Repton Village Website

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for

VILLAGE DESIGN STATEMENT

Final Version

Supplementary Information

The following sections do not form part of the structure of guidelines relevant to the latest requirements of a Village Design Statement for planning purposes, they were generated in the process of developing the VDS and reflect information and concerns expressed by people living in the community and as such are included so the information is retained.  The comments included have been collated from surveys undertaken during the preparation of the VDS.

4. The History of Repton and Milton

Repton

Repton has witnessed, and taken part in, some major events in the history of England and the earlier kingdom of Mercia.  In AD 653, it was the place where Christianity was first preached in the Midlands, to the Mercian royal family.  Before long, a double abbey had been established, under an abbess, which enabled both men and women to follow their religious callings.

Early in the 8^th century the famous Repton crypt was begun, which was to serve as a mausoleum for the Mercian royal family.  King Ethelbald was entombed in it in 757, and King Wiglaf in 840.   Initially, it was below ground level with a wooden roof but later, in the 9^th century, a fine vaulted stone roof, supported by four ‘barley sugar’ columns, was constructed, and, above it, a splendid chancel was built. The distinctive Anglo-Saxon stonework can still be admired from both inside and outside the church.

It was when King Wiglaf’s grandson, Prince Wystan, was murdered by his uncle in 850, and miracles were ascribed to him, that Repton became the focal point for thousands of pilgrims to come and revere his remains. He was later sanctified and became the patron Saint of the parish church.

Repton became the ancient capital of Mercia and its earliest economic trade was as a result of pilgrims visiting the burial crypt of the Anglo-Saxon kings.

The tranquillity of the Abbey and its religious life was shattered in the winter of 873-4 when the marauding Viking armies, having sailed up the rivers Humber and Trent, decided to land their boats at Hreopedune (as Repton was called in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).  These pagan Vikings had no use for the religious building except to incorporate it as a strongpoint in their defensive fortifications.  From it they dug two deep ditches, both curving round until they enclosed a D-shaped area of some 3.5 acres between the abbey and the ‘Old Trent’ river.

Major archaeological excavations took place every year from 1974-88 in the area around the church.  These not only uncovered a Viking burial mound containing the bones of 200 Viking men and 49 Mercian women, but also the ‘Repton Stone’. This was a very important find, being part of a broken Anglo-Saxon cross shaft, showing on one side a kilted warrior on a horse. It is believed to represent King Ethelbald of Mercia and, if so, it is the earliest pictorial representation of an English monarch.

The Hall – Repton School

In 975 a new church was built in Repton and the next historical record is in the Domesday book of 1086.  This records that the manor of Rapendune (Repton) and Berewick of Middletune (Hamlet of Milton) included a church, 2 mills, some 44 households and a population of possibly 170 people.

In 1172 Matilda, Countess of Chester, gave the site at Repton for the founding of an Augustinian Priory and its resident canons ministered to the spiritual needs of many south Derbyshire parishes for nearly four centuries. Saint Wystan’s parish church was itself much enlarged between the 13th and the 15th centuries, when that elegant landmark, the 212-feet tall spire and tower, was built.

In medieval times, industry was based round the Abbey with quarrying, milling, tanning, tile manufacturing and osier products. Even at this time, there were eight alehouses in the village.  There were statute fairs based round The Cross from the medieval times up to the end of the 19^th century.

The next great upheaval in the story of Repton, or Repingdon, came in 1538 when Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries claimed the Repton Priory.  The buildings were acquired by the Thacker family, who later demolished most of them.  The Priory Guest House, which we now call the Old Priory, was one of the few left standing. It was sold in 1557 to the executors of Sir John Port of Etwall, by whose will a free school for boys was set up in the Old Priory.   It is no longer free, or only for boys, but Repton School, now much enlarged, is still thriving after nearly 450 years.

Repton remained a relative backwater, restricted by its lack of good communications to the north and east because the only river bridges were at Burton and Swarkestone; the alternatives being the ferries and fords at Willington and Twyford and Barrow.

However, in 1839, two major events took place which greatly benefited Repton: the building of the Toll Bridge between Willington and Repton, and the arrival of the new railway at Willington, offering both national and local connections. An elevated road or causeway was constructed across the floodplain to lead to the new bridge. The village could now expand, and Repton School could attract its pupils from further afield. Being less isolated, the people of Repton could travel and work beyond the village, which until then had been a largely self-contained, agricultural community, with its additional employment provided by the school.

The abolition of the toll charges by the freeing of the Toll Bridge on 1st August 1898 was the cause of great celebrations; the centenary of which was marked in 1998. The removal of this ‘tax’ on travelling, together with the growth of public and private transport, further stimulated employment prospects and building too.

During the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries Repton has continued to undergo changes and development.  Many of the small businesses and shops have disappeared as travel has become easier and the majority of the residents now work and shop outside the village.

High Street - Repton