Newsletter 5

May 2001 – Production of this Newsletter Sponsored by Tarmac (Central) Ltd

Parwich in the last centurya centre for trade and commerce!

Fifty years ago a village the size of Parwich would seem to be a thriving metropolis compared with today. The shopping habits of rural people have changed radically over the last century. Transport has played a crucial part in the change and now access to shops in local towns and cities is taken for granted. The following observations come after a conversation with Ambrose and Irene Wilton, though many who cast their minds back fifty or sixty years will recall a Parwich bustling with trade and commerce.

In the middle of the last century the village had a variety shops and other services. Mrs Pollets (now The Cottage at Nethergreen) was a general store. Then there was the Northcliffe (Jasmine House) opposite the church, which sold, as well as general groceries, enamel-ware and other items for cooking.  At the corner of Station Road (Brentwood) Mrs Brownson’s was also a general store and a few yards up the road Mrs Wibberly traded in what is now still the shop. Across the road from Mrs Brownson’s Miss Graham ran the post office.  Up the road at Green Gates Aunt Lizzie Webster sold flour and oatmeal.  At what is now  The British Legion Ernest Webster had a butcher’s shop. Paraffin, shoelaces and other odds and ends could be purchased from Miss Gadsby at The Orchards.  Mr Wright Greatorex lived at The Fold and bought eggs and poultry for Robinsons of Manchester. He also had a wooden shed as a shop at the bottom of the garden where he sold paraffin, pots, pans, shoes and boots. Petrol could be purchased from Mr Steeples on Creamery Lane and cheese and jam were both produced at the creamery (Knob Hall) and sold at the shop in Dig Street, Ashbourne known as Parwich Dairy.

Irene also remembers that her parents lived in Shaw Lane (what is now Shaw Cottage). “My mum sold fish and chips on Friday and Saturday, she had a proper stove installed and the fish used to come fresh from Grimsby by train to Alsop station and my brothers used to collect this with a trolley”. The village also had a cobbler, Mr Blackwell, who lived at The Square and Mr Lord the joiner who lived at Ivy Cottage with his workshop across from The Sycamore.

Besides these services there were also regular visits from numerous travelling vans. The Co-op van came twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were at least four bakers who came to the village. Mr Bembridge came from Hognaston on Fridays; also from Hognaston was Dykes’ Van on Saturdays and Tuesdays. (Irene explained that ‘Hognaston was full of bakers’.) Two other bakers’ vans came from Ashbourne, they were Alsop and Hunt and Mr Stafford (on Fridays).  Two butchers regularly visited, they were Peaches (still going strong!) and Mr Woolley who was later taken over by Hollingsworth. Greengrocers included Mr Burton on Tuesdays and Nev Jones on Thursdays.

There were also other regular visitors but not on a weekly basis. Curtis Hardware came from Ashford-in-the-Water (selling paraffin in competition with Miss Gadsby); Abberly came from Rudyard with general groceries every other Saturday and Mr Hodgkinson, the draper, came from Winster every three weeks. Once a fortnight Mr Buxton, from Cromford,  came with shoe repairs and Marsdens from Matlock came selling clothes and other materials.  A number of times a year  the knife and scissors sharpener came from Bonsall; it appears that he wheeled his machine all the way himself on foot.

Once a year a Jack Bloor of Derby visited the village selling baskets of plums, apples and other fruit. He travelled in his horse and cart and did a tour round the local villages. At night he would be put up by someone in the village and his horse would be grazed on the green. Also from Derby, Woodward’s would arrive at certain times of year with bottled peppermint, grip water and other exotic cordials.

There was also transport and villagers could get transport to Ashbourne.  Joseph Twigg had his carrier cart, which picked people up in Parwich, Bradbourne Mill, Ravenscliffe and Woodeaves. He stabled his horses at The White Lion on Buxton Hill while people shopped. Later William Webster had a green bus, which he ran to Ashbourne on Saturdays. In the week he would take the top off the bus and use it for carting coal.

A registrar once lived and worked in the village.  Mr Smith lived where the Vicarage is now built and later Mr Burford became the registrar and he lived in Shaw Lane (in what is now called Hopecroft). There were also two doctors; Dr.Hool  at Townhead and Dr Twigg at Fernlea (See article on Fernlea on p.4 of this issue of the Newsletter).

