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Ockbrook

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OCKBROOK, a parish in the hundred of Morleston, county Derby, 5½ miles E. by S. of Derby, and 1 mile N. of the Borrowash railway station. The village, which is large, is situated near the canal on the road from Nottingham to Derby. The rivers Derwent and Trent, and the Midland Counties railway, run through the parish. A portion of the inhabitants are engaged in the cotton mills on the banks of the Derwent, and in the manufacture of bobbin and lace thread. The tithes were commuted for an allotment of land under an Enclosure Act in 1772.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £154. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient structure, with a low-spired tower containing three bells. The E. window is of stained glass. The church was restored and enlarged in 1835. The parochial charities produce about £21 per annum. There are National and infant schools for both sexes.

The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a place of worship. There are two boarding-schools, one for boys and the other for girls, and in the centre a large chapel. The Moravians have an establishment here, founded in 1750. The principal buildings stand in a regular line, and consist of a single sisters' house, in which upwards of thirty females are engaged in fine needlework, also a smaller house for about the same number of single men. Ockbrook House is the principal residence. The neighbourhood is studded with genteel residences."

"BURROW-ASH, a hamlet in the parish of Ockbrook, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, in the county of Derby, 5 miles to the E. of Derby. It is situated near the N. bank of the river Derwent, and is a station on the Midland railway. The Roman road from Derventio, or Little Chester, to Verometum, passed by this place. The manufacture of hosiery is carried on here. Burrow-Ash is within the honour of Tutbury, in the duchy of Lancaster." [BORROWASH/BURROWASH noted as alternative spellings -RL 2003]”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

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Archives & Libraries

The Derby City Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

There is also the Long Eaton Library, a good resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

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Cemeteries

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Census

  • The parish was in the Spondon sub-district of the Shardlow Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1841 H.O. 107 / 189
1851 H.O. 107 / 2141
1861 R.G. 9 / 2493
1891 R.G. 12 / 2726
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Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to All Saints.
     
  • The church was enlarged and repaired in 1835.
     
  • The church was thoroughly restored in 1898.
     
  • The church seats 400 (one source tells us it is 600 sittings).
     
  • Andrew ABBOTT has a photograph of a dark and dismal All Saints' Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2010.
     
  • Stephen McKAY has a photograph of a portion of All Saints' Church on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2011.
     
  • A mission chapel, dedicated to Saint Stephen, was built in Borrowash in 1889-90.
     
  • a Moravian establishment was founded here in 1750. During the 18th and 19th century, Ockbrook was a major centre of Moravian worship:
"At the village of Ockbrook, five miles from Derby, the Brethren built another beautiful settlement. For some years, with Ockbrook as a centre, they had a clear field for work in the surrounding district; they had preaching places at Eaton, Belper, Codnor, Matlock, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Dale, and other towns and villages; and yet not a single one of these places ever developed into a congregation."

(A History of the Moravian Church, J. E. HUTTON, 1909)
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1642, but the period between 1662 and 1669 is "irregular".
     
  • Marriages at Ockbrook, 1631-1812 are available in Nigel BATTY-SMITH's database of scanned images of Phillimore's Parish Registers.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Ilkeston.
     
  • The Primitive Methodists had a chapel built here in 1824 and enlarged in 1842.
     
  • A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built here in 1808.
     
  • Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of the Methodist Church along Nottingham Road on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2017.
     
  • The Primitive Methodists had a chapel built at Borrowash in 1851.
     
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Civil Registration

  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
  • The parish was in the Spondon sub-district of the Shardlow Registration District.
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Description & Travel

"OCKBROOK is a parish, in the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch; the village is about two miles E. from Spondon, and about five E. by S. from Derby. This place partakes with Spondon in the manufacture of bobbin-net and lace. At a short distance from the village is an establishment of the Moravians, founded in 1750; the females, who are employed in fine muslin work, occupy a building, called the 'sisters' house', separated from that inhabited by the single men by a commodious chapel and a boarding-school. The parish church, dedicated to All Saints, is chiefly in the Norman style of architecture. A place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, and a national school, the latter erected in 1816, are in the village. The parish (which has no dependent township), contained, in 1821, 1,203 inhabitants, and in 1831, 1,634."

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

The parish is near the Derby Canal, 5 miles east of Derby city and 130 miles north of London. It covers over 1,600 acres and includes the village of Borrowash and the hamlet of Shacklecross (alternately spelled Shachlecross).

Richard VINCE has a photograph of the Village Sign on the B5010 as you enter Borrowash from the east, taken in July, 2012.

