There has been no systematic study of Parwich Hall, and the families that have lived there.  The following notes are an attempt to pull together what is published together with discussion from the visit to the Hall by the Society on Sunday 13th July 2003.  The tour was supported by Malcolm Burrows of the Architecture Section of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society.  The examination of the building perhaps raised more questions than it answered, but at least we have a clearer idea of what questions to ask.  Parwich Hall is a fine four story house with the brick front elevation surmounting a sandstone undercroft towering above the two story cottages in front of it.  The front door is reached through a pair of wrought iron gates and up an elegant flight of steps.  The rear elevation in limestone looking over the extensive gardens that run up the lower slopes of Parwich Hill.

A 1930s drawing of how the Hall may have looked after the Georgian re-build

Little detail is known about medieval Parwich.  The manor court records are lost, though it is still possible that early records may have been taken to Ireland amongst the Levinge family papers.

In 966 Aelfhelm was granted an estate centred on Parwich (Turbutt, 1999).  He also had considerable estates elsewhere, and on his death in 1006 his Northamptonshire property went to his daughter Aelgifu, wife of King Cnut, but the rest was probably seized by the King.  By the reign of Edward the Confessor Parwich was part of a larger crown estate including Ashbourne, Wirksworth, Darley and Matlock administered as a single unit.

We do not know where the medieval manor house was, though if it existed it is likely to have been in the same area as the present house.  From the Domesday Book (see Morgan, 1978) we learn that then (1086) and earlier at the time of the Norman Conquest the manor was held from the King by Colne, presumably a Saxon (see Craven & Stanley, 2001 and Craven, 2003).  Colne is thought to be the ancestor of a number of local families including the ‘Allsop’ family, who have multiplied and the ‘de Parwich or de Peverwick’’ family, who seem to have disappeared at least locally.  It is likely that any original manor house was a timber-framed hall.  There is mention of  the ‘de Parwich’ family at various times, for example in 1281 in the Rolls of the Derbyshire Eyre (Hopkinson, 2000) and 1338 in the Derbyshire Feet of Fines (Garratt & Rawcliffe, 1985), though if they held the Lordship of the Manor it would appear it was always only as under-tenants.

There is a confusing set of snippets on the lordship of the manor and ownership of the land.  At some point the lordship passed from the crown, but also the land was divided up to some extent (See Glover & Riden, 1981; and Craven & Stanley, 2001).  In 1288 a Jordanus de Sutton left Parwich to his son John, but the King’s brother the Earl of Lancaster held it in 1297.  Turbutt (1999) indicates that it was granted by King John to William de Ferrers II, earl of Derby, but confiscated with the rest of his land when he rebelled.  It was then given to the Earl of Lancaster and after became part of the newly created Duchy of Lancaster.  In 1326 Stephen de Seagrave left it to his son John.  Presumably at this time the de Parwich family were under-tenants of at least part of the estate, as we saw above that they were still holding land here at this time.  Various other people held land here (see Glover & Riden, 1981, and Edwards, 1998) including the Vernon family (see Craven & Stanley, 2001) whose moiety of the estate passed through various hands until William Beresford used it to endow the church in Parwich at his death in 1699.  Also the ‘de Kniveton’ family held land here with Matthew de Kniveton, like his overlord the Earl of Derby, in 1265 had land, including a holding in Parwich, seized by the Crown for his part in the de Montford uprising (Turbutt, 1999).  Matthew received a pardon, and we find a Nicholas Kniveton leaving land here to his son in 1490 over two hundred years later (Glover & Riden, 1981).

Part of the manor was granted by the crown/ Duchy of Lancaster to the Cokayne family in the fourteenth century.  By 1438, when he died, Sir John Cokayne of Ashbourne held the main part of the manor of Parwich.   There is no evidence that the Cockaynes had a seat here.  Their holding passed down through the family until it was sold by Sir Edward to  Thomas Levinge in 1608 (Craven & Stanley, 2001; Foden, 2000).  Note, Lyson (1817) indicates that it was sold first to Baptist Trott and then shortly after conveyed to Thomas Levinge.  Various earlier dates are given for this sale: 1516 (Bulier, 1895) and 1516 (Merril, 1981), but the later 1608 appears to be the correct date for the actual sale, though it is possible that the Levinges were tenants of the Cokaynes before then.

