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Spondon

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SPONDON, a parish in the hundred of Appletree, county Derby, 3¼ miles S.E. of Derby, its post town. It is a station on the Midland counties railway. The village is situated near the Derby canal and the river Derwent. The parish formerly included the chapelries of Stanley, Chaddesden, and Lockhay, but these have recently been erected into separate parishes. A large portion of the inhabitants are employed in the cotton mills, and in framework knitting.

The village, situated on an eminence overlooking the Vale of Derwent, is of considerable extent, and contains many good houses. The chief produce is cheese. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £162. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has a spired tower and five bells. There is also a district church at Stanley, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £64. The parochial charities produce about £186 per annum, of which £17 go to Gilbert's school. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel."

"LOCKHAY, (or Locko) a chapelry in the parish of Spondon, hundred of Appletree, county Derby, 5 miles N. E. of Derby. Here was anciently a hospital of the order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, which, on the suppression of alien priories, was given to the Society of King's Hall, Cambridge.”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

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Archives & Libraries

The Spondon Library is on Sitwell Street. It is open 5 days each week, excluding holidays, from 8:30am to 5pm.

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Bibliography

  • Susan Watson, "Spondon A History", Watnay Publishing, 1989, 62 pages; ISBN 1 8724 18 00 7
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Cemeteries

  • Spondon Cemetery of 1.5 acres opened in 1880.
     
  • The cemetery is under the management of the Burial Board of the Parish Council.
     
  • Michael SPENCER of the UK has performed a partial extract of Parish Register burials for your review. Your corrections and additions are welcomed.
     
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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.
1851H.O. 107 / 2141
1861R.G. 9 / 2494
1891R.G. 12 / 2726
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Church History

  • The original church here was a wood and wattle structure built around 700 AD. It was eventually replaced by a stone church.
     
  • A church stood here for many years, but was destroyed in the Great Spondon Fire of 1333.
     
  • A district church was built here in the Early English Style in 1839 and opened for services in 1840. It had Western tower with spire 114 feet high.
     
  • The church was for many years known as St. Mary's but in 1890 it was discovered to have been dedicated to St. Werburgh.
     
  • The church was thoroughly restored in 1892.
     
  • The church seats 700.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of St. Werburgh's Church on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2014.
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1580 for baptisms, 1653 for burials and 1714 for marriages.
     
  • The parish register Includes entries for the chapelry of Stanley until late 19th century.
     
  • Marriages at Spondon, 1653-1812 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 Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1877. The Methodist Church is on Lodge Lane.
     
  • Ian CLADERWOOD has a photograph of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2017.
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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

"SPONDON, in the hundred of Appletree, is a parish which was formerly more extensive than now, the chapelries of Chaddesden, Lockhay, and Stanley having been some years since separated from it, and erected into distinct parishes. The village of Spondon, which is about three miles E.S.E. from Derby. is situate on a commanding eminence, overlooking the beautiful vale of Derwent, and is the residence of several highly respectable families."

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

The village of Spondon lies 3.5 miles east of Derby and 129 miles north of London, although it has been absorbed into the larger Derby municipal boundaries as of 1968. You may find current information at the Spondon Online site, including photographs.

TrentBarton operates the local bus service, the Spondon Flyer, shown here in this photograph on Geo-graph, taken by Steven McKay in November, 2011. Check out their current schedule.

You can see pictures of Spondon which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

Samuel LEWIS's 1848 "Topographical Dictionary of England and Wales", 7th edition, Vol 4, p.162, states:

"SPONDON, St Mary, ** [Ed. note: see below], a parish, in the Poor Law union of Shardlow, hundred of Appletree, Southern Division of the county of Derby, 3 1/2 miles east by south from Derby; containing 1,586 inhabitants. The parish was formerly more extensive than at present, the chapelries of Chaddesden and Stanley having been separated from it in 1836, and erected into distinct parishes. It comprises 3,091 acres of land, of which 609 are arable, 2,363 pasture, 92 wood, and 25 water. The beautiful mansion of Locko Hall, surrounded by a well-wooded park of 240 acres, is situated here.

