DERTBY CIVIC SOCIETY COUNCIL

PATRON: His Worship the Mayor of Derby, Cllr. Paul Pegg

PRESIDENT: Don Amott, Esq.,

VICE-PRESIDENTS: Donald Armstrong, Maxwell Craven, Derek Limer, Robin Wood.

CHAIRMAN: Alan Grimadell [3, Netherwood Court, Allestree, Derby DE22 2NU]

VICE CHAIRMAN: Ashley Waterhouse [33, Byron Street, Derby DE23 6ZY]

HON SECRETARY: David Ling [67, South Avenue, Darley Abbey, Derby DE22 1FB]

HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC’Y: Robin Wood [103, Whitaker road, Derby, DE23 6AQ]

HON. TREASURER: Phil Lucas [26, St. Pancras Way, Little Chester, Derby DE1 3TH]

HON. ACTIVITIES SUB-COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: David Parry [110, Kedleston

Road, Derby DE22 1FW]

HON. EDITOR & CASEWORKER: Maxwell Craven [19, Carlton Road, Derby, DE23

6HB]

REPRESENTATIVES: Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust Council of Management

(and currently Chairman), Robin Wood

Conservation Area Advisory Committee, Ian Goodwin

COUNCIL (in addition to those named above, who serve on the Council ex officio):

Laurence Chell, Carole Craven, Ian Goodwin, Richard Felix, Keith Hamilton, Derek

Limer, Roger Pegg, Professor Jonathan Powers & John Sharpe.

*

The opinions expressed herein are entirely those of the individual contributors and not

necessarily those of the Society, its Council or its editor. All contributions submitted under

noms-de-plume must be accompanied by a bona fide name and address if such are to be

considered for publication.

The Newsletter of the Derby Civic Society is normally published twice a year by the Society c/o 19, Carlton Road, Derby, DE23 6HB. It is printed by Glenwood Printing Ltd., of 2a,

Downing Rd, West Meadows, Derby DE21 6HA. A limited number of back numbers of the

Newsletter are available from the Editor at the address above at a cost of £2 per copy.

*

Cover Picture:

Uplift your lights: Derby Cathedral, view from the West door towards the chancel, through

the Bakewell screen to the baldacchino and retro-choir following the re-decoration of the

interior.

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CONTENTS

Editorial 2

New Members 7

Chairman’s Colloquy 8

The Sevenoaks Judgement 9

Some Biblical Advice 10

Correspondence 10

Possibilities 11

Blue Plaquery 12

Derby Listed Buildings Demolished Since 1972 15

Derby Arena Ten Pieces Concert 17

Obituary: Ben Lewers 18

A Couple of Memories of Ben 19

Death of the (Derby) Ram 21

Twenty Years in Twelve Places 22

Reviews

150 Years in Darley Abbey 23

A History of Derby School Cadet Corps 24

John Whitehurst 25

A New Church Secondary School for Derby 27

Derby’s Forgotten Buildings 36: Former County

Council Offices 28

North Avenue Darley Abbey 31

West Mill Darley Abbey 32

Re-branding your Newsletter 34

Derby’s Grade II Listed Buildings 34:

The Greyhound, Friar Gate 34

A Biographical Dictionary of Derbyshire

Architects Pt. II: E – G 39

Das Flussleuchtenhaus 47

Forthcoming Events 48

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2

FROM BENEATH THE GREEN EYE

SHADE

DURACELL: IT JUST KEEPS ON GOING!

In August proposals for a titanic and apparently

exceedingly ugly block of students' residences to

be built on the site of the now deceased Duracell

2 building between Agard St and Friar Gate

were published, swiftly followed by a full

planning application. At the time it struck me as

extraordinary how a small North London

development company (Jensco) with little

identifiable track record of major developments

in provincial cities can come in and try and

make a quick buck out of a site in one of the East Midland's premier conservation areas.

The original Duracell 1 & 2 were approved by the Council's planning committee in the teeth

of objections from national amenity society consultees, and English Heritage (now Historic

England). All urged the Council to turn it down flat on the grounds that it would seriously

affect the setting of a very fine conservation area and badly affect the setting of a grade one

listed building in the shape of Pickford's House. The expected occupier was Rolls-Royce,

which firm, like the university, invariably gets favoured treatment: hence the sweeping aside

of all the objections, not to mention the legal implications.

I say legal implications, for the consents allowed in 2010 and in November were almost

certainly in breach of the law. This is in the light of two recent legal judgements (over a

windfarm at Lyveden New Bild in Northamptonshire and another over housing in the

Penshurst Place and village conservation area), where local authorities blithely granted

consent for development which would have adversely affected the settings of a grade 1 listed

building in once case and a conservation area in the other. The decisions were declared in

clear breach of section 66 (1) of the 1990 Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation

3

Areas) Act and were set aside. We can thus now say that the approval granted to Duracell 1

and the latest one next to it were also in clear breach of that section of the Act.

The then developer, Lowbridge, even managed to give the impression their development

would include a renovation and re-use of Friar Gate Bridge, although not all of us were

fooled by that. That application, and the one turned down in autumn 2014, merely claimed

that they would enable access to the bridge via steps in return for recouping their substantial

losses on Duracell 1 by applying for an even bigger and uglier Duracell 2, rightly rejected.

Then we had this consent, allowed on 26th November, which was indeed bigger and uglier.

Any development on this site must take its cue from the incomparably elegant Georgian

Street, not from Duracell 1, and should be of a scale, materials and proportion that would

enable it to convincingly enhance the Conservation Area. One suspects that, realizing the

futility of building more office accommodation here, these nice chaps from North London

reckoned the largest and cheapest thing they could build would be student flats.

Duracell 1 & 2A seen from the Brook looking towards Friar Gate, from the perspective view

submitted with the application. Note that, for the purposes of the view, Sir Peter Hilton House

(a five storey students’ residence) has been deemed no longer to exist!

Then on 2nd December we heard of another application from an outfit called Trent Pad to

build an even uglier block of student flats on the site actually next door to Grade I listed

Pickford’s House. I refer readers to the photograph in last issue showing Duracell 1 looming

over the Georgian garden at Pickford’s. This and the building allowed in November would

block all light out from the south, and would very drastically affect the setting of the Listed

Grade I building, not to mention the plethora of other listed buildings clustered here.

4

The thought arises that, with hundreds of student flats being erected on Cathedral Road, and

three blocks of them built 15 years ago in and around Ashbourne Road, exactly how many

more student flats can be filled? My daughter, currently a University student, prefers to rent a

suburban bungalow with five friends for the same sort of per head tariff and would hate to be

poked into a box-like room in a soul-less block, so reminiscent of the warped social theories

of that old Anarcho-syndicalist, Le Corbusier. And if students will not have them, they will

become social housing, so people would have to live in them, like it or not.

However, Professor Plowden of the University assures me that there is still a considerable

need for student accommodation, and I suspect he envisages adding to the profusion of them

that Michael Hall oversaw when he was the University’s housing tsar. Not only that, but the

pace at which the applications are coming in suggests that the University is in a hurry and

that this has caused a feeding frenzy amongst developers. What we may be in for is a sort of

university accommodation quarter stretching from Duracell 2 to Nuns’ Street.

If you want to build a block of apartments that is not Classical revival but looks really good,

how about these on Burleigh Road, Ascot?

Our chairman and I have resolved to open a conversation with the university to ensure that if

such a vision is in the frame that it proceeds in such a way that enhances this fairly fragile

area with so much rich history.

After all, it would ill behove the University, as a centre for culture, learning and the arts to be

seen as destroying the abundant heritage of the town in which flourishes. There is probably

not a lot of profit for a developer in erecting student residences, but that should be no excuse,

especially as there have been other developments in other towns where really good buildings

– and better still adaptations of existing buildings – have emerged from a similar process.

Adaptation is the secret. The University demolished Longdon’s Mill in Agard Street to build

Sir Peter Hilton House, a structure on the same epic scale, when for the same money the 1804

mill complex (which was not in particularly poor condition) could have been adapted.

Thomas Fish of Nottingham had just this idea a year or two later when they proposed to adapt

part of Bridgett’s steam silk mill on Bridge Street for the same purpose.

5

Tax office

Glasses factory

LGII* LGI Pickford’s

House

Trent Pad application

Duracell 2A/Jensco

(November 26th Approval)

Duracell 1 as built

LGII*

Map of the S. end of the Friar Gate Conservation Area showing the vulnerable sites and the

developments, built, approved and proposed. Shaded buildings are listed, those above grade

II are marked.

But Fish overlooked one thing: the importance of the building itself – the first steam driven

silk mill, probably in England, given an enhanced re-listing by English Heritage thanks to the

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meticulous research of our member Peter Billson and the Industrial Section of the

Archaeological Society. Suddenly the project got far too much for them and the only way

they could satisfy English Heritage and rescue a profit was to ditch student accommodation

and go for quality apartments. The result is good, but had the University and the developers

seeking to fulfil their requirements sought to consult with us, the Archaeological Society and

indeed English Heritage (now Historic England) egg would not have ended up on faces.

Meanwhile, an area as splendid as Friar Gate, dying on its feet commercially, needs not

permanent disfigurement but top quality housing in well-designed buildings of an entirely

appropriate design for such a sensitive area. It's all right doing Duracell 2A and then going

back to North London. The rest of us have got to live and work with the ghastly gimcrack

result. We Derby citizens deserve something a whole shedload better.

A final point is precedent. It a building of this scale is allowed to proceed, what of the

remainder of Agard Street? The tax office behind No., 46 Friar Gate is currently out of use as

is the former Lancaster & Thorpe spectacle factory next door. One is already over-scale and

ugly the other more modest in size, but no thing of beauty (both are pre-Conservation Area).

With these granted consent, on what grounds would the committee have for refusing consent

to other opportunist developers who might want to build twelve storey blocks there as well?

Another thought occurs. If the Council proceed with their idea of cutting all funding to the

Museums Trust from April 2018, then Pickford’s House Museum will have to close, unless

the beleaguered trust can find the same level of funding from elsewhere (which they are

endeavouring to do). With Pickford’s House closed, one can visualise the sale of the building

as offices and of the garden for another block of gimcrack student residences: the nightmare

scenario par excellence, but by no means beyond the realms of possibility.

The danger is that our fine Conservation Area will end up being overshadowed by a line of

four or more modern office or apartment blocks, making the houses on the N. side of Friar

Gate virtually uninhabitable, just when we are getting to the point where people might wish

to start moving back into the street to live. It will amount to irrevocable blight.

The City might do well to develop a clear vision for future Agard Street developments as they

relate to the jewel in the crown of the City’s conservation areas, so that provision for new

homes and students’ flats can be made in a way which genuinely enhances the conservation

area. Potential developers should be encouraged to come up with schemes likely to win

national awards rather than ones that are executed quickly solely to maximise profits. One

also has reservations about the linkage to the former GNR bridge in the Jensco application

which, from experience over Duracell 1, frequently turn out to be chimerical.

The trouble is, the sheer pace of the applications, coming in thick and fast over Christmas, are

likely to make policy development superfluous through being too late.

The Conservation Area Advisory Committee recommended refusal of Jensco. Yet the

Planning Committee voted 6 to 5 in favour, the members of the majority party being

whipped, mind you. Why on earth should a party whip be imposed over a badly designed

student condominium? When you take that on board, you realise that a large number of

elected members, when not cruising along on their allowances, couldn’t care less about the

impact of their decisions on the historic environment and on the setting of Pickford’s House -

one of our 6 grade I listed buildings - or on the region’s premier urban conservation area.

Sometimes one wonders just why.

7

Still, it hasn’t been all bad.

Here’s a photograph of

your editor a couple of

months ago cutting the

ribbon to inaugurate the

refurbished branch of the

Halifax. This financial in-

stitution occupies part of

the building that used to be

Boot’s, St. Peter’s Street.

