Diary 2010 Saturday 14th August

Tea in the Garden at The

Quaker House, Barroon,

Castle Donington. 2.00—

4.30 p.m. £3 per head for tea

and cakes.

Friday 24th September

Cheese and Wine evening in

the Catholic Church, 7.30—

9.00p.m. £5

Tuesday 5th October

Quarterly Lunch at Doning-

ton Manor Hotel 12.30 for

1.00 p.m. £13

Saturday 9th to Sunday

17th October

Art Exhibition.

Saturdays 9.30—12.00,

Sundays 2.00—4.30 p.m.

Weekdays 6.00—8.30 p.m.

Friday 17th November

Slideshow, Streets of Castle

Donington. Catholic Church

7.30 p.m. £3

Weekend 20th and 21st

November

My Collection with Orchard

School. 10.00 a.m.—2.00

p.m each day. Stewarded by

the children.

Friday 3rd Saturday 4th

December. Santa’s Grotto at

the Stone House.

CASTLE DONINGTON MUSEUM TRUST

NEWSLETTER

Registered Charity 1058715. August 2010 No 64 Accredited Museum 2028

On Thursday evening, 15th July

2010, four volunteers from the mu-

seum (Jane Rennie, Karen Foster,

Sandy Scaife and Ann Cooper) at-

tended the Leicester, Leicestershire

and Rutland Heritage Awards, held

at Snibston Discovery Park.

For the last three people it was the first time to attend these awards. The mu-

seum had been so successful in the past

that we set off with a feeling of excite-

ment, but also trepidation. We had a

vision in our minds of all those awards

proudly displayed above the fireplace

in Reception, how would we feel if we

returned empty handed?

The evening began with a finger buffet

and drinks, during which time we had

the chance to chat with volunteers from

other museums. Then on to the awards

ceremony itself, held in a room espe-

cially set out for the occasion with

round tables, a star-spangled backdrop

to the stage and a large screen. Between

them eleven museums had submitted

sixteen entries for six awards.

This year the museum had submitted

just one entry in the “Best Project”

category

We had applied for and been granted an

Awards For All Grant which was used

to upgrade the working environment for

volunteers. The judges commented on

the improvements, including computer

work being moved from the “tiny

broom cupboard”, the refurbishment of

the upstairs room and an increase in

volunteers. We sat waiting anxiously

until the penultimate award was pre-

sented—Best Project. Along with our-

selves there were two other entrants,

Ashby de la Zouch for “Reminiscenc e

Loan Boxes” (four boxes, each with a

different theme, aimed at older people)

and Quorn for “Quorn On-line Mu-

seum”, a village history website to form

a virtual museum. We were delighted,

and a touch relieved when we were

awarded a Highly Commended Certifi-

cate with the deserved winner being

Quorn.

Other winners were :

Best Event: Lutterworth Museum

Best Exhibition: Leicester City Football

Club

Collection Care and Development:

Whitwick Museum

Work with Children and Young People:

Sir John Moore Foundation

Museum of the Year: Ashby de la

Zouch

We all had a thoroughly enjoyable eve-

ning. It was interesting to see the differ-

ent entries and we left feeling thrilled

with our award, but also enthused and

wondering :

What Can We Go in For Next Year?

AWARDS KEEP COMING By Ann Cooper and Sandie Scaife

Winners pictured at a reception given by North West Leicester-

shire District Council.

OPEN GARDEN DAY by Margaret Greaves

Page 2 CASTLE DONINGTON MUSEUM TRUST

which added to the beauty of the

delightful flowers. The use of gar-

den ornaments and quiet areas made

this a very pleasing and peaceful

place.

The garden on Hastings Street was

laid out with flowers, but mainly

vegetables—the green house was

well stocked and the garden neat

and tidy with rows of different kinds

of vegetables looking very healthy

and will no doubt produce many

tasty meals. A lot of hard work had

gone into keeping the weeds at bay

and made a very pleasant change

from flowers, glorious though they

are. The last garden I visited was on

The Hollow and must be a challenge

to keep in order. The pathway up to

it is full of pots of all sizes, full of

very lovely shrubs all looking their

best. Being on a hill, there are steep

steps leading up to various areas. I

was guided along by the potting

shed, to the greenhouse where toma-

toes were flowering and setting.

