Weston-on-Trent

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Weston-on-Trent
Weston Hall was built by Antony Roper
Weston-on-Trent shown within Derbyshire
OS grid reference	SK415295
District	South Derbyshire
Shire county	Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Derby
Postcode district	DE72
Dialling code	01332
Police	Derbyshire
Fire	Derbyshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
European Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	South Derbyshire
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Coordinates: 52°50′N 1°24′W / 52.84, -1.4

Weston-on-Trent is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire. It is to the north of the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal. Nearby places include Aston-on-Trent, Barrow upon Trent, Castle Donington and Swarkestone.

The name is of Anglo-Saxon descent ('ton' an Anglo-Saxon suffix meaning town). Being in the west, the name literally means 'West Town' - with Aston-on-Trent (East-Town) being east of it. The 'On-Trent' suffix of both Weston and nearby villages simply means they are near the river Trent.

At the last census there were about 800 people in the village over sixteen years old.^[1]

Contents 1 The Primary School 2 Other organisations 3 History 4 Walking 5 References 6 External links

[edit] The Primary School

Weston's only school is a Church of England Voluntary Aided primary school. The school has been in existence since 1821 and on its old site to the west of the village since 1830.^[2] Two cottages were let from Sir Robert Wilmot at two shillings per annum in 1830.^[3] The old school building is reported to have been erected in 1842^[2] and to have had a capacity of 60, although only 35 were attending in 1890.^[4][5] In January 2007, the school was relocated to a new building on the site of the old playing field^[2] and formally opened on April 21st.^[6] The school's placement was argued extensively by the residents living near the roads leading to the school because of the lack of decent access roads. However its position had been decided in the 1960s when the Local Education Authority purchased the land belonging to Old Gate Farm^[3] and the remainder of the land had been used to construct Old Gate Avenue in the 1970s. The farm had previously served as one of Weston's pubs.^[7]

What is to become of the old school now that is has been inappropriately boarded up, and whether there will be a new playing field is still being discussed.

[edit] Other organisations

The village has a strong community which offers many organisations including;

• Brownies
• Coffee Morning (once a month)
• RaW (Recreation at Weston)
• A Pantomime Society (taking 2006/7 as a year off)
• Girls Brigade
• Local History Society
• The 'Scarecrow Trail'

The Youth Club ceased trade in 2006.

All of these meet at the Village Hall which was recently host to a number of visiting performers. A recent show was performed by "The Spider Monkeys" who played on a temporary stage outside the Plough to support the 2007 Scarecrow Trail weekend.^[9]

[edit] History

The Domesday Book: "Weston-on-Trent is spelt as Westune or Westone in the Domesday Book.[10] Weston is listed amongst the small proportion of manors that are owned directly by the king. 'Domesday Book' [11]. In 1086, the book notes that "In Weston-On-Trent" with its Berewicks Earl Ælfgar had ten carucates of land and two and a half bovates to the geld. There is land for as many ploughs. There are now three ploughs in demesne and twenty four villans and six bordars having twelve ploughs and for rent-paying tenants paying sixteen shillings. There are two churches and a priest and a mill rendering ten shillings and four pence and a fishpond and a ferry rendering thirteen shillings and four pence and fifty one acres of meadow and a pasture half a league long and three furlongs broad. Value sixteen pounds (TRE[12] eight pounds)"[13]

— Note: Berewicks (outlying estates) of this manor, at that time, included Aston-on-Trent and Shardlow. Earlier evidence dated 1009 place Weston on Trent at the head of an estate which went as far as the Derwent and included not only Shardlow and Aston but also Wilne.[3]

In 1603, Weston-on-Trent was awarded by James I to Charles Paget and gave him a pension of £200 a year. This is unusual as the previous monarch had threatened to have him assassinated in France as he refused to return. He was found guilty of his involvement in the Babington plot. It was Charles Paget, who Mary, Queen of Scots had written to; this letter was part of the evidence that caused her execution.

In 1633 James I granted the manor of Weston on Trent to Antony Roper and it is believed that this is when Weston Hall's construction started.^[14]

At the start of the English civil wars (in 1642) soldiers who were based at Weston Hall attacked Royalists who were based on the south side of the river.^[15] Some Parliamentary soldiers were reputedly buried in Weston Churchyard in 1644 after a battle at King's Mill when Sir John Gell took 200 royalist prisoners.^[16]

The Roper family sold Weston Hall in 1649 and it was never completed.^[14] Bricked up doorways can be observed at first and second storeys where presumably the rest of the building was intended to be.

In 1745 the young pretender advanced as far as nearby Swarkestone. Local records show that monies were found to not only repair ye town musquet but also money to charge it. Two other parishioners were given three quearts of ale to keep watch for the rebels from the church tower^[16] whilst a third was despatched to Derby.

In September 1770, the canal which had been started by James Brindley reached Weston where goods could be moved the short distance from the canal to the river and vice versa. Much of this building still remains and Wston's lock, two canal bridges and several mileposts are listed by English Heritage.^[17]

Less than a century later, the village was again redesigned with several houses demolished, large earth works and roads were diverted to allow the railway to be opened in 1873^[3] which "cut through the heart of the village isolating the south side from the north of the village".^[18]

There were two ferries at Weston, one at Weston Cliff and the other at King's Mill which ceased trade in 1942. This ferry crossed the river at the end of King's Mill Lane closest to Castle Donington. After the second world war Weston-on-Trent became home to the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) in the UK,^[19] which took over one of the camps which had been set up during the Second World War. One of these camps had hosted concerts by Vera Lynn, Glenn Miller and Ivy Benson.^[20]

The last shop in Weston closed in 1998.^[3]

[edit] Walking

Lying just outside the city of Derby, Weston is an occasional location for walkers. There are a number of walks^[15] that are maintained and watched over by the Parish council and there routes are shown on the village hall. Some routes are also available on-line.^[21]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Weston-on-Trent home page (old)
• Tourist guide to the village
• Domesday Book, from The National Archives (UK). Searchable text and page scans (complete).