Author: oldwhittingtonops

Finding the article on Mary Swanwick playing fields reminded me that 18 months ago I was asked to jot down a few facts about Mary Swanwick for someone who was giving a talk about her.For some reason I never posted the ‘jottings’ on here or the webpage. I have now rectified that and this can be read at https://oldwhittingtonops.com/mary-swanwick-13-july-1841…/The story is by no means a full biography of Mary Swanwick, but there may be some information in there for people who wonder who the lady was who had a school named after her.

Picture on display at Elder Yard Chapel Chesterfield

This report taken from the Derbyshire Times/ Chesterfield Herald 17 June 1933, shows how strongly people felt when the Mary Swanwick Playing fields were changed from public playing fields to school playing fields, only to be used during school time. I dont know if they ever went back to public use again after this protest. Perhaps someone may know.I love the fact that whoever did the deed replaced the ground and place another message there!

I found this interesting story in the Derbyshire Courier from 1910. Its about Sarah Shepherd who lived in the Revolution House in 1910, when the interview took place. She has some interesting tales to tell and it can be read in full at

THE LADY OF THE REVOLUTION HOUSE – Old Whittington One Place Study (oldwhittingtonops.com)

Further to my post re Samuel Hinde yesterday. As I mentioned he owned many pieces of land and wooded areas in Whittington in mid 1700. I have now been joined by my friend and fellow researcher Elizabeth Pemberton in trying to plot on old maps (both working from our separate homes !) where these pieces of land actually were.Names like Far Dam Close, Piper Hole, Hollow Meadow, Near Brown Holme and many more have disappeared from recent maps.It is difficult to imagine that the whole area around Whittington had very few houses at this time. However, the good thing is that the two rivers appear on all of the maps and are a good starting point to work from.

I am currently researching a gentleman called Samuel Hinde who lived in Old Whittington mid 1700’s until his death in 1809. He owned much of the area on Newbridge Lane down towards the canal, including the Foxley Oaks area, many other pieces of land in Whittington and it is not a name I was familiar with. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I visited the churchyard at Old Whittington to look for the Hinde graves and bumped into two ladies who were looking for the same graves. They are descendants of Samuel Hinde and we were able to exchange information about him. It was a coincidence that we should all have chosen the same time to visit the churchyard.We found the graves and I hope to be able to post more information about Samuel Hinde and Foxley Oaks in the next week or so.

I came across this article in the Sheffield Independent dated 29th March 1845. There is a lot of reading, it is an interesting but tragic story with an unexpected end

This piece taken from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph 15 September 1925, sounds as though it was only luck that stopped the event turning into something more tragic. What is amusing is that the author of the piece notes that the parties are Welsh, which he seems to think explains their behaviour!

Further to my recent post on the rebuilding of the Bulls Head I have found this drawing of the original Bulls Head which was posted in Old Chesterfield Pics in 2017 by Alan Taylor.

There was a newspaper entry in the Derbyshire Times Chesterfield Herald on 17th January 1903 in the ‘Notes by the Way’ section which gives interesting details regarding some James II coins and human bones which were found at the site when the new Bulls Head was built.

The Sheffield Independent 23 September 1901 ran an article on the Bulls Head Old Whittington re plans passed to have it pulled down and re-erected further from the High Street. The photo on the left from Picture the past is supposed to be circa 1900 as it looks very similar to the up to date photo of the Bulls Head then I assume it must be later than 1900. Has anyone any photos of the original Bulls Head in their family albums? It would be interesting to see what it looked like and if it was ‘removed’.

There is a new website for St Bartholomews listing parish information and much more https://stbartholomew.co.uk/.

There is also a link to the men who died in WW1 in both Old and New Whittington.