Questions: Is there any evidence locating medieval sites in the village?  Presumably the majority of the buildings would have been timber-framed.  Do we find any medieval archaeology on the Hall site?

The first stone building on the current site is thought to have been built around 1550, though we have no concrete evidence for this date.  It is likely to have been a traditional stone twin-gabled Derbyshire manor house, though all that obviously remains of this is in the undercroft of the present house (see Pevesner, 1953 and Craven & Stanley, 2001).  Thomas Levinge had purchased the manor in 1608, but the family claim to have been in Parwich since 1561, and to have built this house.  It is possible that they were tenants of the Cockaynes of Ashbourne Hall before 1608, and that as such were responsible for building the sixteenth century manor house.  In 1670, Richard Levinge was assessed for tax on six hearths (Edwards, 1982), suggesting it was a relatively substantial house.  A letter dated June 1683  indicates that Anne Levinge, widow of Thomas, had been living at Parwich, but removed to Chester because she found it too cold here.  It was the main seat of the Levinge family until Sir Richard Levinge, the first Baronet, went to Ireland around 1700.

The Levinge family are said to have come from Norfolk and William Woolley in his 1712 account (see Glover & Riden, 1981) gives us a pedigree for the family:

1. Valentine, a younger son and father of

2. Walter, who married Margery daughter of  Longshaw of Lancashire

3. Thomas of Baddersley Ensor, married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Freeman of Birley Hall in Warwickshire.  He had nine children the eldest of which was

4. Thomas (1564-1640) purchased the manor of Parwich in 1608, married Dorothy, the daughter of Thomas Beresford of Newton Grange.  Their son

5. Thomas (1601-1641), married Anne, the daughter of Rev Richard Goodall of Belgrave in Leicester.  Their son

6. Richard (1631-1667), married Anne a daughter of George Parker of Staffordshire, their eldest son

7. Thomas succeeded to the estate in 1667, but by 1675 was before the King’s Bench as a debtor.  His mother and younger brother, Richard, paid his debts in exchange for the Parwich estate.  He married Jane daughter of William Winters of Breconshire.  His wife and children predeceased him and he eventually died in Rome in 1684.

8. Sir Richard (1656-1724), Recorder of Chester, Member of Parliament and Solicitor General for Ireland , married a daughter and co-heir of Mr. Corbin of London, draper, of the Staffordshire  family.  From then onwards the family’s principle seat was in Westmeath in Ireland.  For more information on the family see Tilley’s “Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire and Brian Foden’s (2000) article.  There is also an account of the family written by Sir Richard Levinge in 1853, but we have not yet seen a copy of it.

There is some evidence internally to the house and in the stable block/coach house that give us a clue to the style and layout of the Tudor house.  It is likely that the building was limestone with mullions of dolomitic limestone.  Part of the undercroft has a vaulted ceiling and it is suggested that this gives us the floor plan of the Tudor house (see figure 1).  There is also a window (see photograph on inside cover of Trewhitt & Beasley, 2002), now between two rooms of the undercroft, that is thought to originally have been an external window to the original house.  Also it is possible that this building was, like the current house four stories high, with the rear elevation, though substantially altered being Tudor.  Maxwell Craven (2003) suggested that the Hall would have been a tower house, similar to Alsop Hall (which may have originally been even taller than it is now), a style fashionable in Derbyshire at this time.  Though against this the rear elevation does not have any features that are unambiguously Tudor, and other commentators (eg Merril, 1981) suggest the present upper stories are a complete rebuild with the rear elevation re-using the limestone from the Tudor house.

Questions: What is the evidence dating the start of the house to 1550?  Can we say more about this house from examining what remains of it in the undercroft?  What if anything is hidden under the front lawn?  How much of the existing garden plan relates to Tudor boundaries?  And is there any evidence for the tradition of a Levinge family crypt on the site, or is this merely the result of an error in Merril’s (1981) book where he quotes Thomas Levinge’s will of 1639, as saying he wished to be buried in “the cancel of Parwich Hall as neere to my late deere wife as convient may be” rather than the correct quote: “in the  chancel of Parwich Church”?  What Levinge memorials existed in the old church prior to its demolition in 1873?

