Duffield

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Duffield is a village situated next to the River Derwent in Derbyshire at the lower end of the Pennines around five miles north of Derby, England.

1 Early history
2 Anglo Saxon settlement
3 Norman invasion
4 Medieval history
5 Nineteenth Century
6 Twentieth Century
7 References and further reading
8 External links

[edit] Early history

There have been humans in the area, probably, from the Iron Age. While it has been suggested that, once farming began, they would have inhabited the plains of the Derwent and Ecclesbourne, they would most likely have retreated to higher ground during the winter floods.

It is also controversial whether there was a Roman fort to protect the ford across which the caravans of lead from Wirksworth joined Rykneld Way at Derby, en route for the North Sea ports.

[edit] Anglo Saxon settlement

A few remains have, however, been found of Anglo-Saxon occupation by a person, or persons, of some substance. In Norman times, Duffield Castle was built to protect the hunting grounds of Duffield Frith. Most of this became the ancient parish of Duffield, which contained the townships of Hazelwood, Holbrook, Makeney, Milford, Shottle, and Windley, and the chapelries of Belper, Heage, and Turnditch.

Meanwhile St Alkmunds Church was built some quarter of a mile to south. Its position, so far from the village, it is thought, arose from its purpose, in Anglo-Saxon times, of serving travellers crossing the river on their way from Ashbourne to Nottingham. The original part of the present building is Norman, built by order of Henry de Ferrars. Duffield Bridge was built across the river, next to the present Bridge Inn, in the thirteenth century and widened in the eighteenth. This later became the main road to the north and, in the eighteenth century the road along Duffield Bank was improved, as the 'New Chesterfield Turnpike'.

[edit] Norman invasion

Meanwhile, there was a growing community next to Duffield Castle built by Henri de Ferrers. For many centuries, Duffield was by far the largest centre of population in the parish. In the Parliamentary Commissioners' report of 1650 respecting Duffield and its chapelries, Belper is described as "a hamlet appertaining to Duffield."

Some idea of its prosperity can be gained from the size of the Church and its later additions. In the forest there had been plentiful game, and a supply of timber, particularly oak, while the farmland was exceedingly fertile, though prone to flooding. Even with the controls on the rivers with the various weirs and dams in the eighteenth century, the centre of the village was subject to regular floods until the middle of the twentieth century.

[edit] Medieval history

A notable resident in the sixteenth century was Anthony Bradshaw who erected a monument in the Church to himself and his large family. He was grand-father to the famous President Bradshaw, who condemned Charles I to death.

The first school in Duffield was Duffield Boys' Endowed School, now known as the William Gilbert School, originally in the centre of the village next to the Ecclesbourne. On 21 June 1565, we read that "at a court of the Manor of Duffield Frith, William Gilbert surrendered a cottage and lands and closes for providing and sustaining an honest and learned man within Duffield Frith, to teach and instruct boys in honest and pious discipline and literature." The schoolmaster's wages were settled at 12d. a quarter for every scholar being a grammarian, and 8d. for everyone inferior to a grammarian; but he might take other private pupils.

[edit] Nineteenth Century

In addition to agriculture, there was a certain amount of iron working, as in Belper, with a forge next to present Baptist Chapel, and a number of corn mills. There were also a number of quarries. Flax, for linen, was grown in Flaxholme, but silk thread began to be produced in quantity by John Lombe in Derby, likewise cotton thread in Belper. By the nineteenth century, the major occupation in the village itself, was framework knitting, encouraged by Jedediah Strutt's famous 'Derby Rib', while a paper mill opened at Peckwash.

The biggest change came with the coming of the railway. The village is served by Duffield railway station, the history of which is dealt with more fully there. The North Midland Railway passed through in 1840 with probably little more than a halt at Duffield. It however cut the lane to the church. Probably at this time there was simply a level-crossing, since the footbridge is of the same pattern as those on the station when it was extended by the Midland Railway. The village expanded with homes for the Midland Railway workers and management, the former settling in the village around the end of King Street, the managers in larger houses further along the main road and further up King Street and Hazlewood Road.

