Oakerthorpe
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Oakerthorpe
The Anchor pub
Oakerthorpe
Location within Derbyshire
OS grid reference
SK3854

Amber Valley
Shire county

Derbyshire
Region

East Midlands
District
Country
England
Sovereign state
United Kingdom
Police
Derbyshire
Fire
Derbyshire
Ambulance
East Midlands
List of places
UK
England
Derbyshire
53.09°N 01.4199°WCoordinates:
53.09°N 01.4199°W
Oakerthorpe is a village in Derbyshire, England.
Contents
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1History
2References
3External links
4External links
History[edit]
Oakerthorpe is a small village near Alfreton. It was known in ancient times as
Ulkerthorpe. It lies in the parish of South Wingfield, eleven miles south of Chesterfield in
the county of Derbyshire. The local church is dedicated to All Saints, and is found about
half a mile from the village. In the centre of the village is the Peacock Inn; there is also
the Anchor pub and the Butchers Arm. Recently houses have been built at 'Hillside
Park'.
Oakerthorpe was originally a mining village.
In the nineteenth century, within Oakerthorpe and near the Peacock Inn lay the ruins of
Ufton Manor. In the middle of the sixteenth century the chapel of Limbury adjoined the
old manor house. Some ruins of the chapel could still be seen as late as 1800.
The Peacock Inn, situated near the Alfreton-South Wingfield crossroads, dates back
into the eleventh century and is reputed to be the oldest inn in the county of Derbyshire.
The inn is mentioned in the Domesday Book, when it was known as Ufton Barnsand. It
was rebuilt in 1613 and has a most interesting history; legend has it that Dick Turpin,
one of the most famous highwaymen in English history, stopped off at the inn on his ride
to York.
An underground passage in the bottom of the cellar in the Peacock Inn is reported to
lead to nearby South Wingfield Manor. Exploration through the tunnel leads to a large
cave where there is a deep pool of water over thick mud. The tunnel is around five feet
high and about four feet wide, with parts bricked up - most of it is excavated through
living rock.
It was at Wingfield Manor where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1569 then
again in 1584 when her attempted rescue by Anthony Babington ended in disaster. His
plan was to lead her down through the tunnel to the cellar at the inn, where horses were
waiting to take her to safety. Babington went down through the tunnel from
Oakerthorpe, but he got caught. For his crime he was beheaded at Lincoln's Inn in
1586. Mary was taken to Fotheringay and beheaded the same year.
Another legend associated with the Peacock tells that in the eighteenth century, a
respected churchwarden at the chapel and the landlord of the Peacock Inn was Peter
Kendall. He had a beautiful daughter named Ann, who wore such fashionable wide
hooped dresses that she had to enter the church doorway sideways. The local church,
which figures quite largely in the following tale, is called South Wingfield, although it is
on the Oakerthorpe side of the River Amber.
Ann Kendall was courted by a young local farmer, who seems to have remained
anonymous in the records. The farmer seduced Ann and she fell pregnant. The farmer
then deserted Ann and left her to give birth to a daughter. The disgrace so weighed
upon poor Miss Kendall’s mind that she died on fourteenth of May 1745 of a broken
heart. Just before she died she asked for Psalm 109 to be read at her funeral. Since
that time, at churches within the district Psalm 109 is known as “Miss Kendall’s Psalm.”
Shortly after the funeral, the man who had betrayed the maid was riding past South
Wingfield church; suddenly the bells crashed out, the horse reared, and the rider was
thrown to the ground, breaking his neck.
It was an old custom in several Derbyshire churches to carry a special garland at the
funeral procession of a young man or maiden. These garlands were made of wooden
hoops decorated with rosettes, ornaments of white paper and ribbons, and sometimes a
pair of white gloves. They were hung up in the church after the funeral, many lingering
for centuries. Such a garland was carried at Ann Kendall’s funeral and was still hanging
in South Wingfield in the 1870s, in spite of previous offers to purchase the curio.
References[edit]
South Wingfield, which includes Oakerthorpe, was held by Alnoth at the time of the
Norman Conquest. He also held extensive land in Dorset, Devon and Tolgullow in
Cornwall.
External links[edit]
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[1] Oakerthorpe-weather
External links[edit]
Media related to Oakerthorpe at Wikimedia Commons
Categories:
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Villages in Derbyshire
Towns and villages of the Peak District
Geography of Amber Valley
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 This page was last edited on 1 November 2021, at 08:48 (UTC).
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