Repton is a village in the County of Derby, four miles east of Burton-on-Trent, seven miles south-west of Derby, and gives its name to the deanery, and with Gresley, forms the hundred, or division, to which it belongs.
The original settlers showed their wisdom when they selected the site: on the north flowed “the smug and silver Trent,” providing them with water; whilst on the south, forests, which then, no doubt, extended in unbroken line from Sherwood to Charnwood, provided fuel; and, lying between, a belt of green pasturage provided fodder for cattle and sheep. The hand of time and man, has nearly destroyed the forests, leaving them such in name alone, and the remains of forests and pasturage have been “annexed.” Repton Common still remains in name, in 1766 it was enclosed by Act of Parliament, and it and the woods round are no longer “common.”
Excavations made in the Churchyard, and in the field to the west of it, have laid bare many foundations, and portions of Anglo-Saxon buildings, such as head-stones of doorways and windows, which prove that the site of the ancient Monastery, and perhaps the town, was on that part of the village now occupied by church, churchyard, vicarage and grounds, and was protected by the River Trent, a branch of which then, no doubt, flowed at the foot of its rocky bank. At some time unknown, the course of the river was interfered with. Somewhere, above or about the present bridge at Willington, the river divided into two streams, one flowing as it does now, the other, by a very sinuous course, crossed the fields and flowed by the town, and so on till it rejoined the Trent above Twyford Ferry. Traces of this bed can be seen in the fields, and there are still three wide pools left which lie in the course of what is now called the “Old Trent.”
There is an old tradition that this alteration was made by Hotspur. In Shakespeare’s play of Henry IV. Act III. Hotspur, Worcester, Mortimer, and Glendower, are at the house of the Archdeacon at Bangor. A map of England and Wales is before them, which the Archdeacon has divided into three parts. Mortimer is made to say:
The “dear Coz” Hotspur, evidently displeased with his share, replies, pointing to the map;—
Whether this passage refers to the alteration of the course of the Trent at Repton, or not, we cannot say, but that it was altered is an undoubted fact. The dam can be traced just below the bridge, and on the Parish Map, the junction of the two is marked. Pilkington in his History of Derbyshire refers to “eight acres of land in an island betwixt Repton and Willington” as belonging to the Canons of Repton Priory. They are still known as the Canons’ Meadows. On this “island” is a curious parallelogram of raised earth, which is supposed to be the remains of a Roman Camp, called Repandunum by Stebbing-Shaw, O.R., the Historian of Staffordshire, but he gives no proofs for the assertion. Since the “Itineraries” neither mention nor mark it, its original makers must remain doubtful until excavations have been made on the spot. Its dimensions are, North side, 75 yards, 1 foot, South side, 68 yards, 1 foot, East side, 52 yards, 1 foot, West side, 54 yards, 2 feet. Within the four embankments are two rounded mounds, and parallel with the South side are two inner ramparts, only one parallel with the North. It is supposed by some to be “a sacred area surrounding tumuli.” The local name for it is “The Buries.” In my opinion it was raised and used by the Danes, who in A.D. 874 visited Repton, and destroyed it before they left in A.D. 875.
Before the Conquest the Manor of Repton belonged to Algar, Earl of Mercia. In Domesday Book it is described as belonging to him and the King, having a church and two priests, and two mills. It soon after belonged to the Earls of Chester, one of whom, Randulph de Blundeville, died in the year 1153. His widow, Matilda, with the consent of her son Hugh, founded Repton Priory.
In Lysons’ Magna Britannia, we read, “The Capital Messuage of Repingdon was taken into the King’s (Henry III.) hands in 1253.” Afterwards it appears to have passed through many hands, John de Britannia, William de Clinton, Philip de Strelley, John Fynderne, etc., etc. In the reign of Henry IV., John Fynderne “was seised of an estate called the Manor of Repingdon alias Strelley’s part,” from whom it descended through George Fynderne to Jane Fynderne, who married Sir Richard Harpur, Judge of the Common Pleas, whose tomb is in the mortuary chapel of the Harpurs in Swarkeston Church. Round the alabaster slab of the tomb on which lie the effigies of Sir Richard and his wife, is the following inscription, “Here under were buryed the bodyes of Richard Harpur, one of the Justicies of the Comen Benche at Westminster, and Jane his wife, sister and heyer unto Thomas Fynderne of Fynderne, Esquyer. Cogita Mori.” Since the dissolution of the Priory there have been two Manors of Repton, Repton Manor and Repton Priory Manor.
From Sir Richard Harpur the Manor of Repton descended to the present Baronet, Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe. Sir Henry Harpur, by royal license, assumed the name and arms of Crewe, in the year 1800.
The Manor of Repton Priory passed into the hands of the Thackers at the dissolution of the Priory, and remained in that family till the year 1728, when Mary Thacker devised it, and other estates, to Sir Robert Burdett of Foremark, Bart.
The Village consists of two main streets, which meet at the Cross. Starting from the Church, in a southerly direction, one extends for about a mile, towards Bretby. The other, coming from Burton-on-Trent, proceeds in an easterly direction, through “Brook End,” towards Milton, and Tickenhall, &c. The road from Willington was made in 1839, when it and the bridge were completed, and opened to the public. A swift stream, rising in the Pistern Hills, six miles to the south, runs through a broad valley, and used to turn four corn mills, (two of which are mentioned in Domesday Book,) now only two are worked, one at Bretby, the other at Repton. The first, called Glover’s Mill, about a mile above Bretby, has the names of many of the Millers, who used to own or work it, cut, apparently, by their own hands, in the stone of which it is built. The last mill was the Priory Mill, and stood on the east side of the Priory, the arch, through which the mill-race ran, is still in situ, it was blocked, and the stream diverted to its present course, by Sir John Harpur in the year 1606. On the left bank of this stream, on the higher ground of the valley, the village has been built; no attempt at anything like uniformity of design, in shape or size, has been made, each owner and builder erected, house or cottage, according to his own idea or desire; these, with gardens and orchards, impart an air of quaint beauty to our village, whose inhabitants for centuries have been engaged, chiefly, in agriculture. In the old Parish registers some of its inhabitants are described as “websters,” and “tanners,” but, owing to the growth of the trade in better situated towns, these trades gradually ceased.
During the Civil War the inhabitants of Repton and neighbourhood remained loyal and faithful to King Charles I. In 1642 Sir John Gell, commander of the Parliamentary forces stormed Bretby House, and in January, 1643, the inhabitants of Repton, and other parishes, sent a letter of remonstrance to the Mayor and Corporation of Derby, owing to the plundering excursions of soldiers under Sir John’s command. In the same year, Sir John Harpur’s house, at Swarkeston, was stormed and taken by Sir John Gell.
In 1687 a wonderful skeleton, nine feet long! was discovered in a field, called Allen’s Close, adjoining the churchyard of Repton, now part of the Vicarage grounds. The skeleton was in a stone coffin, with others to the number of one hundred arranged round it! During the year 1787 the grave was reopened, and a confused heap of bones was discovered, which were covered over with earth, and a sycamore tree, which is still flourishing, was planted to mark the spot.
During the present century few changes have been made in the village; most of them will be found recorded, either under chief events in the History of Repton, or in the chapters succeeding.