All this must be set alongside the fact there were three pubs in the village – The Wheatsheaf, The Crown and of course The Sycamore. The Fold was at one time a working mans club and Hideaway Cottage was also a unity club (another name for a pub). For a short time in the 1930s Flaxdale House was a youth hostel. To cap it all Mrs Oldershaw, who lived at Staines Cottage, formed a boy’s band. She called it The Imps, and no doubt they brought some musical colour (or noise) to the village – especially on practice nights!

This is not a complete list and the dating is not precise (not all these traders were in the village at the exactly the same time) but it does give a rich picture of Parwich as place where most items could be easily purchased and most daily needs catered for. Perhaps it also reminds us of the importance of the services we still have in the village and their essential contribution to village life.

Copyright © 2001 Rob Francis

The Creamery – Recollections

Knob Hall was the creamery where butter and cheese was made until about 1926, when the owner of Knob Hall (Mrs Bettel) converted the farmhouse into the present house.  How long it had been in existence is uncertain, but it is known to have existed before the First World War.

The milk was brought to the creamery in churns by the farmers from the surrounding areas and tipped into steel vats.  The whey was piped to the piggeries in brick tanks adjacent to the brick building that can be seen from Littlewood Farm below Dodds Hill.

Rennet and salt was added to the curds of milk and stirred with a hand tool that consisted of a wooden frame, which had a mesh of fine wire.  When the curds were firm they were placed in muslin cloth within a container about nine inches in diameter and fifteen inches deep.  After standing for several days the cheese would be pressed and dated.  Later the container would be removed.  It would then be jugged and racked for maturity.

Milk that was not sold to the creamery or locally to households was either taken by the farmers direct to Nestles Factory at Ashbourne or sent by rail from Alsop Station to Nestles.  This factory was opened in 1912.

Milk was also sent by rail from Minninglow.  There was no distribution of milk round the village.  People collected it in jugs or milk cans from the local farms.  Mr Harry Twigge of Close Farm started the first milk round.  He walked round with yokes on his shoulders and two pails of milk and this was measured out at the door.  Later Harry Twigge went round in a pony and trap with a churn.  His son, Reg Twigge later introduced bottled milk.

