BREADSALL, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"BREADSALL, a parish in the hundred of Appletree, in the county of Derby, 2 miles to the N. of Derby, its post town. The Derby water-works are in this parish, and it is crossed by the North Midland railway, the Little Eaton canal and the river Derwent. It was the site of a house of Friars Eremites, founded, it is said, by the Dethick family, about the middle of the 13th century, and subsequently converted into an Augustine priory. It had a revenue of £13, and was given by Edward VI. to Henry, Duke of Suffolk.

Good building stone is obtained in the parish, and some of the villagers are employed in the manufacture of hosiery. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Lichfield, of the annual value of £580, with 452 acres of glebe land, in the patronage of Sir John H. Crewe, Bart. The church, a spacious building with a tower and lofty spire, was repaired in 1830. It is dedicated to All Saints, and contains a monument to the botanist and poet, Dr. Darwin, who died in 1802 at Breadsall Priory.

The rectory of this parish was held for nearly 20 years by John Hieron, a learned Nonconformist of the 17th century. The Wesleyans have a chapel, and there is a free school, founded in 1788, and subsequently endowed by John Clayton with an income of £10 a year. There is also a handsome National school, erected in 1837 conjointly by the late Sir George Crewe and the Rev. Henry R. Crewe, the rector. The poor have the benefit of several other charitable bequests, producing about £50 per annum."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]