Ockbrook is a village in the Erewash district, in the county 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. It is almost contiguous with the village of Borrowash, the two only separated by the A52. The

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 ...

is Ockbrook and Borrowash. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 Census was 7,335. Ockbrook lies about east of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

History

There is evidence of human activity in Ockbrook as far back as the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

period (~8000BC) in the form of two bifacial cores of flint. A small greenstone axe head attests to

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

activity (4000 - 2500BC, but no archaeological evidence has yet been discovered of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

activity in the village. From the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

(800BC - AD43) there is a variety of evidence obtained during the excavation of a

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

aisled building at Littlehay Grange Farm between 1994 and 1997. This includes

sherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s of Ancaster Breedon scored ware and Aylesford-Swarling Pottery, a Group A one-piece brooch, an Iron Age coin of silver dating to between 40 BC and 10 AD, and an Iron Age ring headed pin or spike. Evidence of occupation during the Roman period (AD43 - 410) includes the sites of three farmsteads, one of which has been excavated. From these it appears that the fortunes of the area at that time mirrored those of nearby Derventio (Roman Derby), with a boom starting during the 2nd century AD followed by abandonment at the end of the 4th century. During the early Dark Ages, Ockbrook was part of the Kingdom of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

. According to the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'', this was founded in 560 by Creoda, one of whose followers may have had the personal name Occa. It was this Occa (an Anglo Saxon) who established Ockbrook in the 6th century on the banks of a small stream, the Ock. During the ninth century, the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

invaded and swept through large swathes of England until fought to a standstill by

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

. The country was partitioned as a consequence c874 and Ockbrook, being east of

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

(the present day A5) would have been in the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, ; ; ) was the part of History of Anglo-Saxon England, England between the late ninth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danes (tribe), Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and oc ...

. This period is attested to by two place names, The Ridings and Carrhill, which derive from Danish. Despite frequent skirmishes between Danes and the English hereabouts, the Danelaw survived until 1066 when, according to 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 ...

, the manor was held by Toki (probably a Dane). The entry reads:

"...In Ockbrook Tochi had four
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 (assessed) to the geld, land for four ploughs. There are now ten
villein A villein is a class of serfdom, serf tied to the land under the feudal system. As part of the contract with the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields in return for land. Villeins existe ...
s and two Bordars having three ploughs and four rent paying tenants rendering 14 shillings. There are five acres of meadow, woodland for
pannage Pannage is the practice of releasing livestock- pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests ...
one league in length and half a league wide. In King Edward’s day worth £4 now 40
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 ...
belonging to the
Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...
...".

By 1086 the manor had been transferred either to the extensive holdings of Geoffrey Alselin or to the Bishop of Chester (according to

Domesday 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 ...

), both of whom were Norman. c1130 it was divided between two sons of Sir Ralph Halselin whence half descended to the Bardolfs of

Wormegay Wormegay is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some south of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 236 - King's Lynn, Downham Market & Swaffham''. . It covers an area ...

(who sold it to the Foljambe's c1420) and half to Serlo de Grendon who granted it to Dale Abbey. At the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, these shares were largely broken up amongst the freeholders, notably the Battelles, Harpurs, Keyes (of Hopwell) and Wilmots (of Chaddesden).
In 1750 the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

established
settlement
here, one of only three remaining in the country. This was on the edge of the old village and separate from it. The buildings are Georgian red brick and two of them, the Manse (1822) and the chapel (1751–1752) are

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. From the early 19th century,

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

families from

and

Long Eaton Long Eaton is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about south-west of Nottingham and south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. It has been part ...

took advantage of the fragmented landowning pattern to acquire land and build elegant villas. Also during this period, work diversified to include four silk glove makers, four shoemakers, and a straw bonnet maker.
In more recent times, extensive new housing developments have turned Ockbrook into a commuter dormitory for Derby.

Sport

Cricket

History of cricket dates back to the mid nineteenth century, where a match report was recorded between Ockbrook and "Sawley Club" in 1843.The History of Cricket in Long Eaton, Sandiacre & Sawley, 1994, Keith Breakwell. Ockbrook & Borrowash Cricket Club moved to the current ground on Victoria Avenue in 1898. In 1999, Ockbrook & Borrowash CC became the first champions of the newly formed Premier Division of the Derbyshire County Cricket League; the top level for recreational club cricket in Derbyshire, England, and is a designated ECB

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. The club has continued to gain high acclaim and has since added a further 5 Championship ECB Premier league titles to its tally: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2014.

