Old Whittington

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Old Whittington
Old Whittington shown within Derbyshire
OS grid reference	SK3874
District	Chesterfield
Shire county	Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHESTERFIELD
Postcode district	S41
Dialling code	01246
Police	Derbyshire
Fire	Derbyshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
European Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Chesterfield
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Coordinates: 53°16′N 1°26′W / 53.26, -1.43

Old Whittington is a village in Derbyshire 10 miles south-east of Sheffield and 2 miles north (and a suburb) of Chesterfield. The village lies on the River Rother.

Population in 1901 was 9416.^[1] The parish church of St Bartholomew was restored after its destruction by fire, except for the tower and spire, in 1895. The town manufactured stoneware bottles, other earthenware and bricks. There are also coal mines and ironworks.

Contents 1 Early history 2 The school 3 Revolution House 4 Notable residents 5 Transport 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Early history

Old Whittington is mentioned in the Domesday Book on the first folio for Derbyshire where it is then spelt Witintune. The book says ^[2] under the title of 'The lands of the King'^[3]:

In Newbold with six berewicks - Old Whittington, Brimington, Tapton, Chesterfield, Boythorpe, Eckington - there are six carucates and one bovate to the geld. There is land for six ploughs. There the king has 16 villans and one slave having four ploughs. To this manor belong eight acres of meadow. There is woodland pasture three leagues long and three leagues broad. TRE^[4] worth £6 now £10“

[edit] The school

A free school was founded here in 1674 which was endowed with lands which created an income of thirty two pounds and ten shillings. The school had about twenty pupils which included both boys and girls.^[5]

[edit] Revolution House

Revolution House is a small stone cottage which is now a museum.^[6] This was the meeting-place of the Earl of Danby, Mr. John D'Arcy and the Earl of Devonshire^[6] when poor weather caused them to remove their secret meeting inside. William Cavendish, the fourth Earl and later Duke of Devonshire lived nearby at Chatsworth House, which is still the home to the Cavendish family. John D'Arcy (or Darcy) was the fourth son of the Earl of Holderness.

This group devised the plans to extend the invitation to William of Orange in 1688, so that the Whig party brought about the fall of James II and the succession of the protestant William III. This change in the monarchy came to be known as the Glorious Revolution.

The house was then a hostelry, known as the "Cock and Pynot"^[7] The tiny museum today features period furnishings and exhibition of local interest.^[8] There is a public house in Old Whittington which is called the Cock and Magpie. This public house was founded in 1790 when the old 'Cock and Pynot' was converted into a cottage.

The local vicar, Samuel Pegge, was amongst about fifty dignataries who met at Revolution House in 1788 on the centenary of the "Glorious Revolution", while it was still an alehouse. The procession was led by the Duke of Devonshire, the Duchess and the Mayor of Chesterfield. ^[9]

[edit] Notable residents

Samuel Pegge (1704-1796), antiquary and vicar of Whittington and Heath for many years, was buried here. He was an antiquarian and published a number of books including republishing a very early cookery book, Forme of Cury.^[10]

[edit] Transport

• Bus service is run by Stagecoach. Route 25 links to New Whittington and Holymoorside whilst route 99 links to Chesterfield and Eckington.

[edit] See also

Invitation to William

[edit] References