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

between

Belper Belper () is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. Along with Belper, the parish includes the village of Milford and the hamlets ...

and

Alfreton Alfreton ( or locally ) is a town and civil parishes in England, 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 8,79 ...

Amber Valley Amber Valley is a local government district with borough status in the east of Derbyshire, England, taking its name from the River Amber. Its council is based in Ripley. The district covers a semi-rural area lying to the north of the city 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. The population 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. 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 a British 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 Bri ...

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 ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. 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 A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occ ...

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

(1086), a charter of 1154–1159 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 A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, 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.

In literature

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

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 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'', a series of historical novels by author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. 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