Parwich & District Local History Society
Newsletter number 8 (Feb 2002)
Free to members (£1 to non-members)
Production of this Newsletter Sponsored by Tarmac (Central) Ltd
Copyright
© 2002
Rob
Francis
"Everything
that is found is always lost again, and nothing that is found is ever lost again.
The Beaker pot - found at the bottom of the garden where I was born in Chesham
As
a child, in the middle of cold winters nights I would be woken by the sound of
hammering. Old Mr Stratford, joiner and undertaker, would work through the night
to fulfil contracts to provide coffins – in winter the demand was always
higher. Stratford’s Yard was adjacent to our garden and the site itself had
been inhabited since Neolithic times being next to the River Chess. Old
Stratford’s grandfather dug up an old bowl, in perfect condition, with zig-zag
shapes around the rim in 1890. He liked its size and shape and for fifty years
kept his nails in it: until some historians recognised it as a perfect Beaker
jar – 5000 years old.
I
still find this extraordinary; that something made at that distance in time can
be used unknowingly thousands of years later as a utensil for holding an
undertakers nails. Aware of this incredible find I would pan flowerbeds in our
garden and though not uncovering a perfect Beaker jar would discover a variety
of bits and pieces; the cheek and nose of a Victorian doll, bits of flint,
traces of pottery, an assortment of patterned bits of plate and even more
recently a bone cut to a zig-zag shape!
There
is something exciting, something almost magical about finding objects that have
been discarded or lost many years before and I suspect that many of us at some
time or other have scrubbed around in abandoned wasteland, or secluded parts of
the garden or the middle of a ploughed field.
The bronze age wooden spade used for mining
The
author Alan Garner describes how he returned to his primary school as a student
to retrieve an old wooden spade once used by the caretaker. Made entirely of
wood it matched a description of spades used in early mining at Alderly Edge.
Dismissed as a crank he kept this spade through the years convinced that its
origin reached back beyond the Victorian education acts. As a successful author
thirty years later he was finally able to have it carbon dated and it did indeed
date back to the Bronze age and must have been a spade used by those early
miners 3000 years before.
A
couple of years ago I remember Brian Foden and myself eagerly climbing a style
of a farm just above Parwich. I’d not got both feet on the ground before he
had reached down and picked up a perfect late Neolithic early bronze-age arrow
head, as if it had been carelessly dropped yesterday.
So
why is there ‘magic’ in objects found and not touched by another human hand
for all those hundreds or thousands of years? Certainly the modern view is to
view time as an arrow; it flies without flinching from A to B; straight as a
footpath across a field off which we are unable to step, imprisoned as we are by
time’s relentless forward march. In finding something, in touching it for the
first time since another warm human hand thousands of years ago, allows us for
one minute to step off that narrow path and merge with a changeless timeless
zone, unfettered by that un-remitting arrow, where we can touch our ancestors,
feel the warmth of their breath and the beating of their hearts as if in that
very moment.
Ray Stone’s bell found in the brook
This
approach to history is not strictly scientific but it does point to an important
reason for participating in the whole project of historical research that
includes the excitement of uncovering discarded facts or artefacts. It is not to
escape into some lost never-never land but rather to confront all those who
have, as human beings, loafed about, chatted, gazed at the stars and shared the
spaces we now occupy and wondered about the sheer strangeness of it all.
Last
summer Ray Stone showed me his collection of objects found in the brook over the
past twenty years. There were bits of pot in a variety of colours, shapes and
sizes; there was an old bell that had possibly been washed by the brook for a
hundred of years.
Standing there looking at his collection I realised we are surrounded in
Parwich by the nick-knacks
of many thousands of years. So why not bring some of these together to find out
what else has been dug up or picked up or been discovered at the back of a
cupboard or bottom of a draw. Let me or someone
else in the History Society know about them, as we are mounting an exhibition as
part of our celebrations of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
The Neolithic flint found by Brian Foden
Which
brings me back to my own recollections of those winter nights when old
Stratford’s hammer rang out over the garden. In an excavation of the site
thirty years ago they discovered a
wealth of finds to suggest consistent use since Mesolithic times and almost
uninterrupted through to today. They found broken microliths, backed knives and
saws, scrapers, axes and piercers amongst many other artefacts and tools. The
persistent noise as Stratford knocked up his coffins could have been joined by
all those other craftsmen and those eking
out a living through those cold winter nights. Looking back now those nights
seem as if they should have had a real element of mystery; at the time, I
remember, all I wanted
was for him to stop his
hammering so I could get to sleep.
