Our next trip was to the city of Derby, the county town of Derbyshire. As usual we got the train from Manchester Piccadilly and headed towards a new city…
Derby:
Status: City of Derby Unitary District, Derbyshire, England
Date: 04/06/2013
Travel: East Midlands Trains (Manchester Piccadilly – Sheffield), East Midlands Trains (Sheffield – Derby)
Eating & Sleeping: Costa Coffee, Tesco, Greggs
Attractions: Town Hall, Derby Cathedral, Derby Museum, Industrial Museum, Pickford’s House Museum, War Memorial, Fountain, Tourist Information, Guildhall, Market, Derby Canal, Friargate Station, River Derwent, Royal Crown Derby Museum etc
As soon as we arrived, we did the short walk from the train station into the main city centre, passing through the pedestrianed shopping streets and arrived in a large, open square that is pictured above.
Opposite the Clock Tower is the cities War Memorial, erected in 1924, and designed Charles Clayton Thompson. There are two parts to the memorial, the Bronze figure of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus and the Celtic Cross behind them. They memorial was sculpted by Arthur George Walker (1861 – 1939, English Sculptor & Painter).
The rising Clock Tower belongs to the Guildhall, which opened in 1828 as the new Derby Town Hall. Over the next hundred years there were many varied events, including a few which caught the public’s attention, including a visit by Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) in 1891, and the trial of Alice Wheeldon (1866 – 1919, pacifist and Anti-War campaigner) in 1917. Alice was charged and convicted of conspiracy to murder Prime Minister David Lloyd George 91863 – 1945) although Lloyd George ordered her release 2 years later, after which she became ill and passed away.
The building finally closed in 1949, as the new Town Hall had recently opened nearby, but thankfully the council had the building converted into a theatre and it opened as a new venue in 1975, for the public to enjoy.
There is a Tourist Information Centre on the right hand side of the square, where you can pick up a variety of souvenirs from Derby and Derbyshire itself as well as leaflets and maps of the city and surrounding area.
Before I mentioned a fountain, and you can see it here in front of the Guildhall. You can climb a set of steps at the back up to the very top to watch the water cascade down the curved rim into the basin below. There is an open space behind the falling water and you can walk through there behind it. On a hot day like it was we were quite glad when we got splashed!
The building that replaced the Guildhall is this one, the new Council Offices on the banks of the River Derwent. The building took 3 years to build, opening in 1941. I love the columns in front of the entrance, and down the right hand side on the pavement there is a column with a large square clock face on top of it.
We headed towards the river next, passed the Council Offices and towards Exeter Bridge.
This photograph is taken from the aforementioned Exeter Bridge, a single span arch bridge over the river. The bridge was constructed in 1929 as a replacement for the previous bridge of the same name that occupied the position, which was a timber footbridge to give access to the gardens of Exeter House, but the house was eventually demolished, and the new bridge was opened to traffic in late 1929.
You can walk down the banks of the river here, down to the steps shown in the previous picture, and you get a great view back at the bridge. It’s a beautiful location, and it was the perfect day to sit and relax by the river.
Eventually we moved on, and I had to drag Gemma away from the Ducks, she keeps insisting I grab her one!
There are four sculptured plaques on the bridge, at the four corners of the bridge, being of:
John Lombe, who founded the Silk Museum (1693 – 1722)
William Hutton, Worker at the Silk Mill (1723 – 1815)
Herbert Spencer, Author (1820 – 1903)
Erasmus Darwin, Botanist and Poet (1731 – 1802)
Alas I only got pictures of three of them, so I am missing the one of Erasmus Darwin, whose houses we actually visited in the Staffordshire city of Lichfield.
The river looks fantastic around here and it stretches around the city, and looking back the other way it goes down towards the Silk Mill Museum and the Cathedral.
As we walked down to the Cathedral we passed another bridge, the Cathedral Green Footbridge. This one opened in 2009, and was part of a renovated of the surrounding area looking towards the Cathedral. Past the bridge you can see the Silk Museum, however this is unfortunately shut at the moment for funding reasons.
