News and Events
Meetings in 2017
January - "Sir Joseph Whitworth". A talk by Stephen Coates
Stephen, a local historian based in Rowsley, began by explaining that this unsung local hero was a somewhat difficult character, but has left a remarkable legacy.
Joseph Whitworth was born in Stockport in 1803. He was apprenticed to his uncle, Charles Hulse, at the Cotton Mill, Ambergate, Derbyshire where he began to develop an interest in engineering. At the end of his apprenticeship he did not want to take over as Mill Manager having no interest in the commercial side of the operation. He moved to Manchester in 1821 and worked for Crighton and other Manchester firms in production engineering. In 1825 Joseph married his first wife, Frances and moved to London to work with Henry Maudslay. Henry and Joseph were perfectionists and worked with much more precision than the Manchester engineers. At this time there were no standard engineering measures, nuts and bolts were not interchangeable. In 1833 he returned to Manchester to set up a business in his own right and after 1 year moved to larger premises in Chorlton Street, where he remained until 1880. He published his first paper in 1840 and in 1841 gave the ground-breaking paper ‘On a universal system of screw threads’. Between 1834 and 1859 he lodged 15 patents. He developed the ‘Whitworth thread’ with an optimum 55 degree angle, which brought standardisation to the market, and was in use until the early twentieth century until replaced by the British Standards thread. In some countries it was still in use in the 1970s.
Joseph visited Colt’s factory in the USA and came back with ideas for improvements to overhead production lines. By the late 1850s he was recognised as the founding father of modern production engineering in the UK. During the Crimean War he was asked by the British Government to look at developing mass production of the Enfield Rifle. He developed an improved version, the ‘Whitworth Rifle’. Unfortunately this was rejected by the British authorities although adopted by the Confederate army in the USA and by the French. Eighteen years later the British also adopted it.
Frances died in 1870, 6 months later he married Louisa, and moved to Stancliffe Hall, Darley Dale. He bought much of the land around Stancliffe Hall in order to gain control of the area. He built West Lodge in the French style and employed Joseph Dawson to develop the grounds. During his lifetime he donated large sums to the Mechanic’s Institute, Manchester (later to become UMIST), founded scholarships and gave large sums for engineering education. He was knighted in 1869 for services to engineering.
Whitworth died in Monte Carlo in 1887 and was buried in St Helen’s Churchyard, Darley Dale. Perhaps surprisingly there is no memorial to him in the church. Many of his plans were not completed before his death but completed by Lady Louisa e.g. the Whitworth Hospital, the Institute, Swimming Pool and many other local landmarks. £500,000 of his legacy was spent in Manchester on such projects as the Whitworth Art Gallery and other parts of what is now Manchester University.
February - "Preserving Your Past". A visit to the Derbyshire Archives & talk from Lien Gyles
Lien Gyles is the Senior Conservator at the Derbyshire Archives. Members heard a fascinating lecture in which we learnt how vital it was, when keeping family documents, letters, and photographs over many years, to protect them safely. Dangers likely to beset such items were too much handling and too much light; high temperature and high humidity; ingress of water and dirt: and damage by rodents and insects.
Lien advised how to package and store documents correctly, how to handle them safely, and of the need to avoid acidic paper, sellotape, cheap paperclips, and non-permanent inks. Adherence to these important rules should enable family papers to survive for many, many years, and be available for examination by future generations.
Lien illustrated her own conservation work by taking the audience through her efforts on an eighteenth century doctor`s record book in respect of his patients and their ailments; in all probability kept by Erasmus Darwin and accordingly of especial national importance. The volume was extremely badly damaged by damp, and each page had had to be separated and treated. This involved encasing each sheet in strengthening fine mesh either side; cleaning off dirt and mould; inserting new but compatible paper in the torn and missing areas, and then drying out the sheet thoroughly and trimming it. Even then, the pages were too fragile to rebind, but nevertheless the information was now available to read properly by investigative historians. The project took several months to complete.
As a result of this most interesting and informative talk, many of us departed home to reposition our family papers in more suitable surroundings!
March - "Baslow's Toll Bar Cottages". A talk by Ann Hall
Mike Woffenden introduced Ann, a BHG member. Ann explained that this was still very much a ‘work in progress’ and thanked the many other people who had made contributions to her research.
Ann began with some basic facts about Turnpikes. They were generally established after an Act of Parliament, often originally set up by the gentry, and tolls were required for maintenance. A Tollbar was required to have a light and a list of charges displayed, and often had a pedestrian gate. Turnpikes had mileposts, many of these are still present in the local area.
Baslow’s position on the Chesterfield to Baslow and Sheffield to Baslow Turnpikes meant that there were several Tollbars in the vicinity. Ann described her research into four Tollbar cottages, with particular reference to the occupants over time: Baslow Bridge Tollhouse, Cupola Bar on Sheffield Road, Milestone Bridge Bar on the Chesterfield Turnpike which was subsequently replaced by the Robin Hood Tollbar when the Turnpike was rerouted. She had used many sources such as photographs, maps including those from the Rutland Estate, census details, gravestones and much information from local people, especially from recent occupiers of the two remaining Tollbar Cottage buildings, Baslow Bridge and Cupola Bar.
She mentioned other intriguing possibilities such as the purpose of the Watchman’s Hut on Baslow Bridge; it may have been used to collect tolls, though there is no evidence for this, but could perhaps have been a nightwatchman’s hut. It appeared that some families were ‘career’ toll collectors. Perhaps most interesting was that Fields House, Calver has a window from the now demolished old Millstone Tollhouse incorporated into a garden building. It had travelled some distance from its original position!
Mike thanked Ann once again for such an informative talk on such well known local landmarks.