Bibliography
Alan Garner:
‘ The Voice that Thunders’ The Havill Press 1997. This has a full account of
the bronze age spade he discovered under the stage at his school.
Copyright
© 2002
Peter Trewhitt
Whilst
collecting information on the various gardens of Parwich, for the book
‘Gardening in Parwich’ that we are producing jointly with the Parwich and
District Horticultural Society, Hugh Gibson gave me a great deal of fascinating
information on the Fold. As well as
notes by C. L. Collenette, written in the 1940s, and notes by Mr. Parker,
written more recently, he has recently obtained plans and specifications for the
1859 alterations of the house. An
elderly American gentleman arrived in Parwich with some plans of a building,
thought to be in Parwich that had belonged to his ancestors. Showing them to Peter Rawlins, who happened to be outside his
house as this Mr. Mason got off the bus, he was directed to the Fold.
It transpired that these were the plans of the 1859 alterations.
Given all this information it seemed worth writing a longer article on
the Fold than appropriate for ‘Gardening in Parwich’.
We
know there were a number of medieval ‘farms’ in the village, and the name is
potentially Anglo-Saxon, but so far no early reference has been found associated
with the house that far back, and as the word continues in use today it is not
strong evidence for it being the site of a medieval house.
Locally it is reputed to be one of the oldest house names in the village
(See notes by Helena Birkentall in Newsletter no. 6) and it is possibly the site
for one of the medieval village farms. The
southern part of the house is mid-eighteenth century, though the stone work
around the French window and the two windows above it, in the south face reveal
that part at least dates back to the seventeenth century.
The garden front has an unusual long stair window, in that the top is
arched. This alteration to the
house may have been in 1762 as there is “J.S. 1762” carved in a fire-place
lintel.
It
is not clear what the two other seventeenth century cottages on the plot were
used for in the eighteenth century. The
coach house in the nineteenth century, and the studio in the 1930s were adapted
from these cottages. Some of the
timber in these buildings was reused from older cruck frame building(s),
supporting the suggestion that the sight is medieval in origin. The stables were built in 1770, with pigsties on
The
property is considered as ‘an ancient freehold of the Swindell family’.
The family does not appear in the list of Derbyshire freeholders in 1633,
but were established locally by 1640, when the earliest surviving church
register begins. By 1734 a James
Swindell had acquired sufficient
property to entitle him to vote in parliamentary elections, and it is likely
that it is his initials on the lintel. This
James Swindell I (died 1780) and his wife Ruth had at least two sons James II
(born 1723) and Thomas. Ruth died
in 1730, so they may not have had a large number of children.
The younger son, Thomas, was the father of a John Swindell, who by 1843
owned the freehold of Japonica, though he did not live there.
The
elder son, James Swindell II had several children including, another Thomas
who’s son James Swindell III (1779-1858)
inherited; and Samuel (1768—1851)
who married a Lydia Kirkham and farmed from Flaxdale House.
In the 1841 census, the property is occupied by James Swindell III
(listed as of ‘independent’ means), his housekeeper (Sarah Crichlow, who was
his widowed sister) and two servants. The
house contains a fine Hopton Marble fireplace, identical to one in Hallcliffe.
The style of these fireplaces is possibly Regency, but more likely to be
early Victorian. C. L.
Collenette’s notes mention that a similar fireplaces were exported to Italy at
this time, though by the late eighteen hundreds it was the import of cheaper
Italian marble that put the local industry out of business.
The
1843 Tithe Awards shows that James Swindell III had some 71 acres, but that they
were scattered throughout the parish as was typical for pre-enclosure farms.
This will have made the farm less competitive when contrasted with the
post enclosure farms such as Foufinside, where the land would be in a single
block. On the 1843 tithe map the
garden plots including yard, garden and orchard were more or less as they are at
present, though now there is an additional strip of land along the east side of
the property that was formerly part of the paddock behind Dam Farm, and some
alteration to the boundary, adjoining the plot on which the modern house,
Stanworth, was built. It is likely
that the orchard continues much as it was in Georgian times, when the kitchen
and flower garden is likely to have been to the south and perhaps east of the
house. In the southeast part of
garden is a well that can still be seen by the brook, similar to the one at
Brook Cottage, both allowing water from the brook to be accessed in the garden.
