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VARIA.
GEOLOGICAL.
“In the park the Thurlbeck Dyke emerges from a narrow valley on to a (post glacial) flat covered with dark peaty clay containing numerous land and freshwater shells.” “The Village is on the Keuper Marl.”1
THE BARLOWS OF TOLLERTON.
When the Neales came from Ireland to Mansfield Woodhouse in the early 17th century, they brought in their train the family of Barlow, which followed their further fortunes and settled in Tollerton. From 1719 to 1765 the name of John Barlow, who acted as steward for Mr. John Neale, is frequently found in the list of Churchwardens. In certain notes of the date 1728 by the Revd. Benjamin Clay, a trustee of Mr. Neale’s estate, we read, “ . . . talk with John Barlow who had collected Mr. Neale’s rents there for some years before his death” (1692). “Mr. Neales Rentall Book being very imperfect and the Accounts sent me by John himself not without mistakes.”
THE WINDOW TAX.
The house known as Duke’s Cottage which retains its dummy window witnesses to the foolish Act of Parliament of 6 William III C. 38 (1695), which placed a tax on windows. This Act was put into operation in 1697, and repealed in 1851.
AN APPRENTICE.
On July 3rd, 1711, Edward, son of Henry Shipley of Lindley (Linby), Notts, labourer was apprenticed to Daniel Hooley of Tollerton, Notts., for seven years.2
A DEFAULTER.
1724.—Mr. Joseph Heawood was presented for not paying his town’s duties at Tollerton.
A DREAMER.
An old family paper preserved by the Bruere family relates that Elizabeth Neale (daughter of the Revd. Richard and Alice Neale) who was born in 1728, was told by her nurse to eat a hard-boiled egg with its weight of salt just before going to bed, and that then she would dream a dream indicating her future. She did so, and dreamt that a young man who came forward to salute her dropped his queue. A few days afterwards an officer of troops quartered on her family, by name Capt. George James Bruere, was introduced to her and dropped his queue. Eventually she married him, and shared his fortune as Governor of the Bermudas.
THEFTS.
1785.—Richard Bilby and George Woodward labourers were publicly whipt at Tollerton for stealing a strike of wheat belonging to Wm. Baldock.3
1786.—Peter Wothard a labourer, of Tollerton, was whipt in gaol for stealing a pound of sugar and a pound of stone blue.4
DYE POT HALL.
When Mr. Elliott who held the manor of Plumtree built the Hoe Hill farm house and buildings, the old squire of Tollerton was much incensed that his view was marred by the glaring new brick of the buildings. He contemptuously named the farm house Dye Pot Hall, in allusion to his neighbour’s trade, and proceeded to plant a screen of trees to hide the offending object from his gaze.
THE PARISH CLERKS.
In former days discipline in church was maintained by the parish clerk. John Duke tells us that in his young days “Bob” Chambers was armed with a long rod with which, as occasion required, he prodded the youths who were guilty of unseemly behaviour during the service.
No complete roll of the parish clerks is available; we have enumerated some in the role of school master. Among the rest we have John Duke, the recorder of so much that is interesting, who says that before his time the office was held by Wm. Porter, “previous to him Wm. Thurman, joiner, and before him Samuel Garton.” Richard Wilkinson parish clerk from 1728, or earlier, to August 1757, is among the older clerks whose names have come down to us.
POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS.
In John Duke’s Reminiscences is this interesting note about the old postal service:—“My father was the first postmaster at Tollerton, having been appointed in 1840. He held the office until his death in 1863. When I was a boy there was no delivery of letters at Tollerton, the postal arrangements came no nearer than Nottingham, and letters were called for there. The postage was often 6d. and upwards for a letter.” “When my father came to the Hall in 1810 he was first employed to take and bring letters to and from Nottingham daily, and my own occupation as a boy of 12 to 14 years of age was the same. The Post Office was then in Bridlesmith Gate, where Lloyds Bank now stands.”
THE IRISH HARVESTERS.
The custom of employing Irishmen in harvest, once general, is recalled by the field known as Irishman's Gate through which the strangers passed. During the rectorate of Mr. Ward the rectory barn was yearly used by these harvesters as a sleeping place during their sojourn in the village.
