The Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Rose Hill, Chesterfield
by Maxwell Craven The publication in 2019 of Chesterfield Streets and Houses by Philip Riden and Chris Leteve throws much fascinating and detailed light on the history of the built environment of Chesterfield, although is a little light on architectural history and evaluation. Yet, when it comes to the early history of Rose Hill, a substantial villa on the western edge of Chesterfield, it fails to address the early history of this important house, which is a shame: however, Country Images to the rescue! Rose Hill stood on rising ground facing south on the norther side of West Bars and indeed, we looked at the history and fate of West House, adjacent, in Country Images some time ago – in September 2019. Indeed, the array of impressive residences there are well encapsulated in the view painted by George Pickering in 1812 (now in the care of Chesterfield library) where they can be seen in their prime with the crooked spire away to the right. The story of Rose Hill begins with Henry Thornhill (1708-1790), fourth son of John Thornhill, who had inherited the Stanton-in-Peak estate through Henry‘s mother Anne Bache, along with extensive lead mining and other interests. Henry was the son (there were many) who showed real flair for carrying on the family tradition in the lead trade. He was set up by his father at the age of twenty as a lead smelter in Chesterfield and it was he who took these enterprises on. Henry not only made a great success of them but pioneered considerable expansion of the family’s interests elsewhere, as well as eventually taking on the Pleasley Vale estate and founding the mills there that gave us Vyella and similar formerly well-known products. Around 1735, Henry took himself off to live in Chesterfield. Indeed, he eventually remained in residence there long enough to have become an alderman of the town and, on the basis of that, a member of the Chesterfield bench. He also served twice as Mayor, in 1750 and 1755. As Chesterfield was the prime lead trading centre in Derbyshire and on the route from the Derbyshire mining areas to Bawtry in Nottinghamshire, where the lead pigs were transhipped onto Trent barges, it was a natural choice of base for the ambitious trader. We also know where Thornhill lived in Chesterfield, for the house, latterly known as Rose Hill, is recorded as having been ‘built by the Thornhills in the 1730s.’ This is re-inforced by the mention of Henry in a deed of 1744 as ‘of Brickhouse in Chesterfield, Gent.’ As Rose Hill was indeed brick, the identification would appear to be secure, although the subsequent destruction of the house seems to have been reflected in the loss of any papers relating to it. In fact, a deed of 1736 reveals that Henry had obtained a mortgage of £330 – 14s – 9d from his wife’s uncle, Alexander Holden of Newark, which suggests that this was to fund the building of his new house. A final clue in the Thornhill records is a lease from the Mayor and Aldermen of Chesterfield of the site of Rose Hill for twenty years at £9 per annum dated 20th March 1735, later converted into a freehold. The lessee was one George Sims (1693-1761), a joiner and builder, acting as Henry Thornhill’s agent, and who was indeed contracted to build his house on the site. Knowing what the house at this period looked like is difficult as no view of it is known. According to some accounts of the house after it was rebuilt, the entrance front was more like that of neighbouring West House – pedimented, with more ornate detailing: quoins and architrave surrounds to the windows – which sounds like an arrangement more closely matching the traditional date for the house of the mid-1730s. Nevertheless, not only does the name ‘Brickhouse’ confirm the basis for the old story – unlikely to be strictly true – that Rose Hill was in its day the first substantial brick house in the town, but also confirms its distinctive name when first built. Indeed, the first reference to the house as Rose Hill (the name of the eminence on which it stood) only occurs in the mid-19th century. To the north of the house was a large quadrangular stable block, and the parkland stretched away west to the municipal boundary. After being constrained by business pressures to leave Chesterfield in around 1761, Henry retained the house as a town residence as well as for the use of his nephew Bache Thornhill of Stanton Hall. However, it was let in the 1770s to Robert Lowndes, by which time it was called The Mansion House. Lowndes, who had been involved with Thornhill in a number of lead-centred transactions, was married to the heiress of Richard Milnes, the second son of James Milnes of Chesterfield, a member of the Ashover branch of that family. It was Lowndes who rebuilt Rose Hill in the plain neo-classical style seen on the garden front, the only aspect of which illustrations are known, which, once rebuilt, was of five well-proportioned bays and two and a half storeys, under a hipped roof. The house was of brick with sparing stone dressings and was beautifully proportioned, the windows having rubbed gauged brick lintels, but was largely devoid of ornament. The only decoration was provided by a plat band below the sill band on the first floor with balustrading below the first floor windows between them; even the cornice was plain. Inside, sales particulars of 1851 inform us that there were four reception rooms on the ground floor (probably drawing room, dining room, library/study and breakfast room) and four bedrooms (three with dressing rooms) on the first floor with further bedrooms above in the attic storey. The date of these works is unknown but they were certainly in place ‘by 1779.’ The architect is not known, but what we see in the surviving views and given the urbanity
