The evening of the 15 June, saw a successful launch for our new book on the history of Hasland.
Philip Riden, VCH County Editor, talking to a packed audience at the Devonshire Arms during the launch of a new book about Hasland’s history.
Launched at the Devonshire Arms in the village, it was a capacity audience of over 60 people who attended the event. Our County Editor, Philip Riden, explained about what VCH does and gave a brief overview of the history of this formerly large parish, which used to comprise Spital, Hady, Boythorpe, Grassmoor, Winsick, Birdholme and Corbriggs.
The beginnings of the township, its growth, economic history, religion, education, landownership and local government were amongst topics covered. Large-scale industry like the former Chesterfield Tube Works got a mention, along with the less well-known story of local mining and the Broad Oaks furnaces near Storforth Lane were mentioned.
Priced at £20 the book is of some 200 pages, with colour illustrations and maps. The A4 sized hardback book should hopefully soon be available at Waterstones in Chesterfield and the town’s Visitor Centre. It is also available from the VCH by using an online order form at https://bit.ly/HistoryofHasland and from Hasland Coop.
The Trust’s first publication in this VCH spin-off series, Chesterfield’s Streets and Houses, is still available. The next spin-off book should be an account of Temple Normanton and Calow.
Our thanks to everyone who attended and to the Devonshire Arms for providing the venue.
Philip Riden, Derbyshire VCH County Editor, far right, with some of the volunteer group who have contributed to the new book on Hasland. Holding the book, centre, is Lyn Pardo Roques, Chair of the Derbyshire VCH Trust.
No apologies for advertising our nee Hasland book’s launch on 15 June, in this blog.
Pop along to see us at the Devonshire Arms, Hasland, starting at 7.30pm. There’s no admission fee and you’ll be able to hear our county editor Philip Riden, give a short account of the book and the formerly extensive parish of Hasland. You’ll also be able to purchase the book if you want to.
Our Hasland book cover, by kind permission of Derbyshire County Council, features Spital House. Our last blog looked at this now disappeared property.
Published on behalf of the Derbyshire Victoria County (VCH) Trust, the book represents hours of research by a group of volunteers, under the guidance of VCH county editor Philip Riden. They have been busy researching the history of Chesterfield for around 20 years. Although this is the second publication as a result of this work, it is the first to look at an actual area of Chesterfield and the north eastern part of the county – and more are set to follow.
The book looks at Hasland’s history through the ages, charting the many communities that once made up its historic area – Spital, Hady, Boythorpe, Grassmoor, Winsick, Birdholme and Corbriggs. The beginnings of the township, its growth, economic history, religion, education, landownership and local government are amongst topics covered. Large-scale industry like the former Chesterfield Tube Works gets a mention, along with the less well-known story of local mining, the Broad Oaks furnaces near Storforth Lane and many others.
Philip Riden described the history as the fullest account of the history of Hasland published so far, and the first ever attempt to write the history of Grassmoor or Birdholme. He commented; ‘Our work on Hasland was well progressed, and so we thought there was a need to bring this together and publish it. Hopefully, local people will find the book of interest. It’s really an interim account of the township as we aim to produce a volume of the Victoria County History for the area.’
At some 200 pages with colour illustrations and maps, the A4 sized hardback book will be available to purchase at the launch and afterwards at Waterstones in Chesterfield and the town’s Visitor Centre and from the publisher Merton Priory Press (mertonpriory.co.uk). It’s priced at £20 (plus postage and packaging).
Philip Riden comments; ‘We hope that by publishing our research it will herald a new understanding of the area’s varied past. All VCH accounts are well-researched, fully indexed and have copious references, so that anyone interested can look up our sources and research things further if they want to’.
The Trust’s first publication in this spin-off series, Chesterfield’s Streets and Houses, is still available. The next spin-off book will be an account of Temple Normanton and Calow.
Our new Hasland VCH spin-off book is to be published at a launch event on the evening of 15 June at the Devonshire Arms, Hasland.
The book will be the first authoritative account of this large parish.
Until 19th-century boundary changes, the township (later civil parish) of Hasland (near Chesterfield) included not just what people think of as Hasland today but also Corbriggs and Winsick, Grassmoor, Birdholme and the St Augustine’s end of Boythorpe. It formerly included much industry on Derby Road. We’ve recently been featuring some of the many varied subjects covered in the book in our blog. You can rad more about why Hasland has been chosen for our first township based spin-off book in our blog.
With colour plates, of just over 200 pages, A4 in size, we think that this will be a landmark publication in the history of the area. The book will be available for £20 at the meeting. We also hope to make it available in Waterstones bookshop in Chesterfield and by post from the publisher (additional postage of £5 will apply).
The launch event, which is free to attend, will be held on Wednesday 15th June starting at 7.30pm in the function room at the Devonshire Arms, Hasland. To find out more about the launch event visit our events page.
How did Hasland, Spital, Hady, Boythorpe, Grassmoor, Winsick, Birdholme and Corbriggs get their names? In this blog we’ll take a very brief look at place names associated with our forthcoming book on the former large and varied Chesterfield township of Hasland.
Let’s start with Hasland itself. This name has its origins in ‘Haselont’ (mentioned in 1129-38). It actually means hazel grove. Presumably the township could well have assumed this name which is more associated with of Hazel Grove near Stockport in Greater Manchester.