A section of the 1843 Tithe Award map copied by Brian Foden with 710 Brentwood, 882 Flatts Stile, 883 the Fold, 884 Dam Farm and 887 Japonica
The
figure, above, of 71 acres was calculated by Mr. Parker from the 1843 Tithe
Awards. Some 9 years later on the
1851 Census James Swindell III is described as a “landed proprietor of 80
acres, employing two labourers.”
James
Swindell III died a bachelor in 1858, and his widowed sister Sara Crichlow
inherited the house and the land. The
rear part of the house was dramatically remodelled in 1859, which developed the
houses role as a working farm with a modern kitchen, a new dairy and a
substantial cheese store upstairs. There
is a second well to the left of the gate leading from the farmyard area to the
garden, which in the nineteen and early twentieth century had a pump on it.
The plans for this extension show that care was taken to match it in with
the existing building, and that the responsibility for directing this was in the
hands of a William Mason. This Mr.
Mason had married Sara’s daughter, Anna Harriet, during the 1850s and the
lived at the Fold with their children. Sarah
Crichlow died in 1862, aged 74, and by 1863 the Masons had ‘gone abroad’.
Some connection with Parwich must have been maintained, as in the new
church built in 1873 the east window in the chancel is dedicated to James
Swindell, Sara Crichlow and two of her grandchildren (Sarah and William Mason).
It was a descendant of the Masons that arrived in the village in late
2001 with plans of an unidentified building in Parwich.
A
Mr. Lomas was tenant of the land from 1863 to 1871, and the house now owned by a
Miss. Graham was let to William Roby Lomas, surgeon. Presumably Mr. Lomas and William Roby Lomas were the same
person. In the 1870s the house and
land were let to a Mr. Hardy. In
1882 the property was rented by William Hadfield who farmed on a smaller scale
than Mr. Hardy. During the 1880s
the property was divided and sold:
32 acres at Hilltop bought by William Evans and attached to Hilltop Farm
The Delves was sold to a member of the Webster family
The house was sold to a Mr. Morgan of Manchester, “who repaired
watches”
In
1843, a Hannah Brownson, daughter of Ben. Brownson, gentleman of Parwich, had
married a Thomas Morgan, watchmaker of Manchester.
In the 1880s a Miss. Morgan, their daughter, occupied the house and
opened it as a private school that specialised in music and painting.
The school does not appear to have lasted long.
Between 1891 and 1893 the house was empty and somewhat dilapidated.
There does appear to be some confusion about what happened next. Bulmer’s Directory of 1895 has a Miss Ann Alsop resident at
the Fold, though this seems to conflict with the information from Collenette
given below.
Wright Greatorix putting hay into the stables at the Fold (these steps are now gone)
The
house was let to Wright Greatorix from 1893 to 1921. During his tenancy, Miss
Morgan died and the house was left to a Capt. Guy Vandercipen Hurd of
Blackhill, County Durham. Wright
Greatorix, with his wife and two nieces, the Miss. Gadsbys, opened it as a
guesthouse, taking up to 20 paying guests.
Also near the road he built a wooden shed that was used as a hardware and
general store. Wright Greatorix
(was he the gardener/groom listed on the 1891 census? See section on Parwich Hall), also bought eggs and poultry
for Robinson’s of Manchester (see
Rob Francis’ article in Newsletter no. 5).
Wright Greatorix also kept a pair of horses and a carriage for hire,
“it was said that he was the first person to run a road service to Ashbourne”.
After his death in 1921, the Miss. Gadsbys continued the shop for a few
years but in 1926 moved to the Orchards on Monsdale Lane, where they continued
selling “paraffin, shoelaces and other odds and ends”.
They are buried next to each other in the churchyard in 1960s.
In
1926, the house was bought by the Parwich Workingmen’s Club for £490, when a
skittle alley was set up on old railway sleepers opposite the front door (to the
east of the house). The expense of
the property proved too much for the Club, and it was again sold, this time to
Col. Crompton-Inglefield, the new owner of the Estate for £630.
For
a number of years the Fold was the home of Edward Halliday, the famous painter.
One of his works, a drawing of a member of the local home guard in
uniform, can be seen in the Memorial Hall.
It was to accommodate Edward Halliday that Sir John Crompton-Inglefield
had the studio converted. Edward
Halliday was active in the local Home Guard, during the Second World War.
