OCKBROOK, Derbyshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"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]

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]