Baslow

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Freeholders and Freehold Land in Baslow

Introduction

The Duke of Rutland had been the Lord of the Manor of Baslow for generations. This article describes the freehold land and freeholders in Baslow village only. The associated hamlet of Bubnell was owned entirely by the Duke and is not considered further.

I have identified all the freeholders and the locations of their lands before the Enclosure Act of 1824, and the changes effected by the Act. Information is from Enclosure Act of 1824, the Baslow Census of 1841, the Tithe Award of 1848, and documents about Eyre property kindly provided by the Chatsworth Archive Department.

The Freeholders

The Table lists the freeholders in the village who qualified for "Allotments on the Moor" together with the size of their allotments. It also includes the Chief Rent paid by them. The size of each gives an indication of their relative importance.

The Size of the Allotments on the Moor
1824

Name	For Common Right	Chief Rent
Kitchen William	17 acres	62 perch
Marples George	11 acres	45 perch
Holmes Robert	8 acres	42 perch
Gardom Thomas	8 acres	64 perch
Johnson William	7 acres	29 perch
Duke of Devonshire	7 acres	48perch
Lees John	4 acres	45 perch
Wilson James	3 acres	Nil
Ashton Valentine	3 acres	16 perch
Bowler Sampson	2 acres	16 perch
Gregory Joseph	1 acre	Nil
Marples Joseph (?)	1 acre	Nil
Broomhead Nicholas	1 acre	4 perch
Cundy William	3 roods	Nil
Society of Methodists	3 roods	Nil
Marples John (?)	17 perch	Nil
Dawkins Ann	8 perch	Nil
Jenkinson Ralph	5 perch	Nil

40 perch = 1 rood

4 roods = 1 acre

Freehold Property before 1824

The schedules and maps with the Enclosure Act and information from Chatsworth give the location of the freehold property which is summarised in the Map of Baslow below. Most was at Nether End and around Daisy Bank, with more off Bakewell Road and in the south of the village.

Nether End The largest area of freehold in the village can be traced back to Rowland Eyre of Hassop. Records at Chatsworth confirm that he sold two farms in Baslow in 1701. Most of the land was at the north end of "The Park", in the vicinity of the Golden Gates.

The first Farm, of 20 acres and known at the time as "Marples Farm", was sold to John Jackson for £190. The main part, a Homestead and 13 acres east of Bar Brook at Nether End was subsequently bought by the Marples family, who retained it until 1826. The original farm included a few fields off the Baslow Bakewell Turnpike near Rymas Brook (perhaps the relics of an ancient Field System). The latter were sold to Robert Holmes, who sold them on to Nicholas Broomhead for £170 in 1790: finally Sampson Bowler bought 2 acres - some if not all of the area - in 1791.

The second Farm was sold to William Johnson. The Homestead was on the Bar Brook just south of the Turnpike Road to Chesterfield, with 10 acres to north of it. It included the triangular area at Nether End between Goose Green, the Bar Brook and the old Turnpike road, with two fields south of Nether End (3 acres).

In 1787 the Johnson family were in debt and had to sell part of the farm to William Kitchen, retaining the Homestead, 4 acres east of Bar Brook and the north part of the area at Goose Green (opposite the Wheatsheaf Inn). Later Johnson sold his farmhouse to the Duke of Rutland and retired to a new house (now Bar Brook House) built on his property at Goose Green. Meanwhile William Kitchen had the residue of Johnson's fields, and the southern part of the Goose Green site which he developed into a Malthouse, Brewery and "The Barrel" Inn.

Daisy Bank The Tithe Award shows a second group of freehold properties located in a small rectangle either side of Daisy Bank, covering about ¼ acre. The Houses included Moorstones, Hanover Buildings, Raleigh Cottage, Sycamore Cottage (on School Lane) and the (old) Methodist Chapel. John Lees, a resident of Bakewell who owned Moorstones, also had 2 large fields to the east and north of the house. It is tempting to guess that the whole area was (part of) some earlier freehold Farm or Estate.

Other Freehold Property Robert Holmes had 2 separate fields north of the village, Valentine Ashton had a field up Bar Road and William Bowler owned 2 fields on Rymas Brook as mentioned above. Nicholas Broomhead had 6 acres of rough hillside up the Sheffield Road near Cupola. The Trustees of Thomas Gardom of Cliff House near Curbar (he died in 1817) had three fields on the west bank of the Derwent. Finally there were two freehold houses. One was the present Prince of Wales Inn (now Rowley's) which was a Carpenter's shop and house belonging to the Gregory family. The other was Magnolia Cottage in School Lane, owned by John Marples a Millwright.

