Sitwell Street

Behind the wall on the left was a garden which belonged to Mr Lewty, who lived in the large house across the road.  The garden was purchased to be assured of the view.  The road in the photograph was to a small farmyard with stable and pigsties and to a large allotment, and then on to a footpath past Joey's Panchion, which formed another footpath from village centre to Nottingham Road.  On the right hand side was the garden of a large house, which in mid 1800s was a "Young Gentlemen's Academy" owned by a Miss Marsden.  Later it was a private house and belonged to a Miss Downs.  In the late 1920s/early 30s Mr and Mrs Sam Davis lived there.  Mr Davis owned a textile factory in Nottingham Road, Derby next to Mason's Paints.  Mrs Phyllis Davis was a daughter of Mr James Meakin of the Grange, Park Road.  Joey's Pancion would be in the background of this pictyure.  It was excavated to obtain gravel for road mending in early 1800s.  "Joey" was a Mr J Clewes, who lived in a small thatched farmhouse which stood on the site of Sitwell Garage.  It was built of stone and was very old and could, possibly, have been one that escaped the Great Fire of 1340.

Guy Brighouse, 1987