Memories Of Tapton House School

From Romans to Railways - and a little furtherMalcolm R Handford - The Taptonian 1958 Reference to Tapton's past in all the usual works of local history are remarkably few, and the further we delve back the scarcer they become. Of late, however, much has been said and written concerning Tapton and its possible connections with the Romans.Local tradition has it that on Tapton Castle Hill - the large earthen mound to the west of Tapton House - can be found the site of a Roman encampment. Near it the old Roman road from Derby to York was supposed to have run. The latter theory has now been largely discredited but the former still remains a vague possibility. It is possible that Chesterfield was a trading station under the Romans. The discovery of a few coins bearing the heads of long-dead Caesars lends weight to the theory that sons of Rome once occupied our modest mound - now clothing itself with trees - but hardly enough to warrant the assumption of its historical accuracy.The Saxon name Chesterfield (meaning the field of the chester or castle) seems to imply that in Saxon times our ancient town was overlooked by the ramparts of a castle. Tapton Castle Hill (once called Windmill Hill) - now preserved by the Ministry of Works as an ancient monument - would, because of its commanding position, be an obvious choice of site for the erection of any fortification. Ford's History of Chesterfield (published in 1839) seems to regard this as an historical fact and talks of 'the ancient castle of which the foundation may even now be traced'. In the absence of other evidence to corroborate this statement, and bearing in mind that the particular book in question is riddled with inaccuracy, the possible existence of a castle on Tapton's doorstep (almost literally!) must, too, remain no more than an attractive theory.Domesday Rosetta Stone Hindi Book - that inevitable resort of the local historian - provides the first recorded milestone in the course of Tapton's history. At the time of the great Domesday Survey (1086) Tappetune was one of six berwicks or hamlets of the Manor of Newebold (Newbold). Tapton thus came within the boundaries of the Worpentake of Scarredele (Scarsdale) and as such was the property of the king.In the reign of King John (1199-1216) Tapton emerges as belonging to William de Briwere. Briwere, a noted royal favourite, had been granted Tapton along with the whole of Worpentake of Scarsdale by John, the king.? It is next recorded as having passed into the possession of the Durrants, an old Chesterfield family.The possibly Elizabethan stone Manor House of Tapton was partly demolished towards the end of the seventeenth century as a result of a misunderstanding which had arisen from a badly worded will. The remaining section with its stone roof, stout chimney stacks and mullioned windows can still be seen. It is in a well-preserved condition, though somewhat modernised in part, and is situated in a hollow some quarter of a mile to the S E of Tapton House.But if Tapton Manor lays claim to distinction in the annals of antiquity it is Tapton House that attracts the tourist with an eye for a story.The house is not of any great architectural importance, though its elegant proportions and many-windowed fa?ade cannot fail to give pleasure to the sightseer. This handsome pile of mellow brick and stone rests - when free from its present inmates! - perhaps dreaming of the times when it would welcome carriages bringing guests instead of cars and teachers. Only with reluctance has it surrendered to those who thought - still think, I suppose - it more suitable to house a school than anything else.Built towards the end of the eighteenth century, Tapton House stands proudly amidst a large rolling park and spacious gardens that are the pride of the men who plan and tend them.About its early career there is still much opportunity for speculation.

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