CHURCH MUSIC.
John Duke has some interesting notes upon the church services of his time. “In my young days (church music) was very different to what exists now. The Hymn Book used was a metrical version of the Psalms, old and new version. The parish clerk always gave out the hymn ‘Let us sing to the praise and glory of God the —Psalm, old version — , new version —,’ as the case might be.
There were no instruments. The pitch was obtained by an old pitch pipe which was made with a slide, so as to sound any note required. The tunes with their repeats and fugues would surprise people nowadays.”
Within a short time there came a great change in the conduct of the services, an orchestra being introduced; and Duke tells us who were the performers, and what were the instruments which were used:—“A. Force played the violin, John Duke the double-bass, Burton the flageolette, and Rector Ward’s footman the cornopian— the leader of the singing was George Duke.” The orchestra was not long-lived, and before Mr. Ward’s death had given place to a harmonium. The Church now possesses an organ of rare quality, the gift of Mr. William Elliott Burnside.
It would have seemed beyond belief by these musicians had they been told that their orchestra would some day be represented by an organ Blown by electric power.
A FARMER’S VOW.
At the time of the Crimean War Hodgkinson Morris, a farmer of Tollerton, had a fine stack of wheat which he vowed he would not sell under £5 a quarter. He refused an offer for it at a slightly lower price; and then the war ended, with a collapse in corn values. The farmer obstinately held back from threshing his stack. When at length it was threshed it was found that the grain had been consumed by rats.
A NOVEL FORM OF RENTAL.
John Duke records that when Mrs. Davies was lady of the manor she had a curious form of rental which was mixed with discipline. “The rents of the present block of houses at the town end, as it was called, were originally 1/- a week; but if any of the tenants or their families misconducted themselves Mrs. Davies raised the rent 6d. or 1/- a week. So some of the tenants 40 to 50 years ago were paying 1/- and others 2/- or more weekly for the same accommodation. The building at the east end of the houses was. originally a bakehouse.”
ST. PETER’S KEYS.
When Mr. Barry built the church tower he crowned the eight pinnacles with vanes made like the emblem of the patron Saint of the Church. These were removed, possibly as being dangerous, about the end of the nineteenth century.
THE PLAN OF THE VILLAGE
There is a very interesting indication of the original plan of the central portion of the village in the oldest estate plan which has survived. On the west side of the street there are strips of land opposite the cottages which were built on the east side. It is confirmatory of the claim that the area on the west of the street was the village green, that these strips are found in this position, and not at the rear of the houses.
CHANGES.
The year 1929 has seen the inauguration of a new era in the story of this place. Tollerton Hall, the old home of a family singularly proud of its ancestry, has become a luxurious sports club and hotel; electric power has been brought to the village, and the north-western portion of the parish adopted as the site of the Nottingham Municipal Aerodrome. The aerodrome was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham on Saturday, July 27th, when Sir Alan Cobham, a famous airman, made flights accompanied by some of the notable guests assembled for the ceremony.
In contrast to this change in the life of a secluded village we place the story of another, and very modern Tollerton. About a hundred miles west of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, there is a township, now deserted, bearing the name Tollerton. It was once a railway divisional point, but a change of administration has brought it low. Whether or no the township received its name from this Tollerton or from Tollerton in Yorkshire we cannot say; but we know that Alberta received as a colonist one of the sons of a former rector of the parish, and perhaps its name was given to immortalize this Midland village. Perhaps in changing times the Canadian township may revive, and this English village name be known of all men.
ADDENDUM.
An old village tradition says that the road from Tollerton to Plumtree used to pass through the Rectory gates, to the west of the barn, across the gardens of Rectory and Hall, issuing near the South Lodge. Some confirmation of this tradition was given by the discovery of road material and an Edward I silver penny on the line of this traditional road in the kitchen garden of the Rectory during gardening operations in 1918. There is no known record of the diversion of the road to its present course.
1. “Geology of Melton Mowbray and South Notts,” p. 88.
2. “Inland Rev. Reg. of Apprentices,” Inl. 1, vol., 41, fol. 95
3. “County Records.”
4. Ibid.