9, is extant; it is signed by seven justices—George Vernon, Humphrey Bradbourne, Henry Vernon, Francis Curzon, John Frances, Gilbert Thacker, and Richard Pole. Every hundred and township is set forth in detail, both as to the arms and the men. There was only one landowner of sufficient wealth in the county to be called upon to provide all that was requisite for a heavy horseman ”

“ During the reigns of William the Conqueror and his two sons, Rufus and Henry, genuine historical particulars relative to the county are almost entirely absent. When persistent civil war raged for so long a time over the greater part of England during Stephen’s reign, Derbyshire was but little disturbed, for the leading men of the county adhered loyally to the King and held its several fortresses on his behalf. In the great Battle of the Standard, fought against the Scots at Northallerton in 1138, Derbyshire played the leading part in winning the victory ”

“ Derbyshire has always been mainly a mining and manufacturing county, though the rich land in the south formerly produced large quantities of corn. The lead mines were worked by the Romans, and the Domesday Survey mentions lead mines at Wirksworth, Matlock, Bakewell, Ashford and Crich. Iron has also been produced in Derbyshire from an early date, and coal mines were worked at Norton and Alfreton in the beginning of the 14th century. The woollen industry flourished in the county before the reign of John, when an exclusive privilege of dyeing cloth was conceded to the burgesses of Derby. ”

“ Situated in the most beautiful district of Derbyshire; possessing many natural advantages within the circuit of its domain—of hill and valley, wood and water, rugged rock and verdant plain, and rendered attractive by every means the most poetic imagination could conceive and unbounded wealth accomplish, it is foremost among the finest and most charming seats in the kingdom; where the delights of natural beauty, aided by Art, may be fully and freely enjoyed by all comers. ”

“ The road they travelled ran to Derby from the south-west, and its deep ruts showed the heavy traffic it had lately borne. By it coaches, waggons and every variety of pack and riding horse had carried the timid folks of Derbyshire into sanctuaries beyond the track of the Highland army. To-day the traffic had shrunk to an occasional horseman or a farmer's wife with panniers, and a jovial huntsman in red who, from his greeting, seemed thus early to have been powdering his wig. Already the country was settling down, thought Alastair, as folk learned of the Prince's clemency and good-will. ”

“ After rousing the county both at Chesterfield and Wirksworth, he marched with a small force to Derby, which he entered on the thirty-first of October, 1642, where he was joined by one of the leading gentlemen of the south of the shire—Sir George Gresley. It would take far more space than can here be afforded to give even the barest outline of the ups and downs of the sad civil strife that raged throughout Derbyshire, for the most part in favour of the Commonwealth, for the next few years. ”

“ In no other county in the whole of England is the evidence more clear or detailed than in Derbyshire as to the ill-advised proceedings in the opening part of the reign of Charles I., which eventually brought about the misfortunes of the great Civil War. ”

“ A manufactory, at once local and elegant, exists at Derby, which excites the attention and loosens the purse-strings of most strangers. It is the spar-manufactory of Mr. Hall, and in it, he converts the petrified sports of nature, in the Derbyshire hills, into the luxuries of civil life. Those in London, who desire to see the products of these works, may behold them at Mawe's, in the Strand; but all, who visit Derby, will not fail to call upon Mr. Hall, who is as courteous as he is ingenious. ”

“ The Peak seems to have known of no widespread Saxon or English settlement until after the eruption of the Danes. It is also to the Danes that the town of Derby owes its present name, and the importance which gave its title to the surrounding shire. When the marauding Scandinavian bands overran the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia, the value of the Derbyshire lead soon attracted their attention. ”

“ ROODS, SCREENS, AND LOFTS IN DERBYSHIRE CHURCHES By Aymer Vallance, F.S.A.
Although still comprising a considerable amount of excellent screenwork, the county of Derby has suffered grievous losses in this regard, losses for which, if fanaticism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was primarily responsible, ignorance and indifference in the eighteenth century, and wilful perversity of so-called “restorers” during the “Gothic revival” of the nineteenth, have produced consequences not less disastrous. ”

“ Even railway glimpses of Derbyshire give one many pleasurable emotions, abounding as it does in beautiful valleys and streams, and in abrupt rocky hills—jocosely described by Walton, as frightful and savage, to such a degree that he affects surprise at the sight of a church among them, and asks whether there be verily any Christians in such a country. ”

“ CHESTERFIELD BRANK.
It is pleasing to record the fact that there is only trace of one brank belonging to Derbyshire—a circumstance which speaks well for its men and women. The latter have for a long period borne exemplary characters. Philip Kinder, in the preface of his projected "History of Derbyshire," written about the middle of the seventeenth century, alludes to them. "The country-women here," says Kinder, "are chaste and sober, and very diligent in their housewifery; they hate idleness, love and obey their husbands ”

“ Derbyshire, indeed, has played a prominent part in the elucidation of the prehistoric archæology of our country.
Before entering upon the subject of this article, the distribution of these remains in the county demands a few words. They are most numerous in the mountainous region which lies north of Ashbourne and Wirksworth, and west of Tansley, Darley, and East Moors. They are rarely met with in the more gently undulating country to [40] the east and south. ”

“ In addition to all these Derbyshire gentlemen, William Vernon bore the banner of St. George, John Leach the banner of the lieutenant’s arms, and Thomas Rolleston the standard of the talbot and chevrons. Derbyshire considerably preponderated in this army of the vanguard, there being twelve companies from that county. Shropshire had nine companies, Staffordshire eight, Nottinghamshire six, and Leicestershire and Cheshire two each; five other counties only furnished a single company. ”