Previously it has been said that the house took its current form in 1747, with the apparent demolition of all but the first floor of the original stone house and the current brick house being built on top of this (see Merril, 1981).  This is an over-simplification.  Although most commentators (eg. Pevesner, 1953) quote the date 1747, we do not know the original source for this date.  Craven & Stanley (2001) suggest the style is perhaps some ten years earlier, and point out several anomalous features, including the sandstone oculus in the pediment which is strangely wider and set back from the central breakfront it surmounts.  Craven & Stanley suggest that this is a remnant from an earlier William & Mary modification of the house.  Internally the ceiling levels in what is now the drawing room and the dining room, are anomalous suggesting the front of these rooms may have been added on to a pre-existing building.  The window to the ‘Bachelor’s Bedroom’, on the top floor at the back, would appear in style to predate a Georgian remodelling of the house, and also it has the remains of a pulley operated catch, suggesting that it was operated from a level considerably lower than the room’s existing floor level, which in turn suggests it was previously in a stair well. Externally a lead hopper head for rainwater at the back is dated 1738.  A detailed survey of the building is required to indicate the relationship between the plans and height of the rooms on each floor, and may clarify some of these issues.

It may also be that the undercroft was substantially remodelled before or during the eighteenth century, either as part of the creation of the current brick front elevation, or part of  a speculated earlier William & Mary renovation (Craven & Stanley, 2001).  The front elevation of the undercroft is in sandstone rather than the local limestone, and certainly the room to the right of the front steps is built onto the front of the Tudor house as its rear (internal) wall contains the outside of a Tudor window.  Also the room to the left of the steps contains a gritstone hearth and ovens on the right and a blocked doorway and window with sandstone mullions and jambs in the now internal west wall (to the left side).  The style of these features is either Georgian or earlier, possibly even dating from the speculated William & Mary phase.

Undoubtedly the front of the main part of the house, with its fine brick work and original pointing largely intact, is predominantly Georgian.  But it may represent a step in a number of modifications to the house.  It is interesting to speculate why the Levinge family spent so much on a house where they did not regularly live.  Certainly by this time the Levinges were building much grander houses in Ireland.

An interesting conundrum relates to the blocked windows in the east front of the house.  The brick work blocking them would appear to be contemporary with the Georgian re-modelling, but they are not just external decoration, as there appears to be internal alcoves corresponding to the positions of the windows.

The front garden and the pond garden behind make use of brick in the terracing and were   previously thought to be contemporary with the Georgian remodelling of the house (Trewhitt & McCormick, 2002).  At the far end of the front garden are a brick built wash house and possible icehouse that may date from the same time.  It is possible that some out buildings also date to this period.  On the tour of the Hall, Malcolm Burrows pointed out that the bricks used in the garden terraces are older than those used in the house, and that these two gardens are likely to predate the Georgian re-modelling of the house, perhaps part of the speculated William & Mary alterations.  The 1843 Tithe map (see p.4) gives us a plan of the garden, when the house had been occupied by tenants for some time, which may indicate the layout of the Georgian garden.

Interestingly the outline plan of the garden in the 1843 tithe map has similarities to the current plan and is described as ‘lawn, garden, plantation, mere, etc.’, though the current gardens extend further up the hillside to the north, and have newer sub-divisions.  So it is likely that the land associated with the 1747 remodelling of the house is approximately the same area as the present gardens.  Transition from the Tudor house to the Georgian may have been more gradual than might be initially supposed, so  perhaps there was also some continuity between the Tudor and Georgian gardens.  There were two ancient Yews in the front garden that were cut down before the Second World War, which would have been from the Georgian garden or even earlier.  There were a number of fine old elm trees that unfortunately were lost to Dutch elm disease, which would have pre-dated the Edwardian remodelling of the garden.