April 2017 - Visit to Sheffield Cathedral
On a bright Saturday morning at the beginning of April, members assembled at the entrance to Sheffield Cathedral for a guided tour of that historic building. Sun was streaming through the stained-glass windows, giving a colourful, bright and airy feel to the interior. We had an excellent guide, resplendent in the red gown that he and his colleagues all wear, who was extremely clued up on the cathedral`s history, and gave a superb circuit of the building, packed with information for us.
We learnt of the original wooden church on the site in Saxon times, when Earl Waltheof was the local lord, which was destroyed shortly after the Norman Conquest, when Waltheof led a rebellion against William the first. (The Saxon Cross adjacent to that church is now in the British Museum.) A small stone church replaced it, built by the Norman Lord of the Manor, William de Lovetot, but this was burnt down in the wars between rival barons in the middle ages, and had to be rebuilt by a later Lord, Gerard de Furnival.
That church survived from the early fifteenth to the eighteenth century as the Parish Church of Sheffield, being altered and extended as the years went by, and as the fortunes of the local manorial lords ebbed and flowed. These included the famous Nevil family, and in Tudor times, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who was gaoler to Mary Queen of Scots. Indeed, we examined the Shrewsbury monument to him in the Shrewsbury Chapel, and heard the intriguing story of the family burial vault beneath the chapel, which according to the records should have contained 17 bodies, but when opened during refurbishment works a couple of years ago only held two!
The church had a colourful period in the late eighteenth century, when the Reverend James Wilkinson was Vicar for nearly fifty years, as the latter was also the chief magistrate for the county and also a boxing champion. He ruled the town with a rod of iron and famously denied John Wesley from preaching in the church, as he considered him to be seditious !
In the 19th century, the church was the recipient of much financial support and enlargement from the emerging steel barons of the industrial revolution, and their names pepper the wall monument inscriptions … … Firth, Tozer, Mappin, etc. In the twentieth century, the local York and Lancaster army regiment (now disbanded) had its dedicated chapel to the side of the nave, complete with battle flags, swords, and bayonets, plus a memorial to the navy`s HMS Sheffield sunk in the Falklands War. Small stained glass windows commemorate the regiment`s campaigns at Gallipoli, on The Somme, and in Salonika (WW1) and on D-day and in Burma (WW2).
In 1914, Sheffield became a city, and the church received cathedral status. In the 1960`s the west end of the building was remodelled to provide some large light-giving windows and a larger entrance with Lantern Tower containing modern stained glass.
After our tour, we enjoyed an excellent light lunch in the Cathedral Cafeteria, called the 1554 Gallery. That was so named to recognise the generosity and support given to the Cathedral by the Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust, founded in 1554 by Queen Mary Tudor, and which still continues after 463 years of continuous operation, to make grants to the Cathedral and many other charitable causes in Sheffield. In fact our Chairman, Mike Woffenden, is just about to retire after serving for eleven years as one of the trustees of that Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust.
May - "Memories of Chatsworth: Stories of the Servants and Staff 1700-1950"
An open lecture arranged in conjunction with the University of Sheffield and presented by three Sheffield University PhD students Hannah Wallace, Lauren Butler and Fiona Clapperton.
This event was a great success with84 people people attending, some from Baslow, the estate villages and others from further afield. It was particularly good to see those with a connection to the estate. There were even a few who came to the Village Hall to vote in the local elections and decided to stay for the lecture.
Each student is looking at part of the date range: Hannah 1700-1811, Lauren 1811-1908 and Fiona 1908-1951. They have access to the Chatsworth archives with help from the Chatsworth archivists. The lecture was accompanied by slides , many of original documents.
1700-1851
Hannah told us that at this time very few permanent staff were employed on the estate - in 1735 in the time of the 3rd Duke there were only 12 servants, all male except for one dairymaid. The male servants, mainly outdoor workers, would rent houses on the estate. Many more servants were employed at the Devonshire’s main home in London, Devonshire House, and would travel from house to house as required by the family. If further help was needed at Chatsworth, maids would be employed locally. At this time the amount spent on servants at Devonshire House was between two and four times that at Chatsworth and permanent staff tended to have a ‘job for life’. By 1800 servants were expected to have a basic education. There was a school at Edensor.
Hannah went on to describe the many servants of Georgiana, wife of the 5th Duke, including Hannah who started as chambermaid and became her lady’s maid. Georgiana’s hairdresser was one of the most highly paid staff on the estate.
1811-1908
Lauren began by relating the details of lavish parties held to celebrate William Cavendish’s 21st birthday in 1811. There was a total of up to 25,000 guests, though it was very much an estate event. William would become the 6th Duke and Chatsworth was his favourite home. The 6th Duke employed Joseph Paxton, and made many changes to the house and estate.
Contrary to popular myth, the Duke did not move the whole village of Edensor for the sake of the view from Chatsworth. Some houses in Edensor were demolished long before his time, others were probably demolished by the 6th Duke, and he did enforce the rule of only one family per house. By the 1841 census there were only 307 people living in Edensor, a substantial reduction from the over 500 inhabitants less than 10 years earlier.
Lauren also told us of Dr William Condell who lived at Park Lodge, and was both personal physician to the 6th Duke and the local doctor to Baslow. This arrangement led to conflict when the Duke wanted Condell to accompany him on his travels at the expense of the formers local practice which never really recovered. In 1852 Dr Wrench took over his duties. The 6th Duke died in 1858.
By 1870 servants jobs were becoming increasingly defined and trained staff were attracted from further afield rather than being solely local.
1908-1950
This covers the period of the 9th Duke to the death of the 10th Duke. Fiona explained that by 1912 there were around 305 men employed on the estate, more than at any other time. Those such as gardeners and labourers were usually local men with jobs very often passed from father to son. There were around 20 women employed in the house and others were recruited locally as required especially at Christmas and during the shooting season.