The refurbishment of the

entire building was done to

a remarkably high standard,

and it is up for one of the

Conservation Area Advis-

ory Committee’s George

Rennie Awards.

Finally, hearty congratulations to the Dean, Chapter and all others invovled with the

refurbishment of our Cathedral. It looks absolutely splendid, it’s totally fit for purpose and

does the City great credit. Our member Dean John Davies has done a seamless job in getting

the whole thing organised and co-ordinated. A word of thanks, too to that scion of the

aristocracy, Rt. Hon. Geo. Osbourne, for granting much of the money! If you haven’t seen it

yet, cf. our front cover this issue.

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New Members since August 2015.

Annie Clarke-Maxwell, The Annexe, Stones Farm, Markeaton Lane,

Markeaton, Derby, DE22 4NH

Margaret Daniels, 73, Lime Grove, Chaddesden, Derby DE21 6WL

Belina Elliott Dawes, 14, Chevin Road, Derby DE1 3EX

Cllr. Alison Martin, 42, Evans Avenue, Allestree, Derby DE22 2EN

Geoffrey Neaum, 45, Chishill Road, Heydon, Herts. SG8 8PN

Ann Christine Sharp, 441, Uttoxeter New Road, Derby DE22 3ND

Cllr. Mark Tittley, 30, Chestnut Avenue, Chellaston, Derby DE73 6RW

Jason Toon, 83, Hillsway, Littleov er, Derby DE23 3DX

Joan Travis, 2 New Road, Darley Abbey, Derby DE22 1DR

Ursula Ann Watts, 40, Cadgwith Drive, Derby DE22 2AE

We warmly welcome all the above and look forwards to seeing them

at our forthcoming events (for which see page 48)

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8

CHAIRMAN’S COLLOQUY

Welcome to the Winter Issue of our latest

Newsletter, and my first duty is to thank

Civic Society members (all who attended

our AGM) for re-electing your existing

Council for yet another year – 2015-2016.

It was also a great pleasure, as your

Chairman to welcome our new President

Don Amott to the AGM. Don was

accompanied by Civic Society member

Keith Loring.

We recently launched the Mundy Blue

Plaque at Markeaton Park an event that

was well attended and one which attracted

more members to the Society. To date the

Civic Society in partnership with Derby

City Council have launched thirteen Blue

Plaques across the City with the eventual

aim of creating the Blue Plaque Guide in

conjunction with the Derby Tourist office.

We would like to have launched more during 2015, but this is something that we will

continue during 2016.

Your Society continues to play a major role within the City, and to keep membership of your

Council at a healthy level Richard Felix was appointed to the Society’s Council at the last

AGM – welcome aboard Richard! Our membership of Marketing Derby as a Bondholder

continues to deliver the platform that your society deserves in terms of involvement with

other major organisations and media coverage via the Derby Telegraph and BBC Radio

Derby.

As always, we have a very active social calendar and it is always a pleasure to see so many

members attend our events whether it is our regular talks, our annual lunch or indeed the very

popular Kilburn Hall evening. As always we are grateful to Dave Parry and his team for the

smooth running of all of these activities. We also have a Cathedral talk on Tuesday January

26th

from 1pm to 2 pm a free talk which has only just been arranged and which is encouraged

by the Dean, Very Revd. John Davies.

We are all entering a New Year 2016, and who knows what another year holds for us all?

What I can say is that the Civic Society as an organisation is probably stronger than it has

ever been, with a Council that has many years of service and experience. We also have a

recently elected President in Don Amott who supports the local community and charities in

many ways and a man who is proud of Derby. Your Society continues to operate with a

strong financial base, and the organisation has all of you: dedicated and caring members. I

hope to see you all at our events during the New Year – I wish you all good health,

prosperity, and peace for 2016.

With all best wishes,

Alan Grimadell

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THE SEVENOAKS JUDGEMENT

On 12 June 2014 Mr Justice Lindblom found that Sevenoaks District Council had made an

error in deciding to grant planning permission for affordable housing within the settings of

two listed buildings (one being Listed Grade I Penshurst Place) and a conservation area at

Penshurst in Kent. They had failed to apply properly the requirements of Section 66 (1) of

the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 in relation to the statutory

duty to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the setting of the listed buildings,

citing as an over-riding factor the benefit of affordable housing.

This case emphasised the considerable weight that planning officers and inspectors must

apply to the preservation of the settings of listed buildings and conservation areas in planning

decisions. The Penshurst judgement makes for particularly powerful reading:

‘The presumption is a statutory one. It is not irrebuttable. It can be outweighed by

material considerations powerful enough to do so. But an authority can only

properly strike the right balance between harm to a heritage asset on the one hand

and planning benefits on the other if it is conscious of the statutory presumption

in favour of preservation, and if it demonstrably applies that presumption to the

proposal it is considering.’

This means that where any harm, even ‘less than substantial’ harm, can be shown to occur to

the settings of a listed building or conservation area, the default position should be a refusal

by the Local Authority. The onus is now clearly on applicants to demonstrate sufficiently

powerful material considerations necessary to justify harm, including showing that alternative

options have been explored and ruled out.

To appreciate fully the widespread application of this ruling it is worth remembering that

setting is defined within the NPPF glossary as

‘…the surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced. Its extent is not

fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve.’

It will be particularly crucial for development within urban areas, where there may be high

concentrations of heritage assets, including multiple visual relationships and visual impacts

on the character and appearance of Conservation Areas, to be properly assessed for impacts

on setting.

No apologies for

reprinting this

photograph of the

way in which

Duracell I affects

the setting of a

listed grade I

building. [Author]

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BIBLICAL ADVICE FOR THE COUNCIL & ALL DEVELOPERS

Deuteronomy 19:14

‘Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine

inheritance.’

*

CORRESPONDENCE

From Dr. G. R. Allen

Sir, I was interested to read your article on the Midland Hotel in the latest edition of the Derby

Civic Society Newsletter. By coincidence, when on holiday in Kent, I met a retired engineer

who had worked on the rebuilding of the Derby Railway Station. He said that they had

‘discovered’ a service tunnel from the station to the cellars of the Midland Hotel which had

been used to transfer safely bonded goods from the railway. I wondered if the Civic Society

is aware of this tunnel, whether it still exists and whether it is part of the Hotel listing.

Although it may exist, presumably the bonded goods are long gone!

Yours sincerely,

G. R. Allen

*

From Jon Turner, Esq.

Sir,

So, hardly has the ink dried on the Derby Telegraph’s headline and feature ‘We’re the

Fast Food Capital’ (August 19), and my letter the same day concluding ‘What Derby cries out

for is more cultural provision, not more of the bars and restaurants beloved by unimaginative

planners’, and what do we get? The unveiling of a plan for ‘1000 homes, cafes, shops and

bars along the River Derwent, in conjunction with new flood defences.’ Is there no end to

Derby’s insatiable appetite for round the clock snacking? Will the plans include provision for

obesity or problem-drinking clinics when they become necessary?

The riverside area in question certainly has the potential to become an even more attractive

area, especially if buildings are supplemented by gardens and riverside walks, but it should

not be overlooked that similar waterside areas in other cities are often cannily enhanced by

high quality cultural amenities too. One only has to think of London’s Southbank Centre,

Liverpool’s Albert Dock, Manchester’s Salford Quays and (albeit without waterside per se),

Birmingham’s Centenary Square. More modestly, where would Stratford upon Avon be

without its priceless Royal Shakespeare Theatre overlooking the River Avon? Haven’t any

cultural considerations ever penetrated the planners’ minds here in Derby, or has it still to

undergo continuing neglect of its arts scene forever?

I’m not surprised at the City Council’s uncritical enthusiasm for the project as currently

mooted: after all it is the body which has hitherto disgracefully neglected its cultural assets,

and jettisoned its cabinet member for the arts earlier this year, but I’m saddened that the Civic

11

Society has also uncritically lauded the plan and failed to spot its shortcomings in this

area. With this level of critical appraisal, and the fact Britain has long been in the grip of a

neo-liberal political agenda which precludes an adequate level of freely available public

assets or the means to pay for them, it will be inevitable that a city of Derby’s cultural

aspirations will eventually sink into obscurity and mediocrity.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Turner 28-8-15

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POSSIBILITIES

Some thoughts concerning theoretical schemes by proffered in the Derby Telegraph by

architect Justin Smith during September 2015.

1. North riverside: proposal for a new concert venue here.

I have one hang-up about North Riverside (Canary Island to give it its traditional name) and

that is that we on Conservation Area Advisory Committee are fighting the Environment

Agency to retain three locally listed buildings of some quality. These include Exeter House

flats, an iconic Art Deco set of working class dwellings situated, very untypically, in a place

with fabulous views - why shouldn't Council tenants have fabulous views? (Chris

Williamson, when leader of the Council wanted to pull them down to oblige a luxury

apartments developer ten years ago, if you recall). Thus, in whatever scheme one puts

forward for Canary Island one would wish to see Exeter House Flats retained and surrounded

by other housing.

The suggested new concert venue here needs to be further away from frequently clogged

roads like St. Alkmund's Way. The only advantage of Canary Island for this facility is

proximity to cafés, pubs & restaurants, but these exist elsewhere and if not, the proximity of

such a venue would soon encourage them to blossom. A much more viable alternative would

be Friar Gate Goods Yard, especially now Charles Clowes has died and his company is

perhaps in more adventurous hands – the perfect venue.

2. The Assembly Rooms site becomes luxury flats.

I am in agreement entirely, except one would look for exceptionally good architecture using

traditional materials for the replacement, to get away from the brashness and hard lines of the

current building and Quad. But NO Duracells, please!

3. Replacing Debenhams in Victoria Street with a plaza centered on Duckworth Square

surrounded with retail and accommodation.

If it wasn't for the fact that we put Debenhams on the Local List because we thought it a

pretty good building for its day and followed the street so well, I would endorse his idea for

Duckworth Square, but I think he spoils it by making it cluttered with unrelated buildings.

What's wrong with making it actually square? Again, if done, superb quality architecture

would be of the essence, not CAD fuelled blocks of glass & concrete (or copper-style

cladding).

4. Redevelop the DRI site with well laid out residential development.

I had no real quibbles with this except that the setting of the listed Regency villa

(Wilderslow) needs better treatment and again, whilst the green area at the proposal’s heart

12

would be a delight, good architecture not the first thing to spec off the CAD would be

essential. Oh, and where is Queen Victoria's statue going to go? Or would Justin like to send

it back to the City where it belongs?!

But, of course, these are first, undigested thoughts!

MC

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BLUE PLAQUERY

We unveiled our latest (and 13th) Blue Plaque on 19th October at Markeaton Park Orangery

to Whig patron and grandee Francis Noel Clarke Mundy and his great-grand daughter in law,

Emily Maria Georgiana Mundy. The unveiling, on a gratifyingly pleasant and sunny morning

was performed by F. N. C. Mundy’s descendant, Anne Clarke-Maxwell, attended by Cllr.

Martin Repton of behalf of our co-sponsors, Derby City Council, and by our Chairman Alan

Grimadell. Your editor was also called upon to say a few words. There were refreshments

kindly laid on afterwards in The Orangery restaurant, which were much appreciated.

Engraving after. R. R.

Reinagle of the portrait of

F N C Mundy in later life

with his grandson, 1813.

[the late Charles Clarke-

Maxwell]

F N C Mundy was a pivotal figure in the development of the Midland’s Enlightenment in the

later 18th century, being a powerful patron of the arts and sciences, exercising a benevolent

influence upon Dr. Darwin’s Lichfield set and encouraging men like Joseph Wright, R. L.

