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Pentrich

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Pentrich, par., township, and vil., Derbyshire - par. (containing Ripley town), 4,071 ac., pop. 8,185; township, 1,883 ac., pop. 887; vil., 2½ m. SW. of Alf re ton; P.O.

From John BARTHOLOMEW's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)

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Archives & Libraries

The Library at Alfreton is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

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Bibliography

J. STEVENS, "England's Last Revolution Pentrich 1817," 1977, Moorland Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0903485432.

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Cemeteries

Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the churchyard Lych gate on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2009.

Neil THEASBY has a photograph of St. Matthew's churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2016.

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Census

  • The parish was in the Ripley 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 2513
1871R.G. 10 / 3589
1891R.G. 12 / 2747
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Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Matthew.
     
  • The church is not mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, but an 1154 charter reports the gift of the church to the canons of Darley Abbey.
     
  • The church was built circa 1150.
     
  • The church tower was made higher in the late 14th century.
     
  • The church was restored in 1859.
     
  • The church is a Grade I listed building with British Heritage.
     
  • The church seats 200.
     
  • Robert HOWL has a photograph of St. Matthew's Church on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2012.
     
  • Robert HOWL also has a photograph of St. Matthew's tower on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2012.
     
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1621 for baptisms.
     
  • Marriages at Pentrich, 1640-1837 are available in Nigel BATTY-SMITH's database of scanned images of Phillimore's Parish Registers.
     
  • Mike SPENCER has provided a partial extract of burials found in the parish register. Your additions and corrections are welcomed.
     
  • We also have a pop-up window of the 1640 Protestation Rolls in a text file for your review.
     
  • And there is available in Nigel BATTY-SMITH's Phillimore's images the 1641 Protestation Roll for this parish.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Alfreton.
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Civil Registration

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

  • Jane TAYLOR in Redcar provides this extract from the Derby Mercury of 27 October 1803: "On the 15th inst, to Derby gaol, a girl about 13 years of age, on suspicion and also on her own confession with having on the 13th instant set fire to a barn belonging to Mr. Wm. BOOTH, of Pentridge, in this county, wherein was contained ten wagon loads of corn;."
     
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Description & Travel

"PENTRICH, a parish in the hundred of Morleston, county Derby, 5 miles N.E. of Belper, its post town, 2½ S.W. of Alfreton, and 3 W. of the Ambergate railway station. The village, which is considerable, and was formerly a market town, is situated on the road from Birmingham to Sheffield through Ripley, near the Cromford canal tunnel and the river Derwent. The tunnel of the Cromford canal is 2,966 yards in length, and in the neighbourhood is the reservoir of the Nottingham canal."

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

There is a good photograph of Pentrich main road taken by Alan MURRY-RUST on Geo-graph.

John DART has a photograph of the Village sign on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2015. Obviously the authorities have NOT forgotten the "revolution" of 1813.

Alan MURRY-RUST also has a photograph of the Village Hall on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2009. Visitors should stop in and ask for a schedule of forth-coming events.

You can see pictures of Pentrich which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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History

  • The parish is mentioned in chapter 12 of D. H. LAWRENCE's "Sons and Lovers".
     
  • The parish is famous for the "Pentrich Revolution", an act of civil unrest from June, 1817, when a large body of men planned to march on Nottingham to protest rising food prices and the depression and unemployment that followed the ending of the Napoleonic Wars.
     
  • We have a list of those who were punished for participating in the Pentrich Revolution.
     
  • An extensive list of the Pentrich Revolutionaries can be found on Spnglefish.
     
  • Mike BARDILL has a photograph of the Pentrich Revolution Plaque on Geo-graph taken in April, 2006.
     
  • Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of The Dog Inn on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2009. The Inn is noted for its fine food. Prior to 1900, this was apparently "The Old Dog Inn".
     
  • These are the names associated with the Dog Inn in various directories:
     
Year Person
1891Benjamin GODBER
1895Geo. WAYNE, farmer
1912Attwood SEARANCE

Benjamin GODBER, above, was born in Pentrich in 1837.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK388527 (Lat/Lon: 53.070086, -1.422248), Pentrich which are provided by:

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Military History

  • There is a War Memorial just outside St. Matthew's Church, northeast of the building and close to the road. A white marble Latin cross on a three-stepped base.
     
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Military Records

  • Inside St. Matthew's Church there is a memorial window to Lieut. Bernard R. WINTHROP-SMITH who died in World War One.
     
  • The three names listed on the War Memorial in the churchyard for WWI are:
     
  1. Albert FILSELL, 1st Bn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers, son of Joseph and Mary Ellen FILSELL.
  2. Arthur FILSELL, Royal Navy, HMS Queen Mary, son of Joseph and Mary Ellen FILSELL.
  3. Cyril Howarth TOWLSON, Royal Engineers, son of Arthur John and Eliza Ann TOWLSON.
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Names, Geographical

In the 1086 Domesday Book the name appears as Pentric, meaning "Hill of the Boar" in Celtic.
A. D. MILLS, A Dictionary of English Place Names," Oxford Publ., 1991

You will often find the name mis-transcribed in old records. It may appear as "Penbridge" or "Pentrick".

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Newspapers

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar provides this announcement from the Derby Mercury of 6 October 1803: FIRE: "A few days since a fire broke out in a barn belonging to Mr William BOOTH, at Pentridge, in this county, which happily was extinguished before much of the property was consumed.- We are sorry to state the Mr Robert MARSDEN, a considerable farmer of that place, as he was assisting to remove some thatch from the flames, suddenly fell down and instantly expired."

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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient parish in Derby county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
     
  • This parish was in the ancient Morleston and Litchurch Hundred (or Wapentake).
     
  • You may contact the Pentrich Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT funded to do family history lookups for you.
     
  • 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 Ilkeston (Ripley Court) petty session hearings every other Monday.
     
  • As a result of the 1834 Poorlaw Amendment Act reforms, this parish became part of the Belper Poorlaw Union.
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Schools

A National School (mixed) was built about 1800 by the Duke of Devonshire, for 120 boys and girls and 60 infants.