In this blog we explore the origins of the names of some of the groups of communities who made up Hasland township.As our forthcoming Hasland book relates, the development of the suburb known today as Spital began with the building (at some date between the 1830s and 1870s) of Spring Vale, on the west side of Spital Lane a short distance south of Spital Mills. The area is pictured in this Nadin postcard of around 1900. (Courtesy Lyn Pardo Roques).
Spital is quite clearly named as such due to the the leper hospital, dedicated to St Leonard, from which the modern suburb takes its name. This hospital was first mentioned in 1195.
Hady is not so clear. There’s a le Hady mentioned in 1468 and Had(e)y in 1635. It’s thought the first element may mean headland (‘heafod’). The second element may mean an island or enclosure.
The northern end of Hasland township, between the boundary with Tapton on the north and Calow on the east, the Rother on the west and Spital Brook on the south, became known in modern times as Spital (on the west) and Hady (on the east). The growth of housing on this side of Chesterfield in the 20th century led to the fusion of Spital and Hady into virtually a single built-up area.
The only place in Hasland township mentioned in the Domesday Survey (1086) is Boythorpe – ‘Buitorp’. This is a straightforward name; it is definitely Boie’s outlying farm, i.e. a personal name plus torp (farm), which still has the same modern meaning in all three Scandinavian languages.
Grassmoor‘s name is perhaps a little more complex. It could, of course, simply refer to a grass moor (rough, uncultivated land). Indeed when the area was enclosed in 1781 it was called ‘Grass Moor’. But there was a former Deincourt estate in Hasland, which, in medieval times, included Alvin Wood and Greyhirst Moor. There may have been a transition from ‘Greyhirst’ to ‘Grassmoor’, but there is no etymological (historic word) connection between the two. Greyhirst appears to have been where Grassmoor is now. There’s a 1549 mention of ‘Gresmore’, by 1568 we have ‘Grasmoore’. Alvin Wood, incidently, was definitely in North Wingfield.
Winsick may be identified with Winwell Sick (river or stream) mentioned in 1488. The actual origin of the name is unclear.
Cameron’s three-volume ‘Place Names of Derbyshire’ is still the authoritative source for place name information, though we have supplemented it with new research for our book on Hasland.
Birdholme cannot be easily explained. Cameron in his ‘Place Names of Derbyshire’ mentions two name elements – bridd and holmr. This has been interpreted as (a) a young bird, (b) island, raised land in a marsh, river meadow. We think Cameron thought the name origin was something like ‘riverside meadow with birds’ but he couldn’t find any early forms and neither have VCH in our research. The evidence is therefore not conclusive. Holmr is most commonly thoughout of as ‘island’ (modern Holme, as in Steep Holme, Flat Holme etc.) but doesn’t fit in the the case of Birdholme (nor, for example, in Holmewood).
Corbriggs‘ origin is also unclear. It is possible that the (now unnamed) stream, over which the bridge takes Mansfield Road, could have been the ‘Corr/Caw/Carr Brook’ but there’s no evidence one way or the other. In 1630 we find a ‘Cawbridge Meadowe’. By 1840 Corbridge is mentioned. In the early 1830s Sanderson in his map of twenty miles around Mansfield named the bridge carrying Mansfield Road over the then unnamed stream ‘Corr Bridge’. So, the ‘… briggs’ bit is probably corrupted from bridge. Only part of Corbriggs is in Hasland township – the rest is in Temple Normanton.
Our forthcoming Hasland book will cover the history all the above areas. For more details about place and river names see ‘The Place Names of Derbyshire’, in three volumes, by K. Cameron.
Our Victoria County History spin-off book on Hasland, after some delay, is in the final stages of preparation. You can find out more about the book in this blog.
Our VCH County Editor – Philip Riden – has brought together hours of work by our Chesterfield research group, for the first authoritative history of this expansive parish. It’s written in our usual VCH style, which means there’s lots of source references and a thorough index for those wishing to explore more about the story of Hasland.
Hasland, but not as you know it? Our book will cover the once historic parish – marked by the highlighted boundary. It was much bigger than what we now regard as Hasland.
But what many people now regard as the modern Hasland, was much more extensive. Our map above (from the book) shows just how big Hasland parish once was. At one time it comprised not only what we now call Hasland but also Grassmoor, Winsick, Spital, Hady, parts of Boythorpe and Birdholme. It also included much of Chesterfield’s former heavy industry including the Tube Works and Bryan Donkin’s premises on Derby Road. No wonder the book will number some 200 odd pages.
As is standard in VCH, there’s sections on landownership, economic, social and religious history and local government. Within these sections are histories on such diverse topics as the Reema concrete plant based at the former Broad Oaks blast furnaces (itself covered), SS Augustine’s church and other places of worship, local collieries, Penmore hospital and many others. Lessor remembered features such as the Grassmoor and Hasland cinemas, tobacco and textile manufacture also feature.
Our second extract from the book is a page from the index, which gives a snap-shot of a few of the items covered. Illustrations and maps will also feature in the publication.
A sample page from the index to our Hasland book.
We’ll be keeping you up-to-date with progress on the book, which should be published around May this year. In the meantime we’ll feature some of the stories from the publication in our blogs.
This is the second VCH spin-off publication. Our first – ‘Chesterfield Streets and Houses’ – is still available.