After the Enclosure Act

All the property east of Bar brook, and two fields south of Nether End, were bought by the Duke of Devonshire, that is all the original Eyre estate except the plot at Goose Green. The Duke of Rutland acquired all the fields west of the Derwent and the fields up the Bar Road & the Sheffield Road, leaving only one landowner in the village, John Holmes with two fields near Over End. There was no change in ownership of the freehold houses, with each benefiting in some way from the Act.

Baslow Freeholders after 1824

This section describes some of the more prominent freeholders in the village

Nicholas Broomhead, the Publican at The Peacock Inn (now the Cavendish Hotel), deserves special mention. He was wealthy, as he could lend £1000 to William Kitchen and like John Holmes could afford to take part in property deals. He had also owned 6 acres of rocky pasture off the Sheffield Road, the only Moorland property in private hands. It was immediately next to the Cupola, a Lead Smelting Facility. It is interesting that an ancestor John Broomhead was Smelter to the Duke of Rutland in 1679.

In the Enclosure Award he did well by getting a valuable acre of Land opposite the Church in exchange for his 6 acre pasture and his allotment on the moor. On this acre, he built a large House for himself (Baslow House) and the block terraced houses on Church Terrace and School Lane. Perhaps repayment of the £1000 owed him by William Kitchen provided the finance for the development.

As a note of interest, it is possible that this acre contained the temporary Hunting headquarters of the Duke of Rutland which is mentioned in the Exchange of Lands Documents.

William Kitchen was an entrepreneur with several interests. His family had been tenants of Bramley farm since before the Civil War. In the late 1700s he had a share in the Mill at Calver and owned land in Barlow. In 1776 he was owed money by William Johnson who could not repay. Kitchen acquired some of his land at Nether End including the southern half of the plot at Goose Green on which he built a Malthouse, a Brewery and an Inn, The Barrel. Later he too had financial problems, perhaps because of the fire which burned down Calver Mill in 1801. He had to mortgage his land in Baslow and elsewhere: In 1810 he re-mortgaged, borrowing £1000 from Nicholas Broomhead, an enormous sum in those days. The debt was partly paid off when he sold the Johnson fields to the Duke of Devonshire, and the Goose Green property to local developers. The latter included the White family who rebuilt the Inn as The Devonshire Arms in 1861.

The Gardoms were another long established Baslow family based at Far End (Yeld Farm) and associated with the place name Gardoms Edge. A branch of the family moved to Bubnell Hall, where they prospered and bought Cliff House, the residence of Thomas Gardom before the Enclosure Act. He died in 1817, and the transactions were in the name of his trustees. In exchange for three fields amounting to 6 acres in Baslow west of the Derwent, he was awarded a group fields around his house creating a small estate, which later became Cliff College.

John Lees was a resident of Bakewell. There had been Lees in Baslow 100 years earlier and while the property could have been in the family, it is likely that it was an investment. He received money not land for his Allotment on the Moor

Ashton Valentine was a resident of Baslow, and wealthy, as his will revealed properties in a number of surrounding village. His exchange in the Enclosure Award was the plot off Over Lane now occupied by Little Garth and the Meadows

Robert Holmes was the tenant farmer at Cherry Tree Farm (behind the Village Shop) He too must have had wealth, as he is known to have been involved in buying and selling fields near Rymas Brook. The origin of the two fields he owned north of Over End is not known.

Joshua Gregory a Carpenter, bought the buildings at the present Prince of Wales in 1741. In his will he left it to his three children. One carried on the business. The eldest, who inherited the section nearest the road, emigrated to London to establish a carpenters business in the capital. His daughter Ann Dawkins owned the property in 1824 at the time of the Enclosure Award. She got a small plot north of the building, which eventually became the village mortuary, a building still remembered by older village residents.

The Marples were an influential village family. George Marples had the farm at Nether End which was bought by the Duke of Devonshire in 1826 for his Park. His cousin John Marples a Millwright who owned Magnolia Cottage, was awarded land between is house and the Methodist School Room, which came his family's residence and work yard. Other independent members of this extended family included the Blacksmith, a Saddler, a Butcher, a Tailor, a Shoemaker and earlier a Publican.

The Duke of Devonshire had always owned a few acres in Baslow west of Barbrook and adjoining Chatsworth Parish.

Further details of the Property owned by Villagers immediately before & after the Enclosure Award are available on a separate webpage.

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[This information was kindly contributed by David Dalrymple-Smith in October 2005 & amended May 2007.
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