The Wreck of Flying Fortress ‘Over Exposed’
by Brian Spencer Pennine Way walkers almost at the southern end of their epic trek from Edale to Kirk Yetholm look on the crossing of Bleaklow as almost the end of the first day’s section of the ‘Way’. Grateful to enjoy a spell of comparatively easy walking on a path made from flagstones, the walker, if they know the part of Bleaklow where they are, spare a few minutes to make a diversion. About a mile west in the direction of Glossop, Shelf Stones, is a 621 metre high ridge, an unforgiving couple of metres below the moorland crest, the ground is littered with the remains of aircraft wreckage. Closer investigation by those with keen eyesight will spot items stamped with U.S. military reference data. This is all that remains of a U.S. Flying Fortress, once affectionately known as Over Exposed by those who flew in her. Built by Boeing and officially known by its manufacturer’s reference as RB-29A-4-44, she weighed 55,000 lbs fully loaded (36lbbs net), and was powered by four massive rotary engines, two on each wing. First flown in July 1946, she entered military service too late for the actual World War 2 fighting, but was converted to carry photographic personnel and their equipment after joining the 16th reconnaissance Group’s 311st Air Division, photographing the first atomic bomb test, on Bikini Athol, and also took part in the Berlin airlift when the city was effectively held to ransom. Based at Burtonwood American air base near Warrington, Over Exposed ended its working days carrying a team of seven trainee photographers as well as its crew. Weather as we know only too well is, in late autumn, usually damp and misty with poor visibility. The navigator was forced to plan a route by instruments alone, but with all the flight crew fully trained and experienced, the crew and passengers were fully confident of their ability to carry out their planned task. The task they were set was first to fly to Scampton RAF base in Lincolnshire in order to pick up money for the wages of colleagues (and themselves) at their base. This they managed quite easily, leaving Scampton at around 10:15 on 3rd November 1948 in order to give the photographers and navigator’s experience of route finding, probably over hilly country in poor visibility, so a complex cross country flight plan was lodged. This involved changing the route in order to fly west over the highest ground in the District, then flying due west, gradually descending over Glossop and south Manchester to Burtonwood airbase. The navigational task the crew had to answer first involved descending as low as possible in order to get beneath the low clouds. Fortunately the navigator and pilots had the help of scientific instruments to help them find the way, but it is at this point that things went wrong. Was it instrument error? If so it eventually caused the disaster, or maybe sheer carelessness? What ever happened will never be known, the instruments were up-to-date and the navigators experienced. All that is known is that Over Exposed though old in years was flying just a metre or so too low in order to clear the summit of Shelf Stones, almost a matter of inches between life and death. AFTER THE CRASH On the fateful morning of 3rd November 1948 an RAF Search & Rescue team operating from their base at Harpur Hill near Buxton happened to be involved in a training exercise on Kinder Scout. The team arrived at the summit of the Snake Pass at around 4:30 p.m, and despite thick mist, they were able to pin-point the position of Over Exposed crashed on Shelf Stones. Using the summit of the Snake Road as a base they quickly headed for the apparent site of the crash on Shelf Stones. Despite the fairly quick time it took to reach the accident site, as it was readily marked by burning parts of the fuselage; the easiest recognisable item was the tail fin. Only badly distorted remains of crew members were found and the macabre job of carrying them to the Snake Road and eventual identification. The aircraft was found to be carrying about $7400, mainly in paper currency which had surprisingly managed to survive the crash and subsequent fire. All of the money down to the last few dollars was recovered by American Military Police. Immediately after the accident, a large section of the main fuselage was easily recognisable and in fact for several years became a simple bothy providing accommodation for hardy souls intent on spending the night on Bleaklow. Unfortunately less careful visitors no longer look after it so well and, together with vandals, and trophy seekers, very little remains of the original wreckage. However, an attempt has been made to preserve the memory of those who flew on Over Exposed on that fateful day. They are, commemorated on a named military-style grave stone, the centre piece of an annual service at the site. Super Fortress Over Exposed crew and passengers commemorated at the crash site on Shelf Stones Moor. Much of the wreckage of Flying Fortress Over Exposed and items connected to it can still be recognised by those with appropriate training, especially parts of the four turbo-engines, but should be left for future archaeologists to examine. In total there are seven wrecks dating from 1939 to 1956 scattered around Bleaklow and associated moors and are mostly the final resting place of those who flew over the wild moors. Please do not remove any items from the wreck sites without permission. 00
Win Tickets to the Festival of Food & Drink at Thoresby Park.