Copyright © 2001 Irene Wilton

A History of Fernlea House

Fernlea is first mentioned in the Will of John Brownson dated 2 May 1759 in which he left the property, including his church pew and an acre of land called the Froghole, to his son George Brownson, with ‘the remainder’ to his grandson, also called George. (That is on the death of George senior the property would pass to his grandson George.)
From George Brownson the property passed in March 1816 to William Brownson, who died intestate. The property passed to his son, also called William, a “Yeoman”.
An indenture of 1834 shows William sold Fernlea to Mary, (his mother?) for £370 on a 500 year lease. This seems a huge sum, for that time. And a second indenture of 18 June 1836 shows that Mary paid a further £105 for the unencumbered freehold, a total of £495 including interest payments (far too much!! The price declines for the rest of the century).
Mary Brownson died on 26 March 1855 and in her Will written on 3 March 1855, three weeks earlier, she left half the value of the property to her son, Thomas, who was to enjoy it for his lifetime, and a quarter of the value was left to each daughter, Ann and Elizabeth.
Thomas Brownson possessed the property for only three years, and died on 21 August 1858. Whether he lived at Fernlea is not clear, but after his death until the house was sold nine years later, on 25 April 1867, William Wright was the tenant.
Thomas left his half of the value of Fernlea to his sister Elizabeth. She lived with her husband, John Batkin, in Bromley Wood, Abbotts Bromley. She sold her now three quarters share to her sister’s husband, George Kirkham of Chaddesden, Derby, a farmer. Kirkham paid £333-6-8d, but handed over only £250 to Elizabeth, since his wife Ann already owned
a quarter of the house.
In a Will dated 27 July 1870, George Kirkham (now of Bridge House, Parwich) bequeathed Fernlea to his wife Ann to enjoy the rent therefrom during her lifetime, and upon her death it was to pass to George’s nieces, Belsey and Martha Kirkham, as equal joint owners.
George Kirkham died on 3 August 1874, and it remained in his wife’s possession until her death on 1st May 1888. After William Wright, the tenant seems to have been Nathaniel Bosworth Twigge, a surgeon. Exactly when the occupation of the house passed from one to the other is not clear.
The nieces raised a £230 mortgage against Fernlea, so as to enjoy the capital from it. The mortgage was provided by William Richard Smith, a cheese factor in Derby. This mortgage was subsequently taken over by Thomas Nathaniel Twigge, also a surgeon, when the interest on the niece’s mortgage fell into areas by the sum of £9-10-0, and on 20 May 1890, Mr Twigge bought Fernlea from the nieces for £272, of which he retained £250 to discharge the mortgage.
It is not clear what was the relationship between Nathaniel Bosworth Twigge, surgeon and tenant, and Thomas Nathaniel Twigge, surgeon and owner of Fernlea. Perhaps they were brothers, perhaps father and son.  More research needed! We know that Thomas Nathaniel Twigge didn’t just own Fernlea, he lived there also. And after his death his wife Alice
inherited it and continued to live there as a widow, until 1931.
Following her death the property again became jointly owned, by (presumably) the daughters of the Twigge marriage. Sarah Alice May Twigge and Annie Alicia Twigge, spinsters, and Maud Marjorie Twigg (of Hartington, spelt without an ‘e’) were the owners until 1953. Who lived at Fernlea during this time is not recorded, but some of the older members of Parwich village may remember this.
On 13 January 1953 the Twigge sisters finally sold Fernlea. This time the conveyance shows the new owner to be the Minister of Health who paid two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds for the property. The house was used as a nurses home for the next twenty years, until it was put up for auction by the DHSS. During the DHSS ownership, in 1970, an area of 36 square yards was bought from Mrs Bagshawe (Sir John Crompton-Inglrfield’s daughter, who still owns some land in the Village). who owned the house next door to create a back yard, and a further 8 square yards was bought from Miss Graham at Sunnyside,i.e. the Post Office next door, to gain access to it.
On 11 June 1973 Dr and Mrs Lawson from Nottingham bought the property at auction. Being a public auction, it was no secret that the house fetched £8,700. The family used it as a holiday home, and to let to tenants. They undertook considerable refurbishment, including five new windows in the eastern end elevation.
It was while the house was let to Mr and Mrs Terry Chisman, computer consultants, that it was purchased on 21st April 1997 by the present owner, Keith Parsons and his partner Avril Bostrom, (for an undisclosed sum!). The house underwent a three year programme of refurbishment.  Among the changes, the barn was reroofed for the first time in over 140
years. We know this because the previous roofer has scratched the date of his work in the torching on the underside of the tiles; 1854.

To summarise:

  • We think the house was built about 1750 and it is grade 2 listed. It had to be standing, to be in a Will of 1759.
  • There is a back extension on the left of the house which was built at a later date, and another extension – now the kitchen – which filled in the gap between the house and the adjacent barn. There is a date stone over the kitchen door of 1785. Maybe the back extension was built at the same time as the kitchen, but we cannot be sure.
  • Although the roof is Staffordshire blue states, the house used to be thatched. During refurbishment an oak thatching peg was found, and the roof has a separate set of joists, inside the existing ones, to allow for a thatched roof being much thicker than tiles.
  • The house has a well in the cellar, and the steps down to the cellar are very well worn, indicating that it was the main water source for hundreds of years.

Copyright © 2001 Keith Parsons and Avril Bostrom

The Buildings of Parwicha first attempt at an outline of the development of the Village

As well the property deeds the Buildings Group have been interested to get a feel for how the buildings have developed with changing use.  John Sewell, Peak Park Historic Buildings Officer, came on an informal walk around the Village with us in July 2000. We focused on the houses of group members, hoping to establish principles that can be transferred to the rest of the Village in time.  The house we looked at that was of most general interest, was Orchard Farm, which is the oldest of the properties considered.  There have been a number of changes: the original building was perhaps a sixteenth century lobby entrance house (see Newsletter number 2), with substantial seventeen, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century alterations.  What may have started off as a simple two-room dwelling became a substantial Georgian farmhouse, with increased outbuildings in the nineteenth century, and in the late twentieth century was adapted to create a connected self contained apartment and a holiday cottage.  We are currently trying to gather more information on interpreting local architecture and the histories and occupants of Parwich houses.

Although we are still in the very early stages of this work, there do seem to be some pattern emerging.  I felt it would be useful to produce this article in the hope of promoting wider debate and hopefully more information.  Also the following lists of properties are not exhaustive and may at this stage contain some errors.

