Markeaton is a suburban village within

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is in the Mackworth Ward of Derby City Council. The village lies on the narrow Markeaton Lane road. It is home to the popular

Markeaton Park Markeaton Park is a large public park located in Markeaton, Derby, 207 acres in size. It attracts one million visitors a year, making it one of the most visited parks in the East Midlands. Markeaton Park is an important part of Derby history, whi ...

. The name is derived from Old English "Mearca's Farm". The spelling was Marcheton in 1086. After the Norman conquest the manor of Markeaton which had been held by the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

Siward, the Fairbairn

Earl of Northumbria Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The ealdordom was a successor of the Norse Kingdom of York. In the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxo ...

, was given to

Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

, along with chevinetum, Mackworth and Allestree. It finally passed to John the Earl of Huntingdon and Cambridge who died in 1237, his only heirs being his sisters. To prevent the estate passing to women, it was bought by the Crown in 1246. It was held by various members of the Royal family, including the

Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...

until his death in 1376 when it returned to the Crown.Turbutt, G., (1999) ''A History of Derbyshire. Volume 2: Medieval Derbyshire,'' Cardiff: Merton Priory Press In the early 14th century the Mundy Family purchased land, Sir John Mundy was

Lord Mayor of the City of London Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

in 1522. The village land was enclosed by the Mundys during the 18th century, forcing many of the villagers to move their homes (literally "Up Sticks") outside the enclosed land.

Markeaton Hall

A grand house, Markeaton Hall was built in a traditional half timbered style, this was replaced by a new hall during the late 18th century. In 1929, the Markeaton Hall and twenty acres (81,000 m²) of its gardens were given to the Corporation of Derby by the Reverend Clarke Maxwell who had inherited the estate from the late Mrs Mundy, on condition that the whole area would be used as a public park and that the mansion would be maintained for cultural purposes, for example a museum or and art gallery. Unfortunately the hall was used by the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and allowed to fall into disrepair after the war. The council had continually neglected the building, which eventually was declared to be unsafe. The council decided to demolish it, leaving only the

Orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

and stable yards.

The Church

Markeaton shares its church with the nearby village of Mackworth. This 13th-century church was fortified, one of the rare examples of such a church, to protect the villagers and their farm stock from raids by the Meynells, who lived at Langley Meynell.

References

External links

* {{authority control Areas of Derby Villages in Derbyshire Former civil parishes in Derbyshire