For many years the house was rented to Capt. Beal and his family, but
when he moved south to live nearer his married daughter it was again put on the
market.
Landmark Publishing – A Local Publisher for Local People
Copyright
© 2002
Andrew
I Lewer (Landmark Publishing)
Readers
familiar with the BBC series ‘The League of Gentlemen’ may recognise the
above title, taken from the programme’s ‘local shop’ that would only serve
people if they actually lived in the village. Landmark Publishing, however, far
from having such a narrow and parochial focus manages to serve the market for
local history with books of a national standard, both in terms of design and
content.
Most
of the Society’s members will be familiar with Landmark’s books already,
notably ‘Spirit of Ashbourne’ and the revised and updated edition of ‘The
Derbyshire Country House’ which the company published recently. ‘Spirit of
Hulland & Hognaston’, ‘Spirit of Ashbourne: 2’ and, yes, ‘Spirit of
Parwich’ is to appear soon. This last is being written by Dr Isobel Combes of
the Vicarage in Parwich. The book will be a most important ‘landmark’ in the
history of the village, celebrating through pictures and well-informed text the
history of Parwich from c.1900 to the present day. Anyone who has information,
and particularly photographs, of Parwich - old and new - is cordially invited to
contact Isobel.
Although
Landmark has only been in existence for half a decade or so, its staff are very
experienced in the ways of book publishing, particularly the Managing Director,
Mr Lindsey Porter, who has well over twenty years of experience in the industry
(or ‘vocation’ as it often seems), notably with his former concern Moorland
Publishing, also of Ashbourne. Landmark has now moved into suitably historic
offices at Ashbourne Hall, indeed the front office is thought to be the bedroom
where the Young Pretender spent the night before abandoning his attempt to seize
the crown in 1745.
The
primary focus of the business was until fairly recently the Landmark Visitors
Guides, colour illustrated travel books covering a wide range of destinations
from Iceland to Sri Lanka, from Scotland to Jersey, and indeed, these are still
a vital part of the business and new titles continue to be produced, most
recently the Landmark Visitors Guide to the Algarve. The emphasis has moved more recently, however, to the
Landmark Collector’s Library, a category that can itself be divided into two,
the ‘Spirit of…’ titles and the more general histories.
‘Spirit
of…’ books have proved to be tremendously popular and have now been
published on a surprising range of towns and villages, from quite large
industrial towns like Macclesfield to close-knit villages like Tideswell. Each
takes as its theme ‘the twentieth century in photographs’ and depicts both
people and buildings long gone and those that are very much with us. The thrill
of seeing oneself or a relative or friend ‘in print’ combines with an
understandable fascination with scenes from by-gone days of parades and school
photographs and of homes and shops that have either changed drastically, or have
disappeared altogether.
Just
as the ‘Spirit of…’ books are now starting to move beyond Derbyshire and
Staffordshire into North Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire, so too have
the general histories broadened their horizons. Industrial and social histories
of this locality are still very much present
in the range, with recent titles such as ‘Packmen, Carriers and Packhorse
Roads’ and ‘Peakland Roads and Trackways’, but Landmark has also recently
published books on ‘Collieries of Somerset & Bristol’, ‘Colwyn Bay:
Its History Across the Years’ and four volumes
in an eventual ten volumes set of Stationary Steam Engines of the whole of Great
Britain. We are in touch with authors from varied walks of life, from academics
to industrialists, librarians to engineers and all have appreciated the support
they get from a small publishing house, from committed people who know their
name and do not have to ask for their ‘ISBN’ to answer an enquiry.
It
is always a pleasure to work on truly local subjects however, and our new book -
‘Well Dressing’ - could not be closer to the hearts (and we hope, in a
modest way, the wallets) of Ashbourne and district. This colourful large format
hardback will be both a visual delight and contain some serious and scholarly
analysis of the well dressing phenomenon; it thus encapsulates the essence of
Landmark and what its books are able to supply to their readers.
*Also if you are interested in purchasing this book you can do so at a 15% discount through the Society (See Editorial on p23 and enclosed leaflet).
A.E
Dodd and E.M.Dodd
2000
Revised and enlarged 3rd edition Landmark Collectors Library
Hardback
cost £19-95*
I
remember when Moorland published the first edition of this book by Dodds back in
1974. It was in many ways a revelation; here was a book that looked in detail at
the development of the trackways and roads of the Peak District from the very
earliest times and made the subject alive and relevant. The Doddses demonstrated
that with a few old maps, a modern ordinance survey map and an eye that was
attuned to looking at the shape of the landscape and the pattern of roads and
tracks you were able to piece together the way people criss-crossed Derbyshire
over the past 3000 years.