Edgeworth, White Watson and William Strutt. He was the second patron (after Sir Nathaniel

Curzon, Bt. of Kedleston) of William Emes, to whom he let 60 acres of land at Bowbridge

Fields, on which Emes built his house, using the then Kedleston clerk of works, James

Denstone as his architect He repaid the kindness by laying out the superb parkland including

the lake, a feature which became one of Emes’s specialities.

A decade later, Joseph Pickford designed the two courtyard hunting stables to part of which

(for much was demolished in 1964) which the plaque was affixed, providing a new kitchen at

the E end using state-of-the-art equipment designed and supplied by John Whitehurst FRS

who also designed the adjustable roof which once covered the orangery itself. One of his

13

brothers-in-law was the astronomer and amateur architect, Adml. Washington Shirley, KB,

5th Earl Ferrers.

Mundy was sufficiently talented to have been able to write an epic poem, Needwood Forest

in 1777, which despite its accomplishment, provoked Darwin into writing a parody of a

riposte called Address to the Swilcar Oak

One of those he encouraged was Revd. William Bagshaw Stevens, headmaster of Repton and

tutor to Mundy’s sons and to the sons of Mundy’s friend and brother-in-law Sir Robert

Burdett of Foremark. Stevens attended the Mundy’s soirees and conversaziones at Markeaton

Hall and reported that Mundy was universally known as ‘French’ and that his domineering

wife as ‘The Duchess’.

As a footnote, Stevens

has the unlikely dis-

tinction of dying of a

seizure in Repton high

street whilst laughing

over-heartily at the antics

of a performing monkey.

So next time, dear reader,

that you find yourself

reading to your children

or grandchildren about

Enid Blyton’s engaging

circus boy, Barney and

his little monkey - titter

ye not!

Left: The new plaque at

Markeaton Park. One

suspects that F N C

Mundy’s third name

ought to have an ‘E’!

F N C Mundy was High Sheriff in 1772, was appointed a magistrate in in 1766, and was

chairman of the Derby bench – in those days the equivalent of Director of the County Council

– for almost 50 years, hence the fine bust of him by Sir Francis Chantrey in the Shire Hall,

that no one is allowed to go and see these days, thanks to maniacally over-tight security and

the restrictions claimed by the PFI outfit who did the conversion.

Apart from being painted by Wright in his youth, Mundy was painted by Reinagle in 1813

with his grandson William (brother-in-law of photographic pioneer W. H. Fox-Talbot), the

father of the Francis Mundy who married a Cavendish of Doveridge, Emily Maria Georgiana.

She was a competent amateur watercolourist and published a collection of memoirs which is

full of vignettes of life in the late Victorian age.

14

The scene prior to the unveiling, showing the restored orangery range and the excavated

footings of the demolished Markeaton Hall

In her long life Emily Maria Georgiana felt great empathy towards the citizens of the West

End of Derby, much of which was built on land formerly belonging to the Markeaton estate.

Consequently she made the following contributions to the life of Derby:

1893 With two other landowners’ wives, land and capital to enable the establishment of the

Derby Women’s Hospital in Agard Street (later moved to Friar Gate).

1895 Land to establish a playground with the condition that the Corporation build an access

road between Kedleston Road and Ashbourne Road (Mackworth Road).

On 10th January 1903 Francis Noël Mundy died leaving his wife as sole beneficiary.

1903 Paid for the work to dam the Brook on the south edge of the new park to provide a

swimming pool, with works to make it practical and safe.

1905 As a result of a clause in the will of her husband, a further tranche of land on the W side

of Mackworth Road was donated to form the Mundy Pleasure Ground, being opened by

Mrs Mundy 21/6/19051

1924 Mundy Play Area in Markeaton Park donated by Mrs. Mundy to the Borough by deed

of gift.

Mrs. Mundy died on 6th August 1929.2 Probate was granted on her will in London to Revd.

W G Clarke-Maxwell, her heir at law, her estate totalling £88,748 – 12s – 0d.3 Under the

terms of her will she left her house (i.e. Markeaton Hall and ancillary buildings) and 16 acres

of pleasure grounds to the Borough Council

1 Derby Mercury 22/6/1905.

2 MI in Mackworth Church, another in Allestree; newspapers notices passim..

3 Probate Records England & Wales, 3/30M

15

‘For the purposes of an art gallery or museum or other municipal purpose of a

similar character or as a recreation centre for the inhabitants of Derby.’4

This was effected by a deed of gift enacted by W G Clarke-Maxwell as her executor under

terms of the probate granted 19th March 1930.5 The deed of gift also stipulated that the

beneficiary (the Council) was:

‘Not to demolish or alter the mansion house during the lifetime [of Mrs. Mundy’s

heir, W G Clark-Maxwell] without his consent and not to use the said house

during such period for any purpose other than an Art Gallery or Museum’

Subsequently, W G Clark-Maxwell sold 211 acres of parkland to the Council for £18,000.

Throughout her life Mrs. Mundy made the grounds of the hall available to the people of

Derby on certain fixed days, and was behind numerous other philanthropic acts, many of

which were anonymous at the time.

*

LISTED BUILDINGS DEMOLISHED IN DERBY SINCE 1972

Agard Street, turnkey’s houses, built c. 1811 of brick and stucco, perhaps designed by

Joseph and Thomas Cooper. Demolished 1972

The turnkeys’ houses, consisting of eight dwellings with paired entrances in antis, seen from

Agard Street in a photograph taken by the late Roy Hughes in 1971. [M. Craven]

4 Derby Mercury 20/12/1929

5 Derby Mercury 21/3/1930

16

Ashbourne Road, Railway Servants’ Orphanage (later St. Christopher’s) designed by

Edward Fryer and A. A. Langley, 1882-1887. Removed 1976-77 to make way for a ‘more

viable’ modern building, itself turned into a care home in 1983 which was closed and

demolished in 1993 to make way for – yes, you guessed it: students’ flats!

Ashbourne Road, Railway Servants’ Orphanage, Platinotype photograph done when new by

Richard Keene. [M. Craven]

Cockpit Hill, Bridgewater Warehouse, a delightful building put up (and dated) 1820 by the

Derby Canal Company to serve the canal basin at Cockpit Hill, probably by the same

architect as did the similar warehouses at Shardlow Canal Port, with cast iron thermal (or

Diocletian) windows by Weatherhead, Glover & Co., Britannia Foundry, Duke Street, Derby.

This stood in the way of the re-alignments required to make the gigantic traffic island now

called The Cockpitt which became necessary as one of the knock-on effects of the building of

St. Alkmund’s Way.

It was named in honour of Francis Egerton (1736-1803), the canal building 3rd Duke of

Bridgewater. The whole site was cleared in 1980 and fifteen years later covered with the

Cockpit Hill Car Park, a building of uncompromisingly titanic proportion, from which cars

can take literally hours to emerge at busy period due to its having been built in the middle of

a huge traffic island.

17

Cockpit Hill: the Derby Canal Bridgewater Warehouse of 1820 seen here in 1977, still with

its (slightly later) crane. The filled in cut is marked by the bare earth in the foreground. [MC]

Parkfields House, Duffield Road (later Queen Mary Maternity Hospital). See previous

issues. Attributed to William Smith .c 1824 and demolished 2003, despite being listed and in

a (new) conservation area to build Queen Mary Court.

*

DERBY ARENA TEN PIECES CONCERT

The BBC Symphony Orchestra, 19th

June 2015

by Jon Turner

A milestone in the new Derby Arena’s development occurred today with its first live

performance by an internationally renowned orchestra. Under the BBC’s Media Centre

auspices and Arts Council funding, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers, with others,

presented its ‘Ten Pieces’ programme of edited extracts from familiar classical works ranging

from Handel’s 1727 Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest to the late 20th century John

Adams’s catchy romp Short Ride in a Fast Machine. The project is a nationwide touring one

designed to introduce classical music to primary schoolchildren, in the run-up to its

forthcoming London Proms Season.

Today was Derbyshire’s turn. The only piece I was not familiar with was Connect It by the

classically trained contemporary composer Anna Meredith, who has previously collaborated

18

with the Sinfonia Orchestra on a similar outreach project. Its unique feature was that it

dispensed with the orchestra altogether and concentrated on rhythmic sounds produced by the

children themselves like clapping, or creating a hissing sound by rubbing their hands

together, performed collectively under guidance by one of the various presenters. The

general audience buzz and participation suggested a really good time was being had by

everyone. Also present were Mayor Councillor Paul Pegg and Mayoress, and various council

officials.

My particular interest was trying to assess the Arena’s suitability for large-scale musical

events. A central area had been isolated by dark curtaining and provided with audience

seating extending to include some east side permanent seats too, while the Orchestra was

situated on the equivalent but cleared west (City) raised side. At present, seating alterations

like this are time-consuming and expensive, which might significantly raise the cost of

performing concerts there. We few guests were seated in a balcony on the north side. My

fear that the cycle track would be intrusive proved unfounded, as it blends in well with its

surroundings. As set out, the created auditorium had a concert hall atmosphere rather than a

sports arena one. The orchestral sound was clear and powerful, as was the amplified sound

employed by the presenters. My occasional stroll round our spacious area reminded me of

doing so as an adolescent in the London Proms’ gallery in the 1950s, and I found that very

moving.

Altogether, the Arena’s acoustic quality is, I think, is perfectly adequate or good for all types

of musical performance. My only demur is detecting a low level of background noise,

possibly from the heating or ventilation system, which would be distracting and unacceptable

in a high quality music venue. That said, I am delighted Derby now has this facility for

musical performance which could provide a perfectly acceptable alternative to the top quality

and appropriately sizeable concert venue Derby will still need in the long run.

The Ten pieces Were:

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine Holst: Mars from The Planets Suite

Beethoven: Symphony No 5 (1st Movement) Anna Meredith: Connect It

Britten: Storm Interlude from Peter Grimes Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King

Handel: Coronation Anthem No. 1 Zadok the Priest from Peer Gynt

Mozart: Horn Concerto No 4 (3rd

Movt.) Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare

Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (Finale) Mountain

*

OBITUARY: VERY REVD. BEN LEWERS

Benjamin Hugh Lewers, who died this spring, was during his term of office in Derby a

member of this Society. He was born on 25 March 1932, son of Hugh Bunnett Lewers of

Ilfracombe and Coral Helen née Horton. He was educated at Sherborne and Selwyn,

Cambridge, before being ordained in 1962. During National Service, he was commissioned in

1951 into the Devon Regiment, serving to 1952. After a curacy at St Mary, Northampton, he

was priest in charge of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Hounslow, Middlesex.

He also got married in1957, his bride being Sara (Sally) Blagden, and they had three sons,

Michael, Timothy and Thomas. His career continued to flourish, for from 1968 to 1975 he

was an industrial chaplain at Heathrow Airport – a ‘sky pilot’ therefore in ther truest sense!

19

After a further incumbency at St. Mary Magdalene, Newark, he was appointed the 5th

Provost of Derby Cathedral in 1981. In 1987 he was appointed as Church Commissioner. He

retired in 1997 and went to live in Marshwood,

Dorset, where for many years he assisted at the local

church, St Mary the Virgin. Like your editor’s father,

Ben died on his birthday, in Ben’s case this year.

We laid his ashes to rest under the marble flooring by

the high altar in the Cathedral at an impressive service

early in November.

A photograph of Ben giving a lecture c. 1990.

*

A COUPLE OF MEMORIES OF BEN

Ben was very likeable and bonhomonous, but a single-minded reformer, who made waves in

profusion during his period as Provost at Derby, as post he was given with a specific brief

along those lines from that fanatical reformer, Bishop Cyril Bowles (who unfortunately

lacked Ben’s likeability).

I served the Cathedral as a sidesman between 1972 and 2001 as well as being appointed (by

Ben) Cathedral Archaeologist, reporting to the Cathedral Fabric Advisory Committee, and I

served in that capacity from 1982 to 1999, so I saw quite a lot of him one way or the other.