The Levinges at some point started to let the house to a branch of the Brownson family.  There are a number of accounts of this family (eg Sibley, 1929 and  Enderton, 1969) that   claim the Brownsons were tenants at the Hall from 1620 up to the Levinge’s sale of the estate.  The Brownsons are undoubtedly a long standing local family, with a tradition of being descended from a servant of Mary Queen of Scots who married a local girl and settled in  Derbyshire after Mary’s execution in  1587.  These accounts contain a significant number of inaccuracies, for example in 1620 the Levinges were still living in Parwich; also they claim that the Richard Brownson, who emigrated to Connecticut in 1633 from Essex, was the son of a George Brownson of Parwich.  They give no sources for their conclusions and fail to mention that there were Brownsons living in the relevant part of Essex well before Mary’s execution (see Trewhitt, in preparation).  It is unlikely the Brownsons were tenants at the Hall before the Georgian remodelling of the house as the Levinges would not build such a grand house for tenant farmers and the Brownsons would not build such a grand house as mere tenants.

 Questions: What can we say about the back of the building architecturally to shed light on the transition from a Tudor to a Georgian house?  Are there any clues inside or out to suggest that Tudor stonework above the level of the undercroft?  What period does the current stair case date from?  Can the gritstone fireplace, ovens, door and window in the undercroft be more accurately dated?  Why did the Levinges so dramatically and expensively remodel a house they did not regularly live in?  What evidence is there for the date of 1747, for the rebuild?  Were there tenants in the Hall after 1700?  The Brownson family are said to have lived here as tenants for a while (up to the sale of the Hall in 1814), but for how long?  Can the outbuildings tell us anything further about the stages in re-modelling the Hall?  Why were the windows in the east face of the house blocked?  Was the sighting of the front gate and the steps to the front door contemporary with the Georgian remodelling or later?

The Levinges sold the house and the estate to William Evans of Darley Abbey in 1814.  William Evans, descended from a Bonsall family and had a considerable fortune based on the Evans Bank in Derby and the Darley Abbey cotton mill.  He was a local MP, and a philanthropist.  He was followed in both of these by his son Thomas William Evans who was made a baronet in 1887 (Turbutt, 1999).  The son was responsible for building Parwich School in 1861 and the present church in 1873.  In 1877 the Evans Bank merged with the older Derby based Compton’s Bank.

It is has been suggested that initially William Evans used the house as a shooting box, though from at least 1841 onwards it was used as the Vicarage.  The vicar from 1823 to 1828 (Foden & Robinson, 2002) was the Rev. Carr, whose wife was responsible for planting the cross-shaped wood on Parwich Hill.  There is a curious carved stone in the wilderness part of the garden by the path going up to the large water tank on the hillside.  It has the inscription FILIAE DILECTISSIMAE  PATER MOERENS AD 1869 with a cross. This father may be the Rev May, then vicar, and living at the Hall, whose daughter Fanny Elisabeth died aged 15, and was buried in Parwich churchyard on 17 February 1869.

Given the apparent size of the gardens, it is surprising that there is not record of a professional gardener in the earlier nineteenth century censuses.  Some indication of the size of garden would be the staff employed.  The first mention we have been able to find of a  professional gardener in the village is of George Twigge on the 1881 Census (aged 24 yrs), where he is listed as a “groom and gardener”.  He was living with his parents and we do not know where he was employed, although obviously the Hall is the main candidate.  By the 1891 Census George is working as a carrier with his father.  There was a Wright Greatorix, listed as “groom and gardener” in the 1891 Census; he was  living with his wife and children in a house possibly on the Green, but again there is no definite indication of where he worked.  Wright Greatorix later lived at the Fold (see Trewhitt, 2002)

When William’s son Sir Thomas William Evans Bart., died in 1893 the Parwich estate passed to his two cousins, Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Curtis, daughters of the former vicar of Parwich the Rev Carr.  Mrs. Lewis’ son the Rev. Claud Lewis lived in the Hall and was vicar of Parwich (1904-11).  The Rev. Lewis commissioned Sir Walter Tapper in 1905 (elected to the Royal Academy in 1935) to lay out the gardens afresh, and it is largely these gardens we see today, though as photographs of the period indicate there has been extensive replanting.  It is likely that the belt of lime trees that run along the north side of the gardens were planted at this time.  There was also a glass house in what is now the pond garden that may date from this period.  Traces of where it was can be seen on the brick work of the northwest terracing wall.

The house was also altered to some extent at the same time.  The first two floors of the wing built in stone on the west side of the house were added some time before 1905 (See fig. 2) but it may be that a further floor on this extension was built by the Rev. Lewis as a billiard room then.  The mere at the top of the garden provided running water for the house, but this may have come later as the deeds for Hallcliffe House mention an agreement dated 1908 granting access to the field between Hallcliffe and Kiln Lane for domestic water for the Hall.

