Horninglow: Introduction

Introduction

Lying on the west side of Burton, Horninglow stretched from an arm of the river Trent, where there was an early settlement at Wetmore, westwards across an expanse of moorland and then up rising ground covered in the Middle Ages by woodland called the Outwood. Horninglow village itself stands on rising ground in the north of the township along the Burton- Tutbury road. The township was drawn into Burton from the mid 19th century, and its south-eastern part became an area of working-class housing. There was continued housing development around Horninglow village in the 20th century.

Formerly a township in Burton ancient parish, Horninglow was later a civil parish covering 2,198 a. (889.5 ha.). (fn. 12) The south-western boundary ran along Shobnall brook, probably the stream recorded in the bounds of the Wetmore estate in 1012; (fn. 13) the other boundaries ran across open ground.

The township had detached portions in Burton township, lying in scattered parcels in Burton meadow and in a block in Moor Mill Dam meadow on the east side of Derby Street, and there was a detached portion of Burton Extra within the township in the Victoria Street area. (fn. 14) In 1853 the south-eastern part of the township, covering 276 a., was taken into Burton borough, as was a further 840 a., including Horninglow village, when the borough was enlarged in 1878. (fn. 15) What remained of the original township (later

FIG. 59. Horninglow township and village becoming Outwoods civil parish) (fn. 1) was in Tutbury rural district until the creation of the East Staffordshire district in 1974.

In 1886 the detached portions of Horninglow were transferred to Burton civil parish and that of Burton Extra to Horninglow civil parish. (fn. 2) The 1,045 a. (423 ha.). of Horninglow civil parish which lay outside the borough was renamed Outwoods in 1894. (fn. 3) A boundary change in 1985 transferred land on the west side of Outwoods Lane to Anslow and on the east side of Rolleston Road to Stretton, so reducing the area of Outwoods civil parish to its present 966 a. (391 ha.). (fn. 4) This article treats the former township, except for the 19th- and 20th-century development of the area added to Burton in 1853. (fn. 5)

The underlying rock is mudstone, overlain with boulder clay and, east of the village, some glacial gravel. The soil is a slowly permeable fine loam. (fn. 1a) There was formerly a gypsum deposit. (fn. 2a) The land lies at its lowest, 142 ft. (43 m.), beside the river at Wetmore. To the west it rises gradually and then more sharply beyond the Trent and Mersey canal: Horninglow village stands on the 200 ft. (61 m.) contour. Beam hill to the north-west rises to 269 ft. (82 m.) and Henhurst wood in the south-west to 311 ft. (95 m.).

POPULATION

Ten people were assessed for tax in 1327. (fn. 3a) The adult population listed in an Easter Book probably of the 1550s was 115, of whom 29 lived at Wetmore. (fn. 4a) In 1660 ninety-three adults were assessed for poll tax, and in 1665 twenty-six households were assessed for hearth tax, with a further ten households too poor to pay. (fn. 5a) The population was 272 in 1801, rising steadily to 391 by 1831 and then more sharply to 852 by 1841. Those figures, however, include people in the developing area along Horninglow Road added to Burton borough in 1853 and inmates in Burton Union workhouse. The non-borough part of the township had a population of 544 in 1851 and 655 in 1861. (fn. 6) By 1871 it had increased more sharply to 1,053, as the village expanded; the population was 1,339 in 1881 and 2,587 in 1891. (fn. 7) From 1901 onwards it is possible to give figures only for the population of Outwoods civil parish. It was then 924, falling to 862 by 1911 but rising to 1,013 by 1921 and 1,140 by 1931. It was 2,286 in 1951, 2,274 in 1961, and 2,293 in 1971, but then fell to 2,127 in 1981, and 1,830 in 1991. (fn. 8)

COMMUNICATIONS

Main Roads The Roman Ryknild Street ran through the eastern part of the township, along the line of the present Derby Street and Derby Road. (fn. 9) The Burton- Tutbury road ran north-west through the township; it was turnpiked in 1753, and by 1757 there was a tollgate with a house on the east side of Horninglow village. (fn. 10) By 1852 there was also a tollgate near the canal, but it was removed when that part of Horninglow was added to Burton in 1853. (fn. 11)

Canal and Railways The Trent and Mersey canal, the Burton section of which was completed by 1770, runs through the township and formed the boundary of the extension of Burton borough in 1853. (fn. 12a)

