Treasure 8: the Gresley processional map

This 'Procession Way' plan of the Seale Estate (D77/8/10) dates from the 16th or possibly early 17th century and is from the papers of the Gresley family of Drakelow.  Centred on the area of Potter's Wood, with Netherseale to the south, Rosliston to the north, Lullington to the west, and Seale Grange to the south-west. It …

Merry Christmas from the Harpur Crewes

               Among the records of the Harpur Crewe collection are a couple of Victorian scrap albums of Christmas cards collected by or for children of the family. One belonged to Richard Fynderne Harpur Crewe (called Dickie) in the 1880s and the other to his sister Frances in the 1890s.I have gathered together a number of …

Treasure 7: the Pleasley burial register, 1813-1893

This register (D739/A/PI/5/1) records all the burials in the parish of St Michael, Pleasley, from April 1813 to January 1893. Pleasley is one of the ancient parishes of Derbyshire, lying in the north-east of the county on the border with Nottinghamshire (Pleasley Hill is actually part of Nottinghamshire). It originally consisted of the townships of …

Derbyshire During the civil war and the involvement of Sir John Gell

The civil war of 1642 – 1653 was as close to a social revolution as Britain ever came. It granted us the gift of a Parliamentary Government and moderated Monarchy that we still enjoy today. Indeed, the brief Republic of Oliver Cromwell was revolutionary, happening years before the famous French and Russian revolutions. For many …

New Perspectives on the Derbyshire Lead Industry – the next session

Thanks to everyone who made the first lead industry seminar go so well last month.  I found it invigorating to encounter so much enthusiasm, experience and subject knowledge.  Much of the session was devoted to introductions and admin, but we took the opportunity to hear from Lien and Clare about the Mining the Archives project, which is …

Overseers of the Poor account book: numbering

The first thing you normally do when you take a volume apart is to number all the pages in pencil, so you know exactly how everything fits together.  However, in this case, there were two issues preventing me from doing that: turning over the pages to number them risked destroying some of the damaged areas and …

Spending money 18th century style

Among the Harpur Crewe records are a number of 18th century account books of the stewards or agents who were acting on behalf of the Harpur family, and these have lots of interesting entries which show a little light on how the elite spent their money at that time. One thing that stands out is …

New book on sale

Local historian Keith Taylor has published his latest book: Buxton Remembered during the Great War. Covering Buxton and surrounding villages, it gives a vivid insight into the lives of families devastated by the conflict, with biographies of each of the fallen and a wealth of background detail. Now on sale at Buxton Library and Derbyshire Record Office, …

Treasure 5: volume of criminal portraits

This treasure is part of the Derbyshire Constabulary collection (the full list for the collection can be downloaded from our catalogue). It shows photographs of people who had been apprehended by the police, taken shortly after their arrest. The photographs alone contain masses of social history. The volume was chosen as a treasure by Elissa, a longstanding …

Conservation of Doveridge Enclosure Plan

One of my projects this week has been repairing the parliamentary enclosure plan of Doveridge, from 1791 (Q/RI 36) which was in a rather sorry state. The map had originally been flat, but then subsequently folded up, which had eventually caused it to split in two. It had then been rolled up for storage, causing even more damage and splitting along the folds. I've …