Compliments of Mike Spencer Please verify all entries against the Parish Register ----------------------------- Taken from 'The Derbyshire Village Book' published by the Derbyshire Federation of Women's Institutes & Countryside Books, 1991. ISBN 1 85306 133 6 The name Redlauseton found in the Domesday survey probably derived from Rodlaueston, an Anglo-Saxon name meaning the farm of Hrolf, a Norseman. Rosliston was a pleasant agricultural settlement and in 1801 it had a population of 257, which rose to 360 by 1831. In 1849 a school was built by public subscription. The present school opened in 1876 with 44 pupils. Fees ranged from tuppence halfpenny to sixpence depending on age and social class. In 1802 Rosliston and other neighbouring parishes were united for poor law purposes under an Act of 1782. A workhouse, or `House of Industry' as it was described on a plaque above the door, was built at Rosliston. In 1838 the combined salary of the master and matron of the workhouse, Mr John Campion and his daughter Elizabeth, was over £36 per annum. The workhouse was sold in 1840 to Joshua Hardy for £200 and converted into tenements. These have long since been demolished and part of the Yew Tree estate now occupies the site. A crime was committed in 18S9 that upset the tranquillity of the village. A reward of £2 was offered for the apprehension and conviction of the `evilly disposed person who did on Friday night or early Saturday morning, wantonly and maliciously pull up a quantity of onions and seriously damage a quantity of beans growing on a plot of ground occupied by William Whittingham.' The culprit was never discovered. The church was largely rebuilt and extended in 1819, and today the church of St Mary the Virgin consists of a small apsidal chancel, nave and south porch, and at the west end a tower surmounted by an octagonal spire. This, the oldest part of the church, dates back to the first half of the l4th century. In addition to its church, Rosliston had a Methodist chapel for over a hundred years. There is reference to a chapel in the village in Circuit documents dating back to 1851 but the chapel still remembered today celebrated its centenary in 1973, a year before it closed. The chapel, now alas demolished, was built on to the side of the Plough inn, although, as far as is known, there was no inside means of access from one to the other! In 1955 the Milligan family of Caldwell Hall donated a packet of land to the inhabitants of Rosliston and Caldwell for the purpose of providing a village hall. The actual building was based on a prisoner of war hut transferred from the camp situated off Linton Road. Historically the main occupation of Rosliston's inhabitants has been farming, but in more recent times many people have been employed in coal-mining and at nearby Drakelow power station. Since the mid 1960s, with new housing developments, there has been an influx of newcomers to the village but Rosliston has maintained its essentially agricultural character. ----------------------------- Revised 2-March-2014