New technology was increasingly being introduced. Motors cars were being used by the family, but were often unreliable. A vacuum cleaner was bought in 1911 for a sum equivalent to £20,000 today.
Chatsworth was used as a military camp during World War I. Even before conscription was introduced, Chatsworth proved to be very good for recruitment, with the effect that there were labour shortages on the estate, especially on the farms and estate gardens. In 1916 the family moved to Canada when the 9th Duke was appointed Governor General. After the war, many men did not return to the estate, many had been lost in battle and others sought a new life.
World War II saw Chatsworth being used as a girl’s boarding school. Billy, the heir, was killed during the conflict and death duties took a heavy toll on the estate. In 1950 Andrew inherited as the 11th Duke.
Fiona concluded by telling us that today more people are employed on the Chatsworth estate than ever before and played voice recordings of two examples of oral histories from people with connections to the estate. Anyone present who had worked or lived on the estate was invited to contribute to these if they felt inclined and should do so by contacting the Chatsworth Archives via: http://www.chatsworthblog.org/
Mike Woffenden thanked the three students for such a well researched and presented lecture. It had been of great interest to those present.
January - "Sir Joseph Whitworth". A talk by Stephen Coates
Stephen, a local historian based in Rowsley, began by explaining that this unsung local hero was a somewhat difficult character, but has left a remarkable legacy.
Joseph Whitworth was born in Stockport in 1803. He was apprenticed to his uncle, Charles Hulse, at the Cotton Mill, Ambergate, Derbyshire where he began to develop an interest in engineering. At the end of his apprenticeship he did not want to take over as Mill Manager having no interest in the commercial side of the operation. He moved to Manchester in 1821 and worked for Crighton and other Manchester firms in production engineering. In 1825 Joseph married his first wife, Frances and moved to London to work with Henry Maudslay. Henry and Joseph were perfectionists and worked with much more precision than the Manchester engineers. At this time there were no standard engineering measures, nuts and bolts were not interchangeable. In 1833 he returned to Manchester to set up a business in his own right and after 1 year moved to larger premises in Chorlton Street, where he remained until 1880. He published his first paper in 1840 and in 1841 gave the ground-breaking paper ‘On a universal system of screw threads’. Between 1834 and 1859 he lodged 15 patents. He developed the ‘Whitworth thread’ with an optimum 55 degree angle, which brought standardisation to the market, and was in use until the early twentieth century until replaced by the British Standards thread. In some countries it was still in use in the 1970s.
Joseph visited Colt’s factory in the USA and came back with ideas for improvements to overhead production lines. By the late 1850s he was recognised as the founding father of modern production engineering in the UK. During the Crimean War he was asked by the British Government to look at developing mass production of the Enfield Rifle. He developed an improved version, the ‘Whitworth Rifle’. Unfortunately this was rejected by the British authorities although adopted by the Confederate army in the USA and by the French. Eighteen years later the British also adopted it.
Frances died in 1870, 6 months later he married Louisa, and moved to Stancliffe Hall, Darley Dale. He bought much of the land around Stancliffe Hall in order to gain control of the area. He built West Lodge in the French style and employed Joseph Dawson to develop the grounds. During his lifetime he donated large sums to the Mechanic’s Institute, Manchester (later to become UMIST), founded scholarships and gave large sums for engineering education. He was knighted in 1869 for services to engineering.
Whitworth died in Monte Carlo in 1887 and was buried in St Helen’s Churchyard, Darley Dale. Perhaps surprisingly there is no memorial to him in the church. Many of his plans were not completed before his death but completed by Lady Louisa e.g. the Whitworth Hospital, the Institute, Swimming Pool and many other local landmarks. £500,000 of his legacy was spent in Manchester on such projects as the Whitworth Art Gallery and other parts of what is now Manchester University.
February - "Preserving Your Past". A visit to the Derbyshire Archives & talk from Lien Gyles
Lien Gyles is the Senior Conservator at the Derbyshire Archives. Members heard a fascinating lecture in which we learnt how vital it was, when keeping family documents, letters, and photographs over many years, to protect them safely. Dangers likely to beset such items were too much handling and too much light; high temperature and high humidity; ingress of water and dirt: and damage by rodents and insects.
Lien advised how to package and store documents correctly, how to handle them safely, and of the need to avoid acidic paper, sellotape, cheap paperclips, and non-permanent inks. Adherence to these important rules should enable family papers to survive for many, many years, and be available for examination by future generations.
Lien illustrated her own conservation work by taking the audience through her efforts on an eighteenth century doctor`s record book in respect of his patients and their ailments; in all probability kept by Erasmus Darwin and accordingly of especial national importance. The volume was extremely badly damaged by damp, and each page had had to be separated and treated. This involved encasing each sheet in strengthening fine mesh either side; cleaning off dirt and mould; inserting new but compatible paper in the torn and missing areas, and then drying out the sheet thoroughly and trimming it. Even then, the pages were too fragile to rebind, but nevertheless the information was now available to read properly by investigative historians. The project took several months to complete.
As a result of this most interesting and informative talk, many of us departed home to reposition our family papers in more suitable surroundings!
March - "Baslow's Toll Bar Cottages". A talk by Ann Hall
Mike Woffenden introduced Ann, a BHG member. Ann explained that this was still very much a ‘work in progress’ and thanked the many other people who had made contributions to her research.
Ann began with some basic facts about Turnpikes. They were generally established after an Act of Parliament, often originally set up by the gentry, and tolls were required for maintenance. A Tollbar was required to have a light and a list of charges displayed, and often had a pedestrian gate. Turnpikes had mileposts, many of these are still present in the local area.