The
book starts by making carefully judged speculation about the tracks of the
Neolithic farmers passing by the main henge sites, including Arbor Low (this
track can still be clearly seen today passing by Minning Low and through Pike
Hall). It then moves on the looking at the system of Roman roads that linked the
main fortifications and then on to rutted medieval tracks and then to the
packhorse ways, drovers’ roads and finally turnpikes. The book demonstrates
that far from being a backwater the Peak District has been at the hub of
activity from the earliest times.
The
new edition has been updated by a number of enthusiasts, including Brian Rich
(who ran the local history course in Parwich a couple of years ago). It has the
same detailed maps as the first edition but has a larger format and includes
numerous new photographs, many in colour. Whilst it is ideal for reading by the
fire in the middle of winter it consistently encourages and entices the reader
to get out of the house to go and explore for himself. This is the greatest
strength of the book and indeed it has been the inspiration for a whole new
focus of road and track way research over the past twentyfive years. The result
is that a further volume is in preparation that includes the results of recent
research and extends understanding of the complexity of the old and varied
system of roads in the Peak.
We
may have to wait a year or so for this next book, but in the meantime you can
compensate by rooting around some of the paths and tracks that this book so
vividly reveals through its detailed maps and careful descriptions. No journey
will be quite the same again!
The
influence of building materials on Parwich Architecture
The
first assignment for my Architectural History course was to “Briefly
identify the characteristic building materials of a locality and indicate
how their nature has influenced local architectural development.”
I chose Parwich as the locality because I like it.
Brian Foden and, especially, Peter Trewhitt were extremely helpful.
Nowadays,
we decide on the design the house and then obtain the building materials.
Before the Industrial Revolution, and the development of transport
systems, only the very wealthy could import building materials from outside of
their immediate locality. The rest of us built our houses according to what was
available locally - and local really meant local.
To write this essay on Parwich, I first had to ascertain what the houses
were built of, then establish where the likely sources for these materials were,
and finally, examine the effects of these sources on specific architectural
features. If, for example,
materials were used which were not from within, say, a 5 mile radius,
then other factors such as the preferences
of the (wealthy) inhabitants, fashion, etc. would have had more influence on the
architectural development of the village than local materials.
This
is the edited version of the essay I wrote. Initially I considered the locality
and building materials, and then moved on to look at specific architectural
features - roofs, chimneystacks, dressings, doors and windows, and walling.
In each case the influence of the building materials is discussed.
The
locality and building materials
The
houses examined in this essay are all ‘Small Houses’ or ‘Cottages’,
using Brunskill’s size types (Brunskill, 1978).
The houses are of limestone rubble, with sandstone or gritstone
dressings. Chimneys are, with a few
exceptions, brick and the roofs are clad with blue Staffordshire plain tiles.
There is evidence to suggest that Parwich has been occupied (continuously or not) since Roman times (Trewhitt, 2001). However, the earliest surviving buildings are seventeenth century (C17), although a few houses retain C16 walls. It is likely that earlier buildings would have been of timber. “In general it seems that timber-frame construction was the normal construction method for vernacular architecture over virtually the whole country stone succeeded timber-frame wherever it was at hand” (Brunskill, 1972 p.79).
Photo 1 - The Square
So,
what materials were ‘at hand’ in Parwich?
The British Geological Survey of the area shows that Parwich lies on a
bed of carboniferous limestone (Dinantian rock) with Millstone Grit immediately
to the east and west. Less than 2
km to the south are mudstones and shale. Within
the bed of Dinantian rock, “Varying proportions of interbedded mudstone and
sandstone…..also occur” (British
Geological Survey, 1982 p7).
According
to Brian Foden there were two village quarries - one at Monsdale Lane and one at
Doddshill - where the rubblestone for the walls was quarried.
The sandstone had to come from slightly further afield - from quarries at
Mayfield, Sheen and Stanton - approximately 10 miles away.
Millstone Grit is still quarried at Stanton Moor approximately 10 miles
away.
Again
according to Brian Foden, the nearest source for building brick was Ashbourne
which is less than 7 miles away.
