KINGS NEWTON
PLAN YOUR DAY OUT
Location: Off the B587 Stanton-by-Bridge to Melbourne Road (SK391263).
Visit: The fascinating little town of Melbourne. It has a wealth of historic buildings, a famous country house with formal gardens, one of the finest Norman churches in the country, and a lovely 20-acre Pool.
Refreshments: The Hardinge Arms is now the only public house left in the village, it dates to the 16th century and provides accommodation as well as good food and refreshment. – Melbourne Hall Tea Rooms, situated in what used to be the washrooms and bake house of the Hall, has an enviable reputation for light meals and teas.
Walk: Three lovely villages set among pleasant rolling countryside in South Derbyshire, parkland, and a stroll along a former railway line make up the fascinating Kings Newton Walk.
Special Places of Interest in the Locality: Calke Abbey was described by the National Trust when they acquired it in 1989 as ‘The place where time stood still.’ It is one of the most unusual of English country houses with extensive collections of birds, ornaments, paintings, and photographs. – Ferrers Centre for Arts and Crafts, located in the Georgian Stable Block of Staunton Harold Hall, where a wide range of goods can be obtained. – Donington Park was the first permanent park racing circuit in England. Its first motorcycle race took place on Whit Monday 1931 on the narrow lanes of the Donington Hall Estate. Two years later, the track was widened, and it is now a permanent venue for car and bike events.
INTRODUCTION
Nicholas Pevsner described the main road through the small village of Kings Newton as ‘one of the most attractive main streets in Derbyshire.’ Pevsner wrote a series of 46 volumes of county guides, under the title of ‘The Buildings of England’ (1951-1974).
It is a gem of an old English village, with a great variety of well-cared-for old houses covering a wide age range, that all blend superbly together as a whole. A cottage with three crucks, one of which is visible from the outside, is considered to have been ancient when Elizabeth I came to the throne. Many of the other houses date back to the 18th century, and there are a few of recent origin down Trent Lane and a small new development behind the Hardinge Arms and behind the former Packhorse public house.
MARKET GARDENING
Kings Newton is within the parish of Melbourne, which became a centre for the supply of fruit and vegetables several centuries ago. Set among pleasant rolling countryside in South Derbyshire with its good loamy soil and relatively frost-free north-facing slopes, the area was ideal for market gardening. In the 1950s, there were over 70 market gardeners in Melbourne Parish, with about half of them in Kings Newton. Increased competition has reduced its importance significantly, but there is still confirmation of its existence in the area.
William Sharp and Sons are still involved in market gardening. However, they have diversified to some extent into growing bedding plants. The Sharps farm stands close to the road as you enter Kings Newton from the north. On the opposite side of the road is the Chantry Farm Shop, which sells some of Sharps’ produce together with other local foodstuffs and its own reared lamb. Produce from the shop has been used several times in TV cookery programmes. Their sausages were awarded second prize on TV’s Saturday Kitchen, in front of the best efforts of several household names.
KINGS NEWTON HALL
The Hall is the principal building in the village, but it looks much older than it is. For many years, it was owned by the Hardinge family, until on the death of John Hardinge, who died childless in 1729, the Hall and grounds then passed to the Melbourne Estate. In 1859, fire gutted it, and it remained as an empty shell until it was rebuilt in 1910 by Sir Cecil Paget. He had acquired it the previous year and meticulously restored the house to its former grandeur. As General Superintendent of the old Midland Railway, he had shown the same attention to detail in establishing the railway as reputedly the cleanest, smartest and most efficient in the world.
THE VILLAGE
There is only one public house left in the village, the Hardinge Arms, following the closure of the Packhorse Inn. The former is famous as the home of the ‘Newton Wonder’, a rosy red cooking apple that was also sweet enough to eat after being stored for a few months. Traditionally used in mincemeat and in stuffing for turkey at Christmas. William Taylor, the landlord, developed it at the rear of the pub from a seedling.
The former Packhorse Inn stood on the route once used by packhorses travelling from London to Derby and beyond. Carved above the door was the date 1727, and it probably succeeded an earlier medieval hostelry. The pub closed recently as a housing development got underway at the rear.
A short distance from the former Packhorse Inn, down Ward’s Lane, is the Holy Well, a spring of pure drinking water where local inhabitants once filled their buckets. In 1985, the local Civic Society restored the well and its surrounds, and it was re-dedicated by the Vicar of Melbourne. There is a plaque by the well on which is carved the original inscription.
The village was granted a market in 1231, and the steps of the market cross remain, surmounted by a modern cross erected to commemorate the accession to the throne of Edward VIII. It represents a very rare commemoration of ‘The King who was never crowned.’
TEN FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT KINGS NEWTON
1. Originally, the hamlet was called Newton; the prefix of Kings was added to differentiate it from other Newtons in Derbyshire and surrounding counties.
2. Facing the market cross stands Kings Newton House, acquired by the Cantrell family in the early 1600s and became their long-term home. It remained in the family until the last Cantrell died in 1909.
3. The road at the rear of Kings Newton House is Jawbone Lane, named after a pair of whale bones that were erected at the back of the house by the Cantrells. The bones eventually deteriorated, but replacements have been found and now form an arch a little further down the road.
4. There is no church in the village, but in the 19th century, Judge Cantrell set up a private church in what is now called Church House. The vicar of Melbourne performed divine service every Sunday evening.
5. The Derby to Ashby Railway was opened in 1867, but closed in 1982. During the Second World War, the line was taken over by the War Department and used as a railway training centre. Following the closure, the line has been converted by Sustrans into a footpath and cycle track, known as Cloud Trail.
6. A Conservation Area Character Statement on Kings Newton declared: ‘The main character of the village is one of prosperous gentility and past grandeur’ with ‘a strong sense of antiquity’ and ‘a verdant and lush character’ due to the many trees interlaced with the Main Street buildings.
7. After the successful campaign at the Battle of Sobraon, Henry Hardinge was created Viscount Hardinge of Lahore and of Kings Newton in Derbyshire, with a pension of £3000.
8. Kings Newton Hall was originally built around 1600 and was destroyed by a fire in 1859. For two centuries, it was the home of the Harding family – one member became Governor General of India, another Viceroy of India.
9. Elms Farm, down Trent Lane on the eastern side of Kings Newton, was the home of John Joseph Briggs, who wrote a history of Melbourne and various other short articles and poems.
10. It is unlikely that Chantry House was used for the purpose that its name suggests, probably being called after a field belonging to it, called Chantry Close.
KINGS NEWTON WALK
