Under all kinds of Crops. 1S73 498,674 1876 502,791 - - Grass under Corn Crops. Green Crops. ,-otation. 74,940 20,896 35,967 68,933 21,837 36,259 In 1876 wheat and oats constituted each one-third of the corn crops, and barley a fourth ; turnips formed one-half of the green crops. Horses. Cattle. Sheep. Pigs. 1873 . 18,004 136,939 263,429 40,078 1876 20,618 134,891 242,732 38,361 A marked feature of the upland districts is the total absence of hedges, and the substitution of limestone walls, put together without any mortar or cement. The county possesses a nourishing agricultural society, which holds a show of cattle and other live stock annually.
In respect of the ownership of the land, Derbyshire in 1873 was divided among 19,866 separate proprietors, whose gross estimated rental amounted to .1,764,689. The average size of each property in that year was 31 acres, while that of all England was 34 acres ; find the average value per acre was 2, 16s. 10d., that of all England being 3, Os. 2d. There were 12,874 owners holding less than one acre of land, equal to 65 per cent, of the total number of proprietors, or about 6 per cent, fewer than the average of small owners in all England. Eight proprietors held more than 6000 acres each, viz. duke of Devonshire (Chatsworth), 83,829 acres; duke of Rutland (Haddon Hall), 26,973 ; Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart. (Calke Abbey), 12,923; Lord Scarsdale (Kedleston), 9166; Lord Howard (Glossop Hall), 9108 ; duke of Portland, 7740 ; T. W. Evans (Allestree), 6799; Lord Vernon(Sudbury Hall) 6154.
Manufactures.—These are both numerous and important, embracing silks, cotton hosiery, iron, woollen manufacures, lace, elastic web, and brewing, for which see BURTON. For many of these this county has long been famous, especially silk, which is carried on to a large extent in Derby, as well as in Belper and Duffield, where the first silk mill in England was set up by a mechanic, John Lombe, who introduced it from Italy. Cotton was also at one time an important industry, but has in great measure passed into the county of Lancashire. It was introduced here by the celebrated Sir Richard Arkwright in 1771. Hosiery also was much in vogue, and obtained great celebrity from the invention of Mr Strutt, by which " ribbed " stockings could be made the Derby " rib " having been long the familiar designation of the article produced by Strutt s in vention. There are numerous iron foundries, machine and iron-bridge works, &c., in Derbyshire, those in the county town alone employing a great many hands. Silk-throwing is a principal industry of Derby, which in ordinary times gives employment to 3000 or 4000 persons, chiefly females. Elastic web weaving by power looms is carried on to a great extent, and the manufacture of lace and net curtains, gimp trimmings, braids, and cords. In the county town and neighbourhood are several important chemical and colour-works ; and in various parts of the county, as at Belper, Cromford, Matlock, Tutbury, &c., are extensive cotton-spinning mills, as well as hosiery and tape manufactories.
Ecclesiastical Buildings.—Derbyshire is distinguished for numerous old and interesting churches. The prevailing style of the churches is the Norman, and next to that the Early English, the style which immediately succeeded it. Steetly Chapelry, near Whitwell, on the east side of the county, is Norman ; and of this church Mr C. Cox, in his work on Derbyshire churches, says that it is " the most complete and beautiful specimen of Norman work, on a small scale, that can be met with anywhere in this country or in Normandy." It was probably -built during the reign of Stephen, 1135-54.
The antiquities of Derbyshire are of considerable interest. One of the more noteworthy is a causeway, or Roman paved road, called Bathgate, running seven miles from Buxton to a small village called Brough, which road from its name seems to indicate that the Buxton waters were known to the ancients. Rocking-stones exist near Rowter and at other places ; Druidical remains, in the form of a Druidical temple, on Stanton moor, with a large number of associated objects which seem to justify the assumption that it has been inhabited by Druids, On Hartle moor, at Arbelow, is another Druidical temple, with its barrows and tumuli; there are others on the moor near Eyam, and near Edale. Barrows are found at Arbelow, Brassington, on the moor near Eyam, and at Tissington. At Taddington is one of the most perfect examples now existing. Roman stations are to be found near Buxton, at Little Chester (which is the old Roman town Derventio), and at Mam-Tor, near Castleton, where there is also an encamp ment. At Repton, in 660, "there was a noble monas tery of religious, of both sexes, under an abbess, after the old Saxon fashion, wherein several of the royal line were buried." This was afterwards destroyed by the Danes, when Maud, widow of Ranulph, second earl of Chester, built a priory for Black Canons in 1 172. Here the Mercian kings who resided at Tamworth were buried. At Melbourne is a castle which was a royal demesne at the Conquest, and where John, duke of Bourbon, taken at the battle of Agincourt, was kept nine years in the custody of Nicholas Montgomery the younger.
Derby, the county town of Derbyshire, is a corporate and borough town, sending two representatives to Parlia ment, and consisting of five parishes. It is situated chiefly on the western bank of the river Derwent, upon ground of varying heights, and is surrounded with gentle eminences, from which flow the Markeaton and other brooks. It occupies a position almost in the centre of England, 127 miles N.W. of London.
[ Seal and arms of Derby ]
Derby possesses several large public buildings, including the town hall, a spacious range of buildings recently erected for the postal and telegraph departments and the inland revenue offices, the county gaol, a new ma sonic hall, All Saints Church, the tower of which (174 feet high) is considered one of the finest in the midland counties, and a Roman Catholic church (cue of the best examples of Pugin). The Derby grammar school, an ancient founda tion which occupies St Helen s House (once the town residence of the Strutt family), has lately had class-rooms added to it, erected by public subscription as a memorial of the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales. There are flourishing schools of art and science, a large and commodious infirmary for town and county, an arboretum of 17 acres, given to the town in 1840 by the late Joseph Strutt, Esq., a market square, a market hall, and water-works erected at a cost of 40,000, and since greatly extended. A recreation ground, free public swimming baths, a free library, and museum buildings have all been presented to the town by Mr M. T. Bass. Since about 1850 Derby has been greatly improved and extended, owing chiefly to the impulse given by the establishment of the head offices and principal workshops of the Midland Railway Company, and will be still further improved by the construction now in process of a branch of the Great Northern Railway, which passes through the town over a long series of arches.
