Perlethorpe Village floods.

 

Above: January 2014.

In late September, 2013, it was already apparent that the River Meden's water level at Perlethorpe Bridge had risen significantly, and was stagnating rather than flowing. By January, 2014, the condition had worsened dramatically. Whereas the river runs freely through Budby, Thoresby Lake, and alongside the  picnic area, it clearly becomes a problem when it reaches Perlethorpe Village.

Understanding absolutely nothing about the cause, I assumed that a lack of dredging in previous years had accounted for the problem. But no. I am informed that subsidence caused by mines beneath Thoresby Estate may be the issue. Whatever the cause, one wonders if the solution might call for significant changes to that part of the village if the water remains. Would that mean the sad loss of, or change to the current bridge? Time will tell.

Above: March / April 2018.
Ater the rainy weeks the fields between the old post office and the village have the appearance now of an actual lake.

Above: May 2022.
 The fields slightly north of Perlethorpe Village, alongside the A614, resemble a Louisiana USA swampland.

Perlethorpe Post Office.

 

Perlethorpe Post Office also served as the only shop in Perlethorpe, and was situated in Meadow Cottage, the other side of the River Meden, on the road leading out of the village. In 1940 Mrs Dawson ran the post office. By 1995 she was succeeded by Mrs Blanshard. Mrs Blanshard had been the infants’ teacher at Perlethorpe School between 1910-1919, but retired to look after her husband who had been demobilized from his injuries in World War 1.

Mrs Blanshard would collect the letters from Perlethorpe Village's only post box on the wall to the right of the door. She would then use sealing wax to secure them inside a large brown post sack, this procedure being a veritable treat for the children who would stand transfixed at the sight and smells of her ritual. My sister and I were regular customers at the post office, spending our pocket money on both note books and sweets. The dull brown note books were threepence, whilst the glossy red ones accounted for the full sixpence, and nothing left over for “sweetie cigarettes”.

Children's sweets would be weighed out from the large glass bottles behind the counter, whilst a "Fry's Five Boys" advert on the wall above, heralded the post war arrival of pre-packaged confectioneries. "Sugar Pigs" (literally a large block of sugar shaped like a pig) were very popular, as were the new Lucky Bags which concealed a secret toy. In this way the children of the 50's would keep the dental profession in business for decades to come!

Perlethorpe Post Office closed down in May 1999, when the final postmistress to work there, Sue Rose, resigned. It remains a residential property. The old letter box is still in the wall, unused, and replaced by one next to the farmyard arch.

Perlethorpe Village part 2.

 

Above: This schoolboy drawing from 1964 was made from the bedroom window of number 3, Village Green, Perlethorpe, and shows some features such as the street lamp and railings around the smaller green which have long since disappeared. The arch of Home Farm is clearly visible, and the white building in the centre is White House. In the late 1930's Head Keeper Frank Bebbington lived there; in 1940 the game keeper Mr Carey; and in the late 1950's / early 1960's Mr Carter. The small green on the bottom right of the drawing stands in front of the red brick bungalows built c.1950 (not shown), and this green was the location for the village flag pole. The road leaving the picture on the left is Jackson's Hill.

Above: 2 Radleys Lane, Perlethorpe, c. 1953. Note the garden walls are not yet completed.
The redbrick buildings constructed around the Village Green c.1950 are those most associated with the name of Perlethorpe today. They were built for the exclusive occupancy of those employed on Thoresby Estate's three main industries: Farming, Forestry, and the Woodard. The village green was established at the same time as the houses were built, and was not a feature before then. Electricity had been supplied to Perlethorpe just prior to their building, and wireless sets (radios) depended upon rechargeable accumulators.

There were never any shops in Perlethorpe apart from the local Post Office near the Kennels, which supplied most goods. During the 1930's a Co-op van with a huge shoe on its roof would visit the village in the hope of collecting boots for repair, but most households did their own. In the 1940's Mr Fillingham from Wolesly would arrive on a horse and cart, selling basic household goods such as candles. In the 1950's I personally remember a large Library Van the size of a removal truck would park in the village, and then proceed to Three Gables, at the Woodyard, so the residents could step into the back of it and choose their reading matter from the well-stocked shelves.