Baslow’s position on the Chesterfield to Baslow and Sheffield to Baslow Turnpikes meant that there were several Tollbars in the vicinity. Ann described her research into four Tollbar cottages, with particular reference to the occupants over time: Baslow Bridge Tollhouse, Cupola Bar on Sheffield Road, Milestone Bridge Bar on the Chesterfield Turnpike which was subsequently replaced by the Robin Hood Tollbar when the Turnpike was rerouted. She had used many sources such as photographs, maps including those from the Rutland Estate, census details, gravestones and much information from local people, especially from recent occupiers of the two remaining Tollbar Cottage buildings, Baslow Bridge and Cupola Bar.
She mentioned other intriguing possibilities such as the purpose of the Watchman’s Hut on Baslow Bridge; it may have been used to collect tolls, though there is no evidence for this, but could perhaps have been a nightwatchman’s hut. It appeared that some families were ‘career’ toll collectors. Perhaps most interesting was that Fields House, Calver has a window from the now demolished old Millstone Tollhouse incorporated into a garden building. It had travelled some distance from its original position!
Mike thanked Ann once again for such an informative talk on such well known local landmarks.
April 2017 - Visit to Sheffield Cathedral
On a bright Saturday morning at the beginning of April, members assembled at the entrance to Sheffield Cathedral for a guided tour of that historic building. Sun was streaming through the stained-glass windows, giving a colourful, bright and airy feel to the interior. We had an excellent guide, resplendent in the red gown that he and his colleagues all wear, who was extremely clued up on the cathedral`s history, and gave a superb circuit of the building, packed with information for us.
We learnt of the original wooden church on the site in Saxon times, when Earl Waltheof was the local lord, which was destroyed shortly after the Norman Conquest, when Waltheof led a rebellion against William the first. (The Saxon Cross adjacent to that church is now in the British Museum.) A small stone church replaced it, built by the Norman Lord of the Manor, William de Lovetot, but this was burnt down in the wars between rival barons in the middle ages, and had to be rebuilt by a later Lord, Gerard de Furnival.
That church survived from the early fifteenth to the eighteenth century as the Parish Church of Sheffield, being altered and extended as the years went by, and as the fortunes of the local manorial lords ebbed and flowed. These included the famous Nevil family, and in Tudor times, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who was gaoler to Mary Queen of Scots. Indeed, we examined the Shrewsbury monument to him in the Shrewsbury Chapel, and heard the intriguing story of the family burial vault beneath the chapel, which according to the records should have contained 17 bodies, but when opened during refurbishment works a couple of years ago only held two!
The church had a colourful period in the late eighteenth century, when the Reverend James Wilkinson was Vicar for nearly fifty years, as the latter was also the chief magistrate for the county and also a boxing champion. He ruled the town with a rod of iron and famously denied John Wesley from preaching in the church, as he considered him to be seditious !
In the 19th century, the church was the recipient of much financial support and enlargement from the emerging steel barons of the industrial revolution, and their names pepper the wall monument inscriptions … … Firth, Tozer, Mappin, etc. In the twentieth century, the local York and Lancaster army regiment (now disbanded) had its dedicated chapel to the side of the nave, complete with battle flags, swords, and bayonets, plus a memorial to the navy`s HMS Sheffield sunk in the Falklands War. Small stained glass windows commemorate the regiment`s campaigns at Gallipoli, on The Somme, and in Salonika (WW1) and on D-day and in Burma (WW2).
In 1914, Sheffield became a city, and the church received cathedral status. In the 1960`s the west end of the building was remodelled to provide some large light-giving windows and a larger entrance with Lantern Tower containing modern stained glass.
After our tour, we enjoyed an excellent light lunch in the Cathedral Cafeteria, called the 1554 Gallery. That was so named to recognise the generosity and support given to the Cathedral by the Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust, founded in 1554 by Queen Mary Tudor, and which still continues after 463 years of continuous operation, to make grants to the Cathedral and many other charitable causes in Sheffield. In fact our Chairman, Mike Woffenden, is just about to retire after serving for eleven years as one of the trustees of that Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust.
May - "Memories of Chatsworth: Stories of the Servants and Staff 1700-1950"
An open lecture arranged in conjunction with the University of Sheffield and presented by three Sheffield University PhD students Hannah Wallace, Lauren Butler and Fiona Clapperton.
This event was a great success with84 people people attending, some from Baslow, the estate villages and others from further afield. It was particularly good to see those with a connection to the estate. There were even a few who came to the Village Hall to vote in the local elections and decided to stay for the lecture.
Each student is looking at part of the date range: Hannah 1700-1811, Lauren 1811-1908 and Fiona 1908-1951. They have access to the Chatsworth archives with help from the Chatsworth archivists. The lecture was accompanied by slides , many of original documents.
1700-1851
Hannah told us that at this time very few permanent staff were employed on the estate - in 1735 in the time of the 3rd Duke there were only 12 servants, all male except for one dairymaid. The male servants, mainly outdoor workers, would rent houses on the estate. Many more servants were employed at the Devonshire’s main home in London, Devonshire House, and would travel from house to house as required by the family. If further help was needed at Chatsworth, maids would be employed locally. At this time the amount spent on servants at Devonshire House was between two and four times that at Chatsworth and permanent staff tended to have a ‘job for life’. By 1800 servants were expected to have a basic education. There was a school at Edensor.
Hannah went on to describe the many servants of Georgiana, wife of the 5th Duke, including Hannah who started as chambermaid and became her lady’s maid. Georgiana’s hairdresser was one of the most highly paid staff on the estate.
1811-1908
Lauren began by relating the details of lavish parties held to celebrate William Cavendish’s 21st birthday in 1811. There was a total of up to 25,000 guests, though it was very much an estate event. William would become the 6th Duke and Chatsworth was his favourite home. The 6th Duke employed Joseph Paxton, and made many changes to the house and estate.
