Repton and its neighbourhood

by F. C. Hipkins

TUTBURY.

Sir Oswald Mosley, in his History of the Castle, Priory, and Town of Tutbury, suggests that the name is derived from Tuisco, a Saxon idol. At the Norman Conquest the town and castle were granted to Hugh de Abrincis, who held them for a time till he acquired the estates, &c., of the Earls of Chester, when the King conferred Tutbury on Henry de Ferrariis or Ferrers, who was one of the commissioners appointed to make the Domesday Survey. He rebuilt and extended the Castle, and founded the Priory.

His descendant, Robert de Ferrers, joined Leicester in a rebellion against King Henry III., which ended in Robert being fined £50,000. Unable to pay so large a sum, he forfeited his estates to the King, who granted them to his son Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster. Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, was attainted and beheaded after the battle at Boroughbridge, A.D. 1322. Tutbury Castle fell into a state of ruin, and remained so till John of Gaunt, 4th son of Edward III., rebuilt it. The only parts of this castle now remaining, are the gateway, and the apartments on the north side which were occupied by Mary, Queen of Scots, from January to December, 1585. Her son, James I., often visited the Castle, “not,” as Sir Oswald writes, “to indulge melancholy reflections, but to gratify an occasional delight which he took in the diversion of hunting. His feelings were not much affected when he surveyed the late abode of his unfortunate mother, for extreme sensibility was not one of his foibles.”

King Charles I. also paid several visits to it, and in 1642 the Castle was garrisoned for him, and placed under the command of Lord Loughborough. After many privations, the garrison, at last, yielded up the Castle on April 20th, 1646. By a vote on the 19th of July, 1647, the House of Commons ordered that “it should forthwith be rendered untenable.” Its walls enclose a space of about three acres. On the elevated mound, at its west side, the Julius Tower used to stand, now its site is occupied by an artificial ruin. A deep moat or foss surrounds three sides. Within the walls was a chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, the site of which cannot now be found.

The Priory of Tutbury was founded by Henry de Ferrers, A.D. 1080, and occupied the north side of the present church, which belonged to it. On the 14th of September, 1538, it was surrendered into the hands of King Henry VIII., when its revenue was valued at £242. 15s. 3d. All the Priory buildings were pulled down, with the exception of the magnificent Norman nave and west end doorway of the Priory church, which now form the present parish church.

The town is situated on the west bank of the river Dove, which used to drive several corn and cotton spinning mills.

To John of Gaunt, Tutbury owed two of its ancient institutions, viz.:—The Minstrel’s Court and Bull Baiting. The Minstrel’s Court was held every year on the day after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, being the 16th of August, to elect a king of the minstrels, to try those who had been guilty of misdemeanours during the year, and grant licences for the coming year. Various, very curious customs were observed, which will be found in “The Book of Days,” Vol. II., p. 224. The old horn, bearing the arms of John of Gaunt, impaled with Ferrers arms, on a girdle of black silk, adorned with buckles of silver, is now in the possession of the Bagshawes of Ford Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith.

The Bull Baiting is supposed to have been introduced, in imitation of the Spanish bull-fights, by John of Gaunt, who assumed the title of King of Castile and Leon, in right of his wife. A bull was granted by the Prior of Tutbury, the poor beast’s horns were sawn off, his ears and tail cut off, and his nose filled with pepper. Then the minstrels rushed after the maddened beast, and if they could cut off a portion of hair or skin before it crossed the river Dove, it belonged to the Minstrels, if it escaped it was returned to the Prior. The proceedings led to very great rows, and many returned home with broken heads, &c. In 1778 the Duke of Devonshire abolished the whole proceedings.

Plate 20.