Ockbrook - Part 7
- Flood Street, The Ridings & Church Street
w/e 27 June
2004
For our final
part of this series, we resume on Flood Street near the Ockbrook Garden Shoppe where we left off in Part
6.
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Directly opposite
the shop is the former Boys' School which was built in 1848.
Replacing an earlier school that was situated in the adjacent
Bare Lane, the building is now put to good use as a playschool
for the village's younger children.
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Between the
old Boys' School building and Bare Lane is Ockbrook House. This
was added to in the middle of the nineteenth century and more
alterations were made in the twentieth century. The original
building, probably best seen in the inset, dates from about 1790
and despite the additions and alterations the graduated slate
roof is noted as a typical Georgian feature.
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To return to our starting place
near the White Swan, we now need to turn right into Bare lane
and right again into Church Lane but a short detour to the left
will take us into The Ridings to view three more old properties.
We'll start at the furthest one which is now number 84. Previously
this was the Lodge House to Hopwell Hall which lies a little
to the east (see map) and was the home of the Pares family.
You may remember a mention of Mr Pares who paid for a new village
hall in Part 1 of this series.
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Heading back towards Church
Street the next property of interest is number 70 The Ridings.
The middle part of this building is a timber framed farmhouse
standing on a stone plinth dating from the 1600s. Extensions
at each end were added in the eighteenth century.
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The third building worthy of
note in The Ridings is number 38. This too stands on a stone
plinth and has a steeply pitched corrugated iron roof covering
the remains of thatch. On one gable end (inset) a Guardian fire
insurance plaque can be seen but weathering has made it virtually
unreadable.
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And so back into Church Street
where we find this property called Ockbrook Lodge. Here are two
views of the building from each end and over the garden wall
between the porch and the small window in the image on the left
is an old pump. Beneath the ivy now growing over the pump it
is still possible to see the initials "RMD" dated 1775.
The initials referred to Robert and Mary Dowman; one of their
grandsons was the village vet and blacksmith in the 1820s. But
now in 2004, this image brings to an end the series on Ockbrook.
From here it is but a short walk back to where we started at
the White Swan Public House - perhaps a good spot to sit and
ponder where to go next. Join me again soon to find out.
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