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Dining Out – The White Horse at Woolley Moor
Set in what can only be described as the most stunning Derbyshire scenery, with rolling hills and verdant grasslands, The White Horse with rooms combines all this with excellent food. Owned for the last 17 years by David and Melanie, they have gradually developed this lovely old Inn into, in my opinion, one of the best relaxed places to eat in Derbyshire, earning along the way consecutive AA rosettes. 8 beautifully appointed rooms make the most of the setting and snuggle under a roof of wildflowers. This is a lovely place for a short break. But we were here to dine. The atmosphere here is both relaxed and friendly as well as being efficient. Sitting in the comfortable leather sofa by the log burner, we ordered drinks while we made our selections from the menu. The team of experienced chefs led by head chef Daniel Orwin, each bring their own favourite dishes to the menu which means it is varied and innovative. It offers nibbles, starters, mains and a grill section, which changes with the season. Wedges of warm bread with salted and pesto butter arrived to nibble on just providing a relaxed and sociable start. Persuading my husband to be a little more adventurous than usual, he ordered sticky, chilli beef with Asian slaw to start and enthused over the spicy strips of beef in tempura batter, the sweet sauce and fresh slaw a great balance. For me it was the mushroom arancini sitting in a rich lemon and chive beurre blanc, a crisp outer shell and perfectly cooked mushroom risotto within. What is there not to love! From the Specials Menu, it was the right time of year for my husband to choose the oven roasted lamb rump and lamb shoulder served shredded and encased in rich pastry, accompanied by a selection of fresh seasonal vegetables. A lamb jus brought all the flavours together with the added depth of ‘hen of the wood’ mushrooms, much prized by chefs for their meaty texture as well as their health properties. A dish with loads of flavour and perfect on a wet, cold and windy evening. My preference was for a fish dish, and I found the oven roasted plaice was white, succulent and flaky. The scallop mouse was very subtle, and the crisp Palma ham added a saltiness. A lighter dish with a rich sauce. We had taken our time over the meal enjoying each mouthful and taking the time to chat and enjoy the evening after the rush of the day. Consequently, we had room for deserts which were imaginative and seasonal, just as we would expect from these accomplished chefs. My choice was the Raspberry sorbet, a clean fresh note to finish on. My husbands egg custard with rhubarb sorbet was a modern take on a traditional dish and was proving very popular. I find recently that I’m too often disappointed by the food when we have an evening out, and it’s the company I enjoy most. However our meal at the White Horse was delightful and I can honestly say each dish delivered everything it promised…… the company wasn’t bad either! Our thanks to David, Melanie and their team for a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and over the years for providing such a consistently good place to enjoy an evening out. You may also be pleased as I was, to learn that a lunchtime menu is now available, just right for a midweek treat. Head to their website for up-to-date details. www.the whitehorsewoolleymoor.co.uk 00
Walk Derbyshire – A Walk Through Upper Lathkill Dale
It was while I put the final bits and pieces to April – Monyash edition and, mentioning in the text that it starts and finishes in Monyash, it struck me that there is another of my favourites also starting from Monyash old market square. It is only a little under four miles, but it leads to one of the Peak District’s prettiest dales, Lathkill Dale. Over the years, this dale has become one of my favourites and can be tacked on to any number of walks radiating from Monyash, such as the one I am about to describe. It is strictly in two halves, an upper and lower along Lathkill Dale, with the upper having the furthest views. This walk like the Monyash/Flagg walk, can form a figure-of-eight, radiating from the market square and back. In total, when combined with April’s walk to Flagg, the combined distance is just under nine miles. Although further than most of my walks published in Country Images, it should be well within the capabilities of the average fit walker on a day when the sun shines and all the wild flowers are in bloom. There are three main features worth adding to the description of features seen along the way. The first is noted soon after leaving Monyash, where Peakland lead mining history can be traced from the records of Monyash Barmote Court. (The late C.H. Millington from Monyash, was the last of Peakland independent miners). The mass of narrow, stone-walled fields indicate that the land hereabouts was being tilled by Saxon settlers long before the Romans came this way, in their insatiable quest for lead. The turning point of the walk is One Ash Grange farm. It was once a monastic outpost, so far from the parent monastery that it was frequently used as a kind of penitentiary for mis-behaving monks. Water was and still is a rare commodity on the limestone uplands. It is partly cured by allowing rain water to be collected in dew ponds, and in man-made duck ponds on top of the clay bearing areas around Monyash. Finally there is the beauty of Lathkill Dale as it winds towards the dale’s upper exit. USEFULINFORMATION: A 3.75 (6km) mile gentle walk on grassy paths with occasional loose stony sections. RECOMMENDED MAP: Outdoor Leisure Sheet 24 1:25000: Scale 1:25000. White Peak Area. PUBLIC TRANSPORT:Bakewell to Monyash Services PARKING:Jack Mere Public Car Park (Free) REFRESHMENTS:Bull’s Head The Old Smithy Café THE WALK The walk starts at Jack Mere Car Park; 100yds round the corner from the Old Smithy Cafe. With