Bretby

Infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption=The Church at Bretby
latitude = 52.804
longitude = -1.566
map_type = Derbyshire
official_name = Bretby
population =
shire_district = South Derbyshire
shire_county = Derbyshire
region = East Midlands
constituency_westminster =
post_town =BURTON ON TRENT
postcode_district = DE15
postcode_area =DE
dial_code =
os_grid_reference = SK293230

Bretby is a village in the south of Derbyshire, England, north of Swadlincote and east of Burton upon Trent, on the border between Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The name means "dwelling place of Britons". There is a secondary settlement known as Stanhope Bretby - this was the site of a colliery [http://www.derbyshireuk.net/bretby.html Bretby at DerbyshireUK] ] .

History

This manor ("Bretebi") was in the "Domesday Book" in 1086. Under the title of “The land of the King (in Derbyshire [The King had a number of manors in Derbyshire. Besides Bretby and Newton Solney he had a list that included Repton, Milton, Wirksworth, Weston-on-Trent, Walton-on-Trent and Ashbourne.] ” it said:

In Newton Solney and Bretby Ælfgar had seven of land to the . There is land for six ploughs. There the king has one plough and nineteen and one with five ploughs. There are 12 acres of meadow, woodland pasture two leagues long and three furlongs broad. TRETRE in Latin is Tempore Regis Edwardi. This means in the time of King Edward before the Battle of Hastings.] as now worth one hundred shillings"Domesday Book: A Complete Translation". London: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7 p.744] .

In 1209, Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester granted the manor of Bretby to Stephen de Segrave [In 1209. [http://www.south-derbys.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/0D71580C-B2E6-4A3E-8A86-3D99B467A7BE/0/BretbyA4complete.pdf PDF South Derbyshire site - Grant of Bretby] , p.1] who built a church and a mansion there. There was also Bretby Castle which was destroyed during the reign of King James I of England to make way for the construction of Bretby Hall.

In 1585, Thomas Stanhope bought the manor house which was known as Bretby Hall and from then on was the home of the Earls of Chesterfield.

Today

Today the village is centred by a village green. Overlooking the green is a residential house which records that it was called 'Bradby School' when it was built. A stone records "BRADBY SCHOOL/OPENED FOR THE ADMISSION OF SCHOLARS/OCTOBER 20th 1806."

The school building is a grade 2 listed building [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=2&id=82816 Images of England] ] .

Notable Residents

*Major General Frank Roberts DSO MM OBE died in Stanhope Bretby in 1982. He was awarded the VC medal in 1918 [ [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/derbyshi.htm Derbyshire ay VictoriaCross.org] ] .
*Actor, director and musician Paddy Considine had an apartment at Bretby Hall until 2007.

References