In 1981 he was, of course, being newly appointed, keen to cut a dash and let it be known that

he viewed change as essential and inevitable – he had an unassailable belief in the benefits of

modernisation of all kinds – and he set about it with a certain amount of verve, which

inevitably ruffled feathers all over the place. It certainly caused alarm and despondency in

our household holding, as Carole and I both do, highly traditional views, especially where the

use of the Book of Common Prayer and the Authorised Version of the Bible were concerned.

Yet the strange thing is we came to like Ben a great deal really. He married us in 1983 –

doing the music being one of Peter Gould’s first duties when he was appointed as organist -

and inevitably he managed to slip a couple of non-1662 elements into the traditional service

for which we had asked, which we knew he would! Nor was he at all keen to allow Carole to

Honour and Obey me.

With Sally he dined with us more than once. Indeed, the first time they came to supper,

along with some other friends, I had just bought a couple of bottles of vintage cognac (an

Exshaw 1929 and a Delamain 1932) found in a box of junk in a general sale at Innes Nichols’

auction rooms in Becket Street for a remarkable £11. Dinner over, Ben helped us destroy the

20

Exshaw at one sitting, and also enjoyed a half-decent Havana for, in those days, people still

invariably smoked after supper. I didn’t see who drove home! All in all he was a convivial

guest and when we dined with them at the much missed Provost’s House in Highfield Road,

he proved an equally convivial host. It was on one of those occasions that we managed to

persuade him to celebrate a Book of Common Prayer Eucharist at 10.45 on the first Sunday

in every month instead of wall-to-wall Rite A, a situation which pertained until 2001. It was

an enlightened compromise that kept a lot of us on board.

At that time I had also found myself appointed first lay chairman of the new Derby North

Deanery Synod, engineered by Ron Beddoes, Ben’s predecessor. With Ben’s encouragement,

backed up by Cyril Bowles, we found ourselves obliged to debate the possible abolition of

private patronage. As a completely disinterested chairman (naturally), I managed to get the

motion condemning it as élitist convincingly defeated. After all, we argued, a surprisingly

large number of Derbyshire churches have private patrons, most of whom put astonishingly

large amounts of money into their churches. Without them, the burden of upkeep would be

considerably heavier. I later pointed out to Ben that if the Cathedral had a private patron (the

Corporation, which did hold the impropriation, handed it over to the Bishop of Lichfield 150

years ago) his efforts in trying to raise money would be a whole lot easier. Ben said, ‘You’re

absolutely right, but of course, there is bound to be a more sensible way of achieving this.’ I

think the realisation had come that bashing the landed interest and the local C of E

millionaires was likely to be extremely counter-productive in the longer term. It still seems to

go on though, despite ever-dwindling resources.

Scene of meetings

and entertainment:

Provost’s House,

Highfield Road,

Derby (later the

Deanery) in 2006

but now regrettably

sold. [M. Craven]

In about 1992, I was contacted by a cousin of Sally’s who was doing family history research

and wanted help, and Ben had put him on to me. Everyone knew that Sally’s family, the

Blagdens, had produced a number of distinguished Bishops, but what emerged was even

more interesting. After a certain amount of research it transpired that Sally’s cousin once

removed, Helena, had married Charles Crompton, son of George Crompton, founder of the

electrical engineering firm Crompton Parkinson, who built the hall at Stanton-by-Dale.

George was the uncle of Dame Millicent Inglefield of Windley Hall, and was descended from

a long line of dissenting Derby Mayors, bankers and landowners. It was the Cromptons who

had bankrolled the cotton boom on the Derwent and the silk boom that preceded it. Not only

that, but the connection made Ben a cousin by marriage of Sir Adrian Boult and those

Whiggish Mancunian reformers, the Potters, and particularly of Beatrix and Mrs. Gaskell.

21

Needless to say, the Cromptons and Potters were the ultimate venture capitalists and amongst

the super-rich of the Industrial Revolution, for all their lauded social consciences.

A final memory supervenes. As Cathedral Archaeologist, I was obliged to attend Bridge

Chapel Trustee and Cathedral Fabric Advisory Committee meetings. Our English Heritage

representative was the late and much missed Revd. Henry Thorold (1921-2000), the last of

England’s squarsons, resident of Marston Hall in Lincolnshire, patron of several livings, a

staunch adherent of the Prayer Book and author of four Midlands Shell Guides. He had long

been a great friend of John Betjeman and on intimate terms with several of the great names of

mid-20th century art, including John Piper, Gwen John, Rex Whistler and the Raviliouses. He

stood for everything that Ben thought should be changed, yet Ben was somewhat in awe of

him and never directly challenged his opinions. After hearing what Henry had to say, he

would always reply (as he did to the rest of us), ‘Yes, that’s absolutely right, but…’ and then

go on to put his own view along with which everyone else somehow went. For his part,

Henry knew Ben well and was always wonderfully emollient on those occasions that they did

find themselves backing different horses.

At one meeting, the acquisition of the new (now former) sound system was under discussion,

and someone asked about suppliers, tenders and likely costs. Ben unblushingly informed us

that as one of his sons held an important position in a leading firm that could supply and

install such a system and could obtain a favourable discount, he could see absolutely no

reason why the matter could not go ahead on that basis. There followed a stunned silence,

broken after a few pregnant seconds by Henry’s stentorian voice saying “Oh, but I do so

approve of nepotism!’ Without a break, Ben continued, ‘Well, that’s settled then’, and moved

on to the next item.

They don’t make chairmen like that anymore!

MC

*

DEATH OF THE (DERBY) RAM

The Ram in was one of three pubs which stood on the junction between Bridge Street and

Brook Street, and was latterly No. 82 (previously 72, and before that 59) Bridge Street. It was

built between 1818 and 1827 almost certainly as a pub to lubricate the throats of those toiling

in Bridgett’s Mill over the road (now converted to housing). The other pubs are the Woodlark

and the Maypole.

It was undoubtedly named after the celebrated (and prodigious) Derby Ram, celebrated in a

ballad first published in the 1730s and was in the hands of Stretton’s (previously Alton’s,

later Ind Coope) brewery by 1937 and was brewing on the premises until at least 1940 in a

brewhouse shared with the adjacent Woodlark. It was the scene of one of the 18 sheep roasts

held in 1856 to celebrate the peace treaty with Russia and it was to let as an ‘old established’

house in 1863. By 1994 it was in the hands of the Pubmaster chain but had been closed for

some years when proposed for demolition in August 2015.

It is a good two-an-a-half storey brick building, with four over four pane sash windows which

was added to the local list on 8th October 2007. Its demolition was first proposed by Karam

22

Properties Ltd of 129 Blenheim Drive Derby, to make way for the erection of five storey

building - nine apartments and cafe/public house at ground floor level. As this corner is

almost entirely composed of original buildings – two pubs and a mill with the restrained and

appropriate new build on the SE corner put up when the Rykneild (formerly Bridgett’s) Mill

was converted to apartments – the Conservation Areas Advisor Committee considered that its

demolition would do nothing for the well-preserved historic ambience of the area, especially

as the ground floor use was proposed to be a pub in any case.

Bridge Street, the former Ram Inn, with its Brewhouse nearest the camera, long adapted as

an extra bar, seen in 2007.

The Committee’s view was that the building should at all costs be retained and that any new

build could go behind it, or that the old pub should be incorporated into any new build. What

the planning committee will decide, however, cannot be predicted, but – as they say- watch

this space.

*

TWENTY YEARS IN TWELVE PLACES:

New Research Reveals that Heritage Makes Us Happier

New research by Britain Thinks (!) puts heritage at the heart of improving quality of life

across the UK over past 20 years.

To coincide with 20 years of investment into the UK’s heritage amounting to over £6 billion,

the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) commissioned Britain Thinks to conduct in-depth research

in 12 towns and cities representative of the UK population. The aim was to better understand

the public’s view of that National Lottery investment and to see to what extent it had made

places better to live and work in or visit.

Key findings include:

23

• 80 per cent of people think local heritage makes their area a better place to live

• 64 per cent think heritage has improved in recent years in terms of how well it is looked

after and what it has to offer

• 50 per cent answered 7 or more out of 10 when asked to rate the impact local heritage

sites have on their personal quality of life

• Strong support for heritage investment with 76 per cent of regular lottery players rating

the HLF projects in their area a good or excellent use of Lottery funding

• Heritage plays a powerful role in bringing people together and helping to improve

perceptions of quality of life

• Benefits of heritage seen as both transactional and emotional, encouraging local pride and

fostering social cohesion

Loyd Grossman FSA, Chairman of Heritage Alliance, said,

‘This report powerfully highlights the many benefits of heritage from personal and

family happiness through to economic growth and community cohesion. It also

demonstrates a great deal of public support and appreciation for HLF funding and

emphasizes that it is not just the biggest projects that create the most good. The most

successful projects are the ones that clearly meet local needs and aspirations. The

message that I receive most strongly is that we need to continue to explain how

heritage enhances all our lives and the vital contribution it makes to our local and

national well-being.’

Well I never!

Abstracted from your editor’s trade paper, Salon, the newsletter of the Society of Antiquaries.

*

REVIEWS:

A NEW BOOK ABOUT DARLEY ABBEY

Thorsten Sjölin, 150 Years in Darley Abbey as Mirrored in the Local Press (c.1775-

1930), published by the Darley Abbey Historical Group 2015. Card covers, A5 46 pp., 12 b

& w illustrations, £3.50 from local outlets, from the Darley Abbey Group or from the author,

(61, South Avenue, Darley Abbey, Derby DE22 1FB, tel. 01332 558319), or e-mail on

thorsten.sjolin@btinternet..com

Thorsten Sjölin will be well known to members of the Civic Society Council as he sat on it as

the first representative of the Darley Abbey Society for some years. His knowledge and wise

counsels are thus well appreciated. The book itself is the result of an appeal to members of

the Darley Abbey Historical Group by their chairman, Roy Hartle, for someone to trawl the

local papers for information relating to the village, a task that Thorsten duly took on. The

work we have today is the result.

Darley Abbey had not had a history written since the 1970s, and what Thorsten as unearthed

may be considered to put a little human interest onto the bare bones of its predecessor.

Furthermore, whilst previous writers have tended to concentrate upon either the Hall or the

mills (myself amongst them) the other aspects of the village have tended to be passed by.

Here the author tackles the dominant local family and their affairs, naturally, but also looks at

other village dwellers, crime, industry, the river, education and sport, with a modest number

of illustrations drawn from the archive of the Group..

24

What we have is a work absolutely

packed with interest, some eclectic,

some rather more mainstream and all

just fascinating. Should any brave

soul wish to take on writing a full

new account of the village – probably

a task now due to be tackled with so

much more information in the public

domain – this book contains the

groundwork that will fill in many

gaps and endow any more ambitious

work with a good slice of first hand

social history that all such work

badly needs to set the raw data in

context.

The Institute, Darley Abbey, adapted

from a Regency house in the village.

[Erica Perry]

I might add that Thorsten has also co-written a 292 page hard bound monograph on the

American businessman and philanthropist Robert Somers Brookings (1850-1932). It has no

connection with Derby, but is an excellent, well written work, about an important man in

terms of 20th century US history and should anyone wish to avail themselves of a copy,

again, contact Thorsten.

*

DERBY SCHOOL

Polkey, Andrew, A History of Derby School Cadet Corps (Caliverbooks.com, 2015) A4,

glossy card bound, 122 pp., 34 b & w illustrations, 14 appendices, tables, etc.

I can recall that, when I left prep school and made the transition to the school where I stayed

until I went on to higher education, I was obliged to join what was euphemistically called the

Combined Cadet Force (CCF). This was obligatory unless one’s parents expressed a contrary

view in writing to the Headmaster. Fat chance of that, as Papa had served in the War, was

still a reservist and thought the whole thing admirable!