Pre-historic Parwich

Although there have been extensive work on neighboring sites such as Minninglow and Wigber Low (See last Newsletter), we do not have much information for most of the Parwich sites, and we do not know how much is lost under the modern Village and surrounding farm land.  We can say that there was generally activity in this area from the Mesolithic period onwards, and the size of the Neolithic burial mounds at Minninglow and Hawkslow suggest that this was a prosperous area in the Neolithic period.  Some of the early sites in the parish include:

  • Hawkslow
  • Catlow
  • Burial mound in wood on Saint’s Hill (Parwich Hill)
  • (Sitterlow?)
  • Ring mounds on Parwich moor
  • (Possible mound under St. Peter’s Church?)

Roman Parwich

That Parwich has a Roman name suggests that it was a Roman settlement.  Also the fact that the Anglo-Saxons chose to continue to call it by a Roman name suggests that it was still a relatively significant site by the time they were the dominant culture in the seven and eight hundreds.  There have been some possible finds of Romano-British pottery in the Brook as it runs through Parwich and at other sites in the Village, though the only Roman sites unambiguously identified are at Lombard’s Green, Royston Grange, and further away at Rainster Rocks.  The prime motivation for Roman involvement in this area seems to have been lead with the center of their operations being at Carsington (Lutudarum, being its Roman name).  Perhaps there is a Roman villa still to be found in someone’s back garden.

Origins of the village

It is likely that most of the Saxon and Norman buildings were timber-framed.  Dr. Strangle, in his talk to the Society last year (See Newsletter number 2), pointed out that even on the limestone plateau the majority of buildings were timber-framed until the early sixteen hundreds.  There are some Saxon land grants surviving for this area and it is likely that the farmhouses in the Village are on the sites of their Saxon predecessors.  At present, because of Brian Foden’s work on the ridge and furrow (hopefully to appear in a latter Newsletter), we know more about the fields of medieval Parwich than the buildings.  One interesting point is that the Parish seems to have been ringed by large monastic sheep ranches; Roystone Grange, Hanson Grange, Newton Grange, Mouldridge Grange, etc.  The Doomsday Book (See Newsletter number 1) refers to 6 Villagers and 2 Small Holders, presumably this means in addition to the Lord of the Manor there were some eight main farming households.  By 1563 Parwich had 30 households.  Assuming an average household size of between 4-5 and 5, would give Parwich a population of between 135 and 150 in 1563 at a time when Ashbourne had a population of between 600 and 650.  Some of our oldest identified buildings were:

  • Original Church (Saxon or Norman building demolished)
  • Previous house on Hallcliffe site thirteenth century reference?
  • Parwich Hall 1561 (all that remains is in the basement of the current Hall)
  • Tithe Cottage? (Demolished)

The 1600s

It is from this period that we begin to have more physical evidence with a number of cruck beams surviving, and some stone buildings.  Still at this period the majority of buildings would have been timber-framed with thatched roofs.

  • Dam Farm? (much re-built)
  • Slate House 1619
  • Knob Hall (Old Hall) 1670
  • The Fold (Part of the house and stables, also outbuildings were formerly 2 cottages.  )
  • Shaw House (Village Farm) & Shaw Lane Cottage?
  • Orchard Farm? (much rebuilt)

The 1700s

It is in the Eighteenth Century that the village we know took its form.  There was a significant increase in prosperity, and an expansion in the population, which by the early nineteenth century reached its current size.  James Pilkington refers to 91 houses in the parish in 1789.  A factor in the Village taking its current form will have been the lack of cheap timber as a building material, being replaced by stone, and the gradual introduction of new materials such as brick and roofing slates.  Perhaps first in the programme of rebuilding was Parwich Hall, virtually completely rebuilt in 1747 with the expensive new materials of brick and slate.

The ‘gentrification’ of village farm houses

It is possible that improved agricultural methods, together with various small scale land enclosures, absentee landlords and gathering together of small parcels of land into single holdings resulted in wealthier farmers.  Also the Industrial Revolution would have increased the profitability of exporting agricultural produce to the towns.  The focus of the Village was on the central farm houses, and we see the building of a significant number of quite grand farm houses:

  • Townhead
  • Flatts Stile
  • The Fold (Enlarging or rebuilding of previous house)
  • Fernlea 1750s?
  • Flaxdale 1756
  • Hallcliffe House 1750s? & 1776 (Previous house demolished?)
  • Orchard Farm (Enlarging of previous house)
  • Brook House & Cottage (also mid 1800s)
  • Orchard View
  • Church Farm
  • Lower Gotham Farm
  • Cottage Farmhouse, Pikehall 1759