The Birmingham-Derby railway line through the east side of Horninglow was opened in 1839. A station for Horninglow on the North Staffordshire Railway Co.'s branch line between Tutbury and Burton was opened in 1883 at the corner of Derby Road and Eton Road in 1883. It was closed in 1949. (fn. 13a)

SETTLEMENT

Wetmore The earliest recorded settlement in the township was at Wetmore beside the west arm of the river Trent. The name is derived from Old English words meaning 'a pool in a river-bend' (wiht, mere). (fn. 14a) The site was presumably occupied by 1012, when it had given its name to an estate that covered the area of the later township. (fn. 15a) Such a riparine position, however, was unsuitable for growth, (fn. 16) and possibly by 1086 and certainly by the early 12th century there was settlement at Horninglow to the west; the name is derived from Old English words meaning 'the people (dwelling at) the horn-shaped tumulus' (horning, hlaw). (fn. 17) Another tumulus on the Rolleston boundary, recorded in 1008 as 'Dottes hlawe' and named after a Scandinavian called Dot, possibly a Viking, (fn. 18) was probably associated with a post or pillar (Old English beam) used in pagan worship: Beam hill, recorded in the 13th century, lay north-west of Horninglow village where closes called Baymill survived in the later 18th century. (fn. 19)

Although Wetmore was still described as a vill in 1324, the estate was known as Horninglow by 1255, (fn. 20) and Wetmore was perhaps by then already being eclipsed by its sister settlement. In the later 18th century there were only a few houses at Wetmore apart from the main farmhouse, (fn. 21) which survives as Old Wetmore Farm, having been rebuilt in the 19th century. Wetmore Road was laid out in 1878 as an extension of Anderstaff Lane, in Burton, and a nonconformist chapel was opened towards its north end in 1886. (fn. 22) Myrtle Cottages in Wetmore Lane are dated 1902, and to the east a static caravan site called Riverside Park was opened c. 1960. (fn. 1b)

Horninglow Village Horninglow village in the later 18th century stood around a green, probably that recorded in the early 14th century, on the north side of the Tutbury road. (fn. 2b) The oldest surviving house there is probably Chestnuts Farm, rebuilt in the early 19th century. There were two inns by 1818. One was possibly on the site of the present Plough inn, so called by 1848, opposite Chestnuts Farm; the other was probably the present New inn, so called by 1834, further east towards the canal. The innkeeper at the New inn also kept a post office by 1851. (fn. 3b) The present Red Lion inn at the junction of Tutbury Road and Rolleston Road was first recorded as the Royal Oak in 1848. (fn. 4b) A National school was built on what survived of the green in 1846, by which date the village was beginning to expand south-eastwards along the present Horninglow Road North, evidently attracted by the development of Burton borough. By the late 1870s rows of cottages had been built along much of the main road down to the canal, and a board school was opened for the area in 1876. (fn. 5b)

Larger houses stand on the west side of Rolleston Road, the earliest being the Poplars, built by 1868 for John Hopkins (d. 1891), a local farmer and, with his brother-in-law William Hopkins, a major benefactor of St. John's church in Horninglow. (fn. 6a) The house is of red brick with heavy stone dressings in a debased Italianate style with some Greek details, and it has a Doric porch. Used as offices by Tutbury rural district council after the First World War, the house became a nursing home in 1992, when a large block for additional accommodation was built on the north side. (fn. 7a) The northern end of Rolleston Road was built up from the 1940s, with a council estate of the late 1940s to the west centred on St. Andrews Drive.

Houses in Field Lane and Kitling Greaves Lane on the west side of Tutbury Road date mostly from the 1930s and a private estate called Castle Park on the east side of the road dates from the 1950s.

Calais Road Area In the earlier 1880s land on the south side of Horninglow village owned by Wyggeston Hospital in Leicester was laid out as Wyggeston Street, Carlton Street, and Calais Street (later Road). (fn. 8a) A Methodist chapel was built at the south end of Carlton Street in 1898. (fn. 9a) Most of Calais Road took the line of Patch Lane, whose northern end was realigned to run up to Horninglow Road North on the west side of the village. The remaining stretch of Patch Lane was renamed Dover Road. Streets on the west side of Calais Road date mostly from the 1930s.

