Elvaston 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. The parish also includes two

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

, Ambaston and Thulston, and a modern housing estate, Boulton Moor. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 1,801. Located to the south-east of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, Elvaston itself is dominated by

Elvaston Castle Elvaston Castle is a stately home in Elvaston, Derbyshire, England. The Gothic Revival castle and surrounding parkland is run and owned by Derbyshire County Council as a country park known as Elvaston Castle Country Park. The country park has ...

, a country house which is currently in the ownership of Derbyshire County Council, who plan to lease the site to a private company. The move has proved controversial, attracting a petition of 60,000 signatures against the proposals collected by the Elvaston Castle Estate Trust, who want to keep the site in public ownership. At the present time the Castle is rarely open to the public and has been somewhat neglected, while the grounds are open throughout the summer. St Bartholomew's Church, Elvaston is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building that dates from the 13th century.

History

In 1086, 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

says:Open Domesday Online: Elvaston
accessed June 2017

”The land of
Geoffrey Alselin ''Geoffrey Alselin'' was an Anglo-Norman, who at some time after the Norman Conquest of England received Elvaston, Derbyshire and Laxton, Nottinghamshire. Alselin began the construction of the motte-and-bailey castle that stood at Laxton, Nottin ...

In
Alvaston Alvaston (/ˈɒlvəstən/ or /ˈælvəstən/) is a village and ward of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire, England. Alvaston is on the A6 road (Great Britain), A6 three miles south-east of Derby city centre and probably owes it ...
and Ambaston Thulston and Elvaston Toki had ten
carucates The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could tillage, till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax asse ...
of land to the geld. There Geoffrey AlselinGeoffrey Alselin held a considerable number of manors including several in Derbyshire given to him by the king,
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
. These included obviously Ambaston, Elvaston, Alvaston and Thulston, but also land in
Etwall Etwall is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, southwest of Derby on the A50 road, A50. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,906. Geography Etwall is located between the A516 road, A516 bypass an ...
, Ednaston,
Hulland Hulland is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, adjoining the A517 road. It had a population of 215 according to the 2011 census. In the 1870s Hulland was described as: :"Hulland, a village and tw ...
, Egginton,
Breaston Breaston ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Erewash, Erewash district, in the south-east of Derbyshire and lies approximately east of the city of Derby and west of the city of Nottingham. The population of the civil paris ...
and
Ockbrook Ockbrook is a village in the Erewash district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is almost contiguous with the village of Borrowash, the two only separated by the A52. The civil parish is Ockbrook and Borrowash. The population of this c ...
has now two ploughs in
demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...
; and a certain knight of his one plough. There 32 villans have 15 ploughs. There is one priest and a church and a mill rendering 12 shillings and one smith and of meadow and a little scrubland. TRETRE in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
is Tempore Regis Edwardi. This means in the time of
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
before the
Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place appr ...
. worth twelve pounds now ten pounds.''Domesday Book: A Complete Transliteration''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.750 “

Notable residents

* Anthony Blackwall was a vicar here *

William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington ( 1683 – 8 December 1756), was a British statesman and diplomat. Life William Stanhope was born in 1683 at the family home in Elvaston, Derbyshire, third surviving son of John Stanhope and Doro ...

1683–1756 * John Buller (1823–1967), was born here *

Geoffrey S. Dawes Geoffrey Sharman Dawes (21 January 1918 – 6 May 1996) was an English physiologist and was considered to be the foremost international authority on fetal and neonatal physiology.William Darwin Fox The Reverend William Darwin Fox (23 April 1805 – 8 April 1880) was an English clergyman, naturalist, and a second cousin of Charles Darwin. Early life Fox was born in 1805 and initially raised at Thurleston Grange near Elvaston, Derbysh ...

, introduced his second cousin

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

to the study of insects, was born near here in 1805

Ambaston

The hamlet of Ambaston is located about one mile east of Elvaston close to the River Derwent.

Thulston

The hamlet of Thulston is immediately south of Elvaston on the B5010 road. The Harrington Arms is the only public house in the parish and is a local landmark in Thulston.

References

External links