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January 2007 Newsletter

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MEMBERS AND WE LOOK TO YOUR SUPPORT OF THE SOCIETY'S ACTIVITIES DURING 2007

Meetings
Review of Past Activities

Meetings

Thursday 25 January brings the first Society meeting of 2007 with Stephen Gay talking about Woodhead - the Lost Railway. Danny Wells is the speaker on 22 March with Joseph Paxton as his topic. The Annual General Meeting to be held on 26 April will be followed by a Pictorial Journey through the highways and byways of Holmesfield guided by Nick Wheat. The date for the May meeting, (in your membership card as 24 May), HAS BEEN CHANGED to Thursday 17 May when the speaker will be Professor Gordon Bell talking about the Carter Family of Artists, one of whom was educated in Dronfield.

All meetings take place at 7.30 p.m. in the Edward Lucas Hall of the Peel Centre which is now accessible by stair lift via the fire escape stairs to the left of the main entrance. Please ask a committee member for access either before or at the meeting. If you require transport to attend the meetings, please contact a committee member too.

As previously reported, the Peel Centre Trustees are going ahead with plans for the Barn on the High Street. They have recently appealed for anyone with memories, photographs or documents relating to the farm and its buildings to contact them so that such material can be included in their applications for fund-raising.

Review of Past Activities

Archaeologist Clive Hart, an old friend of the Society who recently returned to the area, gave us a view of Derbyshire as never seen before for the first meeting of the winter season on 28 September. His magnificent aerial photographs showed a completely different aspect to what we usually think of as archaeology - digging trenches and very ground based. However, these overhead views are extremely valuable in highlighting features which may extend and complete the surface level picture. As we visited various familiar sites seen from a new angle, we also learned the origin of many of their names - Hope from the Anglo Saxon word for a bottle because of its bottle shape, and Bretton, farm of the British, as two examples. Helicopter flights from Owler Bar may become more popular still after this talk but the guidance of one blessed with the 'eye of faith' is needed to reveal many of the remains of the past.

David Templeman, Chairman of the Friends of Manor Lodge, was the speaker in November and brought to life the history not only of that building which remains today but also of the extensive Sheffield deer park with 3000 deer and the specially bred Talbot hunting dogs named after the family into whose possession the park came in the early 1400s. However, it was in the early 16th century that George Talbot, 4th earl of Shrewsbury and a tycoon of his day, built a magnificent house comparable to Hampton Court at the highest point of the park. When his descendant was charged with acting as gaoler for Mary Queen of Scots, this house and its adjacent hunting lodge and gatehouse combined, provided secure but pleasant surroundings for the imprisoned Queen where she could enjoy the panoramic views across the park and the surrounding counties. Subsequent centuries have seen the decline and disappearance of all but the vestiges of that grand house and David conveyed to us the urgency in raising funds to preserve and maintain the Turret House with its wonderful plasterwork embellished with motifs linked to that sad monarch.

On a wet and windy night which sadly deterred some, we welcomed Kay Battye, Society President, with her intriguingly titled talk 'Scottish Connections'. She started from the studies of wills and inventories in Norton and Eckington carried out by her classes there some years ago, which revealed the concentration of scythe makers in Norton. The first reference to Scottish scythes appeared in an inventory of 1632 though that of Thomas Biggin in 1605 contained references to debtors all living north of Sheffield and as far away as Cumberland and Northumberland. Scythe blades were packed in straw and carried by packhorses following the routes of the old north roads. Since her return to Scotland Kay has pursued a further line of enquiry using Customs records from royal boroughs such as Jedburgh which give a very good picture of trade goods, including dyes for woollen cloth and tobacco as well as scythes and tailors' shears. Further research of company catalogues of the 19th century show a range of scythe blades with the Scottish blade clearly differentiated though for what reason or purpose, she has yet to discover. However, it is clear that for many centuries the metal workers of Derbyshire were connected to their Scottish customers by producing a tool to meet their particular requirements.