Derbyshire Record Office

Sepia photograph of an outdoor ice rink in a park. Men dressed in suits and hats are standing on the ice throwing curling stones and sweeping with large brooms.

Who knew curling used to be big in Buxton? This photo from 1906 shows the specially built rink in the Pavilion Gardens, complete with lighting so it could be used after dark. In the same year Buxton Curling Club had 75 members.

#ArchiveAdventCalendar #WinterSports #curling #1900s

Letter which begins: Mansfield eleven o'clock Fryday Dec. 6 1745 Sir we were much allarm'd here last night with a report of the Rebels being within a few miles of this place the Derbyshire forces left us in no small hurry & confusion which contributed a good deal to encrease the allarm. we sent our horses to Warsop that they might be out of danger at all events & were resolved our selves to wait the event...

#OnThisDay in Derby in 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie abandoned his march to London to restore the Stuart monarchy in England, Scotland and Wales. The Jacobite rebels were ultimately defeated at the Battle of Culloden in Scotland on 16 April 1746.

#EYAAnniversaries #18thCentury

A black and white photograph of a man with no legs below the knees, stood in the doorway of C Greaves shop looking directly at the camera. He is wearing a white shirt, waist coat and dark trousers. To the left of the photograph are two small children wearing white pinafores.

This is a photograph of John Williamson in around 1930, standing outside Greaves' shop. We think the image was taken in Dronfield. John lost both his legs when he fell under a train.

#DisabilityHistoryMonth #1930s

A Christmas card in the shape of a Christmas tree. The tree is decorated with gingerbread men, pretzels, baubles and white candles and it is enclosed by a small picket fence.

This fabulous Victorian Christmas card shows a sumptuously decorated Christmas tree. How will you be decorating yours this year?

#ArchiveAdventCalendar #Tree #EYASparkle #Victorian

Three young girls of different ethnicities are chatting together, dressed in costumes with silver sleeves and ruffles, and large black and gold hats.

As the days get more wintry and darker, lets remember some summer sunshine and sparkle, with a visit to the West Indian carnival in Derby, in July 2002. These children are ready to join in with the fun and music in their beautiful costumes.

#PhotoFriday #EYAInclusion #EYASparkle

Cover of the book ‘The First Four Minute Mile and Tom Hulatt of Tibshelf’ by Peter and Paul Stanley, with a Foreword by David Moorcroft. It features a black and white photograph of a man wearing a running vest and shorts, running along a grass track.

‘The First Four Minute Mile and Tom Hulatt of Tibshelf’ is a biography of the humble miner who came third in the famous 1954 running race in which Roger Bannister set a new world record. Find it in our #LocalStudies library or buy your own copy in our bookshop for only £3.00!

Following on from Monday’s post on #Medieval dancing, here is a recreation of one of the dances in the Great Hall at Haddon Hall, near Bakewell, in 1999. We have been carrying out digital preservation on this DVD as part of our ongoing work to preserve digital material.
#EYADigital #dance

The top half of a rectangular printed sheet. It has an engraving at the top showing the archangel Gabriel talking to a very happy looking Mary. Underneath is the title 'A Christmas Carol' followed by the first stanza of 'God rest ye merry, Gentlemen'.

This printed text of the #ChristmasCarol 'God rest ye merry, Gentlemen' from around 1800 features a lovely engraving of the annunciation, showing the archangel Gabriel talking to Mary.

#ArchiveAdventCalendar

A black and white photograph with a railway towards the bottom of the photograph, surrounded by fields and trees. There appear to be domestic buildings in various places. Towards the top of the photograph are industrial buildings of Ferodo Friction Linings factory. By the railway line can also be seen a block industrial water tower, footbridge and cattle dock.

This is a fabulous aerial view from 1924, showing Chapel-en-le-Frith Central railway station and the Ferodo Friction Linings factory in the distance, looking north-east.

#Railway200 #1920s

Photograph of a standard brown archive box with the lid off. Inside are several 'parcels', small boxes made from blue-grey archival card and tied with unbleached cotton tape. Each has a brown label attached to the tape, with a reference number written in pencil. The reference number is also written on the card, in white pencil.

This is how we'd like the inside of all our archive boxes to look: everything neatly packaged and tied with cotton tape 🤩

#BoxesAndBows #ArchiveAdventCalendar

Table giving Name, Address [mostly Bath Street and South Street, also Chapel Street, Stanton Road, Awsworth Road, Granby Street, Nottingham Road, Market Place and Gallows Inn], Occupation [all Butcher]. All appear to have signed their names themselves.

