DARLEY ABBEY HISTORICAL GROUP
NEWSLETTER
April 2023. No. 127
Chairman & Editor :- Alan Bradwell (Tel. 557203)
Meetings
The Events and Programme of Talks for 2023, arranged by Marie, is on our website; or pick up a paper copy at the next meeting.
Our Talks Programme, for the near future is :-
21 APRIL 2023 – , ‘History of the Music Hall, the Singers and the Songs.’ by Ann
Featherstone
19 MAY 2023 -, ‘Migrations to Darley.’ by Steven Walker
16 JUNE 2023 – ‘Cromford Mill.’ by Cliff Lea,
21 JULY 2023 -,’The History of Tea Drinking.’ by Maggie Slingsby
Events
1 The Book/Plant Fayre will take place as usual on Saturday 10th June in the Village Hall from 10 to 12 noon. Donations of books and plants are needed to Marie and Team for this event. There will also be an Exhibition of Darley Transport History. Helpers needed to set up.
2 Green Flag Award. On Mon. 17th April, AB & BL were present with DACA and FODOS (Friends of Darley Open Spaces) and DCC Parks leaders during an assessment by Adjudicators for the Green Flag Award, given to Parks for the quality of their garden displays and facilities, and for their community involvement with voluntary groups and their projects. The Judges were interested in our search for the Abbey in the Village Hall lawn dig. We await their assessment.
3 Wayfinding Boards. On Tues. 18th April, several DAHG Members attended the unveiling ceremony for 6 new Display Boards and QR Tags in Darley, funded and erected by DVM / WHS to tell the history of Darley to visitors. There was a good attendance (50+) by representatives of Darley Groups, and by The Legacy Group, who have been researching the production of cotton and slavery in the Caribbean and its delivery to Darley Mills. The morning finished with a presentation by The Legacy Group in St. Matthew’s Church.
4 Talks and Tours.
4.1 Repton. On 21st March, Alan gave a talk to 40+ at Repton Local History Group at Repton about “Darley Abbey and the links via Roman Roads to Repton and its Priory”. This followed a Dowsing survey by Alan on Repton School Fields to try to locate a medieval mill and fleam, which compared well with Repton’s Resistivity survey results. Repton’s Andy Austen has offered to do a Resistivity survey on our Village Hall lawn & Scout Hall lawn in exchange, and a preliminary visit was made by him last week. A bid for funding for the eventual dig and restoration of the lawn has been made by DACA. Darley Scouts will be involved in the Resistivity surveys as a training exercise.
4.2 Chaddesden.
On Monday 3rd April, Alan gave a talk on Darley Abbey History to Chaddesden Local History Group at their Jubilee Hall, in exchange for the portable display screens they gifted to us last year.
4.3 Buxton.
On Wednesday 17th May, Alan will give a talk on Darley Abbey History to Buxton Local History Group, followed by a Visit to Darley and Tour by this Group in September- help needed.
5 Andrew Thurman.
After 2 years back in Darley, Old Darleian Andrew is returning to The Phillipines to his family on 9th May. We wish him a good trip and thank him for his excellent researches into Darley History whilst here. He has researched and written two very large DAHG Reports (No. 112 on “Methodism in Darley” with Peter Nelson, and No. 117 on “Early Mills & Disputes in Darley”), both of which have unearthed much new material about Darley history. Andrew’s trawls through National Archives records (which were free in the Covid Lockdown) and through Newspaper Archives have revealed much about the very early ownership of mills and land, and of characters in Darley from soon after the Dissolution of the Abbey, plus other snippets of information about old pubs, old streams & weirs, old cottages and people in Darley.
He will no doubt be feeding us new research from the Phillipines.
Many thanks Andrew for your efforts.
“Memories”
Liz Lockwood has been delving into Darley Park Garden history, at the request of Janet and Fran of FODOS, particularly about the “Banana Greenhouse”; if you have memories and/or photos of it, please contact Liz via our website below.
“YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS”
The new display boards in the Park have a photo of ‘Anna in front of the famous banana tree’ in the Greenhouses in the Park so I thought I would ask people if they remembered the greenhouses and of course the banana plant. I don’t know who Anna was or where she lived.
However here are some memories from people who do remember the greenhouses and of course the banana plant.
The greenhouses were originally part of the kitchen gardens, and the gardeners planted and raised all the flowers for the parks as well as growing vegetables. The surplus vegetables were sold by the gardeners to the public.