In reality we were all attached to the Somerset & Cornwall Light Infantry (SCLI) - there was

nothing combined about it. For example, at 13 I was fanatically keen of the RAF, having had

a very heroic uncle who was killed in action in WW2, but there was no possibility of

becoming an RAF or a naval cadet, although quite a number of my fellow pupils were the

sons of serving Naval Officers and expected to go on to BRNC Dartmouth at 18. The fact that

the CO was Maj. Keith (‘Boris’) Wilson, ex KRRC and that his two deputies were Lt. Cdr.

M. Jacquet (Latin master) and the chemistry master who was a reservist Flt/Lt RAF was, as

far as I could see, the only justification for calling our unit a CCF.

We paraded every Monday afternoon, had two field days per term on the Blackdowns and

annual camp was on Exmoor, something which gave me a love of that area which I have

25

never lost. I came out at 18 as

Band Bugle Major, a platoon

commander and with Certs A & B.

under my well-blanco-ed belt.

Not so for Derby School, which

had an honest-to-God Officer

Training Corps (OTC) which had a

long a distinguished history. Derby

School initiated a Volunteer

(Rifle) Corps in 1862, two years

after the first public schools had

done so. Such bodies were enabled

by Government sponsored reforms

aimed at helping Britain meet any

French threat which might arise. It

had a period of dormancy between

1868 and 1889, though, when it

revived, to become an OTC in

1910. It continued to flourish until

killed off in 1973 by the dead hand

of comprehensivisation of the

school the year before.

The story is an important one, and

well worth Mr. Polkey gathering

together all the relevant facts,

which he presents in a thoroughly readable style, rightly consigning the crunching of statistics

and lists of names to the numerous appendices.

Not only are readers likely to have had relations who served in the Corps, but some may have

paid the supreme penalty for service to their country by being killed in action. Andrew

Polkey provides full lists of those who served and of the casualties of both wars, thus

performing a valuable service – after all one can hardly have the engraved slate plaques on

Sir Reginald Blomfield’s war memorial to hand when doing family history research.

Unfortunately, as with Thorsten’s book, I have no indication of cost.

*

JOHN WHITEHURST

Craven, M., John Whitehurst: Innovator, Scientist, Geologist and Clockmaker (Fonthill

Media, 2015) 288 pp., illustrated in b & w with 32 in colour (sponsored by Bamfords Ltd.)

including 6 appendices and two pedigrees. £40 from local outlets.

Your editor makes no apologies for including a notice (rather than a review) of this book, as

it was only finally published on Midwinter’s day, just as the Newsletter was due to be sent for

publication, leaving no time for someone to read it and write a criticism. Perhaps some brave

soul might in the spring!

26

This book is a largely re-written and greatly expanded version of the one on the same subject

which was published by John Robey at Mayfield Books in 1996, inspired by the bicentenary

of the great man’s death in 1988, which we at the Museum attempted to mark as

appropriately as we could.

A great deal of the clockmaking relating

to his successors, John Whitehurst II & III

and those who tried to keep the flame

alive after the latter’s death in 1855 has

been considerably compressed, partly to

make room for the enormous amount of

new information that has surfaced about

Whitehurst himself since 1996 and partly

because a detailed account of the post

1788 clockmaking was given in Hughes,

R. G. & Craven, M, Derbyshire Watch

and Clockmakers (Mayfield Books 1998),

although any new research relating to that

period has been included in the new book.

What the new life does is greatly to

increase the quantity of material relating

to Whitehurst as a figure of the

Enlightenment, both local, nationally and

internationally. Enlightenment studies

have come into their own with a

vengeance since 1996, with university

courses devoted to it and numerous new

books about the Lunar Society, of which

Whitehurst was a co-founder. Apart from

Uglow’s scissors-and-paste book about the Lunaticks generally (The Lunar Men, the text of

which establishes that she seemed not to have read the 1996 book), we have had my friend

Desmond King-Hele’s magnum opus on Darwin re-issued, like the Whitehurst book, in

completely re-written and expanded form, a volume of his letters, and several slim volumes

which collect his non didactic poetry together. Volumes on Boulton, Franklin and several of

the others have come, thick and fast, quite apart from new primary sources and new insights

on the ones with which we were already familiar.

It has been possible to say much more about the international connections, the freemasonic

connections and the geology and its primacy, with it having now been established that Scots

geologist James Hutton had travelled to the Midlands and talked to Whitehurst, before

publishing his Theory of the Earth which built on Whitehurst’s Inquiry. Nor are a flood of

new local aspects of his life in and around Derby neglected, although unfortunately Jonathan

Powers’s theory about John Arden being the lecturer in the Orrery came far too late to be

taken on board.

It is also a tribute to all those locally and further afield who have helped me so much with

both volumes and the people who allowed me to use photographs, not to mention James

Lewis of Bamfords who generously sponsored the colour illustrations and Nick Smith and

Smith of Derby Ltd. for agreeing to take a generous number of copies, sight unseen.

*

27

A NEW CHURCH SECONDARY SCHOOL FOR DERBY

by Carole Craven

More than fifty people attended a truly fascinating public meeting called for 8th December

2015 in the Cathedral. This concerned the exciting proposal for a new 11-19 age group school

in Derby sponsored by the Church of England.

The proceedings were opened by Canon Elizabeth Thompson of the Cathedral, backed by the

Diocesan Board of Education Team, and their Director David Channon was able to provide

details of the ethos and curriculum of this proposed new establishment, which it is proposed

should have music and Mathematics specialisms.

The new Church of

England secondary school

then will be based ‘near the

Cathedral’ although the

Dean was not prepared to

be precise and say where,

negotiations apparently

being in a continuing state.

Let us hope that there will

be enough space for such

things as outdoor sports

activities!

The new foundation is to be

a ‘church school’ rather

than a ‘faith school’ and if

you have difficulty in

sorting out the semantics

and fine distinctions here, you only need to know that it will admit pupils from different

religions and backgrounds (and of course, non-believers), not just Anglicans.

Nor is the new school to be selective, but will nurture all children’ special educational needs

(my own long-standing specialism) which will require provision and which will be carefully

thought out. The curriculum is to be broad and wide-ranging as in other schools nationally. It

will have very up-to-date IT facilities to complement its maths and music specialisms.

Obviously there is to be a general Christian ethos to the school, but plans are being made to

put in place opt-outs for those pupils not wishing to be present at specifically Christian

elements of the school day. Nevertheless, there will be a school chaplain based in the

building and the manner in which staff prepare and deliver their lessons will contribute to the

Church of England ethos of the institution.

From a personal point of view I wish this bold venture every success. It’s the sort of thing

that early-retired specialists like me would relish getting involved in: there is untapped

potential out here! The Cathedral staff – the Director of Music, Hugh Morris, especially – are

apparently looking forward to this new challenge. The school is scheduled to open in

September 2017 when the first year 7 cohort of around 20 pupils will be starting. The

28

numbers will thereafter rise to around a full complement of 840, once the succeeding year

groups have started.

*

DERBY’S FORGOTTEN BUILDINGS:

No. 36, Former County Offices, Whitehurst’s Yard, Iron Gate.

Off to the West, under an arch at the top of Iron Gate, is a yard which leads down to the

former County Offices, until recently the HQ of Derby’s excellent Local Studies Library.

Whitehurst’s Yard, former County Council Offices, E. (entrance) front 2011. [M. Craven]

According to a whole shed-load of old deeds, this neglected thoroughfare was known from

the mid-18th century as Whitehurst’s Yard, although there is no longer a street sign on the

wall anywhere to that effect. The building immediately behind No. 22 Iron Gate, was the

great man’s workshop (listed on application by this Society in 2006); in front of it is the

house where his nephew and heir lived from 1788 until his death in 1834. On the opposite

side is the rear of the house that the elder John Whitehurst lived.

Whitehurst’s Yard now leads to the former County Council offices of 1926-30, designed by

then County Architect George Henry Widdows: tall, 3 storeys, with hipped sprocketed roof,

grid-like extended mullions and transoms to the three bays of eight-light widows which flank

the tripartite frontispiece, itself topped with a stone entablature, frieze and cornice all

supported on strips of un-windowed wall doubling for pilasters - a very subtle and impressive

design. The entrance consists of five concentric brick arches enclosing a Georgian-style

fanlight over oak double doors protected by well-designed contemporary iron gates with an

upper register of intersecting arcs – they lack the sheer inventiveness of the metalwork

designed for the Borough Council by C. H. Aslin, but they are still distinctive and attractive.

The interior is largely utilitarian but well detailed where detail was possible.

29

On the S. side (left as you look at the front) a wing extends southwards alongside George

Yard, detailed in matching style and extended to end in a tall, square, powerful looking tower

of five storeys, its trios of windows divided by brick strips and surrounded by a full height

frame of moulded brick, all topped by a fractionally narrower parapet. This distinctive feature

effectively links the building to the rear part of its Edwardian predecessor, the former County

Offices on St. Mary’s Gate, designed by John Somes Story in 1898 and extended by G C.

Copestick in 1910.

Former County Council Offices, SW angle and tower, seen from Sadler Gate Bridge in

March 2013, before the new buildings began to obstruct the view again. [M. Craven]

Widdows, whose illustrious career was summed up in Newsletter No. 100, p.35, had for some

time been architect to the County’s Education Department and had designed some top quality

and in some cases innovative schools whilst not departing from an architectural formula

which embraced the vernacular and Classical past without losing its contemporary feel. In the

case of these new County Offices, the general feel is, it must be admitted, rather educational

in its massive presence and extensive windows, nor did he stint on detail, despite the fact that

when built only the entrance front could really be seen. Once the buildings between Sadler

Gate Bridge, St. Mary’s Gate and George Yard had been demolished in 2012 this fact could

be better seen and appreciated. Now, of course, new buildings (of dubious distinction) on

Sadler Gate Bridge have again hidden the building’s SW angle. Nil desperandum! I took a

photograph in late March 2013.

In 1953, however, the baleful influence of Alderman White of the County Council showed

itself in a long agitated for move to Matlock, and the offices were gradually wound down, to

be taken over by the Derby Borough Council’s Education Department until 1974, when this

again reverted to the County Council. They required less room, and the Derby Local Studies

Library was allowed to occupy the ground floor on the east side, moving in 1978. On Derby

City Council’s regaining its unitary status in 1996, this situation continued until 2014.

Completion of the rebuilding of the Council House in 2013 enabled many more council staff

to occupy that building and that, coupled with increasing reductions in the size of the

30

establishment as a whole meant that the building was finally vacated in early 2014 and it has

been empty ever since.

This Society currently has an outstanding application to list the building in to Historic

England. Although the building is attached physically to the listed County Offices in St.

Mary’s Gate and is therefore technically listed as curtilage in any case, it was felt that it

qualified as a completely separate building and needed to be added to the list in its own right.

Whitehurst’s Yard, one leaf of the

gates of the former County Council

Offices. Whitehurst’s Yard in left

background. [M. Craven]

The application was made in 2014

(and remains pending) because at that

time, in conversation with a local

estate agent who was selling 35 St.

Mary’s Gate, and with Ashley

Waterhouse, I reached the conclusion

that the City Council would be likely

to sell the entire site for

redevelopment. This would, we felt,

inevitably lead to the destruction of a

really good (if rarely seen) building,

by an architect whose schools in the

County are widely listed. Following

on from that, there was also the

problem that, having cleared the site,

the planning committee would allow something truly horrible ad Trent Pad-like to be built in

its place.

As no application has yet surfaced, I am beginning to think that Widdows’s building had a

rosier future than one might expect. This was re-inforced when Carole and I went to the

Dean’s inaugural meeting to lay out his plans for a new Church of England Secondary School

to be sponsored by the Cathedral with emphasis on Music and Maths (well, the two have

historically often gone together).