This 1883 petition of 21 Ilkeston butchers, requesting meat to be supplied from Derby, is from a #NewCatalogue of papers relating to the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1878 as enforced in Derbyshire. Thank you to our longest-serving cataloguing volunteer for the list!

#Victorian

Heavily embossed brown leather cover a small photograph album. In the centre is an oval with the embossed shape of a shield inside. A gold-coloured clasp can be seen in the middle of the right-hand side.

Sepia coloured portrait photograph of a small dog sitting on a chair. The dog has a light coloured fur with large pointy ears also covered in long fur.

Sepia coloured portrait photograph of a lady in dark Edwardian dress and small hat sitting on a chair in a garden. A wall of foliage can be seen behind her. On her lap is a small shaggy coated dog. A similar dog sits on a wicker table to her left.

Sepia coloured portrait photograph of a small shaggy coated dog sitting on a cushion onto of a fancy table. The dog’s light-coloured fur is so long its completely covers the dogs eyes.

This beautifully embossed photograph album belonging to the Harpur Crewe family of Calke Abbey contains charming portraits of the family with their pets during the late 19th century. They were clearly well loved by the family, though perhaps one was overdue at the groomers!🐶

#EYAPets #Dogs

A colour photograph of a modern detached house with a car in the drive. The whole house is covered with illuminated Christmas decorations: there are at least three Santa's, the words 'Merry Christmas' in large letters and a big star on the roof.

If you were hoping to see some #FestiveLights in 1998, you could have driven past this house in Riddings and marvelled at the illuminated Santa's!

#ArchiveAdventCalendar #EYASparkle #1990s

A pen and ink sketch of a room in a Georgian-era house with panelled walls and door, a fireplace with an empty grate, patterned rug on the floor and a plushily upholstered armchair. It is labelled at the bottom "Ye Silence Room. Godolphin House. Newmarket. 16/3/16"

If you find the run up to Christmas all a bit much, welcome to "Ye Silence Room" courtesy of local amateur artist H J Rylands in 1916 - a comfy chair for one and perfect peace and quiet - lovely!

#EYASilence #1910s #art

A torn out page from a notebook, with written in black ink: Christmas 1913. Harold. Wilfred; blotter & telegraph cases, carved plate & hfs [handkerchiefs]. Annie: table centre & carved plate. Gilbert: money. wife: woollen jacket. Milly: carved plate, hair combs. Ernie: little purse & 5/-. Tottie[?]: shoe buckles. Hilda: table centre & toasting fork. Bertha Jos: 1 doz hfs [handkerchiefs]. Kathleen, Elsa, Marie & Harold P.O. [Postal Order] for 4/- each

We’re taking part again in this year’s #ArchiveAdventCalendar, as organised by ARA Scotland The theme for today is #Presents, so here’s a list showing the Christmas presents Sarah Meggitt Smith from Buxton was going to hand out in 1913.

#1910s

Scale hand drawn plan of railway line.

Many of the railway plans we hold are for routes that were never built. Here is a proposed route that would have passed through Calver in 1890.
#Railway200 #1890s

An open manuscript page with staves of music drawn on to them. They are for different dances. Two of the dances are named Talbot 1 and Talbot 2.

Suggestion for a new themed week on #Strictly: medieval dancing! We’re lucky to have this fragile dance manual from the late 15th century in our archives. It contains dance instructions, manes of dances, numbers of dancers required, and even some of the music.

#EYAMedieval #15thCentury #dance

Thank you. We didn't want to attribute this image to him without more information, so knowing this is also your opinion is really helpful.

Snow-covered Arbor Low at sunset, with smooth drifts in the foreground and glowing orange sky on the horizon. In the distance a cluster of stones mark the ancient stone circle.

Arbor Low, a #Neolithic henge in the Peak District, has an atmospheric beauty all year round, but under a blanket of snow it takes on an other-worldly quality. This stunning image was captured by a Peak Park photographer in 1979 and captures the ethereal serenity of the landmark.
#EYABeauty

A large bound volume of newspapers is lying open on a table; the pages are clearly wet. A conservator has placed a dry sheet of paper on top of a wet sheet and is carefully turning both over in order to reach the next wet sheet.

A defrosted and dried page of the Long Eaton Advertiser from 21 September 1923.

