Tapton, Derbyshire
- Not to be confused with Tupton
| Tapton | |
| Derbyshire | |
|---|---|
 Tapton Innovation Centre | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK393724 |
| Location: | 53°14’51"N, 1°24’44"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Chesterfield |
| Postcode: | S41 |
| Dialling code: | 01246 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Chesterfield |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Chesterfield |
Tapton is a village in north-eastern Derbyshire that has become a suburb of Chesterfield. It is along the Brimington Road, the B6543, between Chesterfield town centre, and Brimington. It became absorbed into Chesterfield in the 1920s. The buildings along Brimington Road are largely the semi-detached houses in a style typical of the 1920s and 1930s, which were the development merging the village into the town.
Tapton House is here, in Tapton Woods: the woods were once the grounds of the house and are now a municipal park.
History
Located in the grounds of the House, is a large mound or hill, once the moat, of Chesterfield Castle or Tapton Castle as it was sometimes also known. The mediæval castle became at some point a castle in the hands of the Crown, lasting until the Civil War, when it was razed to the ground.
Thw grand house of the manor was Tapton Hall. In 1638 the lordship of Tapton with a capital messuage known as Tapton Hall was sold by Durant Allsopp and Thomas Allsopp to George Taylor (d.1668) a vintner of London. Taylor left instructions in his will for the founding of alms houses, and 6 alms houses were duly erected in 1678 in Salter Gate, by his son-in-law Charles Scrimshire, as the inscription in the centre of the buildings attests.[1]
By inheritance and marriage the estate passed in time to the Cox family until in 1746 it was sold, with Durant Hall, and with the manor and lordship of Tapton, by William Coxe to Adam Slater of Chesterfield, apothecary.
About the village
Tapton House is a large gentleman's residence, built in the Georgian style in red brick, located in the woods on Tapton Hill looking down on Chesterfield. It was once the home of George Stephenson, creator of the first public steam-powered railway line in the world. In 1837 he arrived in Chesterfield, to undertake the construction of the Derby to Leeds railway (the North Midland Line). As work continued George Stephenson, took up residence there. The House was bequeathed to the Borough of Chesterfield on his death.
In 1931, the house was converted into a school, as Tapton House Central Selective School. The school continued until 1993.[2] Tapton House grounds are now used as the Tapton Park Innovation Centre which is open for free use to the general public. The House itself is currently the Higher Education Campus for Chesterfield College.[3]
On the Chesterfield Canal to the north of Tapton Park is Tapton Lock Visitor Centre.[4]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Tapton, Derbyshire) |