“ In any case, anthropological research has shown that both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have a population at the present time which is distinctly fairer than that of Leicestershire. Beddoe says of Derbyshire: ‘The type of the population is certainly Anglian. My own observations, the military statistics, and those of the Anthropometric Committee, all agree in representing the Derbyshire people as having lighter hair than all but very few English counties. ”

“ From this manufactory the trade of the district has entirely taken its rise, and it is now noted for extensive manufactories of Derbyshire ironstone ware; cane-coloured, Rockingham, black, buff, and brown wares; sanitary goods, terra-cotta, &c. Its [161] inhabitants are principally potters and colliers, and it has risen to the importance of being a parish of itself—part of the parish of Hartshorne, in Derbyshire, and of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, being taken for the purpose—the main, or High, street separating those two counties. ”

“ The proofs of the residence of early man in the district are afforded by the considerable variety of remains that have been discovered in the bone caves of the High Peak near Buxton, in those of the high lands above Wirksworth, and more especially in the Creswell caves on the verge of Nottinghamshire. In Grant Allen’s remarkable and generally accurate book on the beginnings of county history throughout England, a singular blunder is made with regard to Derbyshire ”

“ I have noticed that the plays of the boys in Derbyshire and in the Scotch Lowlands have similar names, differing from the English names in general; as the English game of bandy, in Derbyshire is shinny, in Scotland shinty.
It is no rare sight to see the farmer himself, with his clouted shoon and his fustian coat, ribbed blue or black worsted stockings, and breeches of corduroy ”

“ Edward II. also, on several different occasions, sojourned at the lodge of Ravensdale, amid the beautiful parks of Duffield Forest.
In the various wars of the reign of Edward III. Derbyshire was often called upon to supply forces for the hastily raised armies of the King. The number of men levied on several occasions in this county were [13] considerably in excess of its due proportion when compared with neighbouring shires, either in acreage or population. ”

“ Several garrisons on the confines of the county, such as Newark, Tutbury, and Welbeck, still had power and means to levy contributions on the adjacent parts of Derbyshire, and to ruin those who denied them. Moreover, the Scotch army had been for a time very chargeable to the county, for they not only claimed free quarters, but supplied themselves with what horses they required. And now, to crown all, the King’s army had passed through, and made spoil of a great part of the county. Some of the Parliament forces had come to their help, and more were daily expected ”

“ History.—The earliest English settlements in the district which is now Derbyshire were those of the West Angles, who in the course of their northern conquests in the 6th century pushed their way up the valleys of the Derwent and the Dove, where they became known as the Pecsaetan. Later the district formed the northern division of Mercia, and in 848 the Mercian witenagemot assembled at Repton. In the 9th century the district suffered frequently from the ravages of the Danes, who in 874 wintered at Repton and destroyed its famous monastery, the burial-place of the kings of Mercia. ”

“ In our country, as in the west of Europe generally, they range from Neolithic times to the establishment of Christianity, and the study of their contents better enables us to bridge [42] the long interval with the successive advances made by man than does that of any other class of contemporary remains. In Derbyshire this is eminently the case, and perhaps no other English county can furnish so continuous a series of ancient interments. ”

“ In structure and proportions, Derbyshire screens for the most part assimilate to the midland type, as exemplified at Newark and Strelley, in Nottinghamshire, or Wormleighton, in Warwickshire, and as [218] distinguished from that of the south and west of England and Wales. That is to say, not a few of them rise to a stately height, with remarkably lofty fenestration; the latter being, in some instances, narrow even to attenuation. Thus the rood-screen at Breadsall, as far as can be judged by what remains of it, notably illustrates this peculiarity ”

“ It was, therefore, deemed advisable to select the volunteer forces from the well-affected, and not to employ the militia of a county so manifestly disposed to foster the young adventurer as Derbyshire was at that time considered. During the month of November, a great degree of alarm had disturbed the burgesses of Derby; and from the communications of the Duke of Devonshire, then Lord-Lieutenant of the county, to the Mayor, it appears that the young Chevalier completely baffled the Duke of [Pg 114] Cumberland and General Wade, by his rapid movement into the very heart of England. ”

“ It is impossible to close our notice of Derbyshire without some little reference to Hadden Hall, the seat of the Duke of Rutland; but though it is of course on princely dimensions, there is much in it, very much, that would suit a humbler dwelling. The bow windows, for example, in the drawing-room and other rooms are large wide projections, and not a slight bulging out of a wall; and how greatly they always add to the pleasantry of a room where the sun can reach them at so many different angles, is a thing that goes without telling. ”

“ There are smelting furnaces in several districts, as at Alfreton, Chesterfield, Derby, Ilkeston. Besides lead, gypsum and zinc are raised, to a small extent; and for the quarrying of limestone Derbyshire is one of the principal English counties. The east and the extreme south-west parts are the principal industrial districts.
Communications.—The chief railway serving the county is the Midland, the south, east and north being served by its main line and branches. In the north-east and north the Great Central system touches the county ”

“ There are reasons which are too long for statement here why such a planning out was probably accomplished in Derbyshire at an early date. It is obvious that if ecclesiastical bounds were to be marked out in a comparatively wild and treeless district, something artificial would be needed in far greater abundance than in ordinary districts, where large trees, river banks, ancient roads or lands pertaining to particular holders, could readily be named and utilized for boundary purposes. ”

“ The establishment of a mint at Derby during the reign of Athelstan (924–940) is a clear evidence of the advance of civilisation. Coins minted at Derby are also extant of the reigns of Edgar, Edward II., Ethelred II., Canute, Harold I., Edward the Confessor, and Harold II.
The division of Derbyshire among the conquering Normans, together with the social conditions of the times, so far as they can be gathered from the entries in the Domesday Survey, have been admirably treated of at length in the recently issued opening volume of the Victoria History, to which reference has already been made. ”