Ault Hucknall

The Shirebrook Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section and a Family History section.

The church burial ground is across the road from St. John's Church.

Neil THEASBY has a photograph of the Snowdrops and graves on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2014.

Ian S. has a photograph of the cemetery on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2016.

Jonathan CLITHEROE also has a photograph of the Cemetery on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2011.

• The parish was in the Shirebrook sub-district of the Mansfield Registration District.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.
   
• The church was built in the Norman period.
   
• The church contains the tomb of philosopher Thomas HOBBES, who died in December, 1679 at age 91.
   
• The church was repaired in 1850.
   
• The church was restored in 1887.
   
• The church seats 250.
   
• Alan WALKER has a photograph of St. John the Baptist Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2002.
   
• David HALLAM-JONES also has a photograph of St. John the Baptist Church on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2016.

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1660 for all entries.
   
• Marriages at Hault (Ault) Hucknall, 1660-1812 are available in Nigel BATTY-SMITH's database of scanned images of Phillimore's Parish Registers.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Chesterfield.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a small chapel here in 1835.

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   
• The parish was in the Shirebrook sub-district of the Mansfield Registration District.

"AULT-HUCKNALL, a parish in the hundred of Scarsdale, in the county of Derby, 6½ miles to the S.E. of Chesterfield, its post town, and 5½ N.W. of Mansfield. It is situated in a pleasant country, and contains the hamlets of Rowthorne, Stainsby, Hardwick, Harstoft, and Astwith. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, of the value of £168, in the gift of the Duke of Devonshire, who is lord of the manor. The church contains a monument to Anne, first Countess of Devonshire, who died in 1598, and also one in memory of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who died herein 1679."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin HINSON ©2003]

Locals boast that this is the smallest village in England - having three houses and a church. Neil THEASBY has a photograph of one of the houses on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2014.

Ashley DACE has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2011.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ann ANDREWS provides a transcription of the Ault Hucknall entry from Kelly's Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (1891).

• We have a transcription of the section for Ault Hucknall from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin HINSON.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Ault Hucknall to another place.

The English philosopher Sir Thomas HOBBES died in 1679 and is buried here inside the church. Trevor RICKARD provides a photograph of his grave on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2009.

• Mary, Queen of Scots, was kept as a prisoner here in Hardwick Hall from 1568 to 1584.
   
• The parish was devastated by the Black Death in 1666.
   
• In St. John's Church, in the Hardwick chapel, beneath a plain slab of ’black marble, is the tomb of the philosopher Thomas HOBBES, known as “Hobbes of Malmesbury,” born there 15 April 1588. He died in Hardwick Hall on 4 Dec. 1679.
   

Hardwick Hall was erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It had six towers, a statue of Mary Queen of Scots and another of Henry VIII.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK467652 (Lat/Lon: 53.181858, -1.302664), Ault Hucknall which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The Traces of War website shows us the parish has an Airborne Forces Memorial from World War II.
   
• And there is a War Memorial from World War I. Note: This is close to Stainsby and the hamlet of Doe Lea.
   
• On the 14th November, 1920, the memorial was unveiled by Maj William CAVENDISH, Marquess of Hartington.
   
• David DIXON has a photograph of that War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2016.
   
• David DIXON has a close-up shot of that War Memorial names on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2016.
   
• Alan WALKER has a photograph of a War Grave of A. WALKER on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2007.

For a photograph of the War Memorial and the list of names on it, see the Derbyshire War Memorials site.

These are the men who died in World War Two:

1. Sapper E. GARDENER
2. Srgt. G. H. HOLE
3. Gunner W. L. HOLE
4. Driver A. MAXEY
5. Lcpl. H. REDFERN
6. Pte. J. THOMAS
7. Lieut. F. H. WILD

• This place was an ancient parish in Derby county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• This parish was partly in the ancient Scarsdale Hundred (or Wapentake).
   
• Jon CANTRILL reports from the Derbyshire TImes of 26 March 1927 that: "Mr. S. THORNEYCROFT presided over the annual Parish Meeting of Ault Hucknall held in Stainsby Council Schools on Wednesday. There were also present Messrs. G. BUNTING, F. HAYWOOD, C. BROWN, J. MELLOWS, H. CLAYTON, J. H. WHOLEY, R. FLETCHER, J. WHITE, the Rev. G. CLEAVE and Mr. F. G. BANEFORD (clerk). It was decided to take matter up with Heath Parish Council regarding the bad state of the footpath from Stainsby to Doe Lea. The balance-sheets were then presented and the same were approved and adopted. The overseers, Messrs. Caleb BROWN and James MELLOWS, received the thanks of the meeting on their retiring, and it was decided to place on record the Council’s thanks for their past services. The question of a resident magistrate was again brought up, and it was unanimously decided to write to the Clerk of the County Council on the matter and forward the name of Mr. S. THORNEYCROFT, C.C., as a fit person for that position."
   
• District governance is provided by the Bolsover District Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Chesterfield petty session hearings.
   
• There is a list of over 40 Ault Hucknall Bastardy Paper held at the DRO on the Yesterdays Journey website. Select "Bastardy Papers" on the left side, then "Ault Hucknall" from the list of parishes displayed.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, this parish became part of the Mansfield Poor Law Union.

A Free School at Stainsby was founded in 1729 by Mister Thomas WHITE. That school closed before 1911.

An Education Committee of five members was formed in 1903 for Ault Hucknall, Glapwell and Heath.

Bramley Vale Primary School is in the north of this parish, just off the A617 near Doe Lea.

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