At the event, nearly all our questions were answered, except the one on almost everyone’s

lips: what ‘site not very far from the Cathedral’ was he talking about? The reticence was due

to negotiations continuing at that time, but we immediately realised that Widdows’s County

Council HQ was almost certainly choice No. 1. Not only is the building 150 yards from the

cathedral, but is spacious, suitably laid out, reasonably modern and in good repair. There is

some car parking on two sides, but more could be made by judicious dropping of parts of the

building not wholly integral with the whole.

I can imagine that, if the scheme goes ahead using this building, then access might be a

problem, bearing in mind that Whitehurst’s Yard is off a pedestrianised street and that the St.

Mary’s Gate entrance might not be deemed adequate. One could, however, use part of

George Yard and run a road down past Sadler Gate Bridge where there is still some unused

land, to provide an access off Bold Lane. An archaeological assessment of the site by George

Yard might be interesting, too, as my long held-belief that a long redundant church lies under

31

there somewhere needs proving or disproving. I was right about the Town Ditch, revealed by

excavation five years ago. It would be a delight to be right again: think of the smugness in

which I could wallow!

The building from George Yard, August 2015. [M. Craven]

*

NORTH AVENUE, DARLEY ABBEY

Yet another Planning Application

Having only just rejected a planning application for a development of 49 dwellings on the

land to the North of North Avenue, the City Council Planning committee is being asked to

consider yet another proposal. The new proposal is not significantly different to the last one.

The main difference is that the proposed access is to connect to the east end of North Avenue

rather than the west. This was one of the aspects of the previous plan that was criticised by

planning officials.

The developers claim a number of significant differences including:

Repositioning of the proposed point of access;

Introduction of a broader mix of housing and provision of open space;

Introduction of a discontinuous and low density edge to the eastern and northern perimeters of the site in response to concerns about the impact on the World

Heritage Site;

Creation of a street pattern that more closely reflects that of North and South Avenue.

Many Darley Abbey Residents have expressed their dismay that another application is being

submitted so soon. Nevertheless, residents are being advised by the Darley Abbey Society not

to be complacent and to lodge their objections with the Council as soon as possible.

The Society is concerned that this application could be used as a stalking horse, meaning that

on the assumption that this application will be rejected by the committee, the applicants will

32

then appeal. The Society was so concerned about the last application that a fighting fund of

£1,800 was raised to commission a Heritage Impact Report which actually cost £2,243.

However, the report will only require some modest modifications to be used for this

application.

*

WEST MILL DARLEY ABBEY

Building transformed into a wedding venue

Darley Abbey’s Historic West Mill has now been fully repaired and refurbished to provide a

spacious wedding venue spread across all four floors capable of accommodating up to 170

guests. New lifts and stairs have been installed and a landscaped garden created along the

riverbank. The work is of a high standard and seeks to preserve as much of the original fabric

and features of this former cotton spinning mill.

West Mill, space and light galore.

The Ground Floor provides the entrance lobby and relaxation area. The top floor is furnished

for Ceremonies, the Second Floor for wedding breakfasts and the first floor for receptions

and entertainment.

Left: View down to the

river

With this development

and the refurbishment of

the Middle Mill as office

space, this constitutes a

major step forward in

saving these important

industrial buildings in our

33

World Heritage Site.

For further details see website: thewestmillvenue.com; tel: 07870 598 827; e-mail

events@thewestmillvenue.com

A steamship company share certificate issued to Walter Evans of Darley Hall 2nd March

1874. [M. Craven]

*

RE-BRANDING YOUR NEWSLETTER

When we went over to colour, I ventured to suggest that we gave our Newsletter a name,

preferably apt and memorable. So far, only three suggestions:

Robin Wood: The Peregrine

[The peregrine falcons are now a part of Derby life, observing the goings-on of the city

centre. There

is also the Chatsworth connection].

Carole Craven: Civitas

[Latin for ‘(The) City’]

Max Craven: Buck-in-the-Park

[The City’s 15th century badge, still used on our coat-of-arms].

I really think we need a good few more, or else it won’t be much of a competition. Reember,

there is a bottle of champagne for the lucky winner, and you would want accusations of

nepotism or favouritism flying around!

MC

*

34

This photograph taken by the late Frank Scarratt recently came my way: the wreckage of a

Hawker Hurricane 1 fighter which crashed and caught fire on the embankment of the railway

line outside Peartree & Normanton Station, 24th July 1940, killing PO A M Cooper-Key,

who was trying to avoid children playing on Normanton Park after he suffered engine failure.

[Bamfords Ltd.]

*

DERBY’S LISTED GRADE II BUILDINGS, NO. 34

THE GREYHOUND INN

by Maxwell Craven

The so-called upper part of Friar Gate widens out like a funnel as far as Bridge Street, and

again to the junction with Uttoxeter Old Road. From Medieval times until the new Cattle

Market was built in 1861 this was Derby’s beast market, hence the need for so much space.

Markets were held every week, and farmers are thirsty men. For which reasons a considerable

number of small inns sprang up around the area: the Wheel (now The Mile), the Bay Horse

(Uttoxeter Old Road opposite the Wheel), the White Lion (Ashbourne Road, opposite the

Wheel), The Brick & Tile, Brick Street, the Greyhound and a plethora of long-vanished pubs

nearer the town, including the celebrated medieval White Horse. The Greyhound was thus

called into existence as a market pub, and the whilom activities of the market are still recalled

by the bull-tethering ring let into a paving slab almost outside the front door of the

Greyhound to this day.

35

The Greyhound today is a two storey brick building of two three bay elements separated by a

central access to the rear, the whole clearly reading as two distinct cottages, that to the west

being set slightly lower than the eastern one, which was the original inn, the change in level

being emphasised by the dropped string course just below the first floor sills. Each cottage

had a central entrance flanked originally by windows with slightly cambered gauged brick

lintels, of which a single example survives at the west end, the remaining ones all having

been altered. Above them are plainer rectangular openings with a blind panel over each door

with a brick apron below it, making the façade surprisingly formal and architectonic.

Behind the original pub is what

appears to be a service building,

somewhat resembling a coach

house, but with a confusing

early 19th

century brick façade,

much patched and altered, and

with largely 20th

century

brickwork on the ground floor.

The plans of both elements of

the building betray much

random alteration, but seem to

show that the pair of small

cottages were probably

asymmetrical behind the façade.

This fact, and the nature of the

dormer windows suggest that

the façade was added to a pair

of pre-existing small houses.

Fortunately, it is possible to

suggest when this happened and

the person responsible for it.

Bull tethering ring let into the pavement outside the Greyhound.

The first mention of the Greyhound occurs in a report in the Derby Mercury for 19th February

1774, in which the landlord, Joshua Simmonds, advertised a sale of stocking frames on the

premises. The likelihood is that Mr. Simmonds was making frames as a sideline, for the

running of a modest tavern did not really make a landlord a decent living, and until the

beginning of the 20th

century, most had a second calling, opening their pubs in the evenings

only in many cases. Later on in the history of the Greyhound, we find Joseph Pearson, a long-

serving landlord (1870s and 1880s), advertising himself as a ‘chimney sweeper’.

Unfortunately, no reference has been found to anything prior to Joshua Simmonds’s tenure to

establish that the pub had a longer existence. One clue may lie in the name. A majority of

36

inn-signs in those days reflected heraldic devices, either a full coat-of-arms or an element of

one, invariably tying the inn to a person of importance.

In the case of the Greyhound, this animal could represent the ancient and bucolic sport of

hare coursing, but in an urban setting as here, is more likely to be heraldic. In this case the

most likely family to have been commemorated in the inn’s name is that of the Blackwalls of

Blackwall Hall, Kirk Ireton.

The Blackwalls had a long and distinguished ancestry, at

first in the Peak, then at Blackwall Hall. Kirk Ireton. In

this context we find John Blackwall of Blackwall (1715-

1802), who was not only squire at Blackwall, but a burgess

of Derby. It was also he who obtained a confirmation of

the coat-of-arms with its prominent black greyhound with

a gold collar on a silver background.

The Blackwall arms: Agent a greyhound courant sable

collared or on a chief indented of the second three bezants.

From the Visitation of Derbyshire, 1569.

It is likely that he had inherited from his father some land

on the south side of Friar Gate. John’s sister Elizabeth

married Alderman Thomas Eaton (1715-1793) of Bridge

Chapel House, who was Mayor of Derby in 1771 and a

prominent hosier, for whom numerous outworkers with

stocking frames worked. The significance of the inn-sign

of the Greyhound and the familial connection with one of

the leaders of the Derby hosiery trade inclines one to speculate that Joshua Simmonds’s side-

line in making stocking frames may have been directly linked to his presence as landlord of a

pub bearing the chief device from the Blackwall arms. Another element is that Alderman

Eaton’s grand-daughter Mary married Benjamin Hewitt, one of three landlords of this name

of the Wheel, not much further up Friar Gate from the Greyhound. Both Hewitt and

Simmonds appear to have been freeholders, and it is likely that it was from the Blackwalls

(via bequests, without much doubt) that their holdings at these inns came.

Amazingly Joshua Simmonds was only 19 when landlord of the Greyhound in 1774, so it

looks as if he had just finished a five-year apprenticeship, and he had probably then only just

taken the inn on. His mother’s father, James Bacon was a maltster and also a burgess, which

could be what drew him into the licensed trade, and he probably began as a tenant, perhaps of

John Blackwall or Alderman Eaton.

At some stage, it seems likely that Simmonds ac-quired the free-hold of the pub, for it

certainly seems to have belonged to his heirs. Joshua married a dec-ade later on 13th

March

1784, his bride being Eliz-abeth, daughter of Joseph Tomlinson of Duffield, a builder and an

ancestor of the contracting dynasty which began in the next generation; she was a year

younger than her husband at 28. They had children, Mary born in December 1784, William

born exactly a year later and a third Joshua, baptized posthumously at St. Werburgh – the

parish in which the Greyhound then lay – 15th

March 1787, Joshua himself having died at the

end of February. The usual practice in such a situation was for the widow to continue the

business to keep an income and seek a suitable second husband. Thus it is reasonable to

suppose that Elizabeth remained landlady of the inn for the time being. However, she soon

37

found a suitable husband in one John Welch (1759-1823), three years her junior and a

prosperous builder.

The Greyhound,

Friar Gate, seen

in 2012.

.

Welch played an

important part in

the saga. The

couple married at

St Werburgh on

9th August 1789

and went on to

have three

children: Joseph

(b.1793), Henry

(b.1797 and later

his father’s

successor as

‘builder & surveyor’ as well as a brick maker), Elizabeth (b. 1790) and Charlotte (b.1796).

Welch built the shot tower on the Morledge for William Cox in 1809, and designed and built

the goals at Ashbourne and Wirksworth. The crowning glory of Welch’s career (as far as we

know it) was his design for the Judges’ Lodgings in St. Mary’s Gate (1809-11), a very

accomplished large residence of three storeys forming the eastern edge of the courtyard in

which the Shire Hall lay (now the Magistrates’ Courts).

Welch was a canny soul, however, and it seems likely that he decided to improve the

potential of the property, which by this time seems to have included the cottage adjoining to

the west, later 75 Friar Gate. He seems to have designed and built the delightfully

proportioned brick façade to pull the two properties together. Behind, he did what small

proprietors all over the Borough were doing to cope with the rapidly burgeoning population

of the town, and built a court of eight unbelievably mean brick cottages – thenceforth called

Court No. 1, Friar Gate or Greyhound Yard.

Welch went on to have something of a track record for such things, building two groups of

ten cottages each around 1821 on Siddals Road called Welch Terrace and Ordish Square;

they looked very stylish, with the facades much in similar style to that of the Greyhound

(albeit on a bigger scale) but were mean within.

