Ockbrook - Part 02 - Bakehouse Lane To The Settlement
w/e 25 January 2004

Queen's Head

I left Part 1 of this series outside Plant's shop on the corner of New Street and this part picks up the trail at the other end of New Street which can be seen to the right of this image. Almost directly opposite is Bakehouse Lane (hidden) and on the corner stands another of those four or five pubs in the village. This one is called the Queen's Head. It is not unusual for pubs to change their names and this one is no exception as it was once known as the Horse and Jockey. What is surprising though is that the Queen that inspired the name change was Victoria and that the event was her accession in 1837. During the Second World War, the pub was used by the Home Guard as their HQ.
Cricket Club

Walking by the side of the pub along Bakehouse Lane soon leads to the Cricket Club. The club was established in 1872 and one fine gentleman who went by the name of Whackie Harrison played his last innings for the club after a 42 year career in 1933.
Grange Lodge 
At the top of Bakehouse Lane the road turns right into The Settlement. There is a lane to the left and a private drive between. At this junction stands Grange Lodge, an 1865 building bounded by a picket fence and surmounted by unusual ornate ridge tiles. Respecting the "No Entry" sign on the fence, I walked down the lane to the left for the next photo.
The Grange 
Grange Lodge was built as a lodge house to The Grange which was formerly known as Swallows Rest. I thought that name suggested yet another pub but I understand that the house was built in the early nineteenth century as a retirement home for William Mallalieu, a descendant of the Huguenots and the last of the family to live in the area.
Greenside

Returning to The Settlement this fine three storey building on the right hand side was indeed, not only a pub but also a malthouse and went by the name of the New Inn. It began trading in 1792. This is perhaps an opportune time to relate a little of the history of Ockbrook. It is actually two villages in one, the original village dating from the sixth century having been founded as an Anglo Saxon settlement by Occa - hence the name Ockbrook. Life continued in a rural nature until the 1700s when a gradual change started to take place. Coal mining at the nearby villages of Dale and Stanley provided employment for some of the men of Ockbrook. The coal was transported through Ockbrook to the Derby Canal at Borrowash and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the village became an important stocking-making centre as industry began to take hold. It was during this period that a Congregation of the Moravian Church was formed and the church was built on a hill to the north of the original village in 1752. Thus began the Settlement.
Sunday School

We shall learn more about the impact the Moravians had on the village in a later part in this series but to return to the three storey ex-public house that is now called Greenside, it is known that many visitors to the Moravian Settlement stayed here, even on one occasion, the Bishop of Lichfield. An extension to Greenside in 1865 and 1880 became the Sunday School and a plaque on the wall (inset) shows that it was used as an auxiliary hospital for injured servicemen during the Great War (1914-1918).

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