Pentrich is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

between Belper and

Alfreton Alfreton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 7,971 at the 2011 Census. The villages of Ir ...

Amber Valley Amber Valley is a local government district and borough in the east of Derbyshire, England, taking its name from the River Amber. It covers a semi-rural zone with four main towns whose economy was based on coal mining and remains to some exte ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 191.

Pentrich rising

The village gave its name to the Pentrich rising, an armed uprising which occurred on the night of 9/10 June 1817. The name is controversial. While much of the planning took place in Pentrich, two of the three ringleaders were from South Wingfield and the other was from Sutton in Ashfield; the 'revolution' itself started from Hunt's Barn in South Wingfield, and the only person killed died in Wingfield Park. A gathering of some two or three hundred men (stockingers, quarrymen and iron workers), led by Jeremiah Brandreth ('The Nottingham Captain'), (an unemployed stockinger, and claimed, without substantiation, by

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

as an ancestor), set out from

South Wingfield South Wingfield is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, it is now part of the borough of Amber Valley and formerly in the Scarsdale hundred. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,514. History and description ...

to march to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. They were lightly armed with pikes, scythes and a few guns, which had been hidden in a quarry in Wingfield Park, and had a set of rather unfocussed revolutionary demands, including the wiping out of the National Debt. The organizer of the event turned out to be a government spy, who became known as Oliver the Spy, and the uprising was quashed soon after it began. Three men were hanged for their participation in the uprising, including Brandreth.

St Matthew's Church

Whilst St Matthew's Church is not mentioned in the

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

(1086), a charter of 1154–9 confirms the gift of the church of Pentrich to the canons of Darley Abbey. Of this Norman church or one which shortly after replaced it the five arcades separating the aisles from the nave, parts of the west wall and south aisle and lower part of the tower remain. The tower was made higher in the late 14th century and the two aisles were rebuilt. Around 1430 a new pointed chancel arch was built, retaining the earlier capitals and piers and a clerestory was added. The tracery of the east window suggests a date of 1420–50. The font stands on a pedestal dated 1662 but the bowl has decoration typical of the Norman period. During the 19th century the bowl was absent and was used for the salting of beef. On the exterior of the south chancel wall is a scratch dial or mass clock, a sort of sundial used to show service times. Interior, St Matthew's Church, Pentrich

In literature

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote the pamphlet "We Pity the Plumage, But Forget the Dying Bird" (1817) contrasting the wretched fate of the 'Pentrich Martyrs' (Brandreth, Turner & Ludlam) to the public mourning for the death of

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

in childbirth a day earlier.

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

wrote "The Three Graves" (1820) (which turns out to be not for the condemned men, but their accusers) :... :I ask'd the fiend, for whom these rites were meant? :"These graves," quoth he, "when life's brief oil is spent, :When the dark night comes, and they're sinking bedwards, : I mean for Castles, Oliver, and Edwards." *A fictional account is given of the postwar slump, chartism, the Pentrich Revolution and industrial progress in ''The Reckoning'', Volume 15 of ''

The Morland Dynasty ''The Morland Dynasty'' is a series of historical novels by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, in the genre of a family saga. They recount the lives of the Morland family of York, England and their national and international relatives and associates. There ...

'', a series of historical novels by author

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (born 13 August 1948) is a British writer of romance and mystery novels. She normally writes under her own name but also uses the pseudonyms Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennett. Cynthia was born on 13 August 1948 at Shephe ...

. Historical romance and erotic novelist Pam Rosenthal involves the hero and heroine of her novel ''The Slightest Provocation'' in the unmasking of the Pentrich uprising's government provocateur. Paul and Clara visit the village in D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers (Chapter 12). Although this is doubtful as he often used nearby placenames as substitutes for the actual location of his novels. Real Pentrich does not fit the context of this story as they walk to "Pentrich" from chapel in Eastwood, too far for an evening stroll. It is more likely Alma Hill near Kimberley with its "ruined windmill".A DH Lawrence Companion by F.B. Pinion Page 297

References

Bibliography

*Cooper, B (1983) ''Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent'' Heinemann, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books *Cox, J C (1879) ''The Churches of Derbyshire'' Vol 4 *Pevsner, N (1978) ''The Buildings of England: Derbyshire''

External links