the ancient Market Cross on your left, walk towards the staggered cross roads. Cross over the junction and continue ahead. Ignoring side roads, continue forwards with Fere Mere, the largest man made pond on your left. Walk on past mainly fairly modern houses to your left and right, past groups of houses covering the village’s years of development. When the road turns sharp right, go forward on to a cart track, following it towards a series of fields denoted by dry stone walls. Cross their boundaries stone stiles, or through field gates. Notice the dew pond about 60 yards on your right beyond the start of this section. When the cart track makes a sharp left turn cross a stile and go forwards to where a stile ahead in the wall marks the end of the farm track. Using stiles to mark the correct route, follow the path beside the wall, to your left and keep right beside a series of field boundaries until it reaches another dew pond. Keeping to your right of a boundary wall, go towards a series of farm buildings, usually containing spring lambs in the early part of the year. PLEASE REMEMBER TO KEEP DOGS UNDER TIGHT CONTROL, EVEN THOSE ON LEADS. Keeping to the left of the mainly stone farm buildings, go forwards past an ancient stone pig sty still in excellent state of maintenance. At the end of the last farm building, climb down a flight of stone steps let into the wall. Continue forwards, downhill on a grassy path. The stream in the narrow dale runs down Cales Dale. Do not cross the side stream, but turn left to continue walking downhill to reach a rocky outcrop guarding a rough path down to a footbridge. This is the River Lathkill. It issues from a cave about150 yards on your left. The way is marked by a narrow footpath and this is your route towards the top of Lathkill Dale. Cross a wooden footbridge over the narrow River Lathkill and turn left to continue the walk along a narrow rocky path that will lead to the valley head. Remains of lead mining activity can be found on and around the dale’s tree covered hillsides. Mainly small exploratory holes, there was once a mis-guided attempt to mine for gold lower down the dale. But the major source of any interesting remains can be found clustered around an abandoned aqueduct built to carry water about half a mile along the dale side. A curved wooden bridge reaches the ruins of the mine manager’s cottage. It was built on the east side of the dale and also built to disguise a unique water pump beneath the kitchen. Unfortunately the kitchen floor was not strong enough to bear the weight of the manager’s wife who much to her annoyance disappeared into the depths. The narrow spike of rock spire towering to your right is where the Reverend Robert Lomas, vicar of Monyash fell from his horse to his death in 1776. Amidst the remains of lead mining activity, the section of dale to be walked through has been designated as a Nature Reserve. It seems to specialise in flowers and shrubs that enjoy the conditions found in countryside based on the dry rocky, sun trapping limestone based conditions. Rare flowers only found in these conditions, such as the startling blue Jacob’s Ladder growing in the dry open
Celebrity Interview – Ruby Wax
By Steve Orme You probably know Ruby Wax as a brash, forthright, no-holds-barred American comedian. You might not know she has also acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, toured the world filming television documentaries – and has on two occasions spent time in a psychiatric clinic. Ruby has documented her latest stay in a mental institution in her book I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was which is out in paperback. She has also turned her experience into a stage show which she will be performing in both Nottingham and Derby. She admits she found the process difficult. “(The stage show) can’t be similar to the book because it has to have movement and it has to stay snappy. You’re getting a theatrical version. It’s like watching any show. It’s very beautiful and it works. You take a journey with me rather than reading about it.” Some comedians these days look to unusual material for their live shows. January’s Country Images interviewee Ed Byrne’s show Tragedy Plus Time is about the death of his brother. So, I ask Ruby, can a show about mental health be funny? “I don’t do tragedy and I’ve done this kind of show for maybe 30 years. I don’t use something like death – I use my mental state and if that’s not good, it’s not good. But it’s always a springboard for people saying ‘oh that’s like me, that’s my story’.” Ruby Wax OBE was born Ruby Wachs on 19 April 1953 and was raised in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago. Her parents Edward and Berthe were Austrian Jews who left Vienna in 1938 to escape the Nazis. Her father changed the spelling of the family surname when they arrived in Illinois. She majored in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley but left after a year without completing her degree. She moved to the UK and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. When she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company she appeared alongside acting legend Alan Rickman. “He said you’d better start doing comedy because you’re a cr*p actress!” recalls Ruby who agreed with him. “My skin felt really uncomfortable, especially with an English accent.” So why did she want to go into acting? “It was a fantasy. Every child wants to be maybe not a classical actress but they want to be famous. I wanted to do Shakespeare. But it was an illusion.” She took Rickman’s advice, auditioned for the BBC and appeared in an episode of the satirical TV show Not The Nine O’Clock News. That led to her appearing in the ITV sitcom Girls On Top. She played loud-mouthed, gaudily dressed American actress Shelley DuPont and appeared with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Ruby wrote the scripts with Dawn and Jennifer