The Rev. Lewis was not popular in the village, and arguments about use of the School for the 1911 Coronation Celebrations culminated in villagers burning an effigy of him on the village Green.

Questions: What was the extent of the 1905 alterations to the house?  Were the first floor windows altered then or later in the 1930s?

The Estate was auctioned in 1915, when it was bought by Major Alfred John Gainsforth.  There seems to be very little remembered locally about Major Gainsforth, though he was responsible for installing the carillon, with its eight chimes, in the church in 1919, as a memorial to the dead of the First World War.

Sir John and Lady Crompton-Inglefield moved to the Hall in 1931.  Sir John’s mother was a Crompton of the Derby banking family and his father Admiral Sir Frederick Inglefield (see Christian, 1963/4, and Trewhitt & McCormick, 2002).  They made some alterations both in the House and the garden.  In the 1930s the wing to the left of the house was further altered, by the addition of top story.  The 1930s bathrooms on this floor still remain.  A dumb waiter was installed to connect the kitchen to the first floor room above they used as a dining room.  There was also a service lift to all floors in the centre of the house that may also have been installed then.  Also the drawing room floor was reinforced to allow dancing.  In the garden they took out the existing small rockery and replaced it with the present much larger one with the limestone bedrock exposed.  The first floor windows have been lengthened, perhaps at this time, though it was possibly part of the  Edwardian alterations.  Also they planted the beech hedge at the front.  The Crompton-Inglefields did open the gardens to the public at sometime during the 1930s.  Some years later Great Western Railways took the name from a 1930s guide book listing gardens open to the public, and called a locomotive ‘Parwick Hall’, perpetuating a spelling error in the guide book.

The front wrought iron gates with the Crompton-Inglefield armorials were installed in 1937, and were said to have been made in Bakewell.  Somewhat surprisingly all the scroll fittings were found on recent repairs to be metric rather than imperial gauges, perhaps indicating an Italian origin, not what would be expected.  These gates now display the Shields family’s armorials.

During the Second World War, the Hall was made available as overflow accommodation for convalescing soldiers at Parwich Hospital, then a Red Cross convalescent home.  Although beds were set up in the drawing room, no one locally remembers them being used.  Also the lawn now with the pond was dug up to provide more kitchen garden.  Before the War, this part of the garden had a walk lined with standard roses, which were dug up to make way for the vegetables.  The convalescing soldiers also used the front lawn to play football.

Mrs. Bagshawe, the oldest daughter of the Crompton-Inglefields, remembers as a child they drank bottled water, only using the running water from the mere for washing.

The Crompton-Inglefields returned in 1945, and set about clearing the weeds and restoring the gardens.  Immediately after the war the head gardener was a Mr. Shields, a Scot.  This Mr. Shields was only there a short time, and has no connection to the family that currently own the Hall.  The Crompton-Inglefields  paved the rose garden, and planted Frensham roses by the lane in front of the Hall.  This would have then been a very modern variety as it was only available after 1946.  It was also one of the earliest varieties of floribunda.  They also restored the lawns that had been dug up to provide war time vegetables, and later had the pond dug.  Harry Hopkinson, the head gardener after Mr. Shields, roped his brother-in-law in to help dig this pond, when he was visiting Parwich on holiday; we hope this did not discourage him and his wife from further visits to her sister.  The Crompton-Inglefields also carried out an extensive planting programme and in the 1960s had the wooden summerhouse, overlooking the pond, built.  In 1966 they had the stone well made to commemorate their fortieth wedding anniversary.  In the days before garden centres, the villagers would often buy their bedding plants and young vegetables from Harry Hopkinson at the Hall.  The Crompton-Inglefields continued a tradition of opening the gardens three or four times each year.

Sir John and Lady Crompton-Inglefields left the Hall in 1975, when it was bought by the Shields family who still occupy it.  The parents of the present occupants, Donald and Rosemary Shields, who still live in the village, had the rose garden replanted by Mrs. Jean Player of Ednaston in 1988 prior to his holding the office of High Sheriff (see Boisset, 1992).