You can see pictures of Ockbrook which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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History

  • The annual parish feast day was historically the Sunday nearest to November 13th.
     
  • Trevor RICKARD has a photograph of The Royal Oak Pub. on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2010.
     
  • Proprietors of The Royal Oak (in various directories):
 Year Proprietor
1835 Wm. PEAT
1855 John PEAT
1891 Henry PEAT
1912 Mrs. Susan Hannah LAMBERT
  • Stephen McKAY has a photograph of The Cross Keys Pub. on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2011.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Queens Head Pub. on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2017.
     
  • Proprietors of The Queens Head (in various directories):
 Year Proprietor
1855 Thomas ABBOTT
1891 Thomas Arthur RICHDALE
1912 Frederick WHITE
  • David LALLY has a photograph of the Nag's Head Pub. in Shacklecross on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2017.
     
  • Proprietors of The Nag's Head (in various directories):
 Year Proprietor
1855 -- not listed --
1891 Joseph WHITE
1912 Mrs. Harriett SHATWELL
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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK423357 (Lat/Lon: 52.917062, -1.372361), Ockbrook which are provided by:

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Migration, Internal

  • Those checking migrations might also wish to be aware that Ockbrook had a "sister" community at Fulneck, Pudsey (YKS).
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Military History

  • A marble and Caen stone monument to Lieut. Charles HEARSEY was erected in the old boarding school. The Lieutenant fell in the Cheardeh Valley campaign near Cabul (Kabul) in 1879.
     
  • During World War One, there was a VAD Red Cross Hospital here.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Borrowash World War One Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2017.
     
  • There is a photograph of the War Memorial on WW1-Yorkshire (for some reason).
     
  • The Traces of War website tells us that there are 5 Commonwealth War Graves for World War One at Ockbrook.
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Military Records

These are the Connonwealth War Graves in All Saints Churchyard:

  1. Private Samuel E. BLACKSHAW, Sherwood Foresters, died 21 Nov 1916.
  2. Private H. COOK, Sherwood Foresters, died 22 Nov 1919.
  3. Flying Officer Alan Douglas GARDNER, R A F Vol. RSRV., age 23, died 11 Jun 1943.
  4. Private Charles HUCKLESBY Tank Corps, age 29, died 22 Nov 1918.
  5. Private Thomas Arthur LINNETT, Durham Light Inf., died 4 May 1917.
  6. Captain Maurice Douglas Guest SCOTT, Royal Flying Corps, died 17 Mar 1918.

In All Saints Church is a World War I Memorial which is a white marble tablet on a rectangular black marble backboard. It reads:

"IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF THIS PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1919."

  1. BADDELEY, FREDERICK A. H.
  2. BARBER, WILLIAM
  3. BARBER, JAMES
  4. BEEDHAM, NATHANIEL H.L-CPL.
  5. BLACKSHAW, SAMUEL E.
  6. BROOKS, WILLIAM V.
  7. BROOKS, HERBERT
  8. BROOKS, REGINALD
  9. BROWN, SAMUEL
  10. BRINDLEY, DAVID
  11. BOSWORTH, JOHN R.
  12. BUTLER, FREDERICK
  13. CLIFFORD, JAMES
  14. CONNOR, S. MAURICE 2ND.LIEUT.
  15. DANVERS, THOMAS H.
  16. DAY, WALTER S.
  17. DYCHE, JOHN LIEUT.
  18. ELLIOTT, JAMES
  19. FITCHETT, JOHN A.
  20. FREARSON, FREDERICK
  21. GAMBLE, GEORGE
  22. GODDARD, GEORGE
  23. GREENWOOD, JAMES
  24. GUEST-SCOTT, MAURICE D. LIEUT.
  25. HAMNER, WILLIAM
  26. HASSÉ, MARGARET H. NURSE
  27. HASSÉ, EDWIN, R. L-CPL.
  28. HEATON, HENRY B. CPL.
  29. HOLMES, LEON
  30. HUDSTON, JOHN
  31. HUNT, JOHN R. L. 2ND. LIEUT.
  32. HUCKLESBY, CHARLES
  33. JACKSON, CHARLES
  34. JACKSON, JAMES
  35. JOHNSON, FRANK
  36. JUFFS, ERNEST R. CPL.
  37. KINGHAM, JOHN ELI
  38. LANE, THOMAS H. L-CPL.
  39. LEES, FRED SERGT.
  40. LINES, EDWARD WILLIAM G.
  41. LINNETT, THOMAS ARTHUR
  42. LONGDEN, ARCHIE
  43. LONGDON, THOMAS L-CPL.
  44. MACCONNELL, HARRY R.
  45. MACCONNELL, L. L-CPL.
  46. MACCONNELL, WILLIAM
  47. MANLEY, WALTER SERGT.
  48. MANLEY, ALFRED
  49. MATCHETT, THOMAS
  50. MATCHETT, WILFRED
  51. MIDDLETON, HENRY
  52. MOORLEY, HENRY L-CPL.
  53. MOSELEY, WILLIAM
  54. MOSLEY, EDWIN D.C.M.
  55. MOULT, SAMUEL W. 2ND. LIEUT.
  56. ORDISH, REGINALD A.
  57. ORCHARD, HUGH T. 2ND. LIEUT.
  58. PARKIN, GEORGE F. 2ND. LIEUT.
  59. PARKIN, GEORGE RICHARD
  60. PEARCE, FREDERICK W.
  61. PHIPPS, HARRY PETTY OFCR.
  62. PLUMMER, MARTIN
  63. PRICE, HARRY
  64. PRICE, JOHN
  65. RAINS, HORACE G. SERGT.
  66. ROBINSON, HENRY H. L-CPL.
  67. SIMKINS, ELIJAH
  68. SIMMONDS, FRANK
  69. SIMS, LAURENCE
  70. SMART, WALTER J. CPL.
  71. SMEDLEY, FREDERICK W.
  72. SMITH, ALFRED
  73. SMITH, ARTHUR
  74. STEVENS, JOHN JAMES
  75. STREET, HARRY CPL.
  76. TAYLOR, HENRY LIEUT.
  77. THORNTON, GEORGE E.
  78. TWIGG, CHARLES K.
  79. WALTON, GEORGE
  80. WARDEN, CYRIL
  81. WHEATLEY, WILLIAM
  82. WELLS, ALBERT
  83. WILKINS, RONALD C. L-CPL.
  84. YEOMANS, FRANK W.

