DOVERIDGE is a small village and parish, in the, hundred of Appletree, 17 miles. W. from Derby, and about 2 S. E. from Uttoxeter (Stafrordshire), which is the nearest post town. Doveridge Hall, the seat of Lord Waterpark, is a modern and handsome building, pleasantly situate on an eminence, commanding a view of the town of Uttoxeter, the river Dove, and of the hills which terminate the prospect of the valley. The church, which is dedicated to St. Cuthbert, is a small edifice, chiefly in the early style of English architecture: the living is a vicarage, in the incumbency of the Rev. Henry Stokes. The parish contaned, in 1821, 843 inhabitants, and in 1831, 792, being fewer by eight than was returned at the census taken in 1811.

SOMERSALL is a small village, in the parish of Somersall- Herbert, in the same hundred as Doveridge, and adjoining thereto. It contains a small ancient church, dedicated to St. Peter: the living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Earl of Chesterfield. The inhabitants of this parish and that of Doveridge, are chiefly employed in agriculture, the number in Somersall-Herbert in 1831, was 117, being an increase, in thirty years, of twenty-nine persons.

SUDBURY is a parish, containing a small and neat village, in the same hundred as the preceeding parishes; the village being situate 13 miles W. by S. from Derby, and 4 E. by S. from Doveridge. To the north-east of the village is Sudbury hall and park, the fine seat of Lord Vernon. The church, which is very old, stands in the garden near the hall, and being covered with ivy, presents a picturesque ornament in the scenery around it.

In this humble fabric, the ancestors of the Vernons, for more than two centuries, have been interred, and several monuments to their memory impart no slight degree of interest to its interior - one especially, to the memory of Catherine, daughter of the late Lord Vernon, will claim attention, from the beautiful and truly poetical lines inscribed upon it. The living of Sudbury is a rectory, in the gift of Lord Vernon, who is a munificent patron of the parish, and has rebuilt a school-house, in which twenty-four poor boys are educated and clothed, besides receiving instruction in the trade of a tailor or shoemaker, at his lordship's sole expense. Lady Vernon has also erected a commodious and handsome school-house for the instruction of girls in the common branches of female education, and in the art of plaiting straw for making bonnets; the children are likewise clothed chiefly at the expense of her ladyship and Mrs. Anson; several other benevolent ladies taking an active part in the superintendence of the establishment.

The parish contained, at the last census, 642 inhabitants.

POST:- Letters arrive from and are despatched to UTTOXETER (by foot post) every afternoon.

Description(s) from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835.
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie in May 1996.