The Handleys

In September 1671 Thomas Handley (Yeoman) of Lewcote Gate in the parish of West Hallam made his will. He had three sons Thomas, Francis and William and two daughters Hellinor (sic) who was ill at the time he made his will and Mary the wife of Richard Scattergood.
Thomas had land within the Libertie of Mapperley – the Cow Flatts, the Hill Close, the Oxen Close  ……… all which Land I bought of William Timme of Nottingham. This was left to his second son Francis.

When William, Thomas’s third son, made his will in February 1678, his brother, Francis was of Mapperley .
William also bequeathed money to Richard Scattergood of Mapperley my kinsman.

In November 1720 when Francis, formerly of Mapperley, made his will, he was living at Lucoth Gate in the parish of West Hallam. I give and bequeath unto my good Landlord the right honourable Windsor Hunloke of Wingerworth in the County of Derby Knight and Baronet and to John Flamstead of Little Hallam in the said County of Derby Gent all the Rents Issues and Proffits arising renewing and growing of and from those my Two Closes commonly called by the names of Lilborn Close and also that new close standing in the Flat called the Crowsmoor and Garden thereunto adjoining and the Hill Close lying within the Liberty of Mapperley in the County of Derby for and during the terms of the natural life of my daughter Mary Handley and in trust for her …………. and then after her decease I give devise and bequeath all those my two closes above named and House and garden above named unto William Handley my Grandson son to my daughter Mary (I think Mary was married to Thomas Handley of Ilkiston).

Mary’s son William is also left all that my close called the Long Close ……… which Lands are within the Liberty and precincts of Mapperley in his own right.

The will continues: I give …….. unto my Grandson William Handley of West Hallam Baker all that my chief rent of a certain farm in Mapperley aforesaid commonly known by the names of Scotsman’s farm …………

Francis left ten shillings to the poor of West Hallam and ten shillings to the poor of Mapperley and to his servant William Crishley twenty shillings.

His grandson Francis Handley (a minor at the time the will was written) was bequeathed all that my houses yards orchard and garden in Mapperley now in the possession of Nathaniel Wathey and also those my closes commonly known by the names of the Two Gole Flats and the two Oxpastures now in the tenure of Widow Mather, although his son John Handley, Francis’s father was to receive the Rents and profits during his natural life.

Mary’s son William died in 1724, still a young man. At the time he wrote his will he was of the parish of Westhallam. He bequeathed all my freehold Coppy hold Lands and possessions unto my kinsman Francis Handley the son of John Handley of the parish of Ilkeston, William’s mother Mary having received all the profits of the land in her lifetime.

To the poor of Mapperley, William left 20s.

William Leaper was made the full and sole executor of his will and was left £5.

Thomas Handley of West Hallam (presumably William’s father, formerly of Ilkeston) bequeathed Two Closes called by the names of Great Crowsmoor and Little Crowsmoor lying within the Liberty of Mapperley ……..unto my said Loving Wife Mary Handley and on her death to Francis the son of John Handley. Perhaps Thomas had bought them from his son William before he died.

Francis, son of John was able to call himself Gentleman when he made his will in October 1779, having benefitted enormously from the legacies of all the above. Francis married Elizabeth Wall of Fallinge (part of the Haddon Estate) just above Darley Dale on 4th September 1738 at Darley and they had six daughters.

Elizabeth Francis’s wife was left All my Messuages Closes Lands Tenements Hereditaments and real Estate whatsoever situate and being in Mapperley in the Parish of Kirk Hallam…... After Elizabeth’s death, All that my Messuages or Tenement with the Stable Buildings Yards Garden Orchard and Appurtenances thereto belonging situate and being in Mapperley aforesaid and now in the Occupation of my Son in Law Thomas Martin And also All those my several Closes or parcels of Inclosed (sic) Land situate and being in Mapperley aforesaid and called known or described by the several names of the Hill Close, the two Gole Flatts and the two Ox Closes with their and every of their Appurtenances unto my said daughter Mary Martin for and during the term of her natural Life ……….. and thereafter to her children as Tenants in Common.

Elizabeth Clarke, Francis’s second oldest child, was bequeathed All that my Messuage or Tenement with the Stable Buildings Yards Gardens and Appurtenances thereto belonging situate and being in Mapperley aforesaid and now or late in the Occupation of William Critchlow and also all those my several Closes or parcels of Inclosed (sic) Land situate and being in Mapperley aforesaid and called known or described by the several names of the Long Close, the two Closes commonly called the Crow Moores and two Closes commonly called Kilbourn Close.

