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Little Eaton

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LITTLE EATON, (or Eaton Parva), a chapelry in the parish of Derby St. Alkmund, hundred of Morleston, county Derby, 3 miles N. of Derby, its post town. The Derby and Ripley branch of the Midland railway has a station here. It is situated on a branch of the Derby canal, near the river Derwent. There are some stone quarries, and the manufacture of paper is carried on. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Lichfield; value £110, in the patronage of the Vicar of St. Alkmund's. The Independents and Wesleyans have each a chapel, and there is a National school.”

from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

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Archives & Libraries

Little Eaton is served by the Mobile Library on route 5, which stops by the Village on every fourth Thursday at mid-day.

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

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Cemeteries

The churchyard was enlarged in 1903.

We have a pop-up window of a partial extract of Parish Register burials in a text file for your review. Your additions and corrections 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
1881R.G. 11 / 3393
1891R.G. 12 / 2726
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Church History

  • The ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1863 from St. Alkmund parish of Derby. Prior to then, this place had been a Chapel of Ease to St. Alkmund.
     
  • The chapel of ease was rebuilt in 1791. The chapel had been in a ruinous condition for decades before this and was last used as a blacksmith's shop. The new chapel was consecrated in July, 1791.
     
  • The chapel was enlarged in 1837.
     
  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Paul.
     
  • The church seats 350.
     
  • David BEVIS has a photograph of the church tower on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.
     
  • The church has its own website with current information and a brief history.
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Church Records

  • The chapel was licensed for baptisms and burials in 1790.
     
  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1813 for baptisms, marriages from 1865 and burials from 1814. Earlier registers exist under St. Alkmund, Derby.
     
  • You might find these newspaper death notices from Trish Symonds of Australia useful, too.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Duffield.
     
  • The Independents had a chapel here built in 1843 to seat 100.
     
  • The United Methodists had a small chapel here before 1857 and replaced it with a larger church in 1906. This church closed in 1981.
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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

"LITTLE EATON is a chapelry and village, in that part of the parish of St. Alkmund which is in the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, rather more than one mile from Duffield. Here are many valuable collieries and productive stone quarries; bleaching grounds, belonging to Messrs. Smith & Sons, and machine-paper works of Messrs. Tempest & Son; there are, besides, malting concerns, and corn-mills on the Derwent river."

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

The parish covers only 530 acres and a small stream called "Bottlebrook" runs through the village.

The railway came to the village in 1856. Chris ALLEN has a photograph of the former Railway Station on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2018.

You can see pictures of Little Eaton which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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History

  • Rail passenger service came to the parish in September, 1856.
     
  • In 1857 the parish had six stone quarries being worked.
     
  • Transcription of section of Lysons' Topographical and Historical Account of Derbyshire, 1817, for Little Eaton by Barbarann AYARS.
     
  • Malcolm NEAL has a photograph of The Bell and Harp Pub on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2017.
     
  • Ian CALDERWOOD has a phtograph of the old Anchor Inn on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2016. The Inn closed in 1956.
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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK359419 (Lat/Lon: 52.973053, -1.467125), Little Eaton which are provided by:

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Military History

  • In 1891, Colonel Edward Andrew NOEL resided at the Outwoods in this parish. He was a Justice of the Peace for Nottinghamshire and later Derbyshire. He was an officer in the 31st Foot regiment and later the Colonel of the 1st Gloucestershire Royal Volunteers. He was born circa 1825 down in Kent and was widowed from his wife Sarah Gay Forbes and age 66 by the time of the 1891 census. At that census, his 33-year-ol daughter Matilda Catherine NOEL lived with him. She was born in Gloucestershire. His wife had been born in Thurlston, DBY, circa 1830.
     
  • The Little Eaton War Memorial is a stone, timber and slate lychgate to the churchyard.
     
  • The Traces of War website tells us that there is 1 Commonwealth War Grave from World War I and 1 from World War II.
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Military Records

The World War I casualty buried in the churchyard is:

  1. William Everard YATES, rifleman, KRR Corps, died 26 May 1918.
     

The Lychgate bears this plaque for World War One:

"REMEMBER THE MEN OF
LITTLE EATON WHO IN THE
CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND RIGHT
GAVE THEIR LIVES 1914-1918"
  1. ANDREW ADCOCK
  2. ERNEST JOHN BIRKINSHAW
  3. G. ANDREW BROWN
  4. GEORGE H. BOROUGH
  5. REGINALD CHAMBERS
  6. WILLIAM CHAMBERS
  7. THOMAS CLARKE
  8. JOHN DUGGAN
  9. FRANK FLETCHER
  10. HARRY FOX
  11. HAROLD GRACE
  12. SAMUEL GRACE
  13. GEORGE HASKEY
  14. ALBERT E. HUGHES
  15. CHARLES E. HUNT
  16. JOSEPH INGRAM
  17. ALBERT MARSHALL
  18. CHARLES F. POOLE
  19. WILLIAM C. SALT
  20. G. ALBERT SMITH
  21. ARTHUR SMITH
  22. JOHN C. SWINDELL
  23. JOSEPH W. TATAM
  24. J. FREDERICK WALTERS
  25. HARRY D. WILDMAN
  26. T. P. CAMERON WILSON
  27. W. EVERARD YATES

Ernest John BIRKINSHAW, above, was a sapper in the Royal Engineers. He died on 5 March 1918 and is buried in Canada. The Birkinshaw name is well-known in Little Eaton.

The World War II casualty buried in the churchyard is:

  1. Eric JOHNSON, volunteer, Home Guard, age 19, died 3 Jan. 1941.

The Lychgate bears this plaque for World War Two:

"TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE
MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF THIS
PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN
THE WORLD WAR 1939 - 1945
  1. ARTHUR BATES
  2. FRANK J. BEECHINOR
  3. JACK FLETCHER
  4. WILLIAM FIDDLER
  5. ARTHUR HADLEY
  6. ERIC JOHNSON
  7. HARRY PIGGS
  8. ERIC RICHARDSON
  9. DOUGLAS H SEALE
  10. PETER SHORTHOUSE
  11. EDWIN W WALTERS
"THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD AS WE THAT
ARE LEFT GROW OLD
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE
MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient Chapelry in Derby St. Alkmund parish in Derby county and it was incorporated as a modern Civil parish in December, 1866.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient Morleston and Litchurch Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • You may contact the local Little Eaton Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed or funded to provide family history searches. Their web site does give access to information about local clubs and the village hall. At last check (2012), the local history page was incomplete.
     
  • 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.
     
  • The Common Land was enclosed here in 1780.
     
  • After the Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became part of the Shardlow Poorlaw Union.
     
  • In 1861 the TEMPEST Will set up an annual charity of £6 and 3s 10d to provide a Christmas dinner for up to 24 poor people.
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Schools

A Public Elementary School (mixed) was erected here in 1884 and enlarged in 1896 and again in 1912 to hold up to 240 students.

David BEVIS has a photograph of the Old School House on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.