It is difficult to know who the Welch’s first tenant was, but by February 1808, when he

married Newton Solney-born Anne Hazard at St. Werburgh’s church, it was William

Gothard, then 24 and the son of another William, born in the parish in 1784; both were

joiners. Probably they took the pub when they married. If so the idyll was short-lived for poor

William died soon after his marriage, five days before his father 20th

September 1808. A

posthumous son, William was born in January the following year; history seemed to be

repeating itself! Anne soldiered on leaving after 1821 and before 1824 when the landlord was

38

Edmund Smith. In 1809 the building was assessed by the Improvement Commission for tax

on £11 per annum.

Indeed, it is difficult to know who any freeholder was until 1872, when James Heath of

Moscow Farm, Duffield (who was about to get married to Eliza White of Duffield) bought it

from William Ault, then the landlord. How it had descended to him from the Welch family

remains obscure; it could have been sold several times in the interim. Heath died in January

1882, leaving it to his widow, who in her turn died in March 1901 leaving it in trust for her

under-age nephew Joseph Wright Yates, son of Hamlet Yates and Eliza Heath’s sister Mary.

In the event he inherited when he became 25 on 29th

April 1911, whereupon he promptly sold

the pub to tenant, R. A. Tinkler who, once the Great War was over, set about making

improvements, applying for Building Bye-law consent to install loos.

Number 75, Friar Gate, the cottage re-fronted by Welch en suite with the Greyhound seems

to have become a joiner’s cottage and workshop, but it was assimilated into the Greyhound to

provide more accommodation, something which had certainly been accomplished by 1952.

Greyhound, Friar Gate: 1883 OS 10 ft. : 1 mile

map showing Court No. 1.

[Derby Local Studies Library]

The Court was almost certainly built when

John Welch re-fronted the inn and adjoining

cottage, probably in the years immediately

following 1789 when he married Elizabeth

Simmonds. There were eight cottages, five

behind No. 75 (4-8) and three (1-3) behind the

Greyhound as is confirmed by the 1883 10 ft: 1

mile map and censuses. No. 1 had become part

of the living accommodation of the pub by

1895, and No. 2 was also included from 1900

when R. A. Tinkler took over. This situation

may have continued until 1934 when No. 1

was replaced by the new kitchen and sitting

room of the pub and nos. 2-3 became wash-

house and store. But in 1919 when Tinkler

wanted to install new loos, he was still

occupying them as living quarters. By 1934, Nos. 4-8 behind the shop had been demolished.

The Greyhound appears to have remained a true public house throughout the 19th century,

despite the passing of the 1830 Beerhouses Act which enabled some to sell only beer; it is not

listed under ‘beerhouses’ in any directory. Probably the thriving market trade to 1861 made it

worthwhile for the landlord to pay the higher excise fee. After 1861, however, trade must

have become much more difficult, and many nearby houses closed in the decade or two

following. Nevertheless, later on, R. A. Tinkler managed to acquire a long lease, followed by

the freehold in 1911. Tinkler stayed until 1924 when he was succeeded as landlord by

Richard Tattershaw, who had previously run the Globe, Sacheverel Street. He was installed

by Offiler’s which brewery bought the pub from Tinkler on 8th

November that year

Offiler’s modernized the pub, using their regular architects, Browning & Hayes of Derby,

who put in for consent to thoroughly modernize the facilities in 1934. Meanwhile, the

39

adjoining shop was still separate (as a confectioner’s still under Charles Mason) but seems to

have been owned by Offiler’s as well, for the modernization extended to the removal of the

shop’s original staircase and its replacement. By this time, too, the five cottages behind the

shop had been demolished, leaving a garden or yard. By a splendid irony, Offiler’s second

landlord was Alfred, son of the R. A. Tinkler who had run the pub for 24 years at the

beginning of the century, only this time he was but a tenant of a tied house.

Offilers incorporated the shop into the pub c. 1950 and Bass Charrington took over in 1965

and in 1978 alterations were made which ‘almost doubled the drinking space’. In 2000 or a

fraction afterwards, the pub was sold to Enterprise Inns. They eventually closed it and after a

few years dereliction Trevor Harris bought it and in 2009 did s splendid job refurbishing it to

a high standard.

*

A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF DERBYSHIRE ARCHITECTS

PART II: Non-Derbyshire architects known to have worked in the county (continued)

E

EASTHAM, J 1910

?London

1910 Derby, Babington Lane, Midland Electric Theatre, opened 27 July 1910

[Goode]

ELLISON, Lt., Col. Christopher Obie, FRIBA 1832-1904

Liverpool

Ellison was articled to W H and J M Hay in Liverpool, and began work on his own account in

1855. In 1884 he was first president of the Society of Architects. Like Derby’s John Wills, he

specialised in work for the Wesleyans, designing a notable college for them at Handsworth,

Birmingham in 1882. He was an important architect in and around Liverpool, and responsible

for a number of impressive public buildings in the City, including Liverpool Eye & Ear

Infirmary (1879, Queen Anne revival), the monumental Sailors’ Home (Jacobethan) and the

Greek revival School of Art (1881). He retired in 1901 being succeeded by his son, W.

Stanley Ellison. His colonelcy was in the Volunteers.

1882 Matlock Bridge, Wesleyan Chapel, but intended tower not built

[Barton, D. A., Around Matlock (Stroud 1993) 114]

ENTREPAS, John working 1442-1446

London

Chief contracting mason for the building of Wingfield Manor.

1442-6 S. Wingfield, Wingfield Manor for Ralph, Lord Cromwell

[Pevsner (1978) 323]

ESSEX, Oliver, ARIBA 1855-1939

Paradise St., Birmingham

Oliver Essex was born in Birmingham in 1855 and was a pupil of William Henry Ward from

1874 to 1877, remaining as assistant until 1879 and as managing assistant until 1883 when he

commenced practice on his own account. In 1887 he entered into partnership with John

40

Coulson Nicol, also in Birmingham. The partnership of Essex & Nicol was joined in 1900 by

John Goodman and became Essex, Nicol & Goodman. Five years later it was dissolved.

Later, in 1935, Essex entered into partnership with Jack Alwyn Suggitt. Essex died on 1

February 1939 having married Effie (b. 1868) but having had no issue.

1885-6 Derby, Babington Lane, Theatre and Opera House

[Derby & Chesterfield Reporter 16/10/1885. Drawings in Local Studies Library, Derby;

Builder 24/10/1885].

EVANS, Robert 1832-1911

EVANS, Robert, JP 1863-1927

Nottingham.

The elder Robert Evans was a pupil and later partner of T C HINE (qv) until 1867; he later

entered into partnership with William JOLLEY (1837-1919), another pupil of Hine, and later

with his own son, Robert. His wife was Sarah Ann, by whom he also had five daughters,

Dorothy, Mary, Edith, Alice and Ethel.

The son, a JP, lived at Ravine House, Lenton Road, The

Park, Nottingham and was educated at Rugby. He was

articled to his father, later becoming a partner in Evans &

Jolley. He married Constance Katherine, daughter of

Charles Ash, and had a son Robert Holland Evans.

Above: Robert Evans, junior,

in 1901, from Briscoe.

Right: E0vans R & R.,

Stapenhill, St. Peter, 1880-

1881.

1874 Stanley, St Andrew, thorough rebuild.

1877 Mackworth, vicarage

1880 Stapenhill, St Peter

1891-2 Egginton, St Wilfrid, restoration

1895 Breaston, St Michael, restoration

1907 Melbourne, Catholic Church & presbytery for Kerr family, opened 1909; cost, church:

£2,430; presbytery: £650

[Briscoe (1901)160; Kelly (1925); Lysons (1816) Mundy Copy) V, 202J; Derby Mercury

23/4/1879; Mackworth Glebe Terrier (DLSL); Pevsner; Usher, H Melbourne Hall (1993)]

41

F

FENTON, James 1804-1875

Chelmsford

James Fenton was born in Reading 2nd October 1804, son of David & Mary Fenton, a

prosperous Presbyterian couple. He served his articles 1819-1826 but established his practice

as an architect in Chelmsford, where in 1830 he married the daughter of John Copland, a

wealthy non-conformist solicitor. He specialised in designing chapels for non-conformist

congregations at Chelmsford, Billericay and Ingatestone, and possibly those in Beccles,

Suffolk (1836), Landham, Dorset (1841) and Castle Hedingham (c1842). Fenton actually

began his career specialising in workhouses. Fenton lived above a shop at 2 Tindal Square on

his arrival in Chelmsford, until building his first family home at 79 Springfield Road in 1834.

In 1850 he was appointed surveyor to the Chelmsford Local Board, in 1858, surveyor to local

board of health at Croydon, Surrey. He married (1830) at Chelmsford a daughter of John

Copeland with whom he indulged in quite a bit of property development in Chelmsford in the

late 1830sand 1840s.. He was an accomplished designer of chapels and fine classical

domestic buildings, was responsible for laying out New London Road and its cemetery and

implemented the town’s infrastructure of mains water and sewerage. By his wife Emma, he

had two sons, Hubert (b. 1842) and Charles (b. 1844).

1841-2 Derby, St Mary's Gate, St Mary's Gate House converted to Baptist Chapel for Revd. J.

G. D. Pike.

[Colvin 373-374; General Baptist Repository & Missionary Observer IV, New Series

(7/1842) 213-214; Craven (1987) 95-7]

James Fenton of Chelmsford, St. Mary’s Gate House, as converted into a chapel, re-using

much of the original 1730s domestic panelling. From a post card. [M. Craven]

42

FERREY, Benjamin 1810-1880.

London

Benjamin Ferrey was the youngest son of Benjamin, a draper who became Mayor of

Christchurch, Hants. He was educated at Wimborne Grammar School and was articled 1827-

1832 to Augustus Charles Pugin in tandem with Pugin’s more famous son, A W N PUGIN

(qv). In his early twenties Ferrey toured continental Europe, then studied further in the office

of William WILKINS (qv). He started his own architectural practice in 1834, in Great Russell

Street, Bloomsbury, London. In 1836 He married Ann Lucas by whom he had two daughters,

Alicia and Annie, and one son Benjamin Edward, who also became an architect, studying

under his father and then assisting in his work. Thanks to his father, some of his earliest work

was in the design of the new seaside resort of Bournemouth, although he was increasingly

involved with church work. Ferrey also designed private houses and public buildings,

including a number of Tudor Revival ones in the earlier part of his career. Charles Eastlake in

his History of the Gothic Revival described Ferrey as

‘…one of the earliest, ablest, and most zealous pioneers of the modern Gothic

school…whose work possessed the rare charm of simplicity, without lacking

interest.’

Ferrey was twice Vice-President of the Royal Institute of British Architects and in 1870 was

awarded a Royal Gold

Medal. He was Dio-

cesan Architect to

the Diocese of Bath and

Wells from 1841 until

his death, and was also

appointed Honorary

Secretary to the Archi-

tects' Committee for

the Houses of Parlia-

ment.

Benjamin Ferrey FRIBA

Chase Cliffe, Crich, c.

1904, from a post card.

[M. Craven]

1855-56 Scropton, St Paul

1859-61 Crich, Chase Cliffe for the Misses Hurt

[Pevsner]

FORSYTHE, William Adam 1872-1951

Great Marlborough Street, London

William Adam Forsyth was born in St. Pancras parish, London in 1872 and articled to Col.

Robert William Edis in 1889, and remained as an assistant, taking classes at the Architectural

Association. He worked as assistant to John McKean Brydon c.1895-96. He passed the

qualifying exam in 1894, and travelled in Holland and Belgium. Forsyth was admitted

ARIBA on 11 March 1895, his proposers being Edis, H W Pratt and F T W Goldsmith. He

commenced practice in partnership with Hugh Patrick Guarin Maule in 1896, and remained

in partnership until 1929. Thereafter he continued practice as W A Forsyth & Partners with

Leslie Robert Foreman and Edward Charles Butler.