When a bound volume of #1920s newspapers got wet, we froze it to prevent mould developing until we had the time and space to dry it out properly. As the wet pages felt slightly tacky we had to interleave them with dry sheets, so they wouldn’t all stick together in the freezer.
#EYAConservation

Screenshot of the main page of the Explore Your Archive website, featuring a colourful EYA logo.

Tomorrow sees the start of Explore Your Archive Week, a celebration of archives in the UK and Ireland, organised by the Archives and Records Association, and we'll be taking part with the daily social media themes. You can find out more on the EYA website: https://www.exploreyourarchive.org/

A lady in a smart dark suit and small hat stands between two men, sat in mobility vehicles. They lean out of their windows and turn to smile at the camera behind them. The lady is handing them each a trophy – one a silver cup and the other a shield.

In #DisabilityHistoryMonth we visit Ilkeston in 1957 when the Invalid Tricycle Association held a rally on Rutland Recreation Ground, with these winners being handed their trophies.

#PhotoFriday #1950s

A hand drawn plan entitled 'Alterations & Additions to Methodist Chapel at Birchover'. A note underneath says its drawn 8 feet to an inch scale. The two drawings show an interior section of the church, showing the rood screen inside and decoration around it. The other shows the exterior from the same direction, entitled 'end elevation'. It features Gothic and quatrefoil shaped windows.

This plan shows detailed alterations and additions to Birchover Methodist Chapel in 1927, as drawn by J.W. Blackhurst, a Sheffield based surveyor and architect.

#EYAReligion/Spirituality #1920s #architecture

A book that has been filled in by hand using black ink.

Dronfield Station in the 1870s didn't only move passengers and goods, it was the Amazon of its day and moved parcels! This is a parcel delivery book entry from the #1870s for delivering parcels via passenger train, showing consignees and signatures when parcels collected.

#Railway200

A bright colourful front cover showing a collage of hand drawn cartoon style images of local Derbyshire significance, such as Chatsworth House, other local buildings and images of local food. The title The Derbyshire Cook Book is prominently shown top centre of the cover.

Planning your Christmas menu and looking for inspiration? Look no further than our #LocalStudies library book The Derbyshire Cookbook. A celebration of Derbyshire food with over 40 recipes including the iconic Bakewell Pudding. You can even buy a copy in our bookshop for only £6.00!

Two small printed cardboard prayer cards with decorated borders. The smaller one is green, whereas the bigger one is a beige colour. The green one says: "A PRAYER- O JESUS! Make Thyself to me a living, bright reality; more present to faith's vision keen than any outward object seen; More dear, more intimately nigh; Than even the sweetest early tie". It is then signed C. Elliot. The beige one says: "If you trust you do not worry, if you do worry you do not trust. 1 Peter v 7."

These Victorian era prayer cards hopefully helped someone at times that they needed it most. Wouldn't it be fascinating if they could tell us who, how and why...

#EYAReligion/Spirituality #Victorian

A black and white photograph showing a blind man called Dan wearing a cloth cap, jacket, waist coast, shirt and trousers tucked into high leather boots. He is carrying a covered wicker basket, and by a brick wall, with a large window behind him and a door just to the right of him.

Blind Dan was a yeast seller who used to go from house to house with a basket selling yeast in the early 20th century. On this photograph he is standing outside a property in the Creswell Model Village.
#DisabilityHistoryMonth #20thCentury

On the left of the image are the two badges both containing variations on the college crest, a lion rampant guardant, with a Tudor Rose covering it's body, on a red background. The Matlock Athletic Union Colours badge is the lower of the two. On the right of the image, the green college tie has diagonal white pinstripes running from right to left. There are two college crests between each pinstripe.

Our latest #NewAccession is something a little unusual: a tie, blazer badge and Athletic Union Colours Award badge from Matlock College of Education (1946-1986). These objects from the teacher training institution date from c1962.

#1960s

Selection of watercolours by Philip Browne showing the parish churches of Dore, Blackwell, Tibshelf, Ault Hucknall, Cromford and Hartshorne about 1823, with a photograph of Kirk Langley about 1890s.

Amongst the archives of the Diocese of Derby is our #ArchiveOfTheWeek, three volumes of watercolours of the county's parish churches, created about 1823 by Philip Browne. Photographs of some churches were added between 1870 and 1900.

#EYAReligion/Spirituality #art

Photograph of a large number of books on display.

With only a month to go till Christmas, why not pop in to our #LocalStudies bookshop to find that perfect gift for a history enthusiast…or even for yourself 😀
And if you can't come to Matlock, just get in touch and we'll email you a list of our stock.

#LocalHistory