The Woodpastures of Smalley

I transcribed this document a while ago from a photocopy, passed to me by another researcher. It is probably from one of two volumes written about Smalley, by the Rev Charles Kerry, in which he identifies the ancient woodlands that once surrounded the village. If I ever get the chance to personally visit Derby Local Studies Library, I may be able to correct some of the errors and queries; and even find more of his interesting descriptions. ".....the antiquity of the present dam. The Saxon mill must have stood on the head of the ancient pond - a high broad bank now plaited with trees and intersected by the brook, at the tail end of the modern dam. Lastly, the Woodpastures seem to have been identical and perhaps co-extensive with the Common lands of later times which extended nearly through the place, and constituted at least one half of the total area of the parish. I think that it very probable that some of the Woodlands on these old Commons are relics of the more extensive wood-tracks of Domesday, though the trees are of much more recent growth because the land they occupy appears never to have been cultivated. Among these woody glades the swine herds, goatherds, neatherds, shepherds and others depastured their various charges. One surviving name on these old Common lands speaks very forcibly of these early conditions of things; I mean the "Swine Hill" It is applied to the high ground about the centre of the Commons to the south of the Green and from it may be obtained one of the most beautiful and enchanting views in this part of the country. It was no doubt the favourite resort of the Swineherd when Domesday was compiled, for here under the mast-yielding foliage of the oaks and beeches his pigs enjoyed the nuts and acorns whilst he obtained shelter or sunshine on its charming slopes. Time and the axe have levelled the oaks though I think there is one exception in the vicinity and that is the venerable tree in the "Pasture" attached to the Green Farm (now the Yew Tree Farm) formerly held by my father. For centuries, the lifeless trunk - grey, gnarled, knotted and hollow has braved the storm, and now, in its antiquity, it is being embraced by an external growth which promises to enclose and protect the parent stem for ages yet to come. The feet of the sheltering cattle have trodden a hollow round it, and it stands in its isolation a relic perchance of a forest which was a link between the forests Yorkshire and Ardern. There are three more woods within the boundary of the old common viz; Smalley Wood, The Rough, and Manchester Wood. Smalley Wood is probably but a mere fragment of what it was a few centuries ago, and I think so, from the importance of the name. This is probably "The Wood" referred to in a quaint Latin entry in the oldest Smalley Register, which records under the year 1635 that "On the 23rd of December Thomas Warre was buried in the church yard" and that "he became insane on the 20th of the same month and was found dead in " The Wood" on Saturday night" Written down the side of page 443 & the continuing page - Heanor Wood occurs in the Smalley Regrs. in 1679-80 and 1681 (qv?) The Rough (formerly "Kyte's Rough") lies on the east and south east of the Swine Hill, and probably derives its name from the uneven-ness of the ground. Manchester Wood the last of the three is threaded by the carriage drive to Shipley. A family of this name resided in the parish from 1662 to at least 1671, when Thomas Manchester apparently the head of the family, was buried. They probably resided at the White House Farm close by, and hence the name. The timber is obviously of no great antiquity. The name "Woodside" applied to the Smalley Mill district, speaks clearly of a wood once standing between Horsley Park, and the Smalley Mill Road. It would have? extended from Coppice Hill and the top of Cloves Lane down to the Mill brook at least. Of the fate of this wood there is very significant intimation in the name "Coke Yards" (vulgo "Crook Yards") close by. Here were the ovens or pits for the production of charcoal, and large cinder beds still remain near the little homestead. One of these heaps was removed at the formation of the Woodside and Coxbench Road, when a silver coin in good preservation - said to have been of one of the Edwards (probably the lV) and nearly the size of a florin was discovered on the 23rd of March, 1863. It was found at a depth of three feet. Heanor Wood on the Smalley Border existed in 1681 (see ?? 17**) The old woods on the slopes of the Swine Hill were unquestionably consumed by the Smalley Iron Works formerly near or upon the site of the old half timbered farm house at Smalley Green erected about the year 1500 within a few yards of the site of the furnace. This was my birth place. Instead of being restored as an ornament to the estate it was unfortunately demolished in 1861 and a new house erected in a more central position on the farm. A vast quantity of fine old oak came out of it. The main beams were used in the new buildings of Yew Tree Farm, and some of the gables out of the old garret were employed in the construction of the Avenue Lodge in Woodhouse Lane. The old house had traces of barge boards on the purlin ends of...... ? .......beneath the thatch at the gables, and a crocketted pinnacle about 6 feet long maintained its hold to the last at the west end of the kitchen. The brook below? the house contained numerous slags of half molten cinders, and beneath the upper part of both orchard and garden are beds of them about two feet beneath the surface. In the little croft by the Derby & Mansfield road containing the two pools - near the "Green" culvert - and until lately known as the "Wood-yard", was stored the timber dragged down the surrounding hills, for the works, and many a venerable denizen of the old "Wood-pastures" without doubt, disappeared at this primitive foundry. Tradition reports the existence within the last two centuries of twelve fine holly trees known as The Twelve Apostles on the high common land near Hayes Lodge. This information was given me by the late Mr. John Brown (born 1789) who had it from his father. If not destroyed before, they would disappear at the "Enclosure" in 1785. I began this paper with an account of the Antiquities of Smalley Church but I fear I have been lost for a while in the Woods: with an apology allow me......"

Smalley Village Smalley OPS