It was built by George Sorocold (1668 – 1738, Engineer from Derby) between 1717 and 1721, and was Britain’s first mill. It was a functioning Silk Mill from 1721 until 1908, when the premises were sold to F. W. Hampshire and Company, Chemists after passing through a number of owners. It was turned into a museum in 1974 and is a popular attraction.
As we wandered left towards the Cathedral we found this statue of Charles Edward Stuart (AKA Bonnie Prince Charlie, 1720 – 1788) who is known as the second Jacobite Pretender to the local thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. After his defeat at the battle of Culloden he fled to France and tried to organise an invasion of Britain by the French in 1759 but the superiority of the British Navy prevented this.
The significance of Derby is because the area is as far South as he reached into England with his forces before his own council decided to retreat because of lack of support.
Our next stop was the Cathedral itself, and inside we explored the cool, peaceful interior. The walls had various memorials and plaques on them, with neatly painted arches covering the ceiling in between the square topped columns.
The current building is from around the 14th century, with the tower having been built between 1510 and 1530, topped out at its full height of 212 feet. The earliest recorded church on the site was from at least 943 AD.
Years later in 1725, the whole building aside from the tower was rebuilt in a new style, and enlarged again in 1972. It was granted Cathedral Status in 1927, although Derby itself didn’t get granted city status until 1977. It towers above the surrounding area and the tower could be seen from our previous position on the river.
We returned to the Market Square for lunch and sat next to the fountain for a while, enjoying the scenery, before pushing on.
The quality of the architecture in Derby is fantastic and great swathes of old stone buildings fill up areas of the city centre, and as you pass through the pedestrianised sections there are some shop fronts that look hundreds of years old, so anyone with an interest in architecture will enjoy Derby.
We were heading towards one the two main museums in the city, the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, which is only a few minutes away and contained a fascinating array of different artefacts from stuffed animals, skeletons and marine life to a vast portrait gallery.
The building itself is absolutely stunning and looks like a smaller version of St Pancras Railway Station in London. The main red brick section is actually Derby Central Library which was opened at the same time as the museum, in 1879. The museum section backs onto the Library building.
The architect for the Library was called Richard Knill Freeman (1840 – 1904, from London) and his new building replaced the previous Library on Queen Street which opened in 1811. The new modern section of the Museum opened years later in 1964 and most of the collections are housed here.
We kept moving throughout the city, past some more modern glass buildings, and round to the Old Bell Hotel just past the giant stone arched entrance to the Strand Arcade, both on Sadler Gate, the street behind the Central Library and Art Gallery. It is a truly beautiful old building, and is a restored old Tudor Pub from 1650, which recently reopened as a tea room, after a stint as a nightclub starting in the 1960’s.
The second museum we went to was the Pickford’s House Museum, passing under Friargate Bridge that originally carried the railway into the old Friargate Train Station which closed in the 1960’s. The station opened in 1878 as Derby Station, before being renamed in 1881 as Friargate Station.
Just past this we found the museum, which is an old Georgian House open to the public with old artefacts and exhibitions showing how life would have been back in the 1770’s. The Pickford family resided here until 1844 upon Joseph Pickford’s death. It was made a museum in 1988 and is a fascinating insight into 18th century life.
We enjoyed both of the museums and found them very interesting and would recommend them.
One of the last buildings we found in the city is Britain’s first purpose-built Market Hall, which opened in 1866. It is a stunning example of Victorian Architecture and looks almost brand new, having been kept in excellent condition over the years.
Derby is a beautiful city, with elegant buildings, fantastic scenery and the the sunlight made the day even better. We enjoyed looking around the old streets, the museums and finding the different statues and sculptures we encountered. There is plenty to see in Derby, and it is worth spending a few days in the area, and there is another museum in the city, the Royal Crown Derby Museum which houses a grand Porcelain collection.
There are also various parks with sculptures around the city and it is well connected by rail to various places including Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Sheffield, Leicester, London, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Plymouth, Bristol, Reading and Birmingham amongst others. The M1 (London to Leeds and the M62) runs around the city, giving good onward road connections.
The nearest airport is East Midlands Airport, with Manchester Airport, Birmingham International and Nottingham Airport all within driving distance.
Derby rates as one of my personal favourite cities from our travels, and I hope you get to enjoy it sometime too!
The British Isles were the limit, but now the world! 