Bretby is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the south of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England, north of

Swadlincote Swadlincote is a historic mining town in the district of South Derbyshire, in the county of Derbyshire, England. It lies within The National Forest (England), The National Forest area. It borders the counties of Leicestershire and Staffordshire ...

and east of

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

, on the border between Derbyshire and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 893. The name means "dwelling place of Britons". On the A511 road (formerly A50), there is a secondary settlement, Stanhope Bretby, which was the site of Bretby Colliery.Bretby at DerbyshireUK
/ref>

History

This manor (''Bretebi'') was in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

in 1086. Under the title of "The land of the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

(in Derbyshire" it said:

In Newton Solney and Bretby Ælfgar had seven
carucates The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could tillage, till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax asse ...
of land to the
geld Geld may refer to: * Gelding, equine castration * Danegeld, a tax paid to Viking raiders * Geld (surname) See also * Gel (disambiguation) * Gelt (disambiguation) Gelt may refer to: * Gelt, also known as Hanukkah gelt, chocolate coins given to Je ...
. There is land for six ploughs. There the king has one plough and nineteen villans and one
bordar Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...
with five ploughs. There are of meadow, woodland pasture two leagues long and three
furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to any of 660 foot (unit), feet, 220 yards, 40 rod (unit), rods, 10 chain (unit), chains, or a ...
s broad. TRETRE in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
is ''Tempore Regis Edwardi''. This means in the time of
King Edward King Edward may refer to: Monarchs of England and the United Kingdom * Edward the Elder (–924) * Edward the Martyr (–978) * Edward the Confessor (–1066) * Edward I of England (1239–1307) * Edward II of England (1284–1327) * Edward III o ...
before the
Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place appr ...
. as now worth one hundred
shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...
.''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.744

In 1209,

Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester and 1st Earl of Lincoln (1170 – 26 October 1232), known in some references as the 4th Earl of Chester (in the second lineage of the title after the original family line was broken after the 2nd Earl) ...

granted the manor of Bretby to

Stephen de Segrave Stephen de Segrave (or Seagrove or Stephen Segrave or Stephen of Seagrave) (c. 1171 – 9 November 1241) was a medieval Chief Justiciar of England. Life He was born as the son of a certain Gilbert de Segrave of Segrave in Leicestershire, who h ...

who built a church and a mansion there. There was also Bretby Castle which was destroyed during the reign of King

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...

to make way for the construction of Bretby Hall. In 1585, Thomas Stanhope bought Bretby Hall, which from then on was the home of the Earls of Chesterfield. George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon sold the property in the 1920s to pay for the

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

expedition.

Today

Today the village is centred by a village green. Overlooking the green is a residential house which records that it was called 'Bradby School' when it was built. A stone records "BRADBY SCHOOL/OPENED FOR THE ADMISSION OF SCHOLARS/OCTOBER 20th 1806." The school building is a Grade II listed building. The Grade II listed

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

is dedicated to St Wystan; it was rebuilt in 1877 by Anne Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield. A memorial tablet on the south wall of the aisle is in memory of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

. There is a small industrial area within

Burton upon Trent and Swadlincote Green Belt The Burton upon Trent and Swadlincote Green Belt is a green belt environmental and planning policy that regulates the rural space between the towns of Burton upon Trent and Swadlincote, in the counties of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, within ...

, Bretby Stoneware Industrial Estate, based at the former Bretby Brick Works. It is at Middle Place, an access road which is a continuation of the Sunnyside lane from nearby Newhall through to the A511 Ashby Road.

Notable residents

* Major-general Frank Roberts VC DSO OBE MC, British Army officer died in Stanhope Bretby in 1982. He was cremated at Bretby

crematorium A crematorium, crematory or cremation center is a venue for the cremation of the Death, dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a ...

and his ashes buried in Bretby churchyard. He was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

in 1918.Burial location of VC holders – Derbyshire
/ref> * Sir

Herbert Wragg Sir Herbert Wragg (1880 – 13 February 1956) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Belper in Derbyshire from 1923 to 1929 and from 1931 to 1945. He was first elected at the 1923 general elec ...

(1880–1956), Conservative MP for Belper, 1923–29 and 1931–45. * Actor, director and musician

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and musician. He is known for playing antiheros in independent films. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard British ...

had an apartment at Bretby Hall until 2007.

References

{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire South Derbyshire District