The current gardens are a combination of the Georgian and Edwardian terracing and the work of owners and gardeners over at least 250 years.  The long walk below the tennis court was replanted with shrubs, and the rose garden replanted, both in 2001.  Also the current occupants, Robert and Alice Shields, have restored the (Edwardian or 1930s?) greenhouses, and are continuing to plant trees on the hillside above the tennis court.  They have also planted a row of walnut trees by the summerhouse along the top of the tennis court and rose garden, where some years ago a row of walnut trees had been taken down.

Questions: When were the present greenhouses built?  How much of the west wing was 1905 and how much 1930s?  When were the ground floor windows altered, 1905 or 1930s?  Which of the twentieth century alterations internally were 1905 and which 1930s?

Stable Cottage is a cottage made up of the central section of the former steadings for the Hall.  This range of buildings (see fig. 3) has been said to be mid-eighteenth century, presumably associated with the Georgian rebuilding of the Hall, but looking at it reveals a much more complex history.  The part nearest the Hall is obviously a Georgian redesign of an older building, but the central part retains much older dolomitic limestone coins and arches.  This could have been the coach house for the sixteenth century manor house, or it has even been suggested that it was adapted from an earlier building, perhaps an earlier manor house.  Masons’ marks can be seen just below the guttering on the ‘Georgian’ section.

The ground levels in the stable yard have altered significantly since the building of the oldest sections, with the level of the yard being much higher than the original floor level in the oldest parts of the building.  The steps up to a door in the north end of the range were built when this upper floor was used as a schoolroom in the 1830s.  This north gable has some coin stones several feet in front of the rear wall of the range suggesting that the back wall of the range has been rebuilt.

There is also a separate Georgian stable block now in the garden of Stable cottage.   It has had a very varied history.  Presumably for much of its history it was just outbuildings for the Hall, but from the 1830s, when the southern part of the building was added on, up to the building of the present school in 1861, this southern part of the range was used as the school master’s house.  This part is now a separate dwelling called School View.  After the southern section ceased to be the school, part of the range was for a while used as a sort of a village hall or parish rooms, with among other things the vicar’s wife holding a sewing group.  In the twentieth century there was a reading room for the villagers in what is now Stable Cottage.  Also it has in the past been used as accommodation for servants for the Hall, with a chauffeur's flat in the twentieth century.  The whole range of buildings except the twentieth century addition of the south end of School View has a single roof line suggesting that it was re-roofed at some point, perhaps in the 1830s.

Stable Cottage, which is partly in the nineteen century addition and partly in the older central section, was sold as a separate dwelling by the Estate in the 1970s.  The garden has the feel of a hidden woodland glade, despite its location in the centre of the village.  A separate stable block accessed through the garden was until recently used as a music room, and has been used as a rehearsal room for the village pantomime.

School View occupies most of the 1830s School/School House, with a former cart-house on the south end being incorporated into the house to make the present kitchen.

Questions:  What can be said of the oldest central section, now split between Stable Cottage and the Hall stables/coach house?  Was this built at the same time as the Tudor Manor house?  Although the front of this range of buildings appears to be divided into clear building phases, these phases are not clear on the back wall.  Can the back wall tell us more about the history of the buildings?  Are the buildings older than they seem with the different parts of the front being misleading later alterations?  The Georgian section nearest the Hall has  a modification of an older building, can we say anything about its original form?

Caroline Boisset (1992) “The hard face of the Peak, tamed when a garden smiles” Country Week April 30th—May 6th 1992 p. 46-51

Roy Christian (1963/64) “Parwich Hall” Derbyshire Life & Countryside Vol. 26  no. 1 pp 26-30

Maxwell Craven and Michael Stanley (2^nd Ed. 2001) “The Derbyshire Country House” Volumes I & II. Landmark Collectors Library: Ashbourne.