and later became script editor on their biggest hit Absolutely Fabulous. Her career changed direction again when BBC bosses decided she should present documentaries. “I did Louis Theroux-type documentaries before Louis. I interviewed snake handlers, women who sold their ex on the internet, I did Russia during Glasnost – really interesting. They let me do what I wanted. And then they said do celebrities which was never as satisfying.” She interviewed everyone from Donald Trump to First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos, OJ Simpson to Madonna. She cites Carrie Fisher who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars films as the best person she interviewed. “She was really smart and we became friends. It was a great relationship. If someone’s really funny or witty, then I pick it up.” But throughout her career Ruby has suffered from depression. She didn’t realise she was going through mental health problems until she was pregnant with her third child. “The doctor mentioned it and I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting that.” In I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was, Ruby explains she had a difficult relationship with her parents. Her mother was “disappointed that I wasn’t beautiful and didn’t have a model-like figure” while her father “told people he only sent me to drama school because it cost less than having me committed to a mental institution”. She describes a session with a psychiatrist who proclaims she was never taught by her parents that she was valuable in her own right. “It’s not a guide to how to be a great parent,” says Ruby. “They just shouted a lot and tried to punish me like the way you train a dog. They thought that was right. They didn’t know any better.” Ruby says she didn’t find it difficult writing about her second visit to a psychiatric hospital. “I was really good at recording what happened because I can’t make up stories. I don’t have fiction at my fingertips. I wrote it pretty quickly after I got out.” Her first incarceration in a mental health clinic left her with “a depression the size of South America”. It took her five months to recover. Twelve years later she sought help again and “the veil of doom” seemed to be lifting after five weeks. She says in the book: “I’ve spent a lifetime creating a ‘front’ to give the illusion that all is well. It wasn’t and it isn’t.” She agrees that it’s a common problem: “I think everybody has a front. We show that everything is okay. Otherwise it would be a mess. It’s just that when you work with famous people you get a bigger front and you want to defend yourself against possible criticism.” Ruby has been fascinated with mental illness since she was young and discovered she came from a long line of mentally ill relatives. She has been open about her struggles with bipolar disorder and depression, making an online series on mental health issues for the BBC and working with mental health charities. In 2015 she was appointed an OBE for services to mental health. When I ask whether enough is being done these days to tackle
The Historic Core of Derby
by Maxwell Craven People often quite reasonably assume that Derby’s Market Place was the original historic core of the borough, but appearances can be deceptive. When King Edward the Elder founded the city as a defended settlement c. 928, the actual core was the area between the Cathedral and old St. Alkmund’s (now part of the inner ring road) with a grid of streets off Queen Street. Derby’s Market Place did not come on stream until about 1100, a fact established by archaeology in advance of the Assembly Rooms being built. It was host to stall holders and ringed by houses with selling spaces in front. The other fact that is not at first apparent, is that there was a road running from a crossing of the Trent at Swarkestone north, through the future site of Derby, to the Derwent by Darley which was in use at least from the Iron Age. The use of the Trent crossing is confirmed by finds of Roman coins along the course of the present Swarkestone Bridge. It was along this road that St. Alkmund’s was founded some two centuries before the city and along it were established most of the medieval churches, except St. Werburgh’s. Iron Gate is part of this ancient former trackway, and if you were to assume that it got its name from hosting the shops of iron mongers, you would be right. In the mid-13th century a Darley Abbey charter calls it (in Latin) ‘the street that leads from St. Mary’s Gate to the Market Place’ but in 1318 it was (again in Latin) ‘the street of the (iron)smiths’ and indeed there are records of iron smiths with premises there in the borough’s charters. All the streets were then exceedingly narrow but, in 1866, the council began a very long-running campaign to widen them and Iron Gate (the suffix ‘gate’ is from the Norse gaeta, meaning ‘street’) was the first, when all the properties on the east side (some very ancient) were bought up, demolished and the much-reduced plots sold off to finance the whole thing. This is why the oldest buildings of Iron Gate line the west side and those opposite are mid-Victorian or later. Meanwhile, the Market Place, by the early 14th century, was home to the first Guildhall, which stood in the middle, of two storeys: a lock-up for miscreants on the ground floor and a meeting room above reached by an outside staircase, much like that which survives at Aldburgh, Suffolk. Around it, the old shops gave way to grander houses, like that built by Bess of Hardwick’s fourth husband, Lord Shrewsbury, later rebuilt in the 1660s as Newcastle House by her grandson, but disastrously demolished, unrecognised, in 1970 to make room for the current Assembly Rooms. Needless to say, Market Place was the focus of a market from the time of the 1154 Royal Charter until some tidy-minded councillors in 1933 erected a new market area on The Morledge, leaving the