The Pubs

The three main pubs owe their current buildings to this apparent economic boom:

  • The Crown
  • The Wheatsheaf
  • The Sycamore

Other buildings in the 1700s

  • Church Gate House
  • Church Cottage
  • Creamery Cottage
  • The Cottage Creamery Lane (Originally two)
  • Ivy Cottage
  • The Cottage on the Green
  • Gardeners Cottage
  • The Square

1800s

In the Nineteen-Century expansion and development continued, though at a slower pace.  The main landlord was William Evans from a Derby industrial family, who, though he never lived here, did have a tremendous influence on the Village.  By 1841 the population of the Parish was around 530 living in 109 households (see Newsletter number 3), and it has remained fairly stable until the present day.

Patronage

  • 2 School rooms 1827 (were they in School View or the Stables?)
  • Parwich School 1861
  • St. Peter’s Church 1873

The ‘Post-enclosure act’ farm houses

The Enclosure Act of 1795 resulted in a much more substantial enclosure of the grazing land around Parwich and shifted the focus from the old village based farm houses to the scatter of larger farms across the Parish:

  • Foufinside
  • Hawkslow
  • Hilltop
  • Lowmoor
  • Parwich Lees 1810, 1858

Commercial properties

With the increased availability of manufactured goods and the general increase in prosperity resulted in purpose built or adapted commercial premises, throughout the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, most everyday items could have been obtained in the Village:

  • Brentwood (a grocer’s)
  • The Old Post Office (Was it an extension and re-fenestration of an older building?)
  • Green Gates (a grocer’s and later a shoe maker?)
  • Jasmine House (a grocer’s)
  • The Shop (Brick extension added in 1903 at a cost of £93)

Other buildings

  • Methodist Chapel 1847

1900s

The Twentieth Century the most dramatic increase in the number of houses since the Seventeenth Century boom.  By the end of the century there were some 520 people living in 202 households (excluding holiday lets and second homes).  Perhaps the following classification is the least accurate as we are too close to see an objective pattern:

  • Care Centre/Parwich Hospital 1912
  • The Vicarage 1917

State intervention

  • Church Walk
  • West View
  • Sycamore Cottages
  • Chestnut Cottages
  • Rathbone Croft
  • Smithy Close

The new house

  • Pool Croft
  • Knab House
  • Croft Avenue

The Holiday Cottage Industry

  • Hallcliffe Barn
  • Orchard Farm Barn
  • Church View (Old Post Office)
  • Parwich Lees
  • Brook Cottage (the one attached to Brook House)

‘A country cottage’: Conversions of existing buildings

  • The Stables (Hallcliffe)
  • The Smithy
  • The Barn
  • High Barn

The home improvement boom in late twentieth century (1970’s onwards)

  • Flatts Stiles (Extended into outhouses)
  • Walnut Cottage 1998 (Enlarged and two cottages knocked together)
  • Dam Farm 1999 (Extended into barn and outbuildings)
  • Japonica (Two cottages joined together)
  • The Cottage, Creamery Lane 1999 (Two cottages knocked into one)
  • Creamery Cottage (Extended into existing outhouse)

Other Buildings

  • Telephone box (designed 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott)

The above, as already mentioned is just a first step, and we would welcome any comments or additional information on any aspect of the development of the Village.  The houses the Buildings Group have so far considered are Fernlea, Flaxdale, Hallcliffe, Orchard Farm, Rose Cottage, and Townhead.  We are currently looking at the deeds for Farm View which go back to the seventeenth Century.  Look out for the talk, walk and small exhibition in October, and for our leaflet outlining a walk around the Village to be published next year.