1909 Repton, Burton Road, new house for Governors of Repton School

[Pevsner]

43

FOWLER, Charles Hodgson 1840-1910

Durham

Fowler was born at Southwell, Notts., in 1840, son of Robert and Frances Elizabeth Fowler,

growing up at Rolleston. He was articled 1854-1861, latterly with Sir Gilbert SCOTT. He

set up thereafter in Pimlico, London, and was elected ARIBA in 1863, his proposers being Sir

Gilbert, E. W. PUGIN (qv) and Matthew Digby WYATT (qv). In 1864, he moved to Durham

as Clerk of Works at Durham Cathedral, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1870 he

became a FRIBA and at various times held the position of Architect to Rochester and Lincoln

Cathedrals, Architect to the Dioceses of York and Lincoln. From 1885 to the time of his

death, he was Architect to the Dean and Chapter of Durham, a post that had previously been

held by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

1907 Snelston, St Peter, restoration

[Pevsner]

FULLER, Henry 1832-1872

Manchester & London

Fuller was the son of a Congregationalist clockmaker in Clerkenwell, where he was born in

1832, before being articled in Nottingham to Isaac Gilbert 1846-1853, thereafter as a

draughtsman for Alfred Waterhouse before setting up in Manchester before departing for

London in 1864, where he died aged only 40. He married Eliza Bradley of Chorlton-cum-

Hardy. He is chiefly famous for inventing a laminated timber roof, used on a Sunday School

at Rusholme.

1865 Matlock Bath, Wesleyan Chapel, The Promenade.

[Barton (1993) 52; Booth (1994) 29-45].

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G

GARNER, Thomas 1839-1906

7, Gray’s Inn Square, London & 20, Church Row, Hampstead.

Garner, Thomas: Buxton, The Empire Hotel, from a postcard. [M. Craven]

44

Born at Wasperton Hill Farm in Warwickshire, son of Thomas, a farmer and Louisa née

Savage. and was articled to Sir Gilbert Scott 1856-1863 and then worked in Warwickshire,

partly for Scott’s firm (he tactfully restored Lord Leycester’s Hospital, Warwick for Scott

1864) before returning to London in 1868 to work for G. F. BODLEY (qv) who had preceded

him as an elève of Scott. From 1869 to 1897 he was Bodley’s partner. Whilst the latter tended

to concentrate on ecclesiastical commissions, Garner undertook the bulk of the firm’s public

and domestic work although he did not altogether neglect church work asnd indeed, he was

converted to the Roman Catholic curch in 1897 and ended his partnership in case his

Catholicism harmed Bodley’s wide Anglican practice. He married Rose Emily, daughter of

Revd. J. N. North of Milverton on 6 October 1866. With Arthur Stratton Garner wrote The

Domestic Architecture of England during the Tudor Period (1911). He died at Fritwell

Manor,. Oxon, which he had bought and renovated.

1897 Buxton, Empire Hotel (dem. 1964). [Langham & Wells (1994)]

GIBBS, James FRS 1682-1754.

London

Younger son of Aberdeen merchant Peter Gibbs of Fittysmire, Co. Aberdeen, he was sent to

Italy to study under Carlo Fontana at Rome later touring Europe.

He was much influenced by Sir Christopher Wren, who was an early

supporter of his when he set up in London 1709. He was therefore

well outside that burgeoning politically correct mainstream of Neo-

Palladianism espoused by the post 1714 Whig ascendancy, working

mainly for Tory gentlemen.

He was privately both a Catholic and a Jacobite, but this did not stop

him being appointed surveyor to the Commissioners for Building

Fifty New Churches 1713-1716 which enabled him to design St.

Martin-in-the-Fields and St. Mary-le-Strand, the former being

immensely influential especially in America, brought to widespread

notice through the publication of his Book of Architecture (London

1728, 2nd Edn.1739).

For his efforts in the design and building of the Radcliffe Camera at

Oxford, he was awarded an Honorary MA (Oxon) in 1749. His

design for All Saints’, Derby was a simplification of St. Martin-in-

the-Fields but using the Doric Order to avoid competing with the

perpendicular tower.

Left: Elevation

of All Saints’

Derby from

The Book of

Architecture.

c. 1720 Two unbuilt pavilions at Kedleston Hall

1723-1725 All Saints', Derby, nave etc.

1728-1729 Calke Abbey: front steps and other alterations

1730-1732 St Mary's Gate House, St Mary's Gate Derby (attrib.)

45

1739-1740 Catton Hall: Submitted designs; not proceeded with

[Colvin 416-425; Cox & Hope (1881) passim; Craven (1987)94-97; Craven & Stanley (1991)

57; the attribution of St. Mary’s Gate House has been supported by Alec Cobbe (pers. comm.

20

Left: James Gibbs by Andrea Soldi; right: Gibbs, J. (attrib.), St. Mary’s Gate House, 1730-

32.

GILKS, William 1681-1727

Burton-on-Trent

Born at Alveston, Warwickshire in 1681, son of another William Gilks, would have served

his apprenticeship c. 1695-1702 after which he moved to Burton where he married Elizabeth

Moreton c. 1706 and had daughters

Rebecca (born in 1712) and Sarah (born

1719), and sons, William Moreton (born

1707) and Benjamin (born 1716). A

builder and surveyor, he died in April

1727, being buried at St. Modwen’s

Burton.

1703-4 Calke Abbey; unspecified works

1706-8 Melbourne Hall, internal re-mod-

elling

1712-16 Calke Abbey; Stable Block

1716-23 Calke Abbey; other unspecified

works

1721-22 Ticknall: School

1721-22 Melbourne Hall, internal re-mod-

elling

[Colvin 428]

William Gilks, Calke Abbey stable block

south front. [S. Huguet]

46

GIRDWOOD, John & James working c. 1847-1870

49 Pall Mall, London

John and James Girdwood were cousins, born in Carluke, Lanarkshire in 1816 and 1826 sons

of John and Thomas Girdwood respectively. Where they trained is not known but they would

have both been qualified by c. 1847 and were working in London by 1860 specializing in

agricultural work and some engineering.

1861 Hungry Bentley: pair of Labourers' cottages for Hon A H Vernon

GOODWIN, Francis 1784-1835

Bedford Square, London

He was born at King's Lynn in 1784, eldest son of carpenter William Goodwin. He served

articles with J Coxedge of Kensington 1800-1807 and later with worked with John Walters.

He had set up on his own account in King’s Lynn by 1818. He married twice, in 1808 to

Mary Stort, and in 1818 to Elizabeth Reynolds. From the marriages he had at least five sons.

He secured 9 church building contracts from the Commissioners, and had a fairly lively

ecclesiastical practice outsider this, working in Gothic revival, although his houses and public

buildings tended to by Greek revival. He wrote Domestic Architecture, Being a Series of

Designs for Mansions, Villas ... in the Grecian, Italian, and old English style of Architecture

(London 1833). Goodwin used highly competitive measures to acquire commissions, and got

employees to chase commissions in the Midlands and northern England using

the ‘stagecoach system’. He is said to have inundated committees with designs and undercut

his rivals' estimates. Consequently a number of designs for major buildings failed to get off

the drawing board, notably King's College, Cambridge, Birmingham Grammar School, and

the new Houses of Parliament. Goodman died suddenly from apoplexy (probably a heart

attack) in 1835 at his home near Portman Square, London, and was buried in Kensal Green

Cemetery.

Francis Goodwin, rebuilt Robert Griffiths, frontispiece of the County Gaol, South Street,

Derby. [M. Craven]

47

1823-1827 Derby, County Gaol, Vernon St., with turnkeys’ cottages and governor’s

residence in South Street

1826-1828 Derby, St John the Baptist, Bridge St

1829 Meynell Langley Hall for Meynell family, extending and rebuilding

[Colvin 435-437; Craven & Stanley (2001) I. 142-3; Glover (1831) II. 476-9, 516; DCRO A9

& 1092A PI.82 ; Derby Mercury 1/10/1823]

GRIFFITHS, Robert J. 1867-1874

Martin St., Stafford

He was county surveyor for Staffordshire, but specialised in asylums and hospitals. He also

designed a number of Italianate villas in and around Stafford.

1871 Derby, County Prison, Vernon St., alterations and additions

[Derby & Chesterfield Reporter 10/3/1871 p.4 c.5: tender reported]

GRILLET, M working 1684-1700

France

He was a pupil of Le Nôtre, but further details about his career have proved exceedingly

elusive.

1684-1702 Bretby Hall, extensive gardens, waterworks and garden buildings

c1694 Chatsworth, cascade, gardens and garden structures

[Chatsworth archive; Craven & Stanley (1991) 44, 64]

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DAS FLUSSLEUCHTENHAUS

I fear that I am one of those sad people who spends much time in wondering from whence

architects derive their inspiration. It is well known that John Webb was inspired by Inigo

Jones, and Colen Campbell by Andrea Palladio, and a few issues ago (in the process of

attempting to get a listing) I identified the original for Sidney Bailey’s rather good Moderne

former Co-op building in East Street as the Sinn Department Store, Gelsenkirchen, Germany,

by Bruno Paul, 1928.

Therefore, I thought you might like to know where the architect of the ineffably hideous and

cheaply built Riverlights (German Fluss Leuchten), in The Morledge, got his ideas (apart

from night school lectures about the Modern Movement). The answer is one of the very

finest buildings of the Expressionist movement in architecture, again from Germany. The

right picture (opposite) is of the Chilehaus, in Old Hamburg, designed by Fritz Höger and

built in 1923. It is eight storeys high and was fitted seamlessly into the urban environment in

which it was built, filling the whole of a large island site.

It is in fact, a two courtyard flats complex, curving to conform with the street alignment, of

brown brick and lavishly detailed all over, with six and seven storey projecting blocks, each

one bay deep, attached to the longer sides almost like panniers. The fenestration is cambered

with the top and set in moulded brick surrounds, the seven domestic storeys being

superimposed upon a taller retail ground floor protected by a continuous arched loggia. The

detail and workmanship, even where it cannot be seen is breath-taking, and the massing is a

masterpiece of the handling of space, light and shade. Even New York’s flat-iron buildings

fall short of its imposing presence.

Riverlights (opposite, left) would appear to be the product of someone who thought that an

ocean liner’s prow effect would make an eye-catching statement, but just produced a beaky

48

effect, followed up by the insubstantial and ersatz materials of the whole and the uninspired

handling of the ancillary elements. It looks as if a half decent storm would summarily rip the

roof off and smash all the glass, whilst in contrast, the Chilehaus looks as if an earthquake

wouldn’t touch it. But then you do get what you pay for.

.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

All events to be held at St. Mary’s Social Centre unless otherwise indicated

January 19th (Tuesday): Wollaton and the Willoughbys a talk by Michael

Whysall, 19.30hrs

February, 12th (Friday): Coffee Morning including A Better City of Derby Award

presentation 11.00hrs to Noon.

March 17th (Thursday, being St. Patrick’s Day): Annual lunch at Littleover

Lodge, noon for 12.30hrs.

April 12th (Tuesday): Life upon the Wicked Stage a talk by Jean Gemmell

19.30 hrs

May 19th (Tuesday): An Actor’s Life for Me a talk by Alan Smith 19.30hrs

June 6th (Monday): An evening at Kilburn Hall (Church St., Kilburn,DE56

0LU) beginning with a sherry reception 19.00hrs.

July: it is planned to make a visit to Clay Mills Pumping Station. Date and time will be

advised in due course.

Check events at our website: www.DerbyCivicSociety.co.uk

*