Contrary to popular myth, the Duke did not move the whole village of Edensor for the sake of the view from Chatsworth. Some houses in Edensor were demolished long before his time, others were probably demolished by the 6th Duke, and he did enforce the rule of only one family per house. By the 1841 census there were only 307 people living in Edensor, a substantial reduction from the over 500 inhabitants less than 10 years earlier.
Lauren also told us of Dr William Condell who lived at Park Lodge, and was both personal physician to the 6th Duke and the local doctor to Baslow. This arrangement led to conflict when the Duke wanted Condell to accompany him on his travels at the expense of the formers local practice which never really recovered. In 1852 Dr Wrench took over his duties. The 6th Duke died in 1858.
By 1870 servants jobs were becoming increasingly defined and trained staff were attracted from further afield rather than being solely local.
1908-1950
This covers the period of the 9th Duke to the death of the 10th Duke. Fiona explained that by 1912 there were around 305 men employed on the estate, more than at any other time. Those such as gardeners and labourers were usually local men with jobs very often passed from father to son. There were around 20 women employed in the house and others were recruited locally as required especially at Christmas and during the shooting season.
New technology was increasingly being introduced. Motors cars were being used by the family, but were often unreliable. A vacuum cleaner was bought in 1911 for a sum equivalent to £20,000 today.
Chatsworth was used as a military camp during World War I. Even before conscription was introduced, Chatsworth proved to be very good for recruitment, with the effect that there were labour shortages on the estate, especially on the farms and estate gardens. In 1916 the family moved to Canada when the 9th Duke was appointed Governor General. After the war, many men did not return to the estate, many had been lost in battle and others sought a new life.
World War II saw Chatsworth being used as a girl’s boarding school. Billy, the heir, was killed during the conflict and death duties took a heavy toll on the estate. In 1950 Andrew inherited as the 11th Duke.
Fiona concluded by telling us that today more people are employed on the Chatsworth estate than ever before and played voice recordings of two examples of oral histories from people with connections to the estate. Anyone present who had worked or lived on the estate was invited to contribute to these if they felt inclined and should do so by contacting the Chatsworth Archives via: http://www.chatsworthblog.org/
Mike Woffenden thanked the three students for such a well researched and presented lecture. It had been of great interest to those present.
May - Visit to Castleton Archaeological Dig
This addition to this year's programme was attended by 11 members who had a fascinating afternoon seeing three aspects of Castleton's archaeology.
First, this year's excavations at the Hospital site had uncovered clear evidence for the medieval structure and, finally, the layout was making sense.
Members of the Group with Colin Merrony and his assistant, Tim pointing out features of the Castleton Mediaeval Hospital Site.
Second, we visited the site of the graveyard near Peak Cavern where bodies, carbon-dated as from the 9th-11th centuries, had been found and; third, we saw the present dig at the site of New Hall, a mansion in the 18th century, now completely lost.
Although these sites had been vividly described in Colin Merrony's lecture to our group (see October 2016), the visit really brought the images to life. There is a clear difference between archaeology in real life and simply hearing about it in lectures. Our thanks go to Colin, his assistant Tim and to the Castleton Historical Society for their help in arranging the visit and acting as our guides.
June - Visit to Kelham Island Industrial Museum
This well-known heritage museum opened in 1982 to house the objects, pictures and archive material representing Sheffield’s industries. Newly restructured galleries told the story from light trades and skilled workmanship to mass production and what it was like to live and work in Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution (even in 1945, seven out of every eight cutlery factories were illegal on health grounds!). The “Little Mesters” workshops were fascinating, one or two still in use.
The highlight was seeing the mighty “River Don” engine in steam. This, the largest remaining steam engine in the UK, was once used in the rolling mills to produce plate steel for Dreadnoughts, Spitfires and the Windscale nuclear reactor.
Just as impressive was the relatively new Hawley Gallery, affiliated to the Kelham Island Museum and run by volunteers, displaying the monumental lifetime collection of hand tools acquired by Ken Hawley. There are for example two thousand saws on display.
There was even more to see such as the Brewing Gallery telling some of the history of brewing in Sheffield, the Open Store and Conservation Workshop and the National Fairground Resource archive.
July - Visit to Bakewell Church and Old House Museum
Ten members visited in the company of Jan Stetka, local historian and Chair of the Bakewell Historical Society.
Jan first set the context of the Anglo-Saxon period. When Alfred the Great died in 899, he was succeeded by his son Edward the Elder as King of Wessex. Edward pursued a take-over of the north of England that had previously been under the control of the Danes. Edward the Elder is best known for his reconquest of all of England south of the Humber after the Viking invasions of the previous century. By 917, his elder sister, Æthelflæd had taken Derby which then became the northern frontier of King Edward's kingdom. By 920 King Edward had built a fort at Bakewell and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that, after the building of the fortress at Bakewell, the king of the Scots, and Rægnald, and all of those who lived in Northumbria, English and Danish and Norse, and also the Welsh of Strathclyde, chose Edward as their father and lord. This was the time when the nation state of England first came about. It was also the time when the major religion of this new nation converted from Paganism to Christianity.
Jan illustrated these points with reference to the “Anglo-Viking” stones in the church porch. This is the largest collection of such stones anywhere in Europe, reflecting a unique combination of the effects of the four cultures of the Mercians, Northumbrians, and the Norse and Danish Vikings, each with their own distinctive styles. He explained how the carvings used both pagan and Christian symbolism to depict the same fundamental themes, for example the fight between good and evil. He illustrated this in detail using the Saxon cross in the churchyard. It was sobering to reflect that tolerance of cultural and religious difference was possibly greater in England at that time than in many subsequent eras and, possibly, even that today.