Further up to a water feature, the

water turned blue for the day, to the

top. Here were more interesting

shrubs and flowers. This garden is

surely not for the fainthearted and

all credit due to the gardener who

skilfully produces a lovely show

each year.I was unable to visit the

Park Lane or High Street gardens as

I ran out of time, but I am sure they

were equally beautiful and interest-

ing as the ones I was able to visit.

Congratulations to all concerned

and I am sure all the visitors would

say a big thank you to all the gar-

deners.

Sunday 27th June turned out to

be hot and sunny. So with high

hopes, those worthy and willing

gardeners in eager anticipation

waited to welcome the many

visitors.

I called in the Museum to purchase

the leaflet giving details of all the

gardens one could visit. Number

one was the Museum’s own gar-

den, which has grown very lush

over the past few months. The

visitors to the Museum always

enjoy a look around the garden

and the many flowers, shrubs and

trees are certainly growing well.

On Borough Street, the small

walled garden was full of interest-

ing plants and flowers, plus sev-

eral smaller trees. It made me real-

ize one can do a lot in a small area

if you have the imagination and

green fingers. We discussed the

problems of shady areas and how

one has to do the planting by trial

and error, with many plants sur-

prising everyone by doing well in

unusual places.

The next garden on the Biggin was

by contrast a patio and really a

garden in pots and planters. But

here one could see not only flow-

ers, but vegetables being grown

very successfully. Making me

think perhaps in future I could do

something similar—Food for

thought!

Walking slowly on to the Barroon,

as the sun was realty hot by then, I

came to a charming garden, larger

than I had anticipated, a beautiful

lawn was surrounded by interest-

ing flower beds. I found a blue

hibiscus in flower which I thought

was beautiful. I have never had

any success with these, as the one

I bought two years ago did not

enjoy the hot sunny front garden.

Removing it, I put it in a pot and

fed it in the spring, now it appears

to have quite a few buds, so hope-

fully it will flower soon.

I walked to the end of the garden

which was a lovely secluded area

with trees. Even though it was a

shady area, the bedding plants were

doing well.

The garden adjacent to this one was

a delight. The lawn was surrounded

by a rainbow of different plants and

shrubs, these was no room for a

weed to pop up. Well, I guess hard

work made sure they were removed

as soon as they appeared. An arbour

with a seat in one corner was very

tempting to sit and enjoy the splen-

dour of the garden. I was told that

six years ago, the garden was feet

high with rubbish, you name it,

bikes, bricks, old sinks and toilets

had to be removed before any

thought of flowers or lawn could be

contemplated. So with a lot of hard

work, this small but perfect garden

has come into being. Even the birds

have beautiful nest boxes if they

wish to make use of them.

Completing my visit to the Barroon

was to the natural garden which ran

down from the house through the

trees to the view over the Trent Val-

ley. A lovely walk down but a

steeper climb back but the simplic-

ity and lovely trees made for a very

tranquil place. The Dovecote garden

was again a blaze of colour and full

of some really beautiful flowering

plants. The scent from a neighbour’s

orange blossom tree was beautiful

Dodging the

Showers at the

Quaker House

Back Lane By Bruce Townsend

After two hundred and thirty

years of authorized use by

wheeled vehicles, Back Lane is

now only open to approved key

holders. Walkers, horse riders

and cyclists can still enjoy this

secluded remnant of more peace-

ful times and everyone can re-

joice that fly-tippers, car-torchers

and itinerants will find access

harder.

The fields through which Back

Lane runs were originally used

for growing hay and as common

pastures for all the cattle belong-

ing to the people of Castle Don-

ington. When the Enclosure

Award of 1779/8-0 divided the

land into individual plots, provi-

sion had to b e made for their

holders to access their new hold-

ings without trespassing on those

of their neighbours. The Award

did this by enforcing the creation

of various tracks or roads which

could be used by those needing

to reach their fields with animals

or implements. Back Lane was

one of these tracks and is de-

scribed as a Private Carriageway

which is not the same as a public

highway.

Presumably, once the road was

there, and could be used without

causing a nuisance, the distinc-

tion was forgotten. In recent

times the surface has been main-

tained by the Highway authori-

ties.

Since Medieval times, perhaps

earlier, the River Trent has been

crossed at or near the northern

end of Back Lane. Before the old

Cavendish Bridge was opened in

January 1761 there was a ferry

with a large boat (latterly two

boats) capable of carrying horse-

drawn vehicles. There was also a

ford, known as Langham ford

which could be used when the

river was low, to avoid paying the

ferryman’s toll.