entire space bereft of purpose. Prior to that though, there had been numerous improvements. In Charles II’s reign a block of buildings was erected facing the west side (traditionally called Market Head) which housed the meat market, known as The Shambles. To this, Samuel Crompton, the banker, in 1708 added a handsome arcaded block backing on to The Shambles facing east called The Piazzas, with warehousing above and shops at ground level. Here people could browse display windows under cover but – strangely enough – it never took on, and from lack of use was eventually demolished, along with The Shambles in 1871-77, to make more room for stalls. In 1731 the old Guildhall was replaced by a fine Georgian building by Richard Jackson, a Staffordshire architect who was then building Mr. Crompton’s House at The Friary. The council wanted to build it on the south side, where the present Guildhall stands, but the property owners were asking too much. It was only in 1828 that this could happen, which meant the demise of the eighteenth century guildhall and the building of a new one which, as luck would have it, burnt down rather spectacularly on the night of Trafalgar Day 1841, to be rapidly replaced (using the original ground floor and south elevation) by the present building, by Henry Duesbury. The Market Place was also, from 1763, home to the combined county and borough Assembly Rooms, removed respectively from Full Street and the Moot Hall in Iron Gate. Lord Ferrers, assisted by Joseph Pickford, built a sumptuous building fitted out by Robert Adam in 1774. That survived as the hub of local social life until damaged by a fire in 1963. It could have easily been repaired – today Historic England would have insisted on it – but the councillors, with grandiose ideas, destroyed it to make way for the present (and terminally empty after yet more fire damage of nine years ago) Assembly Rooms designed by Sir Hugh Casson. At any time from the laying out of the Market Place, you would have set out for Ashbourne by descending Sadler Gate, thence along Bold Lane and Willow Row to Ford Street where one could have crossed Markeaton Brook to reach Nuns’ Green (now Friar Gate) to Ashbourne. In the 13th century it really was a haven for leatherworks; Lawrence the Saddler was recorded there then and Potts the saddlers still had a shop there until the 1980s. Iron Gate was originally the width of Sadler Gate, but the latter was never widened. Indeed, it was 1971 before pressure from then newly-formed Derby Civic Society persuaded the Council to ban motor cars and pedestrianise it. Interestingly, although most of the frontages are 18th or early 19th century – essentially Georgian in style – the buildings behind are mainly much older; Derby thrift preserves many a 16th or 17th century building in Sadler Gate. Only the little shop opposite the end of the 1871-built Strand Arcade, with No. 46 (dated 1675) and
The Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Parkfields, Derby
by Maxwell Craven A notable surge in prosperity in Derby during the Napoleonic wars and afterwards, led to the building of nearly a dozen Regency villas on the fringes, in the suburbs and in the immediate area of the borough, of varying size and quality. Most were built by prosperous merchants and a few by landed gentlemen who, like the Batemans of Hartington Hall, found their town houses becoming unlivable, as the town infilled and industrialised. Unfortunately, many have been demolished, no less than three in the first decade of the millennium. The unfortunate demise of another casualty, Parkfield, occurred even earlier, in summer 1993, despite it being locally listed. Yet, although its merits were perhaps less than apparent in its later years, it was a villa of some style. Parkfield was originally one of the vast common fields belonging to the ancient borough of Derby, grazing and cultivation rents from which helped provide the town with income. However, this kind of income, along with fairs and tolls, did not bring in enough money for the corporation to spend on infrastructure, so in the 18th and early 19th century, improvement acts were obtained enabling parcels of it to be sold off so people build houses, great and small on the land thus released. Ironically, no less than four substantial villas were built on portions of the old Parkfield, three called Parkfield! One lay on the north side of Kedleston Road, called Parkfield House – still standing now on Park Grove, although divided into three dwellings now and listed grade II – another in 1818 just to the west of it, called Parkfield Cedars (lost, see Country Images June 2016) and the third, Parkfields, on the west side of Duffield Road, not far north of Five Lamps. Originally the plot was bought by a family called Bingham, who had iron founding interest in the town, but they later sold it to the Columbell family who were Derby’s fashionable tailors and drapers of the period. One of the improvement commissioners who had originally sold the land on behalf of the Corporation in 1812 was Alderman John Sandars JP (1782-1867). He was a scion of the gentry family long settled at Cauldwell in the south of the country, and of their most notorious son, Col. Thomas Sandars of Little Ireton, the fierce republican commander under Sir John Gell’s command on behalf of Parliament during the Civil War. John himself was a second generation bookseller, however, and he served as Mayor of Derby in 1839-40. Indeed, it was thanks to his fascination with the borough’s ancient records, that he had a considerable number of them at home with him in Parkfield for study when the 1828 Guildhall burnt down on the night of Trafalgar Day, 1841, when those that remained were irretrievably lost. Sandars built his house in 1833-34, although we are not clear who designed it; quite probably it was a fellow Alderman and prolific amateur architect, Richard Leaper (1759-1838), who had