After a break for refreshment in the Old House Museum, Jan then led a tour of the museum, a Tudor building, originally built for the Gell family, prominent tithe-collectors. He showed how the building had been extended and adapted over the centuries, being converted by Sir Richard Arkwright for his mill-workers before falling into disrepair. Fifty years ago it was scheduled for demolition until local craftsmen who had worked on the fabric at various times suggested that it might be of historical importance. The then owner did not want to spend on restoration and offered the building to those trying to preserve it - the origin of the Bakewell Historical Society. The museum now displays a wide variety of papers and artefacts depicting aspects of the history of the House and of Bakewell through the centuries.
The visit, lasting almost three hours was full of interest and worthy of a much longer session. Fortunately, Jan Stetka has agreed to talk further to the History Group sometime next year.
September - Visit to Buxton Opera House
This visit proved very popular with almost 20 people receiving a detailed explanation of the history of the theatres in Buxton over the centuries from Trevor Gilman, one of over 150 volunteers who support the theatre. Trevor explained that Buxton itself developed only because the Romans discovered the hot springs there. When Mary Queen of Scots visited, a small theatre was developed as entertainment but there was nothing for a further 200 years. The Georgians found the area too cold and wet but the Victorians embraced the spa town and a series of progressively larger theatres were developed culminating in the present Opera House in 1903.
The designer, Frank Matcham, was one of Britain’s finest theatre architects being responsible for several prominent London theatres, including The Palladium and Coliseum as well as the Blackpool Tower theatre and ballroom. The design was influenced by Victorian cultural attitudes, the history of theatre accidents and fires, and new construction methods in steel. With sympathetic refurbishment over the years, the present theatre still has most of the original features and is unique of its type.
An extensive tour of all four seating areas, backstage, stage and orchestra pit then showed everyone the important features including the dressing rooms and even the ladies toilets (some unique features including a dumb waiter for the serving of refreshments!)
October - Annual General Meeting followed by “The Baslow Grand Hotel and Hydro” - a talk by Michael Woffenden
At the AGM Michael Woffenden, Chairman, reported on a very successful and varied year; the highlight being the Open Lecture in May about Chatsworth’s servants and staff over three centuries of change. The financial report for 2016-17 and budget for next year were approved and the committee members were reappointed with two new members.
The programme for 2018 was outlined and promises a rich mixture of heritage and local history. Full programme details are to be found on the "News and Events" page of this website.
Following the AGM, Mike Woffenden gave a talk on the Baslow Hydro. This covered;
All this was set in the context of the social milieu of the time and its relevance to Baslow and gave a glimpse of the facilities and lifestyle available to the guests. All in all this was a fascinating and informative exposition. Mike was encouraged to write-it up in full when time permits and to publish it as a monograph on this website.
November - ‘Beauchief Abbey, the Premonstratensians and the Medieval Church in England' - a talk by Colin Merrony
Mike Woffenden welcomed Colin once again. Colin is a Teaching Fellow at Sheffield University and, although the advertised talk was ‘Beauchief Abbey’ he had chosen to expand this to the above. As the title promised, Colin’s talk was much more wide-ranging than originally thought.
Colin began by explaining that the medieval church was much like a modern multinational company with a business objective to deliver eternal salvation. The church had a monopoly at that time and deliberately set out to impress laity and kings alike by its sheer size and displays of wealth and learning. It enforced its principles by debate, excommunication and the’ often violent, suppression of heresy. To succeed, the church needed vast amounts of revenue, from sources such as direct gifts, legitimisation of baptisms, marriages and funerals, relics etc. Other sources of income were agriculture, property and industry; much of this organised through the monasteries. Although agricultural holdings are well documented, there is very little documentary evidence of monastic industries.
The basic concept of the monastic life was the withdrawal from society to enable full devotion to God. Monastic orders had a family structure. St Norbert of Xanten founded one of the later monastic orders, the Premonstratensians, in France in 1121. The monks followed an extreme way of life; unlike many other orders there were no lay brothers but extra labour was found locally. By 1124, 16 houses had been founded and by 1150, 200. Beauchief Abbey was a later daughter house, founded between 1173 and 1176 by Robert Fitzranulf of Alfreton. At that time, Beauchief was in Derbyshire.
Colin explained that recent archaeological research has found evidence of the extent of the Abbey’s precinct - greater than once thought. Pottery has also been found that does not appear to be from South Yorkshire or Derbyshire. Colin suggested that Premonstratensian monasteries specialised in different products e.g. Beauchief in iron products, Welbeck Abbey in pottery. There may have been an exchange of goods, but there are no surviving records to support this. He suggested this may have been a way of avoiding taxes or of sending monies back to France and thence to Rome at a time of disagreement between the Church and King Henry VIII. At the Reformation, although there is written evidence for the dispersal of land owned by the monasteries, there is again no record for the industries. Perhaps these were acquired by local businessmen and in the case of Beauchief formed the beginning of the Sheffield’s iron and steel industry?
Mike thanked Colin for such an interesting and thought provoking talk which the group had very much enjoyed.
December - "Dickens in Costume" - a talk from Stephen Coates
As the title suggests Stephen, a local historian based in Bakewell, was very appropriately dressed as Dickens himself. Stephen began by giving us some background to Dickens’ life. He was born in 1812 in Portsmouth. Interestingly this makes him a contemporary of Joseph Whitworth (born 1803), a previous subject of a talk by Stephen to the group. It is well known that Dickens walked the streets of London gathering information about the rich and poor for his writings. He had a huge workload, producing many novels in the form of weekly or fortnightly episodes. He also wrote many ghost stories, these are little known apart from ‘A Christmas Carol’.
