Plate 17.
Barrow-on-Trent Church. ([Page 99.])
Swarkeston House. ([Page 101.])
On Thursday, July 24th, 1879, a memorial cross, in design like Queen Eleanor’s cross at Northampton, was unveiled. It bears the following inscription, written by the late Earl of Beaconsfield: “In memory of Edith Maud Countess of Loudoun in her own right, Baroness Botreux, Hungerford, De Moleyns and Hastings, who sprung from an illustrious ancestry herself possessed their noblest qualities, the people of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and the neighbourhood have raised this cross as a tribute of admiration and of love.” The cross was designed by the late Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., and executed by Messrs. Farmer and Brindley at a cost of £4,500.
BARROW, SWARKESTON, AND STANTON-BY-BRIDGE.
One of our pleasantest walks from Repton is to Barrow, down Brook End, up Monsel Lane, past the (Canons’) Meadow Farm, and, by a field path to the left, to the river Trent, over which there is a ferry, to Twyford village. After passing through Twyford, turn to the right along the road, or by a field path, and the picturesque old village of Barrow will soon be reached. Barrow, most probably, derived its name from a barrow within the parish, which parish includes the villages of Arleston, Sinfin, Stenson and Twyford. Of these villages little can be written, Arleston has some ancient buildings and ruins which belonged to the preceptory of the Knights Templars or Hospitallers. Sinfin is noted only for its moor, on which the Derby races were formerly run. In the year 1804, it was enclosed by Act of Parliament, and divided among the adjoining townships.
Stenson and Twyford were manors belonging to the Ferrars at the time of the Domesday Survey, later on they passed to the Curzons, Findernes, and Harpurs.
The church at Twyford, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a chapelry of, and held by, the Vicars of Barrow. A Norman arch divides the nave from the chancel, the rest of the church is of the Decorated period. It has a tower terminated by an octagonal spire. There are three bells, and a few mural monuments to the Harpur, Vernon, and Bristowe families.
Barrow-on-Trent, as it is usually called, dates back to Norman days, when it had a priest and a church. One portion of the manor formed part of the endowment of the bishopric of Carlisle, the other, and proper manor, including the church, belonged to the ancient family of Bakepuz, one of whom, Robert de Bakepuz, gave the church to the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Templars, or Hospitallers, who had a preceptory, as we have seen, at Arleston in the parish of Barrow. For a full and interesting account of the connection between Barrow and the Knights, see “Cox’s Churches of Derbyshire,” Vol. IV., pp. 11-19.