Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MELBOURNE

MELBOURNE, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Shardlow district, Derbyshire. The town stands on an affluent of the river Trent, and on the Derby and Ashby-de-la-Zouch railway, completed from Derby to Melbourne in 1867, but not to Ashby till after June 1869; is 7 miles, by railway, SSE of Derby; has a station on the railway, a post office† under Derby, several inns, a market-place, a church, five dissenting chapels, a public cemetery, an athenæum, an endowed national school, and charities £20; and gave the title of Viscount to the family of Lamb. The church is chiefly Norman, with a tower of much later date; was recently restored internally, at a cost of £3,000; and. contains monuments, of the 14th and the 17th centuries, to the Hardinge family. The Independent chapel was enlarged in 1865. The Sweden borgian chapel was built in 1864, at a cost of £1,000; and is a neat small structure, in the Gothic style. The public cemetery lies about ¼ of a mile from the town, and was formed at a cost of £2,000. The atheuæum was opened in 1854, as a mechanics' institute; and was built by subscription. A weekly market is held on Saturday evenings; and the manufacture of silk and thread goods is carried on.—The parish contains also the township of Kings-Newton, and comprises 3,290 acres. Real property, £12,420; of which £110 are in gas-works. Pop., 2,621. Houses, 620. The manor belonged, at Domesday, to the Crown; passed to the Beauchamps and the Lancasters; and belongs now to the Marquis of Hastings. A royal castle stood here; was several times visitcd by King John; was the prison, for 19 years, of the Duke of Bourbon, taken at the battle of Agincourt; was dismantled in 1460; and is now represented by only a small portion of the outer walls. A palace of the Bishops of Carlisle stood on the S bank of the pool; and was several times visited by King John. Melbourne-Hall belongs to Viscountess Palmerston; occupies the site of a palace of the Bishops of Carlisle; was built by Sir Thomas Coke in 1712; was the place where Baxter began to write his "Saints' Rest;'' and has gardens in the Dutch style, introduced by William III. Kings-Newton Hall belonged to the Hardinge family, gave entertainment to Charles II., and was destroyed by fire in 1859. Marketgardening is extensively carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £200.* Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield.—The sub-district contains also three other parishes, parts of two others, an extraparochial tract, and Derby-Hills liberty. Acres, 15,143. Pop., 4,694. Houses, 1,087.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Melbourne AP/CP       Melbourne SubD       Shardlow RegD/PLU       Derbyshire AncC
Place: Melbourne

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