Stephen then spoke in character, giving us insights into Dickens’ life story, interspersed with readings from his writings. It was interesting to hear that the Dickens family moved from a comfortable life in Portsmouth to more reduced circumstances in Chatham, although family life still seemed to be happy. His parents were likened to the Micawbers. His mother attempted to set up a boarding school in their home, but this failed. When Dickens was 12 his father was sent to a debtor’s prison, sadly his younger siblings joined their father in prison. The parallels between Dickens’ life and the settings of his books became more apparent.
Stephen pointed out a couple of local connections with Dickens. He showed us a book ‘Evenings at Haddon Hall’, illustrated by George Cattermole who also did illustrations for Dickens. Little Nell’s grave was supposed to be at Tong, Shropshire. An enterprising verger at the church, not only arranged for a ‘gravestone’ to her, but also falsified the burial entry in the church register. He was found out as he confused her with Nell Gwyn!
This talk was very well received by the group, a pin could have been heard to drop during it. Mike thanked Stephen for such a well-constructed, seasonal and extremely interesting talk.
This addition to this year's programme was attended by 11 members who had a fascinating afternoon seeing three aspects of Castleton's archaeology.
First, this year's excavations at the Hospital site had uncovered clear evidence for the medieval structure and, finally, the layout was making sense.
Members of the Group with Colin Merrony and his assistant, Tim pointing out features of the Castleton Mediaeval Hospital Site.
Second, we visited the site of the graveyard near Peak Cavern where bodies, carbon-dated as from the 9th-11th centuries, had been found and; third, we saw the present dig at the site of New Hall, a mansion in the 18th century, now completely lost.
Although these sites had been vividly described in Colin Merrony's lecture to our group (see October 2016), the visit really brought the images to life. There is a clear difference between archaeology in real life and simply hearing about it in lectures. Our thanks go to Colin, his assistant Tim and to the Castleton Historical Society for their help in arranging the visit and acting as our guides.
June - Visit to Kelham Island Industrial Museum
This well-known heritage museum opened in 1982 to house the objects, pictures and archive material representing Sheffield’s industries. Newly restructured galleries told the story from light trades and skilled workmanship to mass production and what it was like to live and work in Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution (even in 1945, seven out of every eight cutlery factories were illegal on health grounds!). The “Little Mesters” workshops were fascinating, one or two still in use.
The highlight was seeing the mighty “River Don” engine in steam. This, the largest remaining steam engine in the UK, was once used in the rolling mills to produce plate steel for Dreadnoughts, Spitfires and the Windscale nuclear reactor.
Just as impressive was the relatively new Hawley Gallery, affiliated to the Kelham Island Museum and run by volunteers, displaying the monumental lifetime collection of hand tools acquired by Ken Hawley. There are for example two thousand saws on display.
There was even more to see such as the Brewing Gallery telling some of the history of brewing in Sheffield, the Open Store and Conservation Workshop and the National Fairground Resource archive.
July - Visit to Bakewell Church and Old House Museum
Ten members visited in the company of Jan Stetka, local historian and Chair of the Bakewell Historical Society.
Jan first set the context of the Anglo-Saxon period. When Alfred the Great died in 899, he was succeeded by his son Edward the Elder as King of Wessex. Edward pursued a take-over of the north of England that had previously been under the control of the Danes. Edward the Elder is best known for his reconquest of all of England south of the Humber after the Viking invasions of the previous century. By 917, his elder sister, Æthelflæd had taken Derby which then became the northern frontier of King Edward's kingdom. By 920 King Edward had built a fort at Bakewell and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that, after the building of the fortress at Bakewell, the king of the Scots, and Rægnald, and all of those who lived in Northumbria, English and Danish and Norse, and also the Welsh of Strathclyde, chose Edward as their father and lord. This was the time when the nation state of England first came about. It was also the time when the major religion of this new nation converted from Paganism to Christianity.
Jan illustrated these points with reference to the “Anglo-Viking” stones in the church porch. This is the largest collection of such stones anywhere in Europe, reflecting a unique combination of the effects of the four cultures of the Mercians, Northumbrians, and the Norse and Danish Vikings, each with their own distinctive styles. He explained how the carvings used both pagan and Christian symbolism to depict the same fundamental themes, for example the fight between good and evil. He illustrated this in detail using the Saxon cross in the churchyard. It was sobering to reflect that tolerance of cultural and religious difference was possibly greater in England at that time than in many subsequent eras and, possibly, even that today.
After a break for refreshment in the Old House Museum, Jan then led a tour of the museum, a Tudor building, originally built for the Gell family, prominent tithe-collectors. He showed how the building had been extended and adapted over the centuries, being converted by Sir Richard Arkwright for his mill-workers before falling into disrepair. Fifty years ago it was scheduled for demolition until local craftsmen who had worked on the fabric at various times suggested that it might be of historical importance. The then owner did not want to spend on restoration and offered the building to those trying to preserve it - the origin of the Bakewell Historical Society. The museum now displays a wide variety of papers and artefacts depicting aspects of the history of the House and of Bakewell through the centuries.
The visit, lasting almost three hours was full of interest and worthy of a much longer session. Fortunately, Jan Stetka has agreed to talk further to the History Group sometime next year.
September - Visit to Buxton Opera House
This visit proved very popular with almost 20 people receiving a detailed explanation of the history of the theatres in Buxton over the centuries from Trevor Gilman, one of over 150 volunteers who support the theatre. Trevor explained that Buxton itself developed only because the Romans discovered the hot springs there. When Mary Queen of Scots visited, a small theatre was developed as entertainment but there was nothing for a further 200 years. The Georgians found the area too cold and wet but the Victorians embraced the spa town and a series of progressively larger theatres were developed culminating in the present Opera House in 1903.
