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DERBY - Description from Pigot's 1835 Directory

DERBY is a market, borough, and county town, possessing separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch: it is 126 miles N.W. from London, 56 S.E. from Manchester, 34 S.S.E. from Chapel-en-le-Frith, 33 S.S.E. from Buxton, 24 S. from Chesterfield, 16 W. by S. from Nottingham, 13 S.E. from Ashbourn, and 12 N. by E. from Burton-upon-Trent. Derby is a very ancient town, occupying a flat tract of land, on the banks of the river Derwent; and is situate peculiarly favourable for the process of manufactures requiring the aid of water: various mills have therefore been established in the town, or its immediate vicinity, for the manufacture of silk and Cotton; but the most celebrated works are those of porcelain, and ornaments of Derbyshire spar and marble.

The manufacture of silk is carried on to a considerable extent, and the number of men, women and children employed in it is very considerable; the articles produced from silk are various, embracing hose, handkerchiefs, shawls, ferrets, laces and sewing silk. The original mill erected by Mr. Crochett, called 'the Silk Mill,' by way of pre-eminence, being the first and largest of the kind ever erected in England, stands on an island in the river Derwent; its history is remarkable, and serves to shew the great influence which the enterprises of an individual have on the commerce of a country.

The manufacture of porcelain was originally established here about the year 1750, by the ingenious Mr. Duesbury; but the most considerable improvements have been effected since his decease, by the judicious method of preparing the paste and increasing the beauty of the decorations: the ware itself is not of equal fineness with the French and Saxon, but its workmanship and ornaments are far superior. The beautiful ornaments composed of the ware, called 'White Biscuit', are peculiar to Derby.

The manufacturing of spar, and polishing of marble, carried on here, is very curious. Various other branches of business besides the manufactures already mentioned, are also conducted on a considerable scale; and several works of magnitude have lately been established: a mill for the slitting and rolling of iron; a large furnace for smelling copper ore, with a machine for flattening and rolling the copper into sheets; a red lead, colour and varnish manufactories; a mill for making tinned plates; extensive malting concerns, corn mills, tanneries and soaperies; within these few years there have been introduced large establishments for printing books; and on Nun's-green, a bleaching-ground has been opened, in which the processes are performed by chymistry.

The town is governed by a mayor, nine aldermen, fourteen brethren, and fourteen capital burgesses, who elect their successors; the mayor, ex-mayor and four senior aldermen being always justices of the peace. The assizes for the county are held here, as are also the sessions, except those at midsummer, which are held at Chesterfield; the mayor holds a quarterly court of session, and a court-leet twice in the year, the corporation being lords of the manor; there is also a court of requests, for the recovery of small debts, held at the guildhall every second Tuesday. Derby returns two members to parliament; the present representatives are George H. Cavendish and Edward Strutt, Esqrs.; the mayor is the returning officer. The limits of the borough (as defined by the new Boundary Act, an appendage to the Reform Bill), comprise the old borough of Derby. Under the same act Derby is appointed the place of election for members to represent the southern division of the county.

Derby is divided into five parishes (each possessing a church), viz, All Saints', St. Werburgh's, St. Alkmund's, St. Peter's, and St. Michael's. All Saints' church, which, prior to the dissolution, was collegiate, is considered the principal architectural ornament to the town; the interior is particularly light and elegant: the beautiful screen of rich open iron-work is said to have cost £500. Several elegant monuments are in the church; that to the memory of William, Earl of Devonshire, who died in 1628, and a splendid one to the celebrated Countess of Shrewsbury, are specially worthy notice. The tower, which is one hundred and eighty feet high, was erected in the reign of Henry VII: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the mayor and corporation. The original church of St. Werburgh, was built, it is supposed, prior to he Conquest; the present edifice is of modern date: the living of St. Werburgh's is a discharged vicarage; in the patronage of the crown.

St. Alkmund's is supposed to have been originally founded early in the ninth century: the living is a vicarage, not in charge, in the patronage of the mayor and corporation. The churches of St. Peter's and St. Michael's are very ancient and of uncertain dates: the living of the former is a discharged vicarge, in the patronage of the family of Wright, of Market Bosworth; and that of St. Michael, also a discharged vicarage, in the gift of the crown. The chapels of ease to St. Werburgh's and St. Peter's churches, are of recent erection, and very ornamental structures to the southern entrance of the town. The other places for divine worship comprise chapels for the several denominations of methodists, independents, particular and general baptists, unitarians, Roman catholics, society of friends, and a new Jerusalem temple.

The principal public buildings are, a very beautiful infirmary erected by subscription, replete with every convenience; the county hall, a town hall, a county gaol, an elegant assembly room, and a theatre. Among the modern improvements of the place are the lighting and paving of the streets, and removing those obstructions that prevented a free passage; the removal of several bridges that were built across the Mark Eaton brook, and erecting three new ones of stone, as well as an elegant bridge of three arches over the Derwent, which, together with the silk mills, the weirs, and the broad expanse of the river, forms a very pleasing prospect on entering the town from the Nottingham road. The vicinity furnishes a variety of agreeable walks, where the inhabitants may enjoy a salutary exercise, and a succession of prospects distinguished by the softer features that attend cultivation.

Numerous bequests for the relief of the poor have been made at different times by benevolent persons; the most considerable of these are, the 'Devonshire alms-house', for the support of poor men and women; Wilmot's hospital, for four poor men and women; & Large's hospital, for five clergymen's widows. National and Lancasterian schools, numerous Sunday schools, two infant schools, and a free-school, founded by Walter Durdant, bishop of Lichfield, and William de Barba Aprillis, in the reign of Henry II. are the other principal charities. Science and literature meet with encouragement; this may, in some degree, be ascribed to the philosophical society, established here about the year 1772. Several book societies have also been instituted; the works purchased for which are chiefly of a scientific purchased philosophical tendency. Here is a mechanics' institute, and a permanent library, established in 1811; a self-supporting dispensary, and a vagrant office, have likewise been just completed.

Few towns in England are in possession of so rich a treasure, as that of the splendid collection of paintings, sculptures, and objects of virtu, for which Derby is indebted to the affluence, the liberality, and the taste of Joseph Strutt, Esq.; this assemblage, comprises pictures from the pencils of renowned ancient and modern painters, statues, busts, and marbles, from the chisels of Canova, and other eminent sculptors, a singularly fine Egyptian mummy, &c. &c., which are admirably displayed in a superb suite of rooms and corridor, situate in St. Peter-street, and visiters are gratuitously admitted.

In the vicinity of the town are many elegant seats and mansions; the country around is exceedingly fertile, well wooded, and plentifully supplied with water. The surface of the country is flat to the south of the town, and only gently waved on the other sides. The market-day is Friday: the fairs are, January 25th, Friday in Easter week, third Friday after May 1st, Friday in Whitsun week, and July 25th, for horses, cattle, and sheep, - and March 21st, 22d, and 23d, and September 27th, 28th, and 29th, for cheese; a cheese market, or fair, is also held on the last Tuesday in August, markets for cattle every Friday in May, and for fat cattle every alternate Tuesday throughout the year. Races take place annually, on a fine course close to the banks of the Derwent. The population of Derby, including those parts of the parishes of St. Alkmund, St. Michael, and St. Peter, extending beyond the borough, amounted, in 1821, to 19,648 persons, - in 1831, the borough contained 23,607 inhabitants, and those parts without the borough 6,101, - total 29,708.

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie ©1999]

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