SPONDON, in the hundred of Appletree, is a parish which was formerly more extensive than now, the chapelries of Chaddesden, Lockhay, and Stanley having been some years since separated from it, and erected into distinct parishes. The village of Spondon, which is about three miles E.S.E. from Derby. is situate on a commanding eminence, overlooking the beautiful vale of Derwent, and is the residence of several highly respectable families.

Many of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of lace and net, chiefly for the Nottingham market. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is in the decorated style of English architecture; in the chancel are three stone stalls; it has lately undergone a thorough repair, and received an addition of nearly two hundred sittings: the living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the executors of the late H. D. Lowe, Esq. Here is a place of worship for Wesleyan methodists. The parish (including the chapelry of Stanley), contained, in 1821, 1,543 inhabitants, and in 1831, 1,867.

OCKBROOK is a parish, in the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch; the village is about two miles E. from Spondon, and about five E. by S. from Derby. This place partakes with Spondon in the manufacture of bobbin-net and lace. At a short distance from the village is an establishment of the Moravians, founded in 1750; the females, who are employed in fine muslin work, occupy a building, called the ‘sisters' house’, separated from that inhabited by the single men by a commodious chapel and a boarding-school. The parish church, dedicated to All saints, is chiefly in the Norman style of architecture. A place of worship for Wesleyan methodists, and a national school, the latter erected in 1816, are in the village. The parish (which has no dependent township), contained, in 1821, 1,203 inhabitants, and in 1831, 1,634.

BURROWASH is a hamlet, partly in the parish of Spondon, and partly in that of Ockbrook, situate on both sides of the road between Derby and Nottingham, about four miles and a half from the former, and eleven and a half from the latter town. Upwards of four hundred and fifty of the inhabitants are employed in the extensive lace-thread mills of Messrs. Towle, and many others in the manufacture of twist thread lace, which is also carried on here. From its thoroughfare situation, and the prosperity of its manufactures, this little place is fast emerging into consequence. The population is estimated at about 600 persons.

CHADDESDEN is a parish (having no dependent township), in the hundred of Appletree but locally situate in that of Morleston and Litchurch, two miles and a half east from Derby. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is of considerable antiquity, having a stone stall in its chancel; the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Sir Robert Wilmot. The Derby canal passes through the parish,- which contained, at the last census (1831), 469 inhabitants, for being fewer, by thirty-three, than were returned for it in 1801.

POST:- Receiving-house at the Noah's Ark, BURROWASH:- Letters arrive from and are despatched to DERBY and NOTTINGHAM daily.

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