RIDDINGS (and IRONVILLE), Derbyshire

Census

• The parish was in the Alfreton sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint James.
  
  
• The church was built in 1845 to replace a former Chapel of Ease.
  
  
• Riddings was established as an ecclesiastical parish the year the church was built.
  
• The church seats 1,000.
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican church was in the Alfreton Deanery.
  
• The Baptists enlarged their earlier chapel in 1833.
  
  
• The Independents built a chapel in 1821 and enlarged it in 1839.
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists rebuilt their chapel in 1838 so that it could seat 400 people.
  
  
• The Primitive Methodists had a chapel here prior to 1872.
  

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Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Alfreton sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
  

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Description and Travel

"RIDDINGS is a chapelry, in the parish of Alfreton, about 3 miles S. from that town. The new line of road from Manchester to Nottingham, and a branch of the Cromford canal, connected with Mansfield by a rail-road passes through this place. In the immediate neighbourhood are extensive iron-works, employing many of the inhabitants, of whom some are also employed in the adjacent mines, forges &c. at Codnor Park."

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

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Directories

• Ann Andrews provides a transcription of the Riddings entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

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Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Riddings with Ironville from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

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Historical Geography

• Ironville was built in the early to mid 1800's as a "Model Village" (i.e. laid out symmetrically), by the owners of The Butterley Iron Company for their employees. The village lies between Riddings and Codnor Park and is on the Notts border. There were once three bustling canals - Cromford, Erewash and Pinxton, but now sadly all defunct.
  
  
• A Mechanics Institute was built in the early 1840's, interestingly, before the Church and School. The Mechanics in those days were artisans and craftsmen (not motor vehicle repairers... - Ed), and the Institutes were, we think, for providing for the 'extra curricula' needs of the parish's skilled workers or tradesmen. [Information provided by Janet Kirk]

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Military History

• Rob HOWL provides a photograph of the War Memorial on Flickr, taken in 2012.
  
  
• There is a photograph of the War Memorial dedication on Picture the Past, taken in 1919.
  

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Politics and Government

• This place was an ancient Chapelry in Alfreton parish in Derbyshire and was NOT established as a modern Civil Parish.
  
• This parish was partly in the ancient Scarsdale Hundred (or Wapentake).
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• As a result of the 1834 Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms, this parish became a member of the Belper Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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