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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