Above: I well remember, during the early1950s, how a small Bush television set in the front room of 2 Radleys Lane played black & white host to the Lone Ranger, and later on how Independent Television introduced "Murray mints, too good to hurry mints" and "Hoover beats as it sweeps as it cleans" adverts.

Read more about Perlethorpe Village Hall Social Club on THIS LINK.

Perlethorpe Village part 1.

 

Above: Map of 1774.

The early history of Perlethorpe, situated within Thoresby Estate where the A614 (Blythe Road) crosses the River Meden, is made slightly more complicated by the fact it was once governed and owned as a region in its own right, entirely separate from Thoresby.

In Saxon times this area belonged to two Saxon chiefs, Thurston and Ulmer. After the Norman Conquest, as was the fate of other lands in the region, Torp (Perlethorpe), became the joint property of the King and Roger de Busli, who also gained lands such as nearby Clumber, whilst Thuresbi (Thoresby), became the property of the King.

The origin of Perlethorpe’s name is subject to debate. “Thorpe”, an Old Norse name meaning ‘dependant settlement’, clearly suggests it started life as a Viking settlement, but Perle is more troublesome. In Old and Middle English that means “rush of water”, particularly apt considering both the River Meden and the River Maun converge close by. However, before the printing press established common spellings, and information relied on the spoken word as much as the written, the village was recorded variously through the centuries as Peureltorp, Peuerelestorp and even Peuerellingethorp. During the reign of Henry III, William de Peverel the younger had some interest in Torp and it was once assumed the “Peverelthorp” prefix was due to him. Most researchers discount that notion today. By the 18th century the common name for the village was Palethorpe. (“Pale” can mean “an area enclosed by a boundary”, adding even more to the debate).

In 1831 Palethorpe (Perlethorpe) had a population of 89 people living in 14 houses. That's an average of 6 to a house. The oldest buildings in the village today date from the mid-19th century, and were often originally in pairs. A typical example of this is Rose Cottage.

Above: The original Rose Cottage, not the nearby restaurant which took its name, stands a little further up the A614 from White Lodge. 19th century Thoresby Estate records refer to the property as Rosedale Cottages. In 1851 it was the home of Perlethorpe Village miller, J. Chamberlain. In 1862 the estate's milkman Thos Day lived in one cottage, whilst Henry Dodd occupied the other. By 1864, Dodd had moved on and been replaced by miller Robert Budd. In 1947, Rose Cottage was still divided into two properties, one being occupied by carpenter / joiner William Craig and family, later to become foreman at Thoresby Estate’s Woodyard.

Above: White Cottages at the end of Radley's Lane, were occupied in 1862 by John Radley and Joseph Sills Batten. In the 1960's the two properties merged to become the Chaplain's House.

Above: Home Farm Lodge.

Above: The Almshouses stand opposite Home Farm, and were built in 1894 by the 3rd Earl "for the benefit of the old labourers on Thoresby Estate". This implies such elegant properties were perhaps intended for those retiring from their labour? Certainly by the 1950s they were occupied by still active workers from the farm and the Woodyard, such as Jack Kenyon.

Each house in Perlethorpe had its own brick built soft water tank to contain the rain which was then drawn up from underground via a hand pump. Starting in 1860 the 3rd Earl Manvers ensured all the houses in Perlethorpe underwent any necessary repairs, and had all the thatched roofs replaced with slate. At the turn of that century a water mains was laid through the village from Boughton water works, and in the 1920s / 30s a steam roller kept the pre-tarmac roads in order. In 1947 Perlethorpe Village was supplied with electricity, and the building of the red brick houses around a new village green soon followed.

Read more about Perlethorpe Bridge, 1847, on THIS LINK.