The VILLAGE, seated on a commanding eminence overlooking the Vale of Derwent, is of considerable extent, and the residence of several highly respectable families. The inhabitants are principally employed in agriculture, and in the manufacture of stockings, mits, and silk gloves; a few persons are engaged in brick-making. The Derby Canal passes for more than two miles through the parish, and has a wharf about half a mile from the village; near which, on the south side, is a station of the Midland railway.

The LIVING is a discharged Vicarage, valued in the King's Books at 6 pounds 14 shillings and 7 pence; net income 200 pounds, with a glebe-house; patrons, the Trustees under the Will of the late W.D. LOWE, Esq. The Tithes for the liberty of Spondon were partly commuted for land and a money payment in 1788.

The CHURCH is a large structure in the Decorated English style, and consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with a tower and spire 114 feet high; in the chancel are three stone stalls: the edifice was thoroughly repaired in 1826, at a cost of 1,200 pounds. In the churchyard is an antique stone, apparently Saxon. There are also places of worship for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists.

A SCHOOL is endowed with land producing about 15 pounds per annum; and excellent Church of England schools were built in 1839, by subscription and public grants.

Charities: William GILBERT left by Will, in 1649, the sum of 1,000 pounds, with which 51 acres 1 rod and 30 perches of land were purchased at Spondon, now worth 114 pounds per annum; 20 shillings are given to ten poor people every Sunday, and the surplus is applied to charitable purposes at the discretion of the Trustees."

** There has been some confusion over the years about the dedication of the Church at Spondon, but it is now definitely under the dedication of ST. WERBURGH, not St. Mary. St. Werburgh was a Mercian Saint and Royal Princess who died in 699.

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Genealogy

Irene DOODY is researching the COXON family of Spondon.

Peter COXON married Sarah LANE at St. Michael's Derby in 1742, both of Spondon.

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History

  • In 1333 a fire broke out at the Malt Shovel Public House. A strong easterly breeze blew the fire through the village consuming many building, including the church. The mayor of Spondon was the only casualty, but the village was all but destroyed.
     
  • A large part of the parish land was given over to pasturage before 1900.
     
  • A number of Inns and Public Houses existed in Spondon.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of The Anglers Arms on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.
     
  • The Anglers Arms Public House had the following proprietors listed in Directories:
YearPerson
1842-- not listed --
1874Js. COLLEY
1891William DEDMAN
1895William DEDMAN
1912Thos. BENTLEY
  • J. THOMAS has a photograph of The Crown Inn on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2013.
     
  • The Malt Shovel Public House had the following proprietors:
YearPerson
1835William HARRISON
1842Wm. HARRISON
1857Robert FORD
1874Timothy WINFIELD, v.
1891Henry BAKER
1895William FOSS
1899William FOSS
1912William HASLAN
  • Jonathan CLITHEROE has a photograph of The Moon Public House on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2014.
     
  • The Prince of Wales Public House had the following proprietors:
YearPerson
1842-- not listed --
1857-- not listed --
1874Jas. BANCROFT
1891-- not listed --
1895-- not listed --
1912Fredk. AUSTIN
  • The Vernon Arms Public House had the following proprietors:
YearPerson
1842-- not listed --
1857-- not listed --
1891-- not listed --
1895-- not listed --
1912Thomas TOMPSON
  • The White Swan Public House had the following proprietors:
YearPerson
1835John BENNETT
1842Jno. BENNETT
1857Thomas COXON
1874Thos. COXON, v.
1895Peter COXON
1899William DEDMAN
1912Fredk. Lewis WARD
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Manors

Spondon Hall, a square mansion of red brick, was the seat of William Thomas Edwards COX in 1899.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK403358 (Lat/Lon: 52.918115, -1.40209), Spondon which are provided by:

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Military History

Captain Henry Stair SANDYS (1842 - 1912) of the Royal Navy lived here in 1899.  He had married Frances Beatrice ABNEY at St. Alkmund's in Derby City in 1866.

  • Captain William Drury DRURY-LOWE of the Grenadier Guards resided here in 1912. He had served in the South African War and died during the first World War in the 1916 Battle of the Somme.
     
