Cowers Lane
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Cowers Lane is a settlement in
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 ...
bordering Shottle, within the civil parish of Shottle and Postern, near
Belper Belper () is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. Along with Belper, the parish includes the village of Milford and the hamlets ...
,
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 along the A517 road. In Norman times, Shottle Park was one of the seven parks within
Duffield Frith Duffield Frith was, in medieval times, an area of Derbyshire in England, part of that bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers (or Ferrars) by King William, controlled from his seat at Duffield Castle. From 1266 it became part of the Duchy of Lancaster ...
. It was the site of a large shelter for cattle belonging to the
Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is an estate of the British sovereign. The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then duke of Lancast ...
who owned the Frith. It is generally believed that the name is the local dialect equivalent of "Cow House Lane".Bland, J., (1922) ''Duffield: Village, Church and Castle,'' Derby: Harpur and Son
"Cowhouse Lane has a post-office, and the official Post-Office Guide prints the name "Cowers Lane." My father, who deplored the loss of old associations. once asked the then post-master there how this came about. His answer was to this effect: "One day a letter came from the head office, asking me which was the correct name, 'Cowhouse,' or 'Cowers,' so I counted the letters which had come that morning, and as there were more addressed ' Cowers' than 'Cowhouse,' I replied that Cowers was correct." It therefore became and remains, officially, Cowers Lane; so carelessly are place-names distorted and historical connections lost."


References

: Hamlets in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Geography of Amber Valley {{Derbyshire-geo-stub