Some members of the Brocksopp family lived at Little (now Temple) Normanton in the 17th century, and were Quakers. By the mid 18th century one branch of the family had settled at Grasshill, in Hasland township. Read on to discover how their activities contributed to the history of Grassmoor village.
When Edward Brocksopp of Birchill, Grassmoor, made his will in February 1678/9, he was said to be aged, and weak. He was a prosperous yeoman farmer, and left land at Corbriggs, Birchill, and Calow to his sons Henry, Edmund and John. His eldest son Henry inherited an estate at North Wingfield from his uncle Edmund Brocksopp (d.1718), and the youngest son John died without heirs, leaving his land at Winsick to his brother Edmund. And so it was Edward’s son Edmund and his family who came to inherit most of the land in Hasland.
Edmund Brocksopp of Hasland c1650-1714
Edmund Brocksopp of Hasland described his occupation as ‘butcher’. By the time of his death in 1714 he was a very wealthy man. He had a butcher’s shop in Chesterfield, and the inventory of his possessions made in 1715 describes his farmstead as having a hall, little parlour, great parlour, three chambers and kitchen, as well as a brewhouse, dairy, stable, barns, ‘upper house’, ‘nether house’, and two hovels. He had £725 in bonds, more than £130 in cash in the house, and a clock in his kitchen. In all, his goods were valued at almost £1,400.
Edmund left his estate to be divided between his four sons, Edward (d.1742), Edmund (d.c1751), Thomas (d. c1744) and John (d.1741).
His sons Thomas and Edward died without heirs, the latter leaving considerable land in Flagg, Sheldon, Ashford in the Water, Matlock, Whittington, Chesterfield and Hasland, to be divided between his nephews and nieces. The next generation of Brocksopps of Hasland descended from Edmund’s son John.
John Brocksopp of Hasland d.1741
John Brocksopp died in December 1741, leaving a widow, Lydia, three daughters and two sons. His eldest daughter Dorothy had married and had been been given her portion, but his other two daughters, Elizabeth and Lydia, were bequeathed four houses in St Mary’s Gate in Chesterfield, as well as money.
His two sons were Edward (c1720-1799) and John (1724-1770). John lived at Grasshill (see next paragraph). Edward, another wealthy man by the time of his death, owned several properties in Lordsmill Street in Chesterfield, and land in Sheldon, Hognaston, Matlock, Bonsall, as well as in Hasland. Although sometimes described, like his father, as a butcher, at the time of his death Edward was described as a ‘gentleman of Chesterfield’. He had a large family but his will suggests that he did not trust his sons James and Humphrey with money, leaving them 12 shillings a week and forbidding them to borrow against their inheritance. Edward was the grandfather of Emily Brocksopp who married William Allwood Lord of Tupton in 1802.
John Brocksopp of Grasshill 1724-1770
From his father John Brocksopp inherited £50 and two closes of land in Hasland called Coal Close and Crabtree Close which his father had purchased from his uncle.
When he died in 1770, aged 46, he left his widow Mary (nee Wragg) to raise four daughters and one son with the assistance of his brother in law, William Wragg of Stretton Hall (unfortunately John’s will does not give any indication as to the extent of his wealth). His only son, another John, was 17 years old at the time of his father’s death. As his uncle William Wragg was unmarried, young John stood to inherit from both sides of the family.
To this date, the Brocksopp family appear to have concentrated on their farming activities, and there is no mention of any sort of industrial activities in their wills and inventories, though Edward Brocksopp (d.1742) had a share in the Nestus lead mine near Matlock. However, the Wragg family had been involved in coal mining in North Wingfield parish, and by the end of the 18th century Mrs Mary Brocksopp and her son John had a colliery at Hasland. In 1794 their ‘Hasland Coal Mine’ had six pits in work, with another three being made ready. The whole of the enterprise with horses, counting house, quarry, engine house, and tools, was then valued at just under £750.
John Brocksopp of Grasshill 1753-1812
John Brocksopp had been living at Stretton Hall, but moved into the family home at Grasshill after his mother’s death. A few years later he had a furnace built nearby (at Furnace Hillock) and began smelting iron. His industrial operations were mothballed following his death in 1812, as his son was too young to take over the business. He had married late in life and his two children were both in their infancy. His considerable estate, which, at the time of his death included a dozen cottages, and farms at Grasshill, Birchill, Stretton Hall, and Handley Lodge, passed to the Barnes family of Ashgate after the early death of both of his children. It was the Barnes family who started the coal mining enterprise on the old Brocksopp land which was to become Grassmoor Colliery, and led to the expansion of the scattered farming settlement at Grassmoor.
- Mr David Jenkins has written some excellent articles on John Brocksopp (1753-1812) which can be seen at Chesterfield Local Studies Library.
- Much of the above information comes from the Barnes Collection, which was previously held at Chesterfield Local Studies Library, and is now in the care of Derbyshire Record Office.
North Wingfield 
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