Ticknall
Ticknall is a pretty village, situated in the south of the county, appoximately 2 miles from Melbourne. Ticknall village straddles the main road, and has a mixture of old and new houses.
Ticknall has several pubs, a church, a village lockup, community centre and an entrance point to Calke Abbey.
The church of St George was built on the site of the former Church of Thomas a Beckett in 1831. It had become too small for the growing population of 1281 residents compared with approximately 750 now. When they tried to demolish the old church, parts proved resistent to gunpowder and still remain standing, namely the west wall and the altar window.
Church of St George |
Former Wheel pub |
Former Lock up |
The leading family in the area were the Harpur Crewes, who lived out at Calke Abbey. They built many of the houses in Ticknall for their tennants who worked on the estate, and exerted a strong feudal influence on the village.
Calke Abbey is a large stone mansion, built on the site of the Augustinian Priory of St Giles, founded around 1131. It was built by John Harpur as a replacement for his Swarkestone house in 1701 and is one of the largest country houses in Derbyshire. It became dubbed ` the house that time forgot` because since the death of the owner Sir Vauncy Harpur Crewe in 1924, nothing had beeb altered in the mansion. The seclusion of the house and the bizarre lifestyle of its inhabitants had left many rooms and objects untouched for over 100 years. The National Trust bought the house in 1981 and it took years of restoration and repair before it could be opened to the public. Nearly 13000 items had to be cleaned and restored to their original positions as found.
The house stands in its own large park with walled gardens, glasshouses, an orangery, aviaries, stables and a church, the Church of St Giles, and they are all open to the public. Wildlife is abundant in the park, including fallow deer.
One character that lived closeby and was a popular figure, was Ted Moult, who became well known through his double glazing adverts and his strawberry farms.
The village lockup still stands and was in use, apparantly on a regular basis for drunks, until 1917. There were 7 pubs in the village then. There are fewer now.