Pedestrians from Donington and

the south and from Hemington

and beyond obviously wanted to

take the shortest way to this river

crossing and the public footpaths

which still exist, albeit much

modified, are the survival of the

routes they took. However, these

paths crossed farmland and

caused damage to crops and hay

in the summer months. People

using them were fined by the

Manor Court:

It(em) Wee psent William

Merriman of Hemington for

makeinge a highway over our

pastures and meadows to Wilne

Ferry and Amercy (fine) him xijd

(one shilling).

It Wee psnt Robert Baly for Cart-

ing over the meadows this springe

on the Ferry Way after ye sd

meadows was layd and Amercy

him 2d.

These two fines, which were im-

posed at a Manor Court in 1678 per-

haps show what the custom used to

be. William Merriman was using an

unofficial footpath after the grass had

begun to grow and trampling it

down. Robert Baly was taking his

cart down to the river after cattle

had been excluded from the

meadow so that the grass could

grow for hay. The small fine sug-

gests that he hadn’t done much

damage; perhaps the grass hadn’t

Page 3

grown much at the time. And the

inference is clear: It would have

been acceptable to drive one’s cart

over the meadow in the winter.

Exceptions could be made if bigger

money was involved: 1685

Fieldreeve’s accounts.

Rec’d of William Stenson for

passage to the trent through

Winwell and soe down the balke to

Derby Ford with 88 loads of stone

£1-2-00

So Back Lane’s short official life of

230 years was probably much more.

There were other direct ways to

reach the ferry, but they must wait

for another article.

CASTLE DONINGTON MUSEUM TRUST

Just thought you might like to

see the cold, wet, windswept

Roman warrior who invaded

the Farmer’s Market to adver-

tise the Hallaton Treasure.

Makes you wonder how they

managed to hang onto these

inhospitable colonies for so

long doesn’t it?

ROMAN INVASION

CURATORIAL CORNER

BAPTIST CHURCH

BANNER

The banner is back at the museum. It

was collected from the home of the

conservationist by a second bus-load

of volunteers, who had previously

enjoyed a day at Trentham Gardens.

It will be shown in our next exhibi-

tion which will tell the history of the

churches of our parish.

The Skellern Collection is keeping

our workers very quiet each week.

They are working their way through

the many books and photographs.

A further supply of photographic

albums and acid free plastic pockets

in which to store them have been

promised from the Leicestershire Mu-

seums Service for which we are very

grateful.

Castle Donington Museum Trust 4 Apiary Gate

Castle Donington DE74 2JA

Contact Tel No 01332 812711

Website :

www.castledoningtonmuseum.org.uk

Page 4

Collection of scrapbooks on

Castle Donington from the

1960s and 70s.

Architects plan of the Na-

tional School on Castle Hill

Assorted photographs of Ger-

man POW camp at Donington

Hall.

A top hat in its leather case,

thought to have belonged to

the father of Maurice Rowe,

the village chemist.

RECENT

ACQUISITIONS

FUNDRAISING

Our next event will be the quarterly

lunch at Donington Manor Hotel on

Tuesday 5th October 12.30 for 1.00

p.m. These lunches are not intended

to be exclusively for Museum Trust

members, they are one of our many

ways to raise money to pay our ex-

penses. We hope you will join us and

bring your friends.

Our speaker in October will be Philip

Warren, Head of the Fashion Depart-

ment based at Snibston for Leicester-

shire Museums Service.

This year’s Schools exhibition is

planned for the weekend of 20th

and 21st November, 10.00 am to

2.00 p.m. on each day. We would

love to welcome the public to see

the work of the children of Or-

chard School, they are so enthusi-

astic and do a grand job. Don’t forget the Cheese and Wine evening on 24th Sep-

tember 7.30—9.00 TEA IN THE GARDEN Our annual Tea in the Garden was held on Saturday 14th Au-

gust in the garden of The Quaker House by kind permission

of Mr and Mrs Dewhurst. Despite a rather dull day, about 50

people attended, many because of their interest in the house

which was once the Meeting House of the Society of Friends.

There was a good spread of cream cakes and scones, which

disappeared with alacrity. The event raised about £200 which

helps to boost the fund raising for the season. Our thanks go

to Mr and Mrs Dewhurst for their generosity.

TEA (UNDER COVER) IN THE GARDEN