Francis Handley’s daughters - Ann Wetherell, Hannah Wall, Frances Handley (later Martin – she married another Thomas Martin) and Ruth Handley (later Simpson) were left land and property in Chaddesden and Spondon. My said Dear wife Elizabeth Handley and my worthy friend Henry Leaper of West Hallam aforesaid Gentleman were made executors. Is this the Mr Leaper Attorney who had acted for the Freeholders of Mapperley against Mr Newdigate in Exchequer in 1788? (See ‘The Walkers of Mapperley’ and Francis Walker’s letter).

And so it was that some property and land in Mapperley came into the possession of the Martin family - and also the Clarke family (Elizabeth Handley was married to Joseph Clarke, the son of the Vicar of West Hallam). The Clarkes sold the land they had inherited from Francis Handley, to Edward Miller Mundy in 1817. There were about thirty acres. I think the significant words in the conveyance are Together with all Mines of Coal and all other Minerals whatsoever lying and being under the said messuage, closes pieces or parcels of Land. It was sold for over £2,000!

I think the property may have been Head House.

The Martins and Mapperley

The Martins were originally from Smalley. The first Martin to live in Mapperley was Thomas who married Mary Handley at Kirk Hallam in October 1764 (see ‘The Handleys’).

Thomas and Mary had six children: Polly (1765), Francis Handley (1766), Thomas (1768), John (1772), Hannah (1776) and William (1777) - but only Thomas and Hannah survived into adulthood. The two oldest children probably died as babies, while John lived to be almost four John, son of Mr Thomas and Mrs Mary Martin of Mapperley, buried in this church, March 8th 1776 (West Hallam) - and William to the age of only seven.

Thomas (1768) married Hannah Else at Smalley in 1798 and Hannah (1776) married John Bower of Breason (sic) in 1804 at Kirk Hallam.

Hannah Else was the daughter of William Else and Mary Platts of Heanor Gate Farm.  I think it was Hannah’s brother Joseph Else who witnessed Thomas Martin’s will in 1848.

Thomas Martin and Hannah Else had eight children: John, Francis, William, Mary, Thomas, Fanny, Anne and Henry. John died at the age of 20 and Henry aged 22. Fanny seems to have died young too.

Of the other children, Francis married first Sarah Woolley and then Hannah Borebank;  William, a farmer in Nottinghamshire,  married Catherine; Mary became the wife of John Allcock, farmer of Trowell; Ann married William Hopkinson Esq of Trowell Moor – also a farmer; and Thomas married Elizabeth Walker (see ‘The Walkers of Mapperley’).

When Thomas senior died (1848), he made special provision for Francis, Mary and Hannah - children of his son Francis in his will, because their mother, Sarah had died when they were very young and it seems that they were brought up by their grandparents in Mapperley.  Their father Francis was the publican at the Punch Bowl at West Hallam.

Grandfather Thomas was a farmer and miller (see the poem about the other Thomas Martin which mentions Thomas the miller, his relative) and grandson Francis followed in his footsteps, but although Francis also seems to have become the land-tax assessor for Mapperley, things appear to have gone very wrong for him after his grandmother died in 1861 and the family home was split up and the assets sold.  Whatever the reasons, grandson Francis had a sad end: he was found drowned in the River Derwent near Duffield Paper Mill and was buried at West Hallam on November 3rd 1866. He was thirty seven.

At the time of his father’s death, my great great grandfather, (also Thomas), having married Elizabeth Walker in 1834 at Kirk Hallam, was already farming at Hall Farm, Chaddesden where he had been since about 1835. His older brother William farmed 472 acres at Trowell, later moving to Kilton near Worksop.

The house in which the Martins lived has long since disappeared, but was situated near the back of the Black Horse car park, I think.
There is a description of the situation of the farmhouse from an abstract of title of 1863 – having a frontage of 78ft to the town street and also a frontage of 93ft to a certain back lane containing the site of the house and outbuildings.

1,147 sq yds formerly in the occupation of the said Thomas Martin, afterwards of Philip Walker and now of Francis Martin and are bounded on the south by the Town St, on the W by property now or late belonging to Mr Joseph Porter, on the N by the said back lane or street, on the E by property belonging to Alfred Miller Mundy Esq.

The farmhouse was sold to Alfred Miller Mundy in August 1866 for £450.