Copyright © 2001 Peter Trewhitt

The Nineteenth Century Trade Directories

Apart from the population censuses, one useful snapshot of nineteenth century communities can be gleaned from commercial directories. Keith Parsons, while visiting the local studies library in Matlock obtained numerous photocopies of pages relevant to Parwich. For example, Bagshaw’s directory of 1846 says Parwich has 3092 acres of fertile land, principally on limestone, 110 houses, 533 inhabitants of whom 287 were males and 246 females. It says that Wm Evans Esq. owns about half the parish, the other owners are Thomas Brownson Esq., Goodwin Johnson and George Dakeyne. It gives the financial details of the church living, the two schools, the local charities of which there were quite a few.
It also gives an analysis of the village population by trade -shoemakers, butchers farmers, shopkeepers, inns and taverns, sawyers, stonemasons, tailors and wheelwrights. There was also a butter dealer, timber merchant, dressmaker, surgeon, relieving officer, and saddler as well as a perpetual curate.
An analysis of all these directories highlights changes within the village and its personalities as the century progresses. If you would like to borrow the photocopies of 19th century commercial directories relating to Parwich, you are welcome to do so.  We have the following Directory entries for Parwich: 

  • Kelly’s Directory of Derbyshire 1851 Pgs. 1116-7 – article about Parwich, gives list of individuals occupations
  • Kelly’s 1887
  • Kelly’s Directory 1899 pg. 330
  • Kelly’s Directory 1904 pgs. 352-3 – article about Parwich, commercial enterprises etc.
  • Harnson, Harrod & Co. Directory of Derbyshire 1860 pgs. 221-2
  • Harnson, Harrod & Co. Directory of Derbyshire 1870 pg. 254 List of traders, farmers etc.
  • Bulmer’s Directory of Derbyshire 1895 pgs. 445-7
  • Post Office Directory 1848
  • Bagshaw’s History & Directory of Derbyshire 1846 Pgs. 386

Avril Bostrom has analysed the directories to find out who lived where in the 19th century, and the list is as follows:

PropertyInhabitantDirectory
Blanche MeadowWm MellorBulmers 1895
BroomfieldJohn B Dreaper (physician & surgeon)Bulmers 1895
The CrownThomas KirkhamBagshaws 1846
Thomas Kirkham (Farmer)Post Off. Dir. 1848
Joseph WebsterHanson & Co. 1860
William Wayne (Blacksmith & Vict.)Harrods 1870
Mrs Mary Wayne (Blacksmith)Kelly’s 1881
John BodenKelly’s 1887
John Boden (Vict.)Bulmers 1895
Mrs. Ann KeelingKelly’s 1899
Dale EndWilliam Dale (Farmer)Kelly’s 1881
John Kirkham (Farmer)Post Off. Dir. 1848
William Dale (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
William Dale (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
Dam FarmJoseph WebsterBulmers 1895
Frederick Glover (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
Elm CottageWilliam Smith, Registrar of births deaths
-Hartington district, sanitary inspector
and school attendance officerBulmers 1895
Flatts StileMrs KirkhamKelly’s 1881
George Dale (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Mrs. Elizabeth DaleBulmers 1895
Flaxdale HouseMrs. Elizabeth EllisBulmers 1895
The FoldMiss Ann AlsopBulmers 1895
Foufin Side &John FernihoughBulmers 1895
Sharplow Dale(Tissington)
FoufinsideThomas Edge (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
Thomas Edge (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
The GreenJohn SwindellKelly’s 1887
Mr. John SwindellBulmers 1895
The Hall (Manor House)Rev. Edward Cox (Perpetual Curate)Bagshaws 1846
 Rev Ernest Horatio May (Vicar)Bulmers 1895
HawkslowJohn Gould & Thomas Gould jnr (farmers)Kelly’s 1881
John Gould & Thomas G. (Jun.) (Farmers)Kelly’s 1887
John GouldBulmers 1895
John Gould (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
John Gould, farmerKellys 1904
Hill TopJohn Tomson (Farmer), John TomsonBulmers 1895
Smith Tomson & Jas. (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
John Fenton (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
Matthew Fenton (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
Ivy CottageMrs Elizabeth MatherBulmers 1895
Leys FarmJohn Heathcote (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
John Heathcote, farmer (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
Little WoodJames Redfern (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Mrs. Ann WebsterBulmers 1895
Alfred BrownleyKelly’s 1899
Alfred Brownley (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
Low Moor FarmWm BuntingBulmers 1895
Nether GreenThomas SwindellBulmers 1895
Robert Frith (Joiner)Bulmers 1895
Knob HallThomas Prince (Jun.)Bulmers 1895
OrchardThomas SealsBulmers 1895
Parwich LeesHugh Cameron (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Parwich Leys & John Heathcote, William Heathcote
Offcote Grange& John Heathcote (Jnr.)Bulmers 1895
PeakwayJoseph Webster (Farmer & Cattle Dealer)Kelly’s 1887
Thomas DaleBulmers1895
Thomas Dale (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
Thomas Dale (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
Pike HallWilliam Gerrard (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Thomas TwiggeBulmers 1895
Post OfficeThomas Keeling (Grocer)Post Office Dir. 1848
Joseph Swindell (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
Joseph Swindell (farmer)Kelly’s 1904
SitterlowJoseph Fletcher (farmer)Kelly’s 1881
Thomas Swindell & Jun. (Farmers)Kelly’s 1887
John Swindell (Farmer)Bulmer’s 1895
John Swindell (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
John Swindell (farmer)Kelly’s 1904
Slate HouseMrs. DakinBulmers 1895
The SycamoreThomas Kirkham (Sen)Bagshaws 1846
Thomas Kirkham (Sen)Post. Off. Dir. 1848
Elizabeth Kirkham (& Farmer)Hanson & Co 1860
Miss Elizabeth KirkhamHarrods 1870
Miss Elizabeth KirkhamKelly’s 1881
William Ellis (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Frank Ellis (Joiner & Vict.)Bulmers 1895
Joseph Webster (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
William Baker Alsopp (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904
TownheadMiss BrownsonKelly’s 1881
Miss BrownsonKelly’s 1887
Miss Mary BrownsonBulmers 1895
Miss BrownsonKelly’s 1899
The VicarageRev. Leighton BuckwellHarrods 1870
The WheatsheafIsaac GreavesBagshaws 1846
James Greaves (Farmer)Post Office Dir. 1848
James GreavesHanson & Co. 1860
Thomas FearnHarrods 1870
Thomas Fearn (Farmer)Kelly’s 1881
Thomas Fearn (& Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Frank Fearn (& Vict.)Bulmers 1895
George William Twigge (P.H. & Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
William Bradbury (Blacksmith)Kelly’s 1904
White CliffeJohn Edge Farmer)Hanson & Co. 1860
Walter Austin (Farmer)Kelly’s 1881
William Johnson (Farmer)Kelly’s 1881
Walter Austin (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
William Johnson (Farmer)Kelly’s 1887
Thomas NaylorBulmers 1895
Thomas Naylor (Farmer)Kelly’s 1899
Thomas Naylor (Farmer)Kelly’s 1904

