History of a house in Shardlow, Derbyshire

[Glynno]

In short I grew up there, my Parents and Grandparents were the previous occupants. Back in the 1980s I also tried to track down the history of the property so do have an insight to a bit of its history but information was difficult to access back then, I also spent a lot of time in the Dog and Duck with the village oldies that spent their whole lives in the village but have sadly all passed on now, this was a great source of knowledge "some embellished of course" I have a few old photographs of the property that I will dig out for Matt one of which is of one of the POWs that came back to see the house in the 1970s. there are many hidden things in the house just waiting to be found again, lf I remember correctly there is another wooden floor beneath the oak floor in the main hall, the hidden door which Matt is aware of, I pulled lots items and letters out from void between the 3rd floor water tanks and the wall, I know there are still some there but never got round to retrieving them "I don't like spiders" I could go on for hours, when the grey cells remind me of something interesting I will be sure to pass it on.   

[BushInn1746]

Hello Glynno

Thank you for sharing this.

Also being discussed here
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=812640.msg6731193#msg6731193

Matt has found documents confirming The Villa / The Dower House, once belonged to the Sutton family of Shardlow, local Landowners and an older name for the field, The Old Homestead.

Mark

[Ruskie]

In short I grew up there, my Parents and Grandparents were the previous occupants. Back in the 1980s I also tried to track down the history of the property so do have an insight to a bit of its history but information was difficult to access back then, I also spent a lot of time in the Dog and Duck with the village oldies that spent their whole lives in the village but have sadly all passed on now, this was a great source of knowledge "some embellished of course" I have a few old photographs of the property that I will dig out for Matt one of which is of one of the POWs that came back to see the house in the 1970s. there are many hidden things in the house just waiting to be found again, lf I remember correctly there is another wooden floor beneath the oak floor in the main hall, the hidden door which Matt is aware of, I pulled lots items and letters out from void between the 3rd floor water tanks and the wall, I know there are still some there but never got round to retrieving them "I don't like spiders" I could go on for hours, when the grey cells remind me of something interesting I will be sure to pass it on.   

Thanks for explaining that Glynno. I hope Matt manages to unearth some of the treasures you remember. 

[bbart]

A very warm welcome, Glynno!

There is a group of us here that have become absolutely  fascinated with the history of this house, so when you said that you could go on for hours, please do!
Hopefully in the next few days, I can post a timeline of what we know so far, so please make sure your Rootschat settings are set to send you notifications of new posts in this thread!  We may need to be corrected on a few things, and you may learn some older history yourself!

And of course, if you ever need a hand doing your own family tree, we are here to help!

[Maiden Stone]

Although the Italians were at the property during the war they also shared the place with British army officers and they were let out with the land girls to work the fields.

I can't help thinking this was unwise; there may have been unintended consequences. 
Interesting reading.

[overlandermatt]

It has been great to hear from Glynn and his recollections from growing up in the house. Many questions have been answered and I now have a better idea of the recent history to add to that which the Roots Chatters have been helping me with!

The generosity of strangers on this (and other) sites is overwhelming.

Thank you.

Matt   

[Pete_Wood]

I am researching PoW camps of WW2. I can confirm that this was known as Camp 570. It was known, on PoW mail as Camp 570, Shardlow Hall. I struggled for years, with Camp 570. There is a lot on the web, about PoWs at the Hall, but I have yet to find evidence of them staying there. So it was a real pleasure for me to find that your house, at the end of a track to the Hall, was the true location for Camp 570.

It was very common to call a 'Camp' by the name of a very large house, nearby. The guards, for Camp 570, were obviously housed in the grounds of the Hall - and their officers lived in the Hall itself.

Italian PoWs were generally used, for agricultural labour. But officers were exempt from doing labour.

I would be interested to hear how the PoWs spent their time, at your house. Obviously, during the day, they would have been taken to the Hall. Once the war ended, the PoWs enjoyed a fair amount of freedom (especially officers). As long as they were in bed, by a certain hour, they would have been allowed to use the Dog and Duck and gone to the cinema etc. I found that the Italian PoWs were very popular with the locals - who did not consider them to be the enemy, compared to German PoWs.

If you scour eBay - on the Italian and German versions, especially, you might get luck and pick up a letter or postcard written and sent from your house. If you are luckier still, you might even find a letter sent from Italy to your house. Once the war was over, the whole PoW address situation became more lax. In other words, Camp 570 may even have your house name on an envelope. Good luck with your search.

The last of the PoWs would have departed your house in 1948. If you contact me, I am in touch with some PoW specialists in Italy. We may be able to find out more about the war history of your property. Because it would have been inspected at some stage, for example, by the International Red Cross.