Sheila Medlock who used to live in Mill Yard wrote that the banana tree was her earliest memory of Darley Abbey. Her mother would walk her up to the park every day in her pram. Her biggest treat as a toddler was to go into the hot house and look at the banana plant. She remembers the quarry tiles on the floor and the steamy heat and if she closes her eyes, she can still smell the vegetation. Sheila says she must have been banana obsessed as she used to sit in her push chair singing the Banana Boat Song.
Others remember the greenhouse that housed the tree was a lean-to so it reflected the heat back from the wall with the other greenhouses/showhouses being at 90 degrees to the lean to. For some children the greenhouses were a great place to go in the cold weather.
One memory is that the banana tree popped through the roof of the greenhouse, it was so large. It was down at the end of one of the greenhouses and had enormous leaves.
There were several Banana trees in the greenhouses and these trees produced a single large bunch of bananas – a bunch would contain 30-40 banana. After the bananas had been picked the tree would keel over and a new tree would self-seed in its place.
The trees were carefully guarded and the fruit was donated to the local Dr Barnardo’s Home.
Andrew Thurman remembers that these were “Chinese” bananas (I didn’t know that the was such a thing!) and the fruits were barely half the size of a regular banana today.
Gardener and the Banana Tree C Derby Evening Telegraph
One of the gardeners was Ken Hodgkinson and his daughters all posted on the site and here are their memories:
As children they used to go and help stoke the boilers to keep the greenhouses warm in the winter and when the weather was really warm, they would help water the plants in the showhouse and the greenhouse with the banana tree in it. They can also remember the horses they used to stable in the yard to help in the park. The gardeners also kept a pig in the sty at the bottom of the park which they would fatten up and then sell to a local butcher.
It was Ken who planted the banana tree. He was the Superintendent Gardener for Derby Corporation and worked in Darley Park, the Arboretum, and various other municipal parks in Derby. He also cared for the beds at the River Gardens including the floral clock. The gardeners in his team grew and recycled most of their own plants for use across the municipal parks. Derby used to have some of the highest standard parks in the country !
Ken started work for the corporation at the age of 14 and during the war famously used to fire watch at the Arboretum with Percy Thrower, who was an assistant gardener at the time to one John Maxfield – formerly the head gardener to Mrs Ada Evans. John became the Corporations Head gardener when the Park was given to Derby. Famously Percy Thrower used to credit John Maxfield as ‘a marvellous plants man who taught me more about cyclamens that he learnt elsewhere in his life’.
Ken was very upset when the greenhouses were abandoned and pulled down in the 1980s?
(the Banana tree(s) were transferred to Markeaton Park ) He thought it was a massive mistake and would cost more in the long run.
Bev Jones said that her grandfather, Walter Jones also worked with Percy Thrower who instigated the ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign during the war. Walter kept his own backyard neat and grow roses and dahlias. His son William attended Central School in the park in 1940s and Walters neighbours had a collection to pay for his uniform.
Les King, who joined the Corporation at 14 in 1934, was an apprentice gardener under John Maxfield. He describes the Darley Park and its garden features as follows:
There were masses of azaleas and rhododendrons which when in bloom were a sight to behold; the lovely flower beds and borders on the lawn in front of the hall; the rose beds in the shape of the Maltese Cross and the new herbaceous border inside the walled gardens.
The Show Houses were filled with beautiful flowers throughout the year; the tropical house with its palms and a banana tree (always a great source of attraction); the apricot, plum and pear trees grew fan shaped on the south facing wall and the delightful flower beds were always magnificent.
Chrysanthemums in the Show House at Darley Park
If you have any stories about the banana tree or the gardens at Darley Park please get in touch.
E Lockwood April 2023
Many of the stories in our ‘Memories’ feature in the Newsletter have been extremely well received by those having access through our Newsletters and the website. Please tell your friends and neighbours and anyone else who has an interest in our historic village so full of memories. If you have something interesting to share, write an article for us. It’s quite therapeutic too, in these difficult times.
Books etc. …..
We have an ever-growing archive of books, Reports, maps and other memorabilia.
An updated book list will be issued in due course and made available electronically too.
Members (only) to note that any item can be borrowed by contacting Barrie through the group email address.
As you know all Booklets can be purchased from Dave’s Village Shop and via the website. These sell at the current Booklet price of £2.50 each (plus p & p, if required).
Use our DAHG email address to get in touch.
darleyabbeyhistoricalgroup@gmail.com
All emails are appropriately distributed.
Visit our website at: https://darleyabbeyhistoricalgroup.wordpress.com
Alan Bradwell, Chair – 18 April 2023
DARLEY ABBEY HISTORICAL GROUP 