built Parkfield Cedars for himself in 1818. It was in brick under a low hipped roof, was sparing of stone dressings, with facades of varying dispositions. Yet it betrayed some sophistication, having brick Tuscan pilasters at the angles, with stone bases and capitals, a moulded frieze and cornice with stone lintels over the sash windows grooved in a Greek revival manner clearly derived from Sir John Soane’s confected Boetian Order, all similar except for a sarcophagus shaped one over the original front door set in its contemporary iron trellis portico. There was a curved bow on the west side, and a service wing adjacent; inside there was a good ironwork balustrade on the cantilevered Hoptonwood stone stair, mahogany doors, moulded plaster cornices, polished limestone chimney-pieces and one room was decorated in French revival neo-classical boiserie-style mouldings. This seems to have been something of a favourite with Richard Leaper, because his surviving (but much extended) villa which now houses the Boys’ Grammar School in Littleover has a similar room and there is another at Allestree Hall (another Derby building at risk!) which Leaper modified for J. C. Girardot. The grounds were landscaped by William Barron and at least one of the stone urns from the 1731 Derby Guildhall ended up being rescued by Sandars and used as garden features. John Sandars died at Parkfield 10th January 1867 at a great age and in 1869 his son sold it to Charles Henry Smith, one of the directors of Boden’s Castlefields Lace Mill. He was succeeded by his nephew, Alderman Sir John (‘Brassy’) Smith, who served as mayor of Derby in 1872 when he was knighted, as was the convention, for being en poste during the Prince of Wales’ visit on 17th December that year. He was also co-founder of Smith’s important white metal (essentially brass for railway rolling stock building) foundry in Cotton Lane which ultimately became a nation-wide concern. Brassy Smith was one of Derby’s super-rich and set about enlarging the house sparing no expense, with a westward extension, essentially a little taller than the original part, but in matching style, even down to the window lintels, and in so doing, he altered the way the interior plan worked. The new entrance had a stone portico with a fanlight resembling one in Becket Street (suggesting R. Ernest Ryley as the architect) and led into a new lobby and a new main stair was installed, lavishly panelled in mahogany, leading to luxuriously fitted out new bedrooms, and plenty of up-to-the-minute modern plumbing, furnished by Thomas Crump of Friar Gate. Needless to say, there was plenty of opulent looking brass fittings almost everywhere. Sir John died in 1909, when the house was sold to Thomas Carline Eastwood, a director of Eastwood and Swingler’s foundry (now the new HQ of Great Northern Classics). Eastwood, however, soon moved out to the country, and let the house to Capt. Lionel Morley but, when he left after the Great War, it was sold to Gerard Hamilton
Ashton Coleman
Ashton & Coleman Furniture Matlock’s latest retail shop, Ashton & Coleman Furniture, may be new to Matlock but they have been busy building the foundations of their business for almost 10 years. Starting the business partnership in late 2014 combining two separate joinery businesses run by Simon Ashton and Peter Coleman. Settling on Ashton & Coleman as a business name wasn’t as easy a choice as you might think. Wanting to build a brand name they considered many alternatives, all of which seemed like a gimmick. After great deliberation they settled on the name Ashton & Coleman which aligns perfectly with their general ethos of keeping things simple. Their brand name exudes a quality that you find in all of their products and the use of their names brings a personal touch that sets them apart from the larger national companies. There are 4 very simple but important reasons to consider Ashton & Coleman Furniture the next time you are looking to revamp or improve your home. 1. Value For Money. In a market that has over the last twenty years slowly pushed independent companies to one side by offering cheaper products, customers are now realising that they have lost one of the most important factors, ‘value for money’. As you might expect, buying a hand-crafted solid wood bed that’s made in Derbyshire and delivered and installed by professionals won’t be as cheap as a flat pack self assembly bed that’s mass produced in a factory and posted out by courier. However in many cases the actual price isn’t much different to some of these brands. The message that Ashton & Coleman are spreading is that as conscientious human beings we shouldn’t simply be looking for the cheapest products, we should be focussing on value for money. The simple fact that their handmade beds have a lifetime guarantee says it all. 2. Choice. The element of ‘choice’ means that you can have one of their stunning dining table designs made exactly the size that you need and if you want to team it up with a sideboard or console table that compliments the dining table design or a tailormade cabinet that fits your vinyl collection in it, you can have that too. Many companies only offer a small amount of table sizes and they certainly don’t have other pieces of furniture in that range in adaptable sizes or layouts, generally because these pieces are bought from overseas manufacturers. Almost all of us have similar yet different needs in our home, and furniture for your home isn’t, and never has been, a one size fits all market. 