Woodville, Derbyshire
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Woodville is a village and civil parish just outside Swadlincote in South Derbyshire, England. The centre of the village, known as the Tollgate, is a busy traffic island on the A511.
History
Formerly known as Wooden Box, named after the wooden toll booth on the toll road between Ashby de la Zouch and Burton-upon-Trent. The area around the roundabout, which is the modern equivalent of the toll booth, is still known as 'Tollgate'. The name Woodville first appeared in a leaflet issued when the foundation stone of the Church of England parish church of Saint Stephen was laid on 7 November 1845.[2] St. Stephen's is a Norman revival building designed by H.I. Stevens and completed in 1846.[3]
The Woodville area is rich in industrial heritage with a wide variety of industries such as potteries, crate-making, pipe works, breweries, rope-making and railways all having had a presence in the area which is now either totally gone or extremely diminished.[4]
One of the most famous Woodville potteries was Bretby Art Pottery founded in 1882 by Henry Tooth and William Ault.
Local Geography
On some approaches it is difficult to tell where the village starts and ends as it is well incorporated into the urban sprawl of the surrounding towns and villages, including Midway and Swadlincote.
On the northern edge of Woodville is the Goseley Estate, which was constructed during the 1950s. There has been much development of the surrounding area with large private estates of new homes having been constructed.
To the south of Woodville, along the county border with Leicestershire, a large community of new houses is being developed (unofficially referred to as Woodville Woodlands) by the developers Bloor Homes[5] and Bryant Homes.[6] This development is built on the land of the former Woodville Pipe Works and incorporates the planting of new trees on the former fire clay pit as part of the National Forest scheme.[7]
The Mount Pleasant works operated by John Knowles & Company, demolished in 1993, produced pottery and has been replaced by a housing development. A discovery by archaeologists led to the preservation of some of its records.[8]
Amenities
Woodville High Street (which is part of the A511 road) has a small shopping area incorporating a convenience store, a pharmacy and a fish and chip shop. Also located on the High Street side of the road are additional food outlets, including a Chinese takeaway, a further fish and chip shop, and Indian and Chinese restaurants.
There is a village post office together with further shops and light industrial and commercial units.
Woodville has a 24 hour petrol station, incorporating a convenience store, and a tyre and exhaust centre which is located on the Tollgate roundabout.
Woodville has a Scout Group.[9]
Woodville has an Infant school and a Church of England Junior School.[10] Both schools are off the High Street.
Woodville Rangers Football Club was founded in 2005 and caters for all age groups from four to adult. Their nickname is The Tollers after the famous toll gate which was situated in Woodville for many years. The club badge shows the toll house.
Woodville Rangers gained FA Charter Standard status early in 2008.[11]
Notable residents
- John Hurt, the actor, lived in Woodville from the ages of five to thirteen. His father was the vicar of St. Stephen's parish church.
References
- ^ "Area selected: South Derbyshire (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ A Brief History of Knowles [John Knowles & Co (Wooden Box) Ltd], no date, page 3
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth (1978) [1953]. Derbyshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 361. ISBN 0 14 071008 6.
- ^ Local Heritage Initiative Website
- ^ Bloor Homes development
- ^ Bryant Homes: The Coppice
- ^ The National Forest
- ^ Archaeological report
- ^ Woodville Scouts
- ^ Woodville Junior School
- ^ Woodville Rangers F.C.
External links
Media related to Woodville, Derbyshire at Wikimedia Commons