Old Whittington One Place Study

The Revolution House and the stories of the Revolution are always popping up.

These two articles were posted on the Chesterfield and Area History and Genealogy Face book page, and both have interesting bits of information.

The first posted by Andrew Johnson earlier this year. From a report in the Derbyshire Times in 1929.

The second piece was posted two days ago by Rob Marriott, an article originally posted in the Illustrated London News 18 December 1847. The Revolution House certainly looks different to how it appears today.

I have to admit to having a personal interest in this article from the Derbyshire Times 22 November 1935. I travelled to Tapton on the school bus from Whittington for many years, as I remember it was a free service at that time. It is interesting to see in this article the discussions that went on about charging for the journey in 1935. I think the school originally opened in 1931 to scholars, perhaps prior to this article children from Whittington had to make the not unsubstantial journey under their own steam.

This appeared in the Sheffield Telegraph 7 september 1929 written by a ‘Native’.

I saw this advert in the Derbyshire Times from 1932 and it made me curious where Thompsons Bakery was in Old Whittington and who J W Thompson was.

After a bit of online research I found that J W Thompson was quite an influential man in the Whittington area and latterly the Mayor of Chesterfield. I wonder if Thompson St on Whittington Moor is named after him? Perhaps someone will know.

You can read more about J W Thompson and the bakery at https://oldwhittingtonops.com/thompsons-bakery/

Revolution House 1902 (https://picturethepast.org.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/dccc002524)

Shown here decorated for the coronation of Edward VII. The Revolution House, in the Derbyshire village of Old Whittington, takes its name from the revolution of 1688. Three hundred years ago, this cottage was an alehouse, the ‘Cock and Pynot’ (‘pynot’ is a dialect word for magpie), (new pub in the background) and it was here, as history and tradition relate, that three local noblemen – the Earl of Devonshire (from nearby Chatsworth), the Earl of Danby and Mr John D’Arcy – met to begin planning their part in events which led to the overthrow of King James II in favour of William and Mary of Orange. Danby raised support in Yorkshire and the North, Devonshire in Derbyshire and the Midlands. William and Mary landed at Torbay in November 1688. The North and Midlands rose in support and James fled to France. The Glorious Revolution was over.

I was reading the old newspapers and found this short piece regarding the ‘Gisborne Flannel’ in the Derbyshire Times 24 December 1943. I had no idea what this was but was intrigued by the article and decided to have a quick look.

Apparently Francis Gisborne set up a charity in the 19th century for ‘PURCHASING OF FLANNEL AND COARSE WOOLLEN CLOTH YEARLY AT CHRISTMAS TO BE DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE POOR RESIDING WITHIN THE PARISH.’

There are recorded accounts at the Derbyshire record office and Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent record office for different Derby parishes but no mention of any Whittington accounts but obviously Whittington recieved a share of this charitable bequest!

I wonder if anyone knows when this bequest finally ended or if it is still carried out in some form, would be interesting to find out!

Source information https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/255890/full-print

I have been really busy over the last few weeks so apologies for not posting. I am currently visiting my daughter in the US and will be here for the next five weeks, so hopefully will have a bit more time now for some Old Whittington research, along with plenty of sightseeing. Thats the beauty of the internet isn’t it doesn’t matter where you are, information is readily available at your fingertips.

I recently bought ‘The Book of Chesterfield’ by Roy Cooper published in 1977. It contains plenty of information about Chesterfield and many drawings of Chesterfield in days gone by.

These two pictures took my attention as they show the original poster for the centenary of the Revolution, depicting the Revolution House and the coat of arms on the reverse of the poster.

I posted a story about John Bryan who lived in Whittington late in the 19th century, much information supplied by Raewyn Young his great granddaughter.

The story has sparked the interest of many descendants of John Bryan and it has been lovely to see all these family members ‘meeting up’.

It is what I hoped would happen when I started this One Place Study, a resource for people who had ancestors in Whittington many years ago who have never perhaps been able to visit the area, people swapping stories and families finding new information to enhance their family history.

It reminds me that it is important to keep finding information and updating the website with stories about Whittington and its people, and hopefully some other families might find their ancestors originated in Whittington!

I have finally started adding some pictures of gravestones and adding the inscriptions eventually I hope to upload them to one of the commercial sites – Find a Grave etc but for now you can find them here https://oldwhittingtonops.com/gravestones/

The churchyard at Old Whittington is looking really tidy and well kept, the lads doing the tidying up have a made a really good job. Its a lovely place to walk around and look at nature, as well as the gravestones