The Revolution-house at Whittington, Derbyshire.
The Revolution-house at Whittington, Derbyshire.
To eternize the delegated band,
That seal’d their great forefathers’ fields their own,
Rais’d ev’ry art that decks a smiling land,
And laws that guard the cottage as the throne.
Rev. P. Cunningham
This edifice obtained its name from the meeting of Thomas Osborne earl of Danby, and William Cavendish earl of Devonshire, with Mr. John D’Arcy, privately one morning, in 1688, upon Whittington Moor, as a middle place between Chatsworth, Kniveton, and Aston, their respective residences, to consult about the revolution, then in agitation.[390] A shower of rain happening to fall, they removed to the village for shelter, and finished their conversation at a public-house there, the sign of “The Cock and Pynot.”[391]
The part assigned to the earl of Danby was, to surprise York; in which he succeeded. After which, the earl of Devonshire was to take measures at Nottingham, where the declaration for a free parliament, which he, at the head of a number of gentlemen of Derbyshire, had signed Nov. 28, 1688,[392] was adopted by the nobility, gentry, and commonalty of the northern counties, there assembled.[393] To the concurrence of these patriots with the proceedings in favour of the prince of Orange in the west, the nation is indebted for the establishment of its rights and liberties.
The cottage here represented stands at the point where the road from Chesterfield divides into two branches, to Sheffield and Rotherham. The room where the noblemen sat is fifteen feet by twelve feet ten, and is to this day called “The Plotting Parlour.” The old armed-chair, still remaining in it, is shown by the landlord with particular satisfaction, as that in which it is said the earl of Devonshire sat; and he tells with equal pleasure, how it was visited by his descendants, and the descendants of his associates, in the year 1788. Some new rooms, for the better accommodation of customers, were added several years ago.
The duke of Leeds’ own account of his meeting the earl of Devonshire and Mr. John D’Arcy[394] at Whittington, in the county of Derby, A. D. 1688.