DAY 169 - (Part 1) Singing in the Same Norbury Church as My Great-Grandma Clarke

Sept 4 - Biking to Roston and Finding My Dead Ancestors

Roston is a hamlet in Derbyshire, England. It is located north of Rocester.  I had gotten my Grandma Olson's old antique trunk from England after my dad had passed away.  For years I had read letters, gone through photos, and seen the names of my ancestors.  I was so excited to be in the area to find out more.

In Derby, I went to a genealogy library and found information about Derbyshire, the county where most of my ancestors appeared to be from.

 We were able to borrow our host's bikes, but the trouble was getting to Ashbourne by bus and bringing our bikes on board.  We were told they might bump us off if any people with wheelchairs needed to get on.  So - we took our chances.  It was about 45 minutes by bus and we were able to go the whole way.  We arrived to Ashbourne around noon.  We set off on our bikes to find Roston.

We were to go by Cock Inn and then onward to Norbury - about 4 miles

It was a beautiful sunny day and the ride was so lovely going through the woods and fields.

Here we go - I've dreamed about doing this for YEARS!

Norbury is a village in Derbyshire. It is located 3 miles north of Rocester on the River Dove.  Norbury was mentioned in the Domesday book, in 1086, together with Roston, amongst the many manors given to Henry de Ferrers by William the Conqueror.  At that time the village had a church and a mill.  The population keeps going down in Norbury.  Records show that in 1841, there were 510 people, but in 2001, there were only 270 and today there is probably less than 100.

It's fun how the trees make green tunnels over the paved roads.

 We rode and rode until we came to a little community with a Pub that had recently closed down.

The Roston Inn

I had come to this area for two main purposes:  1) Go to the Norbury Church where my ancestors were buried, 2) Find the Clarke homestead house where I knew my great-grandmother was born and where my parents had visited 25 years previously in 1989.

We biked to this nice farm house to find out some answers.

 I found a man named Timothy, age 82, who just happened to be the keeper of the Norbury church.  He was excited that I was related to the "Clarkes" as he said I had a relative who sent $1,000 to the Norbury church every year.  So, now I have the address of this distant cousin who I had lost contact with.  Isn't it funny how things work out sometimes?

How lucky was it that he just happened to be home.   He told us where to go to find records from the church graveyards.  I also had a picture of my great-grandmother's home and he told us where he thought it was.

 We met with Della who kept the Norbury church records.  She was so kind to take us to the Clarke home in Roston.  We met William and Joan.  His father bought the home around 1910, after his grand-father had leased the land from my relatives for years.

Here we are!  The house which must be 300-400 years old.

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I will finish this post tomorrow!   Hang tight.  :)

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Welcome to St Mary & St Barlok, Norbury.   The church was built by the Fitzherbert family in 1295, with 14^th and 15^th century additions.  The church displays a splendid wealth of medieval artwork and architecture, the crowning glory being its eight rare grisaille stained glass windows in the chancel, dating 1306.