Editorial Note:  There are a number of properties which now have different names or perhaps no longer exist.  I think Leys Farm is Parwich Leys.  Does anyone know where Broomfield and Elm Cottage are/were?   Also from the article on Fernlea we have the mystery of where Bridge House was, though it is also listed in a late Nineteenth Century Census amongst the Nethergreen properties.

It could be that Elm Cottage was the house demolished on the site of the current Vicarage (see page 2 of this issue of the Newsletter).  Does anyone have any information on which buildings have been the Vicarage?  From 1841 onwards, from the Censuses, the Vicar seems to be living at the Hall.  Confusingly on the 1880 Ordinance Survey Map Hallcliffe is marked as the Vicarage, though from the nineteenth century Censuses Hallcliffe was a farm house.  Also it is said that an old Vicarage was demolished when the current Vicarage was built in 1917.  The building demolished was more or less on the same site as the current Vicarage, but could not have been Vicarage for very long in if Mr. Smith, the Registrar was living there in 1895.  Was the 1870 trade directory entry referring to the Vicarage referring to the Hall or some where else?

Also why did Whitecliffe have two people listed as farmers there at the same time?  Were there two farms of the same name or two families farming the same land?

One thing worth noting was that the publicans regularly had a second trade, mainly farming.  This would suggest that in the Nineteenth Century being a publican by itself did not provide an adequate income.  Hopefully Janet in the Sycamore does not find this a worrying precedent, as at least the competition has been significantly reduced.

Copyright © 2001 Keith Parsons and Avril Bostrom

Letters

Dear Editor,

Do any History Society Members have or know the whereabouts of any photographs of J. Sykes (“One quality, the best”) fair attractions?  My parents Mr. & Mrs Sykes toured their rides round the local wakes, and came to Parwich for a number of years.  I am particularly interested in finding a photograph of ‘the Juvenile Autodrome’ which was our main attraction in the 1950s and 60s.  It was one of only three made and made its first appearance either here in Parwich or at Hartington.  This ride is the only one now surviving and it is still in the possession of my family, though sadly in need of restoration.  There may be a chance that it can be restored for a museum and we are looking for any photographs of it in its original state to make that restoration possible.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Clara Evans, Nethergreen

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