Wonders of the Peak

Buxton Museum & Art Gallery

Local History

Lost Pennies

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In 2012 a hoard of 43 medieval silver pennies was discovered by a metal detectorist near to Kirk Ireton. The coins were in circulation during the 1260s and were found all together, suggesting they had been in a purse together. Were they hidden for safe keeping or simply dropped? If the latter,  it would have been disasterous to have lost such a large amount of money!

All of the pennies were ‘voided, long-cross’ pennies from the reign of Henry III. At least one of the coins seems to have been counterfeit.

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Home of the High Peak Halfpenny

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You should be standing on Shallcross Road – from here you can see where the road narrows into a single-lane track. This used to lead to the Shallcross Hall, the ancestral home of the Shallcross family who owned coal mines in this area.

Between 1644 and 1674 the government failed to provide enough small coinage. Local businesses and towns produced small denomination coins, halfpennies and farthings, which could be used locally. Richard Shallcross produced his own series of tokens in 1665. One side features the Shallcross arms and crest and the words ‘HIGH PEAKE COLE MINES’; the other side features a bird called a martlet in heraldry, holding a cross, and reads ‘IN DARBY SHEIRE’.

These tokens are sometimes known as Shallcross halfpennies or High Peak Halfpennies.

Shallcross Hall was demolished after a fire in 1968.

Buried Beneath Stanton Moor

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You are standing on a small area of upland known as Stanton Moor. The area is known for its prehistoric archaeology and contains four stone circles (most famously the Nine Ladies) and more than 70 barrows. In fact, the moor is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Many early archaeologists came digging at Stanton Moor, opening up barrows to see what they could find. Objects travelled all over the country to be studied, including many fine examples of bronze age pottery. Some of these pots were placed with the dead, such as small ‘incense’ cups. Others, such as large cinerary urns, held the cremated remains of the dead themselves.

Clay ‘incense’ cup with cut triangle decoration. Bronze Age, 4,500 – 3,500 years old. Image kindly provided by the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, all rights reserved.
Bronze Age cinerary urn discovered on Staton Moor, 4,000-3,500 years old. Buxton Museum. Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0.

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DWWIPP-13 MIDLAND RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE WORKS

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The former Midlands Railway Locomotive Works (now part of Derby College “The Roundhouse”). The left-hand part of the building in the photograph has been tentatively identified as that in the photograph below. Image reproduced with permission, Julian Tubbs.

The Alexandra Hotel (DWWIPP-12), The Brunswick Inn, The Queen Victoria and other pubs in the railway station area may well have been patronized by some of the 500 women employed at the Midland Railway Locomotive Works (now part of Derby College) as “Munitions Girls”. These refurbished cartridge cases, demanding and potentially dangerous work that involved long hours.

Cartridge cases being refurbished at the Midland Railway works. Image reproduced with permission, Derby Local Studies and Family History Library.

It is estimated that by the end of the war 700,000 or more women were employed producing shells in various factories in the UK. To put this into perspective, 1.5 million shells were fired in the preliminary bombardment at the Battle of the Somme alone.

Between 1914 and 1918, the national percentage of women in employment jumped from 24% to 37%. In Derby itself, the pre-war figure was 31%. Predominantly young and unmarried, the 1911 census records them as employed mostly in domestic service; marriage would have consigned them to the home looking after children and husband. The end of the war returned many women to these roles.

The declaration of the Armistice on 11th November 1918 brought the crowds out onto the streets of Derby in celebration. The Temperance Society were delighted that the Derby Daily Telegraph was able to report that there was “no greater amount of Bacchanalian revelry in the streets”.

The peace celebrations on Saturday 19th July 1919, a fortnight after the war had formally ended with the Treaty of Versailles, brought them disappointment. Lloyd George had declared this day a public holiday. Most of the troops had returned: there was a “March of Victory Heroes” through the centre of Derby; a carnival had been organized for ex-servicemen plus two guests each on the County Cricket Ground, which was then in the centre of the Derby racecourse, with a beer tent. Each ex-serviceman was given ten shillings worth of tickets to spend as they wished. Elsewhere Derby pubs were given an extended licence to 11pm.

With beer back to near pre-war strength levels, the results were unsurprising. Temperance Bells (see DWWIPP-2) reported “Drink brings disappointment and disgrace”. The Derbyshire Advertiser had a more muted “zeal outran discretion” but added that the “drunkenness on the County Cricket Ground was universally condemned.”

The end of the war brought the vote to 8.4 million women, those over 30 who were better off or better educated. It was not until 1928 that women gained equal voting rights with men. The war had given women the opportunity to prove that they were perfectly capable of “men’s work”, but the party had now ended, return of the armed forces meant that the opportunities for employment were much reduced.

The Grade II* Roundhouse complex is one of the sites of Derby College and cannot normally be accessed by the public. However, parts of it are occasionally open for tours and events such as the Derby CAMRA Winter Beer Festival. For further details of dates and ticket prices, visit https://www.roundhouse-events.co.uk/ ; https://www.derbylive.co.uk/whats-on/roundhouse-tour ; and https://derby.camra.org.uk/winter-beer-festival/index.html .

This Wonder is one of a series of thirteen researched by the Derby World War One Pubs Project (DWWIPP). In describing the wonders, we also develop an underlying narrative on how the war lastingly affected pubs and the brewing industry, and society itself. For this reason, it may be preferable to read them in sequence, DWWIPP-1 to DWWIPP-13. 

The thirteen wonders in this series and other stories featuring the effects of WWI on pubs and breweries can be found in a special Armistice Centenary Edition of Derby CAMRA’s magazine, Derby Drinker. It, and the current edition, can be downloaded free of charge at https://derby.camra.org.uk/derby-drinker/DerbyDrinker/DerbyDrinker_WW1special.pdf . You can also download an ‘Ale Trail’ leaflet featuring the thirteen Wonders in this series from https://derby.camra.org.uk/

The DWWIPP team are grateful for the support and encouragement of many organizations and individuals, in particular to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and all National Lottery players, for the funding; the Derby Branch CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale); the Derby Local Studies and Family History Library; and the Buxton Mu

DWWIPP-12: THE ALEXANDRA HOTEL

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The Alexandra Hotel. Image reproduced with permission, Julian Tubbs.

Although cavalry horses get the glory, the war could not have been won without the working horses and mules that were essential to bringing supplies to the front and to enable large-scale troop movements. The huge numbers of horses deployed by the British army (one estimate puts it at one million) required large numbers of men to handle them.

One such man was Thomas Piggin. He was an experienced horse-handler and quartermaster for the Derbyshire Yeomanry. He came from a large farming family, starting his working life on the family’s farm on Sinfin Moor before managing the Derby Racecourse. Although he was over 40 at the start of the War, and running the Alexandra Hotel, he volunteered to use his experience to benefit the war effort.

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DWWIPP-11: THE EXETER ARMS

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The Exeter Arms. Image reproduced with permission Tim Williams.

The Exeter Arms is one of Derby’s oldest pubs with a long history of brewing lasting until 1970. It illustrates how small pubs were at the time of WWI. Even in the 1960s it was tiny, just the bar area without the openings either side of the fireplace that were made when it was extended into the cottage next door sometime later. (The extension into the third cottage is even more recent.)

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