The designer, Frank Matcham, was one of Britain’s finest theatre architects being responsible for several prominent London theatres, including The Palladium and Coliseum as well as the Blackpool Tower theatre and ballroom. The design was influenced by Victorian cultural attitudes, the history of theatre accidents and fires, and new construction methods in steel. With sympathetic refurbishment over the years, the present theatre still has most of the original features and is unique of its type.
An extensive tour of all four seating areas, backstage, stage and orchestra pit then showed everyone the important features including the dressing rooms and even the ladies toilets (some unique features including a dumb waiter for the serving of refreshments!)
October - Annual General Meeting followed by “The Baslow Grand Hotel and Hydro” - a talk by Michael Woffenden
At the AGM Michael Woffenden, Chairman, reported on a very successful and varied year; the highlight being the Open Lecture in May about Chatsworth’s servants and staff over three centuries of change. The financial report for 2016-17 and budget for next year were approved and the committee members were reappointed with two new members.
The programme for 2018 was outlined and promises a rich mixture of heritage and local history. Full programme details are to be found on the "News and Events" page of this website.
Following the AGM, Mike Woffenden gave a talk on the Baslow Hydro. This covered;
- the reason for its origin in 1881(a lack of suitable high-quality accommodation for the gentry and businessmen attracted to the surrounding attractions)
- Its rapid development and heyday from1881to 1913 (when its construction fuelled a boom in the local economy and the Hydro had to be expanded despite charges equivalent to 5-star hotels of today)
- Its decline after WWI (lack of capital investment for modernisation and changes in leisure destinations).
All this was set in the context of the social milieu of the time and its relevance to Baslow and gave a glimpse of the facilities and lifestyle available to the guests. All in all this was a fascinating and informative exposition. Mike was encouraged to write-it up in full when time permits and to publish it as a monograph on this website.
November - ‘Beauchief Abbey, the Premonstratensians and the Medieval Church in England' - a talk by Colin Merrony
Mike Woffenden welcomed Colin once again. Colin is a Teaching Fellow at Sheffield University and, although the advertised talk was ‘Beauchief Abbey’ he had chosen to expand this to the above. As the title promised, Colin’s talk was much more wide-ranging than originally thought.
Colin began by explaining that the medieval church was much like a modern multinational company with a business objective to deliver eternal salvation. The church had a monopoly at that time and deliberately set out to impress laity and kings alike by its sheer size and displays of wealth and learning. It enforced its principles by debate, excommunication and the’ often violent, suppression of heresy. To succeed, the church needed vast amounts of revenue, from sources such as direct gifts, legitimisation of baptisms, marriages and funerals, relics etc. Other sources of income were agriculture, property and industry; much of this organised through the monasteries. Although agricultural holdings are well documented, there is very little documentary evidence of monastic industries.
The basic concept of the monastic life was the withdrawal from society to enable full devotion to God. Monastic orders had a family structure. St Norbert of Xanten founded one of the later monastic orders, the Premonstratensians, in France in 1121. The monks followed an extreme way of life; unlike many other orders there were no lay brothers but extra labour was found locally. By 1124, 16 houses had been founded and by 1150, 200. Beauchief Abbey was a later daughter house, founded between 1173 and 1176 by Robert Fitzranulf of Alfreton. At that time, Beauchief was in Derbyshire.
Colin explained that recent archaeological research has found evidence of the extent of the Abbey’s precinct - greater than once thought. Pottery has also been found that does not appear to be from South Yorkshire or Derbyshire. Colin suggested that Premonstratensian monasteries specialised in different products e.g. Beauchief in iron products, Welbeck Abbey in pottery. There may have been an exchange of goods, but there are no surviving records to support this. He suggested this may have been a way of avoiding taxes or of sending monies back to France and thence to Rome at a time of disagreement between the Church and King Henry VIII. At the Reformation, although there is written evidence for the dispersal of land owned by the monasteries, there is again no record for the industries. Perhaps these were acquired by local businessmen and in the case of Beauchief formed the beginning of the Sheffield’s iron and steel industry?
Mike thanked Colin for such an interesting and thought provoking talk which the group had very much enjoyed.
December - "Dickens in Costume" - a talk from Stephen Coates
As the title suggests Stephen, a local historian based in Bakewell, was very appropriately dressed as Dickens himself. Stephen began by giving us some background to Dickens’ life. He was born in 1812 in Portsmouth. Interestingly this makes him a contemporary of Joseph Whitworth (born 1803), a previous subject of a talk by Stephen to the group. It is well known that Dickens walked the streets of London gathering information about the rich and poor for his writings. He had a huge workload, producing many novels in the form of weekly or fortnightly episodes. He also wrote many ghost stories, these are little known apart from ‘A Christmas Carol’.
Stephen then spoke in character, giving us insights into Dickens’ life story, interspersed with readings from his writings. It was interesting to hear that the Dickens family moved from a comfortable life in Portsmouth to more reduced circumstances in Chatham, although family life still seemed to be happy. His parents were likened to the Micawbers. His mother attempted to set up a boarding school in their home, but this failed. When Dickens was 12 his father was sent to a debtor’s prison, sadly his younger siblings joined their father in prison. The parallels between Dickens’ life and the settings of his books became more apparent.
Stephen pointed out a couple of local connections with Dickens. He showed us a book ‘Evenings at Haddon Hall’, illustrated by George Cattermole who also did illustrations for Dickens. Little Nell’s grave was supposed to be at Tong, Shropshire. An enterprising verger at the church, not only arranged for a ‘gravestone’ to her, but also falsified the burial entry in the church register. He was found out as he confused her with Nell Gwyn!
This talk was very well received by the group, a pin could have been heard to drop during it. Mike thanked Stephen for such a well-constructed, seasonal and extremely interesting talk.