Some facts and info about DUFFIELD that might be of interest…
(and more info here)
THE PARISH
The parish of Duffield, containing our large village and outlying farms, is set in the valley of the river Derwent about five miles north of the city of Derby. It has a pleasant rural setting on the southern fringe of the Peak District while having good road and rail links for both public and private travel. The A6, the former trunk road from London to Carlisle runs through the village and is here called Town Street. Our Local Authority is Amber Valley Borough Council within the county of Derbyshire and our Parliamentary Constituency is Mid Derbyshire.
We have had our own Parish Council since 1897 and a Village Community Association since 1972.
Link to Duffield Parish Council website
THE PEOPLE
The 2011 census showed that there were 5,046 inhabitants living in 2,022 households, this having risen from 2,000 in 1901 to 2,200 in 1921, 3,400 in 1961 and 4,800 in 1981.
The recent census showed an age mix of about one quarter under 18, one quarter retired, and half in the 18 – 64 range. About one-third of residents have lived in their present home for more than 15 years. Of the households, over 82% are home owners. The number of graduates is almost twice the national average.
A high proportion of professional & managerial people live in the parish – about 50% of the working population compared with 26% in all Derbyshire. Our most famous past inhabitant must be Ernest, later Lord Hives, who was the major moving force of Rolls Royce from 1936 to 1956. He was responsible for the Merlin engine which powered the Spitfire during World War Two and the entry of Rolls-Royce into the gas turbine era.
THE HISTORY
Set as it is in the fertile, though occasionally flooded, Derwent Valley at the confluence of the Derwent and Ecclesbourne Rivers, Duffield and the surrounding areas have attracted settlers for a long time. The old village was founded on the ridge of higher ground between the two rivers. Iron Age Celtic settlements dating from around 400BC are suggested by some physical evidence and local place names. ‘Chevin’, meaning ’High bare ridge’ dominating the north of the village, stems from the celtic language as does the name ‘Derwent’, meaning ‘River abounding with oak trees’. Following their invasion of Britain in AD43 the Romans established a military presence and mined lead in the hills to the north-west of the village. A Roman road to transport the ore can still be seen crossing the Chevin on its way to join the famous Roman thoroughfare of Ryknield Street near Breadsall. However, the first written record is in the Domesday survey of 1085, commissioned by William the Conqueror to catalogue his new realm. Duffield (under the name ‘Duvelle’) is mentioned as having been confiscated from the Danish Earl Siward who was probably the same man who fought the Normans alongside Hereward the Wake. It had become an estate of the de Ferrers family and housed a priest, a church and two mills. There were then probably about 250 people living in the village – quite a significant number compared with about 1,000 in the town of Derby.
Duffield has an historic tradition of independence. Some say that this stems from a long time without a resident Lord of the Manor. The de Ferrers family lost their local possessions to the king in 1173 and their castle, if it ever was finished, was demolished. The mound with visible foundations and a well is today administered by the National Trust. The Duchy of Lancaster became the non-resident landlord and when Henry, Duke of Lancaster, became King Henry IV in 1399 the village became part of the royal hunting forest known as Duffield Frith. The most well-known servant of the Frith was the Deputy Steward at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was Anthonie Bradshaw, an independent and idiosyncratic man, a lover of his native Derbyshire, whose recently restored monument is in the parish church of Saint Alkmund. The Frith came to an end in 1634 when most of the Commoners were arbitrarily excluded from the land they had formerly farmed. After the Civil War, Parliament returned the land to the Commoners in 1650 and so it remained until the enclosures of 1786 when 117 people received allotments.
THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY
What an impact the coming of the railway in 1841 must have had upon the village! Jobs and travel outside the former confines of horse-drawn transport would become available. The Census for the following year shows the inhabitants to be engaged in 79 different occupations – only a few as yet specifically on the railway. A Railway Agent, a Contractor for Public Works, 4 Civil Engineers and 2 Railway plate layers are mentioned, initially on the Derby to Leeds route and now part of the Midland Mainline from London to the North, the railway link meant that
Duffield could begin to look outside its own borders for occupation and income.
The Derwent of course was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Cotton and silk mills were founded only a few miles away and the whole valley is now a World Heritage Site on the strength of it. At the 1841 Census only 5 people worked on the new machines. The most common occupation was that of the 148 home framework knitters or knitwear finishers. Stockingers’ long windows can be seen in a building near the former King’s Head. The Pattenmakers pub on Crown Street, recalls another former trade.
Duffield was the first station travelling north out of Derby and by the end of the century many managers and chief officers of the Midland Railway Company made homes here. The large houses built then on Castle Hill, Avenue Road, Lime Avenue and Chadfield Road were built with them and their families in mind. Expansion of the village continued with the building of Broadway in 1927. The building of Council houses began in 1937 and continued after the war.
The greatest development took place starting in the 1960s with the building of new houses occupying the whole area between Broadway and the old village centre. The village grew rapidly throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st., with building on the Saw Mills, China Factory, Colour Works and the Derbyshire Building Society computer hall sites.
The 2011 census showed that there were 5,046 inhabitants living in 2,022 households, rising from 3,400 in 1961 and 4,800 in 1981. The recent census showed an age mix of about one quarter under 18, one quarter retired, and half in the 18 – 64 range. About one-third of residents have lived in their present home for more than 15 years. Of the households, over 82% are home owners. The number of graduates is almost twice the national average.
A high proportion of professional & managerial people live in the parish – about 50% of the working population compared with 26% in all Derbyshire. Our most famous past inhabitant must be Ernest, later Lord Hives, who was the major moving force of Rolls Royce from 1936 to 1956. He was responsible for the Merlin engine which powered the Spitfire during World War Two and the entry of Rolls-Royce into the gas turbine era.
The greatest development took place starting in the 1960s with the building of new houses occupying the whole area between Broadway and the old village centre. The village grew rapidly throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st., with building on the Saw Mills, Abbeydale China Factory, Colour Works, the Hawley House and the Derbyshire Building Society computer hall sites.