The rebuilt station, created a good deal more upheaval, since the Wirksworth branch cut across the road north out of the village. This was along the present Chapel Street and in front of the old cottages at Castle Orchard, and was called New Mills Road. It already had been rebuilt in 1835, raised to a higher level because of the frequency of flooding. A new road was built on the other side of the King's Head with a bridge from there, passing behind Castle Orchard, carving space out of the castle mound.

Around this time a new boys' school was built in Vicarage Lane, with a girls' school lower down King Street, with the Infants' School opposite. Less well-remembered, though revered by miniature railway enthusiasts, was the Duffield Bank Railway, built by Sir Arthur Heywood at his house to the east of the village.

[edit] Twentieth Century

The coming of Rolls-Royce in the 1930s brought further expansion, with even bigger houses up Hazlewood Road, and council-provided housing along Holloway Road.

Throughout the 'thirties and 'forties, middle class housing was appearing in the old Wirksworth Road, and in Flaxholme. The semi-detached houses to the west of Cumberhills Road are something of a mystery. Clearly they were a speculative middle-class project, but in 1910 they were isolated among fields half a mile from the village - hardly attractive, one would have thought, to prospective purchasers.

For such a small village, Duffield seems to have been well served with public houses. Near the church was the White Lion and nearby on the main road at the south, there was the Noah's Ark, a coaching inn. Still in existence is the White Hart, which is not the original building, and a little further up, was the Nag's Head. Next is the King's Head, probably the oldest still in existence. When the Commissioners appointed by Parliament to divide up the common and waste lands of Duffield Parish sat in 1787, they held their meetings at the King's Head.

At the top of Crown Street used to be the Crown Inn, and still existing up Hazlewood Road is the New Inn, although this is now been converted to a private dwelling. Outside it are broad flat-topped walls. In the days before Hazlewood had its own cemetery, it is said that funeral parties would stop for refreshment before completing their journey to the church, and would leave the coffin resting on that wall. There was also a Railway Inn near the station and a Castle Inn, near the Parish Room. The Patten Makers' Arms is in Crown Street, named after the pattens which were a type of clog that people made there.

Around 1960 Wimpey, the building developer, built new estates, raising the population to around 5000. One was between Wirksworth Road and the River Ecclesbourne. The other was to the south of Wirksworth Road, extending New Zealand Lane and the previously privately-maintained Broadway. The intention was for the latter to meet the Wirksworth Road at Cumberhills Road, but where it crossed New Zealand Lane, the landowner refused to sell and it was several years before there was a through right of way. The attraction of the village for housebuyers centres around the successful secondary school, Ecclesbourne, which was built at this time, along with the Meadows primary school.

Duffield railway station still exists and is served by trains on the Derwent Valley Line to Matlock. The Wirksworth Branch, disused for some years, is being restored as the Ecclesbourne Valley heritage railway.

[edit] References and further reading

Anon (2000) Duffield, Derbyshire, Past and Present
Hickling, G., (circa 1950), Duffield in Appletree,
Watson, W.R., (1986) An Illustrated History of Duffield,
Watson, W.R., (1991) The Derbyshire Village of Duffield Past and Present.
Tudor, T.L., (1939) New Light on Duffield Church and its Ancient Parish.
Bland, J., (1922) Duffield: Vilage, Church nd Castle, Derby: Harpur and Son
Bland, W., (1887) Duffield Castle: Lecture at the Temperance Hall, Wirksworth. Published in the Derbyshire Advertiser.
Cox, J.C., Duffield Castle; its history, site, and recently found remains; with some account of the seven Earl Ferrers who held it. geneal. tab., Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 9, 1887.Summary
Strutt, F.and J.C.Cox., Duffield forest in the sixteenth century, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 25, 1903.
Cox, J.C., The registers and churchwardens' accounts of the parish of Duffield, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 39, 1917.
Lawrance, H.and T.E.Routh., Derbyshire military effigies III, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 48/49, 1926/27.
Williamson, F., Roman and other remains found at Duffield, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 52, 1931.
Charlton, J., Some Roman pottery from Duffield, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 53, 1932.
Mynors, H.C.B., Sir Roger Mynours of Duffield, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 73, 1953.
Hughes, R.G., A Medieval Pottery Kiln Site at Burley Hill, Duffield, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 77, 1957.
Manby, T.G., Duffield Castle Excavations 1957, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 79, 1959.