DISCOVER DERBYSHIRE

AND THE

PEAK DISTRICT

 STANTON-BY-BRIDGE

THE FEATURE

Stanton-By-Bridge is a quiet, retiring little village, apart from on the eastern side where the busy A514 disturbs the air of peace and tranquility. The road is particularly busy at weekends, when motor-racing is taking place at nearby Castle Donington and the roar of engines can be heard throughout Stanton if the wind is blowing in that direction.

A grass triangle of land at the junction of the main street with A514 is the site of an oak tree planted to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. From this point the road runs off to the west down the village’s main street, before narrowing considerably after passing Manor Farm on the edge of the village. Apart from local traffic the road is little used, and it is possible even on a sunny day to walk the half mile or so from one end of Stanton to the other without encountering pedestrians or moving vehicles.

The village street is composed of several old farmhouses that have been converted into private dwellings and a mixture of old and new properties. Hollies Farm is quite imposing, standing on a slightly elevated site, behind a small triangular green, from where a lane leads off to join the road to Ticknall.

There is no shop or pub in the village to disturb the peace, but it has not always been so quiet. Cock fighting – after Sunday worship - and quarterly horse-racing once took place in the village. Nowadays walking and sailing seem to be the main recreational activities. There are many excellent walks available in the area around Stanton, Ticknall, Melbourne, Ingleby and Repton. On the northern side of the village, on what was once a gravel extraction site, Swarkestone Sailing Club is situated.

St Michael’s Church at the west end of the main street is quite compact and was described by Pevsner as “small and low”. It incorporates structural evidence dating back to the Anglo Saxons and has a fine Norman doorway on the south side. The former Rectory is a rather grand property with a far more impressive entry than the church. Girls from the Women’s Land Army were billeted there during the Second World War.

Across the road, Sir George Crewe, in about 1840, gave a plot of land to the village, for a school to be built on part of the manor house site. This was extended in 1876 to accommodate children from Swarkestone, and an extra classroom was added in 1913 for the infants. Falling numbers led to the school closing in 1951. Three years later, the school buildings were purchased and refurbished by the villagers and opened as the village hall. The Duke of Devonshire performed the opening ceremony only two weeks after a village fete had raised enough money to clear the total amount owing for the hall.

Stanton is a common place name; there are over 20 Stantons in the country, several of which are in Derbyshire. In order to distinguish the village from others of the same name, over the centuries it has been known as Stanton Juxta Pontem, Stanton at Swarston Bridge, and nowadays as Stanton-by-Bridge.

The present name seems to be fully justified as travellers passing through the village, who see only the east-end, are much more likely to remember Swarkestone Bridge and Causeway. In any event the bridge and causeway seem somewhat misnamed, because the boundary with Swarkestone is mid-stream at the river bridge. This means that only part of the bridge and none of the causeway is in Swarkestone.

A Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building, the bridge and the causeway are reputedly the longest piece of mediaeval bridgework still in use in the country. Together the bridge and causeway stretches for about three quarters of a mile above flat meadowland, which is prone to flooding. The gritstone used in construction was probably quarried in Stanton parish.

There has been a bridge here for 800 years, and at one time a bridge chapel and toll house stood partway across the bridge. From early days the bridge and causeway provided an important route south from Derby. At the southern end of the causeway the road turned east along what is now Ward’s Lane to King’s Newton, leaving the village of Stanton on higher ground to the west.

According to local legend, the building of Swarkestone Bridge in the 13th century is attributable to two sisters who saw their lovers drowned trying to cross the River Trent on horseback. They crossed the flooded meadows safely, but then either missed the ford altogether, or were swept off by the strong current. The horrified sisters saw all this happen through a hall window and vowed to ensure no else met the same fate. They spent the rest of their lives building the bridge and died penniless as a result.

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