Etwall () is a 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 authority ...

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, southwest of

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 ...

on the A50. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,906.

Geography

Etwall is located between the A516 bypass and the A50 in south Derbyshire. The A516 draws heavy traffic heading for the M1 north. The village has its own public library, several schools including a state pre-school, state primary, an independent day school and the large secondary school,

John Port Spencer Academy John Port Spencer Academy, formerly known as John Port School, is an academy and secondary school in the village of Etwall, Derbyshire, England.

. The parish church is St Helen's. A war memorial is located in the shadow of a memorial tree which was planted in the 1800s. There is also a Buddhist centre at Ashe Hall established by

Kelsang Gyatso Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (; 19 July 1931 – 17 September 2022) was a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher, scholar, and author. He was the founder and spiritual director of the New Kadampa Tradition-International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT-IKBU), a ...

. Some of the inhabitants work at the

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

car factory The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such ...

which is located east of the village. The part of the village that is closely adjacent to the A50, and the Toyota Car factory, is separately named as Etwall Common.

History

The village name comes from ''Etewelle'', meaning "Eatta’s water", Eatta being a 7th-century Saxon leader. Etwall is famous for its

well dressing Well dressing, also known as well flowering, is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals. The custom is most closely associated with ...

festival every May. The John Port Grammar School opened in 1956, with the Etwall Secondary School on the same site. They combined as the comprehensive John Port School in 1965.

Amenities

Etwall is an affluent village with amenities including a post office, library, two village stores, a restaurant, pharmacy, dental practice, veterinarian, village hall, leisure centre and cricket club. Etwall also has a swimming club, tennis club and the Team FS Derby, a Futsal Club of the

FA National Futsal League The National Futsal League is a futsal league in England. It is a Community Interest Company owned and controlled by its Member Clubs and administered by an annually elected Board of Directors. The league is played under FIFA rules, began in 200 ...

. The village has two pubs on its Main Street: the Spread Eagle (opposite John Port School) is the oldest, and the Hawk and Buckle dates from around 1800. There is also the more modern Seven Wells on Heage Lane and a bar inside Blenheim House. The King George playing fields host the local football team Kings Head F.C. (sponsored by the Kings Head of Hilton) on Sunday mornings. The village is also served by a modern community centre/village hall named after the former primary school caretaker Frank Wickham, which hosts community events and also is used as a polling station for local and general elections. Three

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

routes meeting in the village: Route 54, Route 549 and Route 68. During the period 2015–2017 and beyond Etwall is due to have new building work on former John Port Trust land, which was left in trust and rented to local farmers. This marks the biggest expansion of Etwall village since post-war building in the 1950s and 1960s by Wimpey builders, and is due to expand the village's housing stock and increase local amenities. 18.4% of South Derbyshire's Band E to H properties are located in Etwall, with 12 out of 81 of the council's band H properties located in the village.

Former residents

*Sir

John Port (judge) Sir John Port (c.1472 – c. 14 March 1540), judge, was the son of Henry Port of Chester. He was involved in the trials of Thomas More, Sir Thomas More, John Fisher and Anne Boleyn. Family John Port was born about 1472 at Chester, where his an ...

(1480–1541), judge, born in Chester, lived in Etwall *Sir

John Port (died 1557) Sir John Port (before 1510 – 6 June 1557) was an English landowner and Knight of the Order of the Bath who served occasionally in the House of Commons. He was Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1554. By his will, he founded Repton School and almshouse ...

, son of above, born in Etwall, founded

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, ...

* John Gerard, S.J.,

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

priest *

Miles Hunt Miles Stephen Hunt (born 29 July 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He fronts the alternative rock band The Wonder Stuff. Early life His father was a union official for the TGWU. In the 1970s, his father was based at Derby, an ...

Debbie McGee Debra Ann McGee (born 31 October 1958) is an English television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the assistant and widow of magician Paul Daniels. McGee is a former ballet dancer and for three years was artistic director of her ...

References

External links