Cutthorpe Tour
Cutthorpe is quite a long, spread-out village which stretches for about 3 miles including outlying farms, and has a few distinct areas and hamlets within it. This tour goes through the
village from east to west, starting in an area known as Upper Newbold or Four Lane Ends, on the Chesterfield side of Cutthorpe. Here in the 1800's
was a mine named on old maps as Cutthorpe Colliery. No evidence of this is now visible but a field conceals the old mine shaft.
Mr Roger Webb who used to live in Cutthorpe as a boy remembers traces of the old Cutthorpe Colliery: "The colliery at Four Lane Ends was in the field behind the detached houses down from what used to be the shop. There was an exposed vertical shaft when I was a lad. We used to throw huge stones down and listen to them as they thudded on the bottom. There was a spoil heap next to the shaft and the remains of wooden lifting gear. It was filled in sometime in the early 50's I think."
In this area during the second World War was a Military Ordnance Depot built around 1940 and demolished, or adapted in 1950. Roger remembers seeing the wagons go through the village on their way to and from the factory: "The gunpowder wagon, as we called it, came, we were told, from Manchester once every week. It was a short wheel based truck based on an Austin chassis. It was black and had two steel doors at the rear. It always came from the Cutthorpe village direction and returned the same way. We never saw the crew because we were kept out of the factory, which was securely fenced. We hardly ever saw anyone going into the place or coming out. It may have been the case that people only worked at night. Whatever was made in the factory was removed with the strictest security. As village lads, we wandered everywhere but we never saw anything from the rear of the factory. It existed and made itself known by a low humming noise. Whan Mother's Pride took the place over, the factory was largely rebuilt and had a corrugated asbestos roof."
An article in the Derbyshire Times of 5 May 1950 described the transformation: "Busy workmen and overalled executives are this spring tearing down the veil of secrecy which for 10 years has surrounded Chesterfield's mystery building, the War Office 'shadow' factory at Four Lane Ends, Upper Newbold ........ For here at this quiet rural site, bread is taking over from the Bren-gun. By summer's end the transformation will be complete, and the war-time depot will have a new name - The Mothers' Pride Bakery". It goes on to explain that the site had been bought by Messrs W.J. Brookes and Sons Ltd of Manchester, who were planning to transfer workers from their bakery at Old Whittington to the new site, hoping to employ between 50 and 75 persons at the outset.
In about 1984 the bakery was dismantled and soon afterwards a small housing estate was built on the site, the estate is
sometimes called The Granary. This picture shows a house on the estate on the 2004 anniversary of D-Day, the flag was out for the houseowner's father who took part in the D-Day landings.
Just beyond the estate is a house which, according to old maps, is one of the oldest houses in Four Lane Ends. The view towards Four Lane Ends with this house on the left is pictured here, with another of the old houses further down on the right of the road. At Four Lane Ends there used to be a toll house, which is thought to have been one of these two houses. Mr S. Botham, in his excellent book on the history of Cutthorpe describes in detail the toll payments, and states that there was another toll at the far end of the village on top of Grange Hill.
In 1901 there were three basket makers living at Four Lane Ends, they were three families all named Fisher, the oldest being Mr Isaac Fisher, and the other two who were named Tom Fisher and Sam Fisher were possibly his sons. There was also the family of Thomas Riley, a coal miner.
The main road (Newbold Road) now leads towards Barlow. To continue into Cutthorpe village one should turn left at Four Lane Ends crossroads into Cutthorpe Road.
Pictured on the left is Cutthorpe Road which in this area is lined to both sides by a variety of mainly detached houses that are thought to have been built no earlier than the 1920's.
Cutthorpe Common End is mentioned on some maps, and is the area around Abbey Farm and down Brockwell Lane, this is the first lane to the left when going
up the village from Four Lane Ends.Pictured here is Brockwell Lane with part of Abbey Farm buildings on the corner (this is no longer a working farm). Abbey Farm and Abbey Croft (which is a row of houses down Brockwell Lane) are thought to date from the 18th century, and it has been suggested that the name may be indication of a link with Beauchief Abbey, Sheffield - there is also an Abbeyhill Farm located between Cutthorpe and Barlow.
A family of Needhams lived at Abbey Farm during the 1900's, but on the 1901 census when the farm came within the census as part of Newbold, the occupant was Mr Ernest Frost a carter and farmer, born Staffordshire, and his wife. In the next house listed, at Common End, was Mr Edward Cocking a furnace weighman with his wife and family. Six more houses named as Cutthorpe Common End are on the Cutthorpe portion of this census. The inhabitants are named Lomas, Cocking, Reddish, Shawcroft, Rodgers and Keen. Most heads of households were working as coal miners except for Mr Rodgers who was a retired fitter mechanic.
Click here for information about Herbert Needham and family who used to live at Abbey Farm.
Roger Webb, who used to live in a cottage in Brockwell Lane during the second World War, remembers a sentry in this area: "at one time during the war, there was a sentry box and a pole across the road on the bend of Brockwell Lane. The sentry would stop everyone walking from Four Lane Ends and ask to see their identity card. This was at the time of the expected Nazi invasion. On one occasion, we were told to go home from school early. We had to run - in groups of three - from the school to the Peacock - then to the top of Green Lane - then to the Coronation Tree - then to the Cutthorpe Hotel - then to the Chapel and eventually I got home. This was because there has been several incidents involving German aircraft machine gunning civilians - mainly in cities. We thought it was terribly exciting!"
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