Parkfields Kedleston Road Derby

[frances1966]

Hi I wonder if anyone else is researching family history in this area of Derby. In the 1700s My family farmed an area of uninclosed land at Parkfields called "Turnpike Close"  and stayed in the area until the 1901 census.
I have a .jpg of an old map with Parkfields on it but I'd love to know more about the History of the area. Any ideas where I might start my research?

frances castle
http://www.smallmoonvalley.com/sherwin

[FRC]

The Parkfields name has been perpetuated through 2 large houses built nearly 200 years ago, namely Parkfields Cedars & Parkfields House.

Parkfields Cedars was built around 1810 for the Sandars family, was subsequently sold to the Wilmot-Sitwells. By Edwardian times it was a private Nursing Home & then a school.

Parkfields House was built circa 1826 for Henry Cox, & subsequently owned by the Unwin, Wheeldon, Moody, Pike & Notley families, before being divided after WW1.

Are any of these names familiar?

"Turnpike Close" means nothing to me, although Kedleston Road was once a turnpike. A former toll house still exists near Derby University, opposite Markeaton Park. Presumably, this is the origin of the name Parkfields, although this is guesswork.

For further info, I suggest you contact Derby Local Studies Library via the Derby City Council website.

[frances1966]

Thanks very much for your help. Since I posted my request I did do  a little bit of research when I was up in Derby and Matlock  in the spring, but I didn't get to the local history library. I have a relative Samuel Sherwin who is farming 12 acres in the 1841/51 census. I also found a map of Park Fields house when it was owned by Henry Cox (who is  listed as Samuels Neighbor on the census's) On  the map, the grounds were marked as 12 acres so I did  wonder if Samuel was farming Henry Cox's land?

Samuels Sherwins wife Esther (nee Bakewell) father 'William Bakewell'  is said to have built a property called 'The Cottage' on Kedleston Road in 1789. I'm wondering if this is where they are still living on the 1841/51 census's? I don't have any info on it apart from a mention in a brief family history written in 1928.

The Turnpike Close that I noted  in my first post, is mentioned in a will and  goes back a generation or two further than Samuel Sherwin.

Later generations of Sherwins also lived on Kedleston Rd (Samuels children and grandchildren). I believe they lived in the area around Sherwin St so perhaps this is where it got its name?

[FRC]

I don't have any info regarding Turnpike Close or 'the Cottage' on Kedleston Road, but your comments regarding the Sherwin family have rung some bells.

Shortly after the First World War, a Mrs. Florence Sherwin lived at 38, Wheeldon Avenue, which links Parkfields House to Kedleston Rd.  (My mother-in-law (now 87) lived two doors away.)

As far as I am aware, Florence -& her husband George- had only one child, Ada, who married a Mr. Smith & they had 4 children;
1. Joan, the eldest, born circa 1918, who married a Bill Wild. She is now widowed & lives in Norfolk.
2. Johnny, who died as a boy.
3. Kathleen, married a Mr. Elwell who was killed in WW2. She died in a car accident about 2 years ago.
4. Dorothy, still alive, married to Peter ?.

The 1901 census shows George, Florence & Ada (age 6) living with George's father & brother (both named John). John senior is reported as being born in 1834 in Bourne, Lincs.

I hope that this helps.

[frances1966]

Thanks very much for your info, as far as  I know I am not related to the Sherwins you mention although it is very likely that further back we are. Do you know if they have researched their tree? (I have a couple of men on my tree whose relatives I cannot trace) It seams to be a very common name in the villages to the north west of Derby (along the Ashbourne rd). There are a lot of Sherwins in Longford (where the catholic saint Ralph Sherwin came from ) I've managed to trace my lot back to Mackworth and a death in 1755 beyond that I'm stuck.

[FRC]

Sorry, as far as I know they have not researched their tree.