W CUMMING OLD WHITTINGTON BLACKING MILLS

When I was researching the men from Old Whittington remembered on the war memorials (https://oldwhittingtonops.com/the-fallen-of-old-whittingto…/) I noticed that a couple of them were employed at the Blacking Mills.

I had heard of flour mills, water mills even silk mills but I had never heard of a Blacking mill!
The Blacking mill was situated in what was Foxley Oaks, this is the area between Newbridge Lane and the River Whitting.

If you would like to find out more about Cummings Whittington Blacking Mills then please go to https://oldwhittingtonops.com/old-whittington-blacking-mil…/

ROBBERY ON TURNPIKE ROAD 1798

Came across this newspaper entry from the Derbyshire Mercury 22 March 1798.
The reward of £40 would be quite a large amount I would imagine in 1798 it would be interesting to find out if the three 'footpads' were caught. I love the reference to the Turnpike Road.
If you are interested in where the Turnpike roads were this website is helpful.
http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/The%20Turnpike%20Roads.htm

WHITTINGTON GAS CO = PRICE CUT

Wouldn't it be nice if things were so simple these days!

DIRECTORIES

When I was researching the War memorial I was intrigued by how many residents of Whittington in 1911 were not born there and had come to work there in the mines or at Sheepbridge Works.

I thought it would be interesting to research how the village developed in size and occupations over the years from 1828-1829, when the Pigots Directory was printed up to 1895-1905 when Sheepbridge was at full capacity.

Hope you find the information as interesting as I do!

Hopefully over the next few months I will post the information from the census and from trade directories, which will show how the village changed and how the population grew.

SHEEPBRIDGE IRON WORKS Laying the foundation stone of the blast furnace

Found this report in the Derbyshire Courier 7 November 1857. It gives details of the laying of the foundation stone for the blast furnaces at Sheepbridge Iron works.

John Buxton

The sad story of John Buxton of Newbridge Street Old Whittington, taken from Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald 8 September 1900

The Inquest report was published the following week in the Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald

"At the inquest of the Whittington lad, who was killed by a trap accident last week, the Coroner commented on the danger of children being allowed to play in the streets".

WHITTINGTON CHURCH

Been to the Local Studies library today and found this engraving of Whittington Church in Fords History of Chesterfield. It is not dated and doesn't mention any information about it but the book was published in 1839 so that gives a rough idea of the date.