  • During World War One, there was a VAD Red Cross Hospital here.
     
  • According to the Traces of War website, there are 4 Commonwealth war graves from World War I and 13 from World War II in the churchyard.
     
  • Spondon's War Memorial Plaque is on the wall of the village library.
     
  • The Spondon Liberal Club has a Roll of Honour on a glazed and framed plaque.
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Military Records

These are the Commonwealth War Graves in Spondon Cemetery:

  1. driv. Frank Stephen ASHBY, RASC, age 27, died 12 Jan 1947, husband of Kathleen ASHBY of Derby.
  2. petty officer Albert Llewelyn COPPING, RN, age 29, died 12 Feb 1946, husband of Margaret COPPING.
  3. W. O. Granville Trevor CORDON, 254 Sqdn. RAF Vol. Rsrv., age 22, died 26 Apr 1946, husband of Evelyn CORDON.
  4. Srgt. Donald DUNLOP, Royal Armoured Corps, age 25, died 9 Jul 1941, son of Robert and Annie DUNLOP of Chaddesden.
  5. trpr. Arthur Sidney HANCOCKS, Royal Armoured Corps, age 22, died 4 Sep 1941, son of Sydney Robert and Gertrude HANCOCKS.
  6. Srgt. William Mawrey HARVEY, RAF Vol. Rsrv., died 4 May 1944, son of William Howard and Ethel Mary HARVEY.
  7. air mechanic John George LAWSON, RN (H.M.S. Gosling), age 18, died 2 Jun 1944, son of Joseph Henderson and Florence Ellen LAWSON.
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Newspapers

Jane TAYLOR of Redcar offers this snippet from the Derby Mercury of 17 February 1803: "MARRIED: Yesterday at Spondon, in this county, Grayham CHAPELL, Esq. of Orston, Nottinghamshire, to Miss Maria WRIGHT, youngest daughter of the late Joseph WRIGHT, Esq. of this place."

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Obituaries

Jane TAYLOR offers this clipping from the Derby Mercury of 2 December, 1802: DIED: "On Saturday last, at Spondon, near this place, at the advanced age of 95, Mr. Wm. BARLOW, of that village, formerly well known in this town and neighbourhood, as proprietor of the Derby and Nottingham Stage Waggon."

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar provides this announcement from the Derby Mercury of 5 May, 1803: DIED: "On Saturday last, at Spondon, in this county, of the water in the head, Miss Louisa DALBY, second daughter of Mr. M. S. DALBY, of that place."

Jane TAYLOR has this clipping from the Derby Mercury of 5 January, 1804: DIED: "On Thursday last, aged 47, Mrs BRADSHAW, wife of Mr. Vinceslimus BRADSHAW, of Spondon, in this county."

Jane TAYLOR offers this extract from the Derby Mercury of 27 Dec 1804: DIED: "On Thursday last, aged 73, Mrs BRETNALL, widow, and relict of Thomas BRETNALL, late of Spondon, Esq."

Jane TAYLOR offers this tidbit from the Derby Mercury of 14 Feb 1805: DIED: "On Monday last at Spondon, in this county, after a short but severe illness, in his 29th year, most deservedly lamented, Wm. FEARNLEY, gent. Ensign in the Company of Volunteers at that place."

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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient parish in Derby county and became a modern Civil Parish when these were estabished.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient Appletree Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • In April, 1968, this Civil Parish was abolished and the land split between Dale Abbey and Ockbrook Civil Parishes.
     
  • Spondon is now a part of the City of Derby.
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Derby petty session hearings every Friday.
     
  • As a result of the 1834 Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Shardlow Poorlaw Union.
     
  • The parish had four almshouses on Sawpit lane erected in 1873, the gift of Mrs. BARROW, of Beach House.
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Population

 YearInhabitants
18011,119
18311,867
18411,954
18512,052
19012,550
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Schools

  • A Public Elementary School was built here in 1839 and enlarged in 1887 to hold 500 children. Average attendance in 1895 was 100 boys, 110 girls and 105 infants.