Football

Ockbrook Football Club.

Golf

Borrowood Golf Club was founded in 1902 as a 9-hole course. It was laid out on farmland south of Borrow Wood Farm between the villages of Ockbrook and Spondon. The club closed in the early 1950s.

Area and population growth

The area of the village is . The population growth figures include Borrowash Source:

Email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

from Census Customer Services.

Schools

* Ockbrook Ridings Playgroup
Redhill Primary School
* Ockbrook School

Churches

* All Saints' Church, Ockbrook became the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

between c1550 and c1600. Prior to this it was a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

of Elvaston. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

or Norman, the tower is late twelfth century, the broached spire is thirteenth century and the oak

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

screen dates from c1520. Recent historical research and archaeological finds suggest that it may originally have been a

Pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

religious site. * Moravian

Amenities

* Village Hall * The Apple Tree * Cross Keys (pub). Still has a knitters window where stockings were made for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and her

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

. * Queens Head (pub) * White Swan (pub) * Ockbrook's oldest pub is the Royal Oak. It was held by the Peet family for the three hundred years from ~1610 to 1912, a remarkable record. Beer was once brewed here, using water from the pub's own well, now capped by a stone slab near the front door.

Streets, gitties and footpaths

This list of streets is taken from Street list fro
Streetmap.co.uk
* Anne Potter Close * Bakehouse Lane * Bare Lane – See note below * Cedar Drive * Church Street * Cole Lane * Collier Lane * Collumbell Avenue * Croft Close * Far Lane: The ancient hedgerows along its upper reaches indicate that this is a very old track, probably dating from the Mesolithic. It is possible that it once connected with the Port-ways i.e. the rivers Derwent and Trent. * Flood Street * Green Lane – See note below * Hargrave Avenue * Hill Croft Drive * Homefarm Close * Moor Lane – See note below * New Street * Oak Close * Orchard Close * Pares Way * Ryal Close * Shop Stones * Sisters Lane * The Paddock * The Ridings: The name is Danish either for a ''clearing'' or a similar-sounding word meaning ''a third division''. * The Settlement * Top Manor Close * Victoria Avenue * Wesley Lane * Windmill Close * Yew Tree Avenue
* Note – Bare Lane, Green Lane and Moor Lane form one continuous road through the village. The quickest route between two points in the village is often via a gitty. These were originally footpaths through fields. They have survived the encroachment of housing by mutating into high walled or fenced alleyways between the buildings and gardens of the new (and old) developments.

Numerous footpaths start at the village boundary (often as the continuation of a street or gitty) and lead over the fields to neighbouring villages,

Hamlet_(place) A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

and farms.

Historic maps (in chronological order)

* OS 25" Edition 1 1871–1882, Derbyshire sheet L sub-sheets 11, 12, 15, 16. * OS 25" Edition 2 1896–1900, Derbyshire sheet L sub-sheets 11, 12, 15, 16. * OS 6" County Series Edition 1 1887, Derbyshire sheet L SE. * OS 6" County Series Edition 2 1901, Derbyshire sheet L SE. * OS 6" County Series Edition 3 did not include Derbyshire. * OS 25" Edition 3 1914–1925, Derbyshire sheet L sub-sheets 11, 12, 15, 16. * OS 6" County Series Revision 1 1919, Derbyshire sheet L SE. * OS 6" County Series Revision 2 1913 & 1938, Derbyshire sheet L SE. * OS 25" Revision 1 1939–1947, Derbyshire sheet L sub-sheets 11, 12, 15, 16. * OS 25" Revision 2 did not include Derbyshire. OS =

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

. OS sheets use

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

, so L = 50. ''This list is incomplete.''

References

External links

Ockbrook & Borrowash Community Information

Ockbrook Football Club

Ockash Trust

*

Ockbrook School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borrowash Villages in Derbyshire Civil parishes in Derbyshire Borough of Erewash