Ockbrook - Part 5
- The Houses On The Hill
w/e 25 April
2004
We retrace our
steps back to The Settlement in this part of our exploration
of Ockbrook but first a picture from were we left off in Part 4.
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Directly opposite
the Royal Oak on Green Lane is a seventeenth century building
that was also a public house called the Prince of Wales. Standing
end on to the road it occupies a plot of land that once would
have belonged to one farmer in the mediaeval open field system.
More recently it has been called Stratford House but to imagine
its appearance in those earlier days, we would have to strip
away all the modern day paraphernalia such as telegraph poles,
overhead lines, lighting columns, television aerials, tarmac
roads , motor vehicles and, of course, even the trees and hedgerows
would be different. Heading back up Green Lane, a right turn
by the Cross Keys leads us back into The Settlement where a narrow
path on the left reveals a row of dwellings known collectively
as "The Houses on the Hill".
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These were the
first houses to be built on The Settlement, the one in the centre
of this picture, Hillside, dating from 1752. In order to develop
his hosiery business, John Howe moved from Nottingham and occupied
his new house in May of that year but his stay was very brief
as he died later that same month. Another businessman George
Wallis, later rented the house and after his passing in 1800,
the Girls' Boarding School moved in until their own premises
across the road were completed three years later. Ten years later
it was the turn of the Boys' Boarding School to occupy the house
and they stayed there until 1822. Another occupant of note was
Br. Ignatius Montgomery a former Minister of the Moravian Church.
Ignatius, who is buried in the Burial Ground behind the church,
was the brother of James Montgomery a hymn writer whose best known
work is probably "Angels from the realms of glory".
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Next to Hillside is Highfields
but this house was not built until nearly three-quarters of a
century later in 1826. It was built to house the Provincial Offices
of the Moravian Church in England which it did for the next fifty
years when expansion required that the responsibilities were
transferred to London.
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This property, No. 33, was built
at the same time as Hillside in 1752; Highfields filled the gap
between them. The plaque above the door reads "Joseph and
Mary Horsley 1752. Bless our going out O God, when we come in
also bless us. Amen". There is a very interesting story
about a later occupant of this house. After twenty years as missionaries
in Jamaica, Br. Jacob Planta, a Swedish surgeon and apothecary,
and his wife created a shop for his medicines after their return
to Ockbrook in 1780. They moved into this house in 1784 but three
years earlier, Br. Planta had inoculated two girls and two Single
Sisters following an outbreak of smallpox. Later outbreaks of
the disease resulted in no deaths among the congregation of the
Moravian Settlement. History now credits Edward Jenner with the
discovery of vaccination against smallpox fifteen years later
in 1896. The Planta's graves can be found in the Burial Ground
in Ockbrook.
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Between Nos. 33 and 35 is the
site of one of the many wells that were dug on The Settlement.
Being dug near the top of the hill, the search for water was
often difficult. Those that found it at a depth of 9 yards (approx
8m) were very fortunate as many wells were two or three times
that depth.
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Beyond the well is No. 35 which
like No. 33 was built for Joseph Horsely and his wife and later
taken over by the Plantas after being used as a school between
1778 and 1784. In 1992 the semi-derelict cottage was completely
renovated and together with Nos. 29 and 33 remains a tenanted
property of the estate.
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