David G Edwards, Editor (1982) “Derbyshire Hearth Tax Assessments 1662-70” The Derbyshire Record Society, Chesterfield

David G Edwards, Editor (1998) “Derbyshire Wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1393-1574” The Derbyshire Record Society, Chesterfield

Col. Herbert Brownson Enderton (1969) “Brownson Families: some descendants of John, Richard and Mary Brownson of Hartford Connecticut” California

Brian Foden (2000) “Sir Richard Levinge of Parwich 1656-1724” Parwich & District Local History Society Newsletter October 2000 no. 3 pp. 6-7

Brian Foden & Andrew Robinson (2002) “A History of Parwich Church” Parwich & District Local History Society

H J H Garratt & Carole Rawcliffe (1985) “Derbyshire Feet of Fines 1323-1546” The Derbyshire Record Society, Chesterfield

Catherine Glover & Philip Riden, Editors (1981) “William Woolley’s History of Derbyshire” The Derbyshire Record Society, Chesterfield

Aileen M Hopkinson, Editor (2000) “The Rolls of the 1281 Derbyshire Eyre” The Derbyshire Record Society, Chesterfield

Sir Richard Charles Augustus Levinge (1853) “Historical notices of the Levinge Family Baronets of Ireland from the Saxon Chronicles AD 1005-1853”

Lyson (1817) “History of Derbyshire” Vol. 2 p14

John N Merril (1981) “Historic Buildings of Derbyshire”  Walking Boot Publications, Winster

Philip Morgan, Editor (1978) “Domesday Book: Derbyshire” Phillimore & Co, Chichester

Nikolaus Pevesner (revised by Elizabeth Williamson) (1953,1978) “The Buildings of England: DERBYSHIRE” Penguin Books: London.

Harriet Bronson Sibley (1929) “The Brownsons of Derbyshire, England: the family of John & Richard of Hartford, Connecticut” Oregon

J. Tilley (?)  “Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire” Vol. 2

Peter Trewhitt (2002) “The Fold” Parwich & District Local History Society Newsletter February 2002 no. 8 pp. 4-8

Peter Trewhitt (in preparation) “An A to Z of Parwich Families in the Nineteenth Century: Brownson” to appear in Parwich & District Local History Society Newsletter

Peter Trewhitt & Patti Beasley (2002) “A Parwich Walk” Parwich & District Local History Society.

Peter Trewhitt & Barbara McCormick (2002) “Gardening in Parwich: A celebration of the Parwich & District Horticultural Society’s Golden Jubilee” Parwich & District Horticultural Society and      Parwich & District Local History Society

Gladwyn Turbutt (1999) “A History of Derbyshire” Volumes 1, 2 & 4.  Merton Priory Press,     Cardiff

The hearth tax or chimney money was introduced to England in 1662, but withdrawn in 1689.  It was set at the rate of 2 shillings per annum for each hearth or stove.  In the returns we are given the name of the head of the household and the number of hearths, so we can only work out which building is being assessed if we know who lives there.  For the Wirksworth Hundred, the 1670 returns are the most complete.  The following information is taken from David Edwards’ (1982) account of the Hearth Tax in Derbyshire.

The number of hearths is a rough guide to the status of the household.  A very rough guide to status is 1: Husbandmen and poorer sort, 2-3: most craftsmen, tradesmen, yeomen, 4-7: Wealthier yeomen and merchants, and 8+: Gentry and nobility.  This guide is only rough, and in the local returns we see the local gentry with less than 8 hearths.  Also it is possible that yeoman living in the then very old-fashioned timber-framed hall-house might only have one heath.  In Parwich some 42 households were assessed in 1670 with Mr Leeving (Levinge) at the Hall being assessed for 6 hearths.  The majority of households had just one hearth.  There was one house with 4 hearths in Parwich, belonging to a Mr. Dale and it is possible that this is Knob Hall (also known as Old Hall).  Eaton & Alsop had 12 households with Anthony Allsop Esq. at the Hall having 8 hearths, suggesting that at this point Alsop Hall was a larger building than Parwich Hall.  Anthony Allsop was the last of original Allsops to live in the Hall.  After some 500 years his creditors forced the sale of the Estate.  (Note. At this time Tissington Hall had 18 hearths.)  In Eaton and Alsop two other houses had 5 hearths, suggesting they were fairly substantial.  Perhaps one of these was Manor Farm.

It is possible to use the number of households as a rough guide to population by multiplying the number of households by 4.  Though less accurate for smaller numbers this gives us the following population sizes: Parwich approximately 180 people living in 42 households; Eaton & Alsop approximately 50 people living in 12 households; and Ballidon approximately 90 people living in 21 households.