Melbourne Derbyshire Family History Guide

Melbourne is an Ancient Parish in the county of Derbyshire. 

Other places in the parish include: Kings Newton. 

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

• Parish registers: 1653
• Bishop’s Transcripts: 1662

Nonconformists include: Countess of Huntingdon Methodist, General Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Society of Friends/Quaker, Swedenborgian/New Jerusalem/New Church, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

• Staunton Harold, Leicestershire
• Weston on Trent
• Breedon on the Hill, Leicestershire
• Swarkestone
• Ticknall
• Derby Hills
• Stanton by Bridge
• Castle Donington, Leicestershire

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

MELBOURNE, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Shardlow district, Derbyshire. The town stands on an affluent of the river Trent, and on the Derby and Ashby-de-la-Zouch railway, completed from Derby to Melbourne in 1867, but not to Ashby till after June 1869; is 7 miles, by railway, SSE of Derby; has a station on the railway, a post-office under Derby, several inns, a market-place, a church, five dissenting chapels, a public cemetery, an athenæum, an endowed national school, and charities £20; and gave the title of Viscount to the family of Lamb.

The church is chiefly Norman, with a tower of much later date; was recently restored internally, at a cost of £3,000; and contains monuments, of the 14th and the 17th centuries, to the Hardinge family. The Independent chapel was enlarged in 1865. The Sweden borgian chapel was built in 1864, at a cost of £1,000; and is a neat small structure, in the Gothic style. The public cemetery lies about ¼ of a mile from the town, and was formed at a cost of £2,000.The atheuæum was opened in 1854, as a mechanics’ institute; and was built by subscription. A weekly market is held on Saturday evenings; and the manufacture of silk and thread goods is carried on.

The parish contains also the township of Kings-Newton, and comprises 3,290 acres. Real property, £12,420; of which £110 are in gas-works. Pop., 2,621. Houses, 620. The manor belonged, at Domesday, to the Crown; passed to the Beauchamps and the Lancasters; and belongs now to the Marquis of Hastings.

A royal castle stood here; was several times visited by King John; was the prison, for 19 years, of the Duke of Bourbon, taken at the battle of Agincourt; was dismantled in 1460; and is now represented by only a small portion of the outer walls. A palace of the Bishops of Carlisle stood on the S bank of the pool; and was several times visited by King John.

Melbourne-Hall belongs to Viscountess Palmerston; occupies the site of a palace of the Bishops of Carlisle; was built by Sir Thomas Coke in 1712; was the place where Baxter began to write his “Saints’ Rest;” and has gardens in the Dutch style, introduced by William III. Kings-Newton Hall belonged to the Hardinge family, gave entertainment to Charles II., and was destroyed by fire in 1859. Market-gardening is extensively carried on.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £200. Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The sub-district contains also three other parishes, parts of two others, an extraparochial tract, and Derby-Hills liberty. Acres, 15,143. Pop., 4,694. Houses, 1,087.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Registers

Melbourne Marriages 1653 to 1812 Derbyshire Parish Registers Marriages. Edited by W. P. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L., and LL. LL. Simpson. V. 8 London: Issued to the subscribers by Phillimore & Co 124 Chancery Lane. 1911. – This book is a free download from Parishmouse

Marriages Out of Parish

Administration

• County: Derbyshire
• Civil Registration District: Shardlow
• Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Lichfield (Episcopal Consistory)
• Diocese: Lichfield
• Rural Deanery: Stanton by Bridge
• Poor Law Union: Shardlow
• Hundred: Repton and Gresley
• Province: Canterbury