Osmaston is a suburb 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 ...

, in the ceremonial county of

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. It is about 3 miles south of the city centre. It is written 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Osmundestune''. In 1307, the manor of Osmaston was granted to Robert Holland. It was the location of Osmaston Hall, the residence of the Wilmot baronets of Osmaston.

History

There are two places called Osmaston in Derbyshire. This Osmaston and another in the Derbyshire Dales. It has been this way for at least 900 years. Both places are mentioned in the Domesday Book and are called ''Osmundestune''. The manor in Derby was the home of the ancient family of the Wilmot baronets.Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland
. (London, 1891) p. 222. Retrieved 11 May 2010 These baronets built Osmaston Hall, including its chapel of James the Lesser. The hall was demolished to make way for the Ascot Drive industrial estate in 1938, while the chapel survived until 1952. SpiderW

''The Osmaston Triangle'' is the part of Osmaston bounded by a railway line, Osmaston Road and Osmaston Park Road, with the two roads joining at the "Spider Bridge" in Allenton. In 2003, a major project called the 'Osmaston Housing Improvement Zone' was approved to improve local housing conditions. This work included much of the area's older, privately owned

terraced houses A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

, with 20 empty properties brought back into use and 93 low-income families helped with essential repairs. An arson incident occurred on Victory Road on 11 May 2012, which led to the deaths of six children. In 1901 the

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 ...

had a population of 2453. On 1 April 1902 the parish was abolished and merged with

Sinfin Moor Sinfin is a suburb of Derby, England, southwest of the city centre on its southern outskirts. The ward, which includes Osmaston as well as Sinfin itself, had a population of 15,128 in 2011. Historically, Sinfin and Osmaston were separate vill ...

. It is now in the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Derby, in the Derby district.

Rolls-Royce

From 1908 till 2007, Osmaston was the central location of the manufacturing unit of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

until this facility was moved 2 km south to

Sinfin Sinfin is a suburb of Derby, England, southwest of the city centre on its southern outskirts. The ward, which includes Osmaston as well as Sinfin itself, had a population of 15,128 in 2011. Historically, Sinfin and Osmaston were separate vill ...

. The Nightingale Road ''Main Works'' site opened in 1908 to manufacture the

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series. Originally named the "Tax horsepower#Britain, 40/50 h.p." the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving t ...

. The rear of the site had a test track called "Miniature Brooklands," which was used to prove the cars. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, on Monday, 27 July 1942, at 7.50 am, a lone

Dornier Do 217 The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. It was a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937-38 as a heavy bomber ...

attacked the

factory in the area, making Merlin Engines vital to the war effort. The aircraft, at a very low level, hit the central stores and the houses opposite with four bombs, three 550kg and one 250 kg. The plane then

strafed Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such a ...

civilians in the Osmaston area and shot down a

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

before returning to base. Twenty-three people were killed, 12 in the works with the remainder in neighbouring houses in Hawthorn, Abingdon and Handel Street. Among those killed was Arthur Bacon, a former

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

football player. A further 120 people were injured. On 27 July 2017, a memorial to those who died was unveiled behind the

Marble Hall Marble Hall is a town in the south of the Limpopo province of South Africa. It was formerly in Mpumalanga province. Marble Hall is a village 26 km north-west of Groblersdal and 96 km south-south-east of Mokopane on the N11 National R ...

. Guest of honour was Sheila Dixon, who was nine years old when one of the bombs impacted two doors down from her home, killing her friend Dennis Regan. In April 2009,

Derby City Council Derby City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire in the East Midlands region of England. Derby has had a council from medieval ...

agreed to buy the old Rolls-Royce site in a move towards the ongoing regeneration of Osmaston.

Education

Schools serving the Osmaston area are Nightingale Infant and Primary schools, which both have "Inadequate"

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

reports.

Religious sites

Saint Bartholomew's Parish Church serves the area. The church was built in 1926 on land given by Mrs Walter Evans and was extended in 1966 to give a new Chancel, Lady Chapel and Vestries.

Osmaston Park

At the southern edge of Osmaston is a public park called Osmaston Park. It is 650 metres long by 250 metres wide with a patched perimeter of 1,500 metres. It has two grassed areas set aside as football pitches on either side of a central wooded circle called "Ash Wood," with an adventure playground. The park features basketball courts, a community centre and a BMX track.

Notable people

Sir John Eardley Wilmot Sir John Eardley Wilmot PC SL (16 August 17095 February 1792) was an English judge, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1766 to 1771. Family and early life Wilmot was the second son of Robert Wilmot (1669–1738), of Osmaston Hall, near ...

(1709–1792),

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the common pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench, which was the second-highest common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body ...

Henry Royce Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines with a reputation for reliability and longevity. With Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude J ...

References

External links

* * {{Suburbs of Derby Areas of Derby Former civil parishes in Derbyshire