The Church Inn

Derby Mercury 13 July 1831

On the 23^rd July 1831, an estate at North Wingfield was put up for sale at The Old Angel Inn, in Chesterfield. There were seven lots offered in all, including a “substantial and well accustomed public house” then known as the Church Inn. This was the sale of part of the estate of William Milnes (1753-1830), a yeoman of Hassop. By his will he had ordered the sale of his North Wingfield property.

From the will of William Milnes of Hassop 1831 (PCC PROB/11/1786)

When the Church Inn and William Milnes’s other land in North Wingfield was put up for sale, the occupier of the inn was Miss Mary Hutchinson. She had been landlady of the Church Inn since at least 1817, and probably since the death of her mother in 1802.

The Hutchinson Family

North Wingfield Parish Register. John the son of Robert and Sarah Hutchinson was baptised at North Wingfield on the 17 May 1752, when the couple lived at ‘Chantry’. Robert Hutchinson had married Sarah Watkinson at Chesterfield on 21 May 1751.

The Church Inn had been the Hutchinson family home for many years. Robert Hutchinson was living there when his son John was baptised in 1752. Robert Hutchinson (d1799), married twice. By his first wife, Sarah (Watkinson) he had two sons, and with his second wife Mary (Wilson) at least another six children. By the time he made his will, he had four sons and three daughters still living.

When he made his will in 1798 Robert Hutchinson said he was “of Chantry House otherwise called the Church Inn, in the parish of North Wingfield in the county of Derby, innkeeper”. The will is very brief; his estate was “not above” £600, and was to be equally divided between his children after his wife’s death, share and share alike.

Robert’s widow, Mrs Mary Hutchinson, was the executrix of her husband’s will, and it appears that she kept the inn until her death in 1802. She was probably assisted by her daughter Mary, who never married, as Mary became landlady after her mother’s death.

The burial of Mrs Mary Hutchinson of ‘Chantry’, recorded in North Wingfield parish registers, 5 February 1802.

After the Sale

In the sale of 1831, some of the Milnes estate, including the Church Inn, was purchased by William Drabble junior. His family lived in North Wingfield, though he became a solicitor in Chesterfield, and later lived at Bank Close House in Hasland.

Some time after Drabble purchased the property, William Woodward took over the inn. The inn was named ‘The Bell Inn’ on the 1851 census. Perhaps the pub’s change of name came with the change of tenant.

1841 census. William Woodward (1802-1865) was the son of James and Ellen (nee Bamford and often called Nellie) Woodward. He was born at Ashover, and his parents moved to North Wingfield circa 1820-40.

In 1841 Miss Hutchinson, now aged 68 and of independent means, was living elsewhere in North Wingfield, and she died in London in 1844 aged 70. She was buried at Shoreditch.