The houses in the village are then built of locally available materials - limestone rubble for walling, sandstone/gritstone for dressings, lintels and jambs, and brick for chimneys.
Photo - 2 Flaxdale House
This
leaves the question of the roofing
material. Despite the
proximity of Millstone Grit, it seems that sandstone flags were not available
locally - certainly the English Heritage (1998) advice note on stone slate
roofing indicates that Parwich is outside the area of general use.
Although it could be argued that the Staffordshire plain tiles are a
local material by present day standards (it is approximately 25 miles to
Stafford) this cannot be said to be true by seventeenth and eighteenth century
standards - especially when we consider that Parwich was only accessible by
road.
There
is evidence that at least some of the houses were thatched originally, and flax,
a “thatching material…..formerly
favoured in Derbyshire” (Clifton Taylor, 1972 p337) was grown in the parish,
according to the recollections of H. Birkentall (2001).
So, were all houses thatched originally?
Or are we looking at the use of an imported building material?
These questions are discussed in more detail below.
Architectural
features and the influence of building materials
1.
Roofs and chimneys
There
is visible evidence on the older buildings of altered rooflines, raised eaves,
and so on. Generally, the larger
C18 houses have raised gable ends and chimneys with water tabling.
In photographs (1) and (2) the water tabling can be clearly seen.
Fernlea, an C18 house retains two sets of joists - one for the current
roof, and another for the original thatch (Trewhitt).
In photograph (3) the evidence for the altered roofline is clear, and
what appears to be water tabling is visible on the stack of the adjoining house.
Photo 3 The Rookery and Rose Cottage
This
would all seem to suggest that these houses were originally thatched, and that
the thatch was replaced with the plain tiles when importing them from
Staffordshire became viable. However,
some houses, Hallcliffe for example, show no evidence of having ever been
thatched.
We
are left with two possibilities:
a)
all the older houses were originally thatched
b)
wealthier inhabitants imported roof tiles, but incorporated features associated
with thatched roofs.
Either
way, we can see the influence of the traditional building material - in the
water tabling on the chimneys, high above the tiles.
It
would also appear that brick chimneys replaced the original stone stacks on the
older houses - see photograph (1) - but became the standard material on later
houses. Clifton Taylor and Ireson (1983) state that limestone’s “direst
enemy” is pollution. Specifically,
sulphur, soot and dust deposited on the stone are converted to sulphuric acid in
the rain. So the limestone chimneys
may have begun to do badly when coal was burnt.
2.
Dressings, doors and windows
Dressings
on those houses Listed (Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest
1984, vol. 18.3) are described as being either gritstone or sandstone.
There are two predominant colours of stone - the “pinkish” colour
described in Pevsner (1978 p413) and a browner, dun coloured stone.
Generally,
the larger C18 houses have stressed quoins - on one building (Flaxdale House, photograph 2) they are rusticated - and the dun or reddish sandstone/gritstone
contrasts strongly with the grey limestone walls.
Smaller houses and older houses place less emphasis on the quoins - using
rough dressed limestone, or intermittent quoins (photograph 6), or have no
quoins.
All
of the houses with raised gable ends have stone coping on the gables, and most
have kneelers at the front elevation. Again,
these are either sandstone or gritstone.
The
only other ornamentation on most of the houses is around the windows and doors.
There are some problems with examining the doorways because many houses
have C19 or C20 porches added. However,
all the doorways are square with a sandstone/gritstone lintel (with one
exception). Some have no jambs, some have stone jambs, others have a
Gibbs surround. Lintels tend to be
large, with proportionately broad jambs. (See
photographs 4 and 5.)
Photo 4 - Sunnyside (Old Post Office)
Photo 5 - Hallcliffe
The
windows are broadly of three types - flush mullioned (square sectioned or
chamfered), massive lintel with jambs, and massive window without jambs (see
sketches, and photograph 4). It
seems safe to assume (and there is visible evidence of alteration) that on the
older houses these massive lintel tall windows are replacements of the original
mullioned windows. Brunskill’s
(1978) time scales for window shapes show mullioned windows going out of use
around 1740 and tall windows coming in around 1725
- before many of these houses were built. However, as Tarn (1971: xii) points out, the Peak District is
“far away from the influence of the fashionable attitudes followed in
London” and again, there may have been practical reasons for Parwich being
slow to change.
