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Riddings

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RIDDINGS-WITH-IRONVILLE, a manufacturing and market town and ecclesiastical district in the parish of Alfreton, hundred of Scarsdale, county Derby, 2½ miles S.E. of Alfreton, its post town. It is situated near Butterley Park. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the iron and coal mines. In the town are extensive iron-works, forges, and furnaces, for smelting iron-ore. The new line of road from Manchester to Nottingham, and a branch of the Cromford canal, pass through this place, which has rapidly increased within the last half-century. The population in 1861 was 4,146.

The living is a perpetual curacy* with the curacy of Somercotes annexed, in the diocese of Lichfield, value £150, in the patronage of the Vicar of Alfreton. The church, dedicated to St. James, was erected in 1830, the cost of which was partly defrayed by subscription, and partly by the parliamentary commissioners. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans."

"IRON-VILLE, a manor in the parish of Alfreton, county Derby, 3 miles S.E. of Alfreton. It is situated on the Erewash canal.”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

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Archives & Libraries

In 1911, the parish had the Riddings Working Men's Association and Library.

Riddings is served by the Mobile Library on route 5, which stops by the West Street Park on every fourth Friday morning. The same Mobile Library visits Ironville in the late morning.

The nearby Ripley Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

Alternatively, the Alfreton Library is also a good resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

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Cemeteries

The Leabrooks Cemetery is used by Riddings, Somercotes and Swanwick parishes. It opened in 1895 and is under the control of the Amber Valley District Council. If you cannot find your relatives burial in the Riddings churchyard, look for them here.

Stephen McKAY has a photograph of the Leabrooks Cemetery on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2006.

David BEVIS has a photograph of the Leabrooks Cemetery gates on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2016.

Mike SPENCER has provided a partial extract of burials found in the parish register. You additions and corrections will be welcomed.

The Derbyshire Ancestral Research Group has a list of surnames from Riddings Cemetery Monuments on the website.

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Census

  • The parish was in the Alfreton sub-district of the Belper Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1861R.G. 9 / 2511 thru 2516
1871R.G. 10 / 2370
1891R.G. 12 / 2749
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Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint James.
     
  • The church was built in 1832 to replace a former Chapel of Ease.
     
  • Riddings was established as an ecclesiastical parish the year the church was built.
     
  • The church was restored in 1885.
     
  • The church tower and spire were restored in 1912.
     
  • The church seats 700.
     
  • Michael BARDILL has a photograph of St James Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2006.
     
  • A Church of England Mission Room was opened at Pye Bridge in 1887.
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from January, 1840.
     
  • The Anglican church was in the Alfreton Deanery.
     
  • The Baptists founded a chapel in 1806 and enlarged their 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. It was renovated in 1894-95.
     
  • The Primitive Methodists had a chapel here prior to 1872.
     
  • A United Methodist chapel was built in Greenhill Lane in 1876.
     
  • A Brethren's meeting house (Quaker) was built in Greenhill Lane in 1880.
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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 & 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.]

Pye Bridge is a hamlet 3 miles south-east from Alfreton which is associated with this village. Jubilee is a ridge-top section of Pye Bridge.

Golden Valley is a small hamlet at the crossroads just south of the railway, south of Riddings. Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Caravan Park in Golden Valley on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.

Greenhill Lane is a hamlet 2 miles south of Alfreton which is associated with this village.

You can see pictures of Riddings which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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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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History

  • The Alfreton Iron Works were established here in 1801 and employed about 4,000 people.
     
  • Christine JOHNSTONE has a photograph of the Dog and Doublet Public House in Pye Bridge on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2017.
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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK429528 (Lat/Lon: 53.07072, -1.361175), Riddings which are provided by:

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Military History

  • Hugh McKENNA also has a photograph of the War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2005.
     
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Military Records

The names on the War Memorial for 1939-1945 are:

  • J. H. ATKINSON
  • John J. BALL
  • D. A. CLARK
  • A. COOPER
  • S. COOPER
  • L. COPE
  • M. DUFFIELD
  • William Henry DUROE (620 Sqdn. RAFVR)
  • C. GIBBS
  • Albert HIBBITT (RAFVR)
  • P. HITCHCOCK
  • Frederick William JONES (RAFVR)
  • C. LEWIS
  • R. OGDEN
  • D. PASS
  • Lesley Miles RENSHAW
  • A. SWINSCOE (James?)
  • Douglas Thornill WALTERS (HMS Hood)
  • William Arthur WILLSON (2nd Bn. Sherwood Foresters)
  • L. WRIGHT

William Henry DUROE, above, was the son of William Frederick and Mary DUROE, of Riddings. This couple had been married in Chesterfield.

St. James churchyard holds two Commonwealth War Graves from World War II:

  1. Albert HIBBITT, srgt., RAF vol. rsrv., age 21, died 25 Jan. 1942.
  2. Francis Edwin WILSON, priv., Army Ordnance Corps, age 36, died 12 Feb. 1941, from Lincolnshire.

There is also a Riddings man, pte. Leslie GRATIX, of the Pioneer Corps, who died 21 Dec. 1944 and is buried in the nearby Leabrooks Cemetery.

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Politics & 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).
     
  • District governance is provided by the Amber Valley Borough Council.
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

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

A Public Elementary School (infants) was built here in 1883 for 259 infants.

A Public Elementary School (Boys and girls) was built here in 1844 and enlarged in 1886 for 330 boys and 320 girls. Average attendance in 1911 was 242 boys and 230 girls.

A National Infant School was erected in Golden Valley in 1871, for 70 infants.