On the south side of Calais Road, Burton Union workhouse (the present Queen's hospital) was opened in 1884 in Belvedere Road (formerly Dallow Lane). (fn. 10a) Outwoods Street, running south from Belvedere Road to Shobnall Fields sports ground, had been built up by 1900: Bosbury House at its north end is dated 1899. (fn. 11a) Houses in Belvedere Road date mainly from 1900 to 1910. (fn. 12b) In the early 1920s Burton corporation built some of its first post-war council houses on the west side of Mona Road, running north off Belvedere Road, and by 1927 it had developed a large estate on the west side of Calais Road. (fn. 13b)

Balfour Street and Craven Street, off the south side of Horninglow Road North almost parallel with the east end of Wyggeston Street, were built for artisans by a private building company in 1900-1. (fn. 14b) The intervening land between Carlton Street and Craven Street was built up with council houses in the later 1920s, and council houses in Harper Avenue, running off the north side of Horninglow Road North, date from the mid 1930s.

Area East of Canal On the east side of the canal, streets running north off Thornley Street, in that part of Horninglow township not added to Burton borough in 1853, were being built up in the late 1870s and early 1880s, and a board school was opened for the area in Goodman Street in 1881. (fn. 15b) To the north, Eton Road was built up in the early 20th century: a house called Coronation Villa at the corner with Derby Road is dated 1902. Council houses towards the west end of the road date from the mid 1920s, and a large council estate centred on Shakespeare Road and Mansfield Crescent north-west of Eton Road dates from the mid 1950s.

Shobnall Road Area From the later 19th century houses were built in the road which runs along the township's southern boundary. The earliest were the terraced cottages on the north side of Shobnall Road and its western extension Forest Road. The Albion inn at the east end of Shobnall Road was opened as an hotel in the early 1880s. Built of red brick, it was a showpiece for the nearby Albion brewery, opened in 1875, and the interior is richly decorated with tiles and stained glass. The adjoining bowling green was in use by 1887. (fn. 1c) An Anglican church, nonconformist chapel, and board school were opened for the area in the late 1880s. (fn. 2c) Several larger houses near Henhurst Farm are dated 1889, and houses further west along the Henhurst Hill stretch of the road date from the 1940s and later. Reservoir Road, running north off Shobnall Road, was laid out as access to a reservoir opened in 1882, (fn. 3c) and houses there date from the 1940s. A small estate in Highcroft Drive, off the east side of Reservoir Road, was built in the 1980s. Further east a house called Oakhurst, built in the mid 1880s for Edward Grinling, became the Charlotte James nursing home in 1985, taking its name from the owners' two children. (fn. 4c)

Outwoods The western half of the township was an area of woodland called the Outwood in the Middle Ages. (fn. 5c) A family was living there in the 1730s, probably on the east side of the common. (fn. 6b) The site of house known as Outwood in 1853 and Lower Outwoods by 1882 (fn. 7b) was used in 1891 by Burton corporation for an isolation hospital which later became the Outwoods branch of the present Queen's hospital. (fn. 8b) The common land was inclosed in 1773 and was converted into farmland. (fn. 9b) Houses in Beamhill Road along the northern edge of the inclosed land date from the 1930s and later. There was a cottage at Henhurst at the southern edge of Outwood common by 1601, possibly on the site of what in the early 18th century was known as Henhurst House. (fn. 10b) The present Henhurst Farm on the site dates mainly from the early 19th century.

Services As in Burton, mains water was supplied by the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company. Houses in Outwoods civil parish were connected to Burton corporation sewers in the late 1930s. (fn. 11b)

SOCIAL LIFE

A village wake was held in 1753 and still in 1796, but the time of year is unknown. (fn. 12c) A cricket club was established in 1858. It still existed in 1864. (fn. 13c)

The 20-a. Outwoods recreation ground, on the west side of the canal near Outwoods Street, was opened by Burton corporation in 1883, (fn. 14c) and was approached from the Burton side of the canal by a bridge, paid for partly by the feoffees of the Burton town lands. (fn. 15c) The west end of the ground became detached when the A38 bypass was opened in the late 1960s. A further 46 a. to the south was opened in 1960 as a sports ground called Shobnall Fields, again at the expense of the feoffees of the Burton town lands. (fn. 16a) Another recreation ground was provided by the corporation in 1906 on the north side of Eton Road near the railway line (the present Princess Way). First known as Horninglow pleasure ground, it was called Eton community park by 1999. (fn. 1d) From 1957 Burton Albion football club has had a ground on the east side of the park. (fn. 2d)

The Loyal Bass Lodge of Oddfellows (Manchester Unity), formed in 1872, met at the New inn. It was amalgamated in 1988 with the newly-formed Trent Lodge in Burton. (fn. 3d)

Carver Road community centre off Wyggeston Road was opened in 1991. (fn. 4d)