3. Sustainability. As we all know, the climate change issue isn’t going to go away. If we don’t change the way we live, it will simply worsen, and we can make a big difference if we all make little changes to the way we choose to spend our money. Ashton & Coleman furniture is designed and built to last forever, not one lifetime, forever. This means that if the whole nation slept on Ashton & Coleman beds, no more beds would need to be made, and through responsible reforestation the trees used to make Ashton & Coleman beds would simply keep replacing themselves again and again. Problem solved. It couldn’t be simpler. Adding to that, the fact that all of the wood shavings produced during the manufacture of their furniture are turned into wood briquettes that they use to heat their premises and you have a truly eco friendly business model that they intend on improving still, one day hoping to use an electric vehicle for their deliveries. 4. Wellbeing. Last but not least we have ‘wellbeing’. Today we are very much at the beginning of what is becoming a mental health revolution. The digital world we live in gives us so much, but also takes something from us that we cannot see or measure. The human race for the vast majority of its existence has been immersed in and connected to the natural world in a variety of different ways and in recent years the technology boom has taught us that we have become very much disconnected with nature. Bringing furniture and products made from natural materials into your home along with plants, reconnects you with nature in a way that is so deep it’s actually hard to describe the way it makes you feel, and what it’s doing to your general health and wellbeing. Ashton & Coleman Furniture is a business steeped in traditional values yet simultaneously drives forward with a modern ethos and outlook. They currently run their brand new shop at 66A Dale Road in Matlock which showcases a few of their best selling products from leather sofas, beds and mattresses, dining tables, benches and chairs with additional homeware products from chopping boards and stools to coat hooks, wool throws and cushions, to hand blown glass pendants and recycled glass lamps and shades. Recently adding gifts such as bottle openers, a candle company’s products from Yorkshire and picnic blankets. Their workshop and showroom in Two Dales being much larger comprises many more bed designs and mattresses with additional dining table sets and a variety of wardrobes and cabinetry. For more information visit their showrooms or their website at www.ashtonandcoleman.co.uk. Any questions email info@ashtonandcoleman.co.uk or call 01629 259304. 00
Cosy Garden Rooms & The rise in outdoor living
A noticeable trend has emerged in recent years – the rise in popularity of outdoor living. To some extent the pandemic taught us the importance and value of fresh air, nature and outdoor spaces. For the best part of two years our homes and gardens came under scrutiny like never before; our gardens and outdoor spaces became more important than they’d ever been before. People were and are still investing in creating comfortable, functional, and stylish outdoor spaces that serve as extensions of their homes. Whether it’s a cosy patio, decking and fire pit or a sophisticated garden room, the appeal of outdoor living is undeniable. People have used garden rooms to create bars, games rooms, cinema rooms, offices, music studios and gyms. In 2024 what continues to drive this trend forward? Being closer to nature One of the fundamental drivers behind the surge in outdoor living is the desire for a closer connection to nature. Creating inviting outdoor spaces allows people to escape the confines of indoor living, breathe in fresh air, and immerse themselves in the sights and sounds. A room in the garden gives separation from the main house, the hustle and bustle offers peace and quiet and a space to concentrate away from distractions and still deliver the benefits of the outdoors. Working from home Working from home has become a new way of working for many; initially through necessity and secondly home and hybrid working is now very much commonplace. The increase in these remote work and flexible schedules is also playing a role in driving the outdoor living trend. With more individuals working from home and seeking versatile spaces that cater to both work and leisure activities, outdoor areas have become valuable extensions of the traditional home office. Setting up a comfortable outdoor workspace allows people to break away from the confines of a traditional office setting, boost productivity, and find inspiration in the natural surroundings. Increased property value A well-maintained outdoor space can make the world of difference in terms of curb appeal and property value – regardless of its size. Many homeowners are looking to create an extension of their indoor living space by adding features such as garden rooms, decking, hot tubs, outdoor kitchens and additional seating areas including pergolas and covered patios. These spaces not only provide extra room for working, exercising, entertaining friends and family but also increased property value. Increased living space Higher house prices and interest rates have slowed the housing market yet there remains a desire for extra living space and garden rooms and outdoor spaces are a lot cheaper and faster than a traditional extension whilst adding value to our properties. Anecdotal research suggests outdoor space is increasingly important for home owners. Because of this, more and more homeowners are seeking quality products that allow them to utilise their garden by helping to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor living. In conclusion, the rise in outdoor living and garden rooms can be attributed to a combination of factors, including a desire for a connection to nature, a focus on health and wellness, the changing work landscape, social trends, and advancements in design and technology. As more people seek to create welcoming and functional outdoor spaces that enrich their lives and provide opportunities for relaxation, recreation, and socialising, the trend of outdoor living is expected to continue its upward trajectory. For more information and some great deals on garden rooms visit www.cosygardenrooms.co.uk 00
