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April 2005 Newsletter

Notice of Annual General Meeting
Meeting
Exhibition
Summer Outings
Donations
Review of Past Activities

The Society records with great sadness the death of David Salt, one of its most loyal and longstanding members including many years of service on the committee. His wide knowledge, particularly of local industrial and railway history, and his hard work and enthusiasm for all Society activities will be sadly missed.

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 28 April at 7.30 p.m. in the Edward Lucas Hall of the Peel Centre. Elections will be held for the Committee and nominations for officers or members are invited. A vacancy has arisen following the death of David Salt. Anyone wishing to propose an individual (with that person’s consent) or to stand should notify the Secretary by telephone or by returning the nomination slip at the end of this Newsletter at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. It would also be appreciated if the Secretary could be notified in advance of any items to be raised under Any Other Business.

Following the business meeting there will be a quiz so come along and see how well you know the locality!

Subscriptions (£4.00 per person) are due from 1 April.

Meeting

There is a change to the programme for the meeting on 26 May. Instead of the talk advertised in your membership card about Clayton’s Tannery in Chesterfield, Jonathan Wallis from Derby City Museum and Art Gallery will be telling us about the 18th century soldier and antiquarian, Major Hayman Rooke, whose delightful painting of Dronfield Parish Church the Society has recently had printed as a card and a postcard.

Exhibition

The Society is holding another exhibition in the Peel Centre over the weekend of 11/12 June. The theme is Wartime in Dronfield to reflect the sixtieth anniversary of the ending of the Second World War. If you have any memorabilia of any kind – military or connected with civil defence or civilian life which you would be prepared to lend or have copied, please bring to the May meeting. Items do not have to be just Dronfield related.

Summer Outings

Ann Brown will conduct a walk lasting approximately 2 hours through Dronfield on the evening of Thursday 30 June. Please meet outside the Manor House (Library) at 7.00 p.m.

On Saturday 9 July there is a day’s outing to Worksop for a walk round the town led by a Blue Badge Guide, followed by a visit to Mr. Straw’s house (National Trust) and finishing at the Harley Gallery, Welbeck. The cost will be £6 for the coach and guide, plus £4.60 entrance to Mr. Straw’s house (NT members free) payable on the day. Entry to Mr. Straw’s house is in groups of 4 at a time by timed ticket and bookings have been made between 12.30 and 2.00. The National Trust request that flat shoes should be worn in the house and also advise that it is not suitable for people with mobility problems as there are two flights of stairs but no lift. There are no cafés or pubs within the immediate vicinity of Mr. Straw’s house so it would be advisable to bring a packed lunch to eat before/after your tour round the house. The Harley Gallery has a small café as does the adjoining Dukeries Garden Centre for a reviving cup of tea later!

The coach will leave Dronfield station at 8.45 a.m. with a return time of 5.00 p.m. approx. Numbers are limited to 24.

Donations

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Widdowson have very kindly donated the Minute Books of Meetings of the Governors of Gosforth and Gladys Buxton Schools from May 1968 to July 1975 for which the Society is extremely grateful.

Review of Past Activities

The last two society meetings have each had two speakers. In January, Stanley Jones, an architect with particular interest and knowledge of historic buildings and an advisor to English Heritage, talked about the timber framed building revealed in the recent restoration of houses in Church Street, now part of The Forge complex. He pointed out similarities of construction with other buildings in the locality, most notably the barn on the High Street which was restored by Jowitt’s in the 1970s and another at Holmesfield. One can only conjecture that, nestling as this building does against the graveyard of the parish church, it was originally connected with the church but this is very hard to prove without further documentary evidence. Ann Brown then peopled the house from 1760 onwards, the deeds being complete from that date. The first owner, William Ward of Oxclose Farm, leased the house out and so did subsequent owners, their tenants in turn on occasion sub-letting illegally. Leaseholders represented many trades, including a ‘petrifactioner’ though others such as shoemaker, grocer or joiner are more familiar. In the 19th century the house was gentrified and stone-fronted which disguised its early origin and Samuel Baggaley, a butcher and farmer, lived there for some years before it passed to the Lucas brothers and from them to another Samuel, Billam, who was a grocer. Thomas Margerrison, the builder took over from him but the property reverted to a grocer when John Phillips acquired it in 1910 and it was after his widow had moved away from the area that it ceased to be a dwelling and became part of the Butler’s Foundry.

Speakers at the March meeting were from North East Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology Society. David Rance described how, in 2003, a small team of three from NEDIAS, working under licence and with the support of the County Archaeologist, undertook to record what remains of the engineering complex known as the Damstead Works on Mill Lane. The only picture available is that on the company billhead and what this shows appears to be an accurate record of the layout in relation to the topography of the site. Not much remains to be seen and though various artefacts were found, the most interesting – and mysterious – is a ‘sword’, which not even Ken Hawley (with his vast knowledge of tools) can identify accurately. David presented this to Ann Brown for the Old Dronfield Society who undertook the first exploration of this site some years ago.

David Wilmott then told the fascinating tale of the attempted demolition of the Damstead works recorded in the Manchester Guardian in 1856. It is a complicated story featuring non-union labour (the works let to workmen working independently as ‘little mesters’), a mysterious meeting in Millhouses and more than one confession by the accused, Thomas Needham of Crookes whose love of a not-so-good woman rather than his wife seemed to cloud his judgement! Although his attempt (by putting gunpowder in a watering can down the factory chimney) was unsuccessful, he was eventually sentenced to four years’ penal servitude – and the works survived another century before more effective demolition took place.