Repton and its neighbourhood

by F. C. Hipkins

MICKLE-OVER, FINDERNE AND POTLAC OR POTLOCK.

The manor Mickle-Over with the three chapelries of Finderne, Little-Over, and Potlac, was granted by William the Conqueror to Burton Abbey, and it remained with it till the dissolution of Monasteries, when Henry VIII. granted the manor to his secretary, Sir William Paget. Thomas, Lord Paget, sold the manor to the famous Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Gresham, whose widow married again, and left the property to Sir William Reade, her son by her second husband. Sir William Reade’s daughter and heiress married Sir Michael Stanhope, and had three daughters, co-heiresses, between whom the estates were divided. In 1648, Edward Wilmot bought two shares, viz., Little-Over and Finderne, which were again sold by Sir Robert Wilmot to Edward Sacheverell Pole in 1801. The remaining share, Mickle-Over, was sold to Sir John Curzon in 1648, from the Curzons Mr. Newton bought it in 1789. An ancestor of Mr. Newton who died in 1619, had previously inherited the manor-house of Mickle-Over by marriage with the heiress of William Gilbert, to whom it had been sold by Sir Thomas Gresham. The house is now occupied by the tenant of the farm.

Little-Over is about two miles from Mickle-Over, and used to be the seat of the Harpur family, Chief Justice Sir Richard Harpur built the manor-house, in which the family lived till the days of John Harpur, who died in 1754, when the property passed to the Heathcotes. In the church is a costly monument to Sir Richard Harpur, son of the Chief Justice, and his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Reresby. The church consists of nave, chancel, north aisles, and bell turret on the west gable. The blocked-up Norman doorway in the west end is the only relic of ancient days.

Finderne is a small village, about two miles from Repton. It had a very interesting old chapel, dating back to its Norman days, but in the year 1862 it was completely destroyed. It must have been like the chapel at Little-Over. The present church consists of nave, chancel, and tower, with a spire at the west end. The only relic of the Norman church are the tympanum of the old south door, carved in chequered pattern, with a cross formée in the centre, and a recessed founder’s arch in the north wall of the chancel, which contains a much mutilated effigy of a priest.

The most valued possession of the church is a small chalice and cover, considered to be the oldest piece of church plate in the county. The Hall-mark shows it to be of the year 1564-5.

The Vicar of Finderne, the Rev. B. W. Spilsbury, has in his possession a very curious and rare relic of mediæval times. It is a small sculptured block of alabaster, 8¾ inches by 7 inches, and 1½ inches thick. There is a beautifully drawn and painted copy of it in Vol. VIII. of the Derbyshire Archæological Journal, by Mr. George Bailey, also an article on it by the Rev. J. Charles Cox.

A little above the centre, resting on a dish, is a head, below it is a lamb lying on a missal or book. On the right side is a bare-headed, full length figure of St. Peter, holding a key in his right hand, and a book in his left. On the left side is a similar figure of an archbishop, with a mitre on his head, a book in his right hand, and a cross-staff in his left. The back ground, i.e. the surface of the block, is painted a dark olive green. The head, dish and robes an orange brown. The hair, rim of the dish, and edges of the robes, books, key, and cross-staff are gilded. The lining of St. Peter’s robe is red, that of the archbishop is blue. The head and dish occupy three quarters of the space. Dr. Cox enumerates ten similar pieces of sculpture, all of which have figures of St. Peter on the right side, and all, except one which bears a figure of St. Paul, have a mitred archbishop on the left, which is supposed to represent either St. Augustine, or St. Thomas of Canterbury. The chief differences are in the figures above and below the central head and dish. There is a cut on the forehead over the left eye. Several suggestions have been made respecting the head. It has been said to represent (1) The head of St. John the Baptist, (2) The Vernicle, (3) The image of our Lord’s face, given to King Abgarus, and (4) The First Person of the Holy Trinity. Which of these is right is a matter for discussion, but “the block, no doubt, has reference to the presence of our Lord in the Sacrament.”

At the back there are two holes, into which pegs could be inserted, for the purpose or fixing it above an altar, on a reredos or otherwise, in oratories or chantries. All the examples known were made about the same date, at the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century.

The Vicar of Finderne also has an old deed, dated 1574, which sets forth that, in that year, Sir Thomas Gresham sold his property at Finderne, with manorial rights, to twelve men whose names are given. He had 1272 acres in Finderne, and 378 at Potlock.

Potlac or Potlock was the seat of the old family of Finderns, who for nine generations lived here (as tenants under the Abbots of Burton), from the reign of Edward III. to Elizabeth, when Thomas Finderne died, in 1558, leaving all his estates, here and elsewhere, to his sister Jane, who married Sir Richard Harpur, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, ancestor of Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe, Bart., of Calke Abbey.

The ancient manor-house, and chapel, dedicated to St. Leonard, have disappeared. A farmhouse occupies the site of the former, and only a few cedar trees and Scotch firs remain near the house to connect it with the past.