The WW2 commemoration is in a similar style. The Memorial reads:

"1939 - 1945
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

  1. CHARLES H. BARNES
  2. ALBERT H. BOWLER
  3. ALBERT BURROWS
  4. MAURICE H. DAVIS
  5. LESLIE DRAKARD
  6. ROBERT E. DUNMALL
  7. ALAN DOUGLAS GARDNER
  8. WILLIAM G. GARRATT
  9. WALTER HARPER
  10. WILLIAM H. HENSHAW
  11. JAMES H. KINGSBURY
  12. ALFRED J. LEWSLEY
  13. WALTER MATCHETT
  14. HENRY PANNELL
  15. PETER ROOK
  16. ALBERT SALLOWAY
  17. GEORGE W. SALSBURY
  18. FRANCIS M. SMITH
  19. GEORGE M. SMITH
  20. EDWARD STEVENS
  21. HARRY WEBSTER
  22. THOMAS WIGLEY
  23. DOUGLAS WINSTANLEY
  24. HAROLD WINSTANLEY
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Newspapers

The Ockbrook News has been taken over by the Eyrewash Sound Radio station.

Andrew ABBOTT has a photograph of the Ockbrook News on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar contributes this snippet from the Derby Mercury of 18 November, 1802, MARRIED: "On Thursday last, at Ockbrook, in this county, Mr. Thomas DOLMAN, to Miss Elizabeth WILD, of Borrowash."

Jane TAYLOR of Redcar provides this extract from the Derby Mercury of 16 June 1803. MARRIED: "On Thursday last, at Ockbrook, in this county, Mr. John HANCOCK, to Mrs. Grace COOK, both of that place."

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Obituaries

Jane TAYLOR of Redcar provides this snippet from the Derby Mercury of 19 July 1804. DIED: "On the 13th inst. at Ockbrook, in this county, Miss Sarah Ann DALBY; eldest daughter of the late Matthew Stanfield DALBY, late of Biggin."

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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient parish in county Derby and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient Morleston and Litchurch Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • You may contact the local Ockbrook and Borrowash parish council regarding civic and political issues, but they are NOT staffed to provide family history searches for you.
     
  • District governance is provided by the Erewash Borough Council.
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Derby petty session hearings.
     
  • As a result of the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became a member of the Shardlow Poorlaw Union.
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Schools

A National School (mixed) was erected in Borrowash in 1840 to hold 130 boys and girls and 80 infants.

A National School (mixed) was erected in Ockbrook in 1848 to hold 165 children and 70 infants.

There was a Moravian Boys' Boarding school in Ockbrook. Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Moravian School on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2017.