Mickleover

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Mickleover
Derbyshire

Row of Cottages on Station Road, Mickleover
Location
Grid reference: SK302338
Location: 52°54’4"N, 1°33’7"W
Data
Population: 18,000
Post town: Derby
Postcode: DE3
Local Government
Council: Derby

Mickleover is an ancient parish in Derbyshire that form the most westerly suburb of the city of Derby. It is located two miles west of the city centre.

History

The earliest recorded mention of Mickleover (and its close neighbour, Littleover) comes in 1011, when an early charter has King Aethelred granting Morcar, a high-ranking Mercian Thegn, land along the Trent and in Eastern Derbyshire, including land in the Mickleover and Littleover areas, consolidating estates he had inherited in North-East Derbyshire from his kinsman through marriage, Wulfric Spot, who founded Burton Abbey on the Staffs-Derbys border.[1]

The village appears in Domesday Book when it was still owned by the abbey.[2] At the time of the Domesday Survey, 1086, Mickleover was known as Magna (the Old English version of this is Micel) Oufra. Magna, in early Latin means Great; oufra coming from Anglo-Saxon ofer, flat-topped ridge. The oldest parts of the village now are located along Uttoxeter Road (B5020). The resident population of Mickleover ward in 2003 was 13,528.[3]

Mickleover also has a mention in the earliest beginnings of the industrial revolution. The first industrial scale textile factory, a silk mill, was built in 1717 by John Lombe in Derby. Lombe had gained his experience processing silk in the smaller factory built and run by Thomas Cotchett of Mickleover. Cotchett's factory was perhaps the first germ of industrial manufacture.[4] Cotchett was born in Mickleover the son of Robert Cotchett, an officer in Cromwell's army during the English civil war. Thomas Cotchett lived in Orchard Street in Mickleover in what is now known as "The Old Hall" which was built by Robert Cotchett between 1640 and 1650. The house represents a fine example of a timber frame building and is one of a few still remaining in the area and is the oldest house in Mickleover.

Geography

Mickleover is now one of the largest suburbs in Derby and is still expanding due to ongoing housing developments.[5][6] Construction of the £5.2m Mickleover bypass (A516/A38) began in April 1972 and it was opened on 19 February 1975.

Amenities

There is a Tesco supermarket located towards the middle of the village. Mickleover Court Hotel is popular with commuting business representatives as well as travelling sports teams, notably football teams playing against Derby County. The village centre also contains several pubs and a number of smaller shops.

Army Cadet Force

Mickleover is home to the Mickleover Army Cadet Force Detachment. The Detachment is part of the larger D Company with its headquarters in central Derby (Phoenix Street). D company is part of the larger Mercian Regiment which is home to over 850 cadets and almost 170 adult volunteers in 32 detachments.

Railway history

The railway line which passed through Mickleover (the station was about a mile from the centre of the village, entitled Mickleover for Radbourne) originally formed part of the Great Northern Railway's Derbyshire Extension route from Grantham to Stafford and was opened in April 1878. It ran from Grantham on the East Coast Main Line via Nottingham Victoria, over the famous Bennerley Viaduct (which still stands today) and Derby Friargate Station. This section of the Great Northern Railway, also known as the Friargate Line was built as a rival to the already established Midland Railway which at the time had a monopoly over Derby, Nottingham and the surrounding areas.

At Egginton Jcn. it joined the Derby to Crewe line of the North Staffordshire Railway which it left at Bromshall Junction near Uttoxeter to journey on to Stafford. There was also a line from Egginton Junction via Dove Junction to Burton-on-Trent.

Mickleover station lay on the Derby – Egginton section.

Although most of the line was closed to passenger traffic in December 1939, Egginton station didn't officially close until 3 March 1962 and Mickleover station remained open until 3 February 1964. The final passenger train left Friargate on 5 September 1964 and the line then closed throughout to passenger traffic on 7 September 1964.

Freight remained as did the through excursion traffic but eventually Friargate Goods closed on 4 September 1967.

The section between Egginton Jcn. and Friargate was then acquired by the Train Control Group of the BR Research Division, as a suitable test track.[7] It was singled between Friargate and Mickleover, but in 1973 the line was cut back to Mickleover since the eastern end of the track bed had been earmarked for the new A38 trunk road. Thereafter the line was used as a test track until 1990 when the A516 feeder road to the A50 by-pass was built over the trackbed and the line was closed and lifted.

Today Mickleover and Egginton stations survive, Mickleover is a private residence and Egginton is the HQ for a Payroll Company. The route of the line is now a cycle track to Egginton and nature path with little to indicate its former status.

University campus

Mickleover from May 1964 until June 2007, housed a small 35-acre campus of the University of Derby which in 2007-8 made way for nearly 700 new homes. The campus was formerly the Bishop Lonsdale College of Education, run by the Church of England (Derby Diocese), and housed the Education and Health departments as well as some social science courses. In late 2007 a new scout hut for the 166th Mickleover Scouts was also built on the site of the University Campus (Derby Campus).

Schools

Mickleover has a number of primary schools: Wren Park Primary, Mickleover Primary, Brookfield Primary, Silverhill Primary and Ravensdale and Infants schools. There is also a secondary school, Murray Park School.

The village has two C of E churches – the 1960s St John the Evangelist and the older All Saints. There is also a Methodist chapel and a Roman Catholic church on Uttoxeter Road called Our Lady of Lourdes. All Saints once contained an infant school, as did the Old Tea Rooms, now known as the Mickleover Community Centre.

Sports

Mickleover Sports F.C. is a semi-professional football team. They are based at the Mickleover Sports Club on Station Road and are members of the Northern Premier League.

Along with Mickleover Sports, the suburb is also home to many junior sports teams. A notable example being the Mickleover Lightning Sox football team who are listed in the Guinness World Records 2005 for being involved in the longest penalty shootout. The game between the Sox and Chellaston Boys in the 1998 Derby Community Cup, finished 1–1 with Sox winning the shootout 2-1, but not until 66 penalties had been taken.[8]

Mickleover Running Club was formed in 2016 to offer running sessions for all abilities, ranging from people looking to improve their fitness, to serious runners wanting to compete in local league races. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 7pm outside the Honeycomb Pub on Ladybank Road, Mickleover.

Notable people

  • David Hampshire (1917–1990), racing driver

References

  1. Hey, David (2008). Derbyshire, A History. Lancaster: Carnegie Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-85936-167-2. 
  2. Martin, Geoffrey (2003). Domesday Book: A Complete Transliteration. England: Penguin Classics. p. 744. ISBN 0-14-143994-7. 
  3. Nomisweb.com
  4. Pearson,G (2012), The Rise and Fall of Management: a brief history of practice theory and context, Farnham: Gower Publishing, p44
  5. http://www.planning.south-derbys.gov.uk/ApplicationDetail.aspx?Ref=9/2016/0564
  6. http://www.south-derbys.gov.uk/Images/Proposals%20Maps%20for%20Local%20Plan%20Part%201%20A%20-%20R_tcm21-281388.pdf
  7. Mickover Test Track Page
  8. Ashdown, John (8 October 2008). "Which was the worst ever penalty shoot-out?". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/oct/08/worst.ever.penalty.shootouts. 

Outside links