These
carboniferous sandstones and Millstone grit are freestones, easily worked and
dressed (Clifton Taylor and Ireson, 1983) making features like the kneelers
possible - at least for the wealthier residents of Parwich.
However, sandstone (and gritstone) is extremely weak in tension - perhaps
making features like the massive lintels necessary if they were to do the job
previously done by the mullions. This
would also explain why the lintels are so short, that is, do not project into
the wall on either side of the window, and consequently appear out-of-proportion
in some cases. Since all windows have large, if not massive, lintels we can see
the influence of the nature of the local material.
3.
Walling
All
of the pre C20 houses, apart from Greengates (ashlar) are built of rubblestone -
square and coursed on the larger houses (at least on the front elevation) and
random rubble on the smaller houses. A
number of houses have projecting stones in walls of random rubble, which are
presumably bonding stones. (See
photographs 6 and 7.) Mortar joints
are wide, as they have to be with limestone rubble. A glance at an OS Map of the area shows numerous disused
kilns around the northern perimeter of the village where the quicklime for the
mortar could have been prepared.
Photo 6 - Orchard Farm
Photo 7 - Church Cottage
Either
because it took so much labour to work the hard limestone, or because the softer
stone from the quarries was more expensive, or took longer to select, the wealth
of the house owner would seem to be the determining factor in whether the
rubblestone was squared and coursed or random.
The
dry stonewalls around the plots are also of rubblestone.
Interestingly, to the south of the village, on the shale and further from
the quarries, field boundaries are marked with hedges.
To the north, on less fertile ground and in close proximity to the
stones, field boundaries are marked with dry stonewalling.
Conclusion
A
general description of the houses in Parwich shows how the nature of the
characteristic traditional building materials has influenced the architectural
development in the basic features of the houses. More elaborate features, such as the kneelers and quoins,
have also been influenced by the wealth and tastes of the inhabitants.
Fashion and practical issues have demanded alterations and replacement
of, for example, windows, roofing materials and chimneystacks.
In Parwich we can see the interaction of all these influences, and in the
most modern houses in the village how characteristic building materials continue
to influence architecture today.
Bibliography
& Other Sources
Birkentall,
H (2001) Parwich & District Local History Society Newsletter No. 6,
September 2001
Brunskill,
R W (1992) “Traditional Buildings of Britain: An Introduction to Vernacular
Architecture” Victor Gollancz
Brunskill,
R W (1978) “Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture” Faber &
Faber 1978
Chisholme,
J I, Charsley, T J and Aitkenhead, T (1998) “Geology of the Country Around Ashbourne and Cheadle” British Geological Survey HMSO
Clifton
Taylor, A and Ireson, A S (1983) “English Stone Building” Victor Gollancz
Clifton
Taylor, A (1972) “The Pattern of English Building” Faber & Faber
Derbyshire
County Sources of Building Stone for Use in Derbyshire Council 1999
Department
of the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest
Environment Peak District National Park Vol. 18.3 1984
English
Heritage (1998) Technical Advice Note: Stone Slate Roofing
Harris,
H (1971) “Industrial Archaeology of the Peak District” David & Charles
Mercer,
E (1975) “English Vernacular Houses: A Study of Traditional Farmhouses and
Cottages” Royal Commission on Historic Monuments HMSO
Penoyre
J & J (1972) “Houses in the Landscape” Faber & Faber
Pevsner,
N; Cherry, B; Nairn J and Williamson, E
(1972) “The Buildings of England: Derbyshire” Penguin
Pilkington,
J (1789)
“A View of the Present State of Derbyshire” J Drewery
Tarn,
J N (1971) “The Peak District National Park - Its Architecture” Peak Park
Planning Board
Trewhitt,
P (2001) Parwich & District Local History Society Newsletter No. 5 May
Woverson
Cope, F (1998) “Geology Explained in the
Peak District” Scarthin Books
Websites
www.parwichchurch.co.uk
www.brit-stone.com
www.streetmap.co.uk
Personal
Sources
Peter
Trewhitt Parwich & District
Local History Society (tour of village and invaluable general information on
buildings)
Brian
Foden Parwich & District Local
History Society (information about local sources of building materials)
Maps
Ordnance
Survey 1:25000 White Peak Outdoor Leisure Map 24
Ordnance Survey 1:2500 1879
Map of Parish of Parwich
Mark Edmond’s feeds back on University of Sheffield Archaeological Excavations at Bradbourne
Copyright © 2002 Peter Trewhitt
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