Eyam village - Aughton House history

by Chris Brackley

(with a little bit about Eyam - pronounced Eeem!)

The cottages that now form the rear part of Aughton House (spelt Auton originally) were built in the early 1600s. Originally there were certainly two, if not three cottages, and contained within are original shallow stone sinks, along with massive stone slabs in the cellar, used, of course, as a 'fridge' and for preparing and storing food. Even the soakaway drain in the cellar still works today.

The cottages were built over and are now the Study and Dining Room downstairs, whilst on the first floor above is the Drawing Room and a guest bedroom. This followed the so-called 'gentrification' of the house during Georgian times. The 'new' frontage was built between 1797 and 1854. Former owners, neighbours, local historians, long time villagers and architects all have some difficulty in agreeing the layout of the house as it was in the 1600s, and through even to the late 1900s. We have spent some fascinating hours debating the potential configuration of the house as it may have been over the last 400 years. We are fairly certain that we are only the third family to own Aughton House since about 1700.

The house is built from many different materials, including limestone, gritstone, sandstone, and the front from red brick, not to mention rubble contained within the thick walls of the cottages. The 'new' frontage is faced with pebble-dash, although the stone quoins are rendered and painted. Massive ships timbers are in evidence in the attic. You will though see one, and only one, modern 'Velux' window, installed following the collapse of the main house roof in the late 1970s.

As you can appreciate, there are many unanswered questions about the house - including who our resident ghost is - some believe he (Anne will tell you it is definitely a 'he') is a relation of an earlier owner buried during the plague beneath the Study floor when it was one of the cottage gardens. If true, he is well secure under a new 9 inch concrete floor, but he is undoubtedly friendly! We've written to 'The House Detectives', who, we're sure, would unearth, perhaps literally, more information.

Aughton House and its owners have had several incarnations. It is a former farmhouse, owned by Mr Godber, who was also the local milkman (his milk cart still, just, exists although he would not have liked to have thought of himself as a milkman!). It was a coaching house, omnibus waiting room, dining and tea rooms, public house, and of course now not only a family home but also a Bed and Breakfast business.

The 'public' have, it seems, had access to the house for centuries, one way or another. Talking of Mr Samuel Isaac Godber, he was by all accounts somewhat of a tyrant. The Bulls Head, next door, had to conform to his 'standards' or risk his wrath - to the point of closure! The loo windows had to be whitewashed out for example! He died in 1928, followed by his wife in 1933 (their graves are in the churchyard). It is said though, that he was seen by the postman early one morning coming out of the cottage of a lady of 'ill-repute' just down the road. Perhaps he was not the 'gentleman' he professed or wanted to be, or perhaps it's just village gossip, even jealousy. His daughter however lived here on her own, for 37 years until 1970. She never married and she eventually lived in just two rooms, following the earlier collapse of the main house roof. She died in 1992 in a residential home.

During the second world war Mr Godber's brother owned and operated a slaughterhouse in what is now next door but one's garden. You can still see today the remains of the building the roof has now collapsed. Such was Mr Godber's character that he reported his brother to the health authority for infringing health regulations! So much for brotherly love! The feeling seems to be that he rather considered himself to be a 'cut above the rest' - perhaps his approach to life contributed to the fact that his daughter never married. It is though very easy to make value judgements without the necessary knowledge.

The next family to own Aughton House were the Seniors, who bought it in 1979. They carried out major structural repairs including the removal of the remains of the second flight of stairs, and re-roofed the main house. Sadly they removed the original roof line - no doubt due to financial considerations understandable but unfortunate. Nevertheless they maintained the essential character of the house, and incorporated modern day conveniences; they re-wired the entire house, installed thermostatically controlled central heating, and integrated sound and TV system and left the house in fundamentally good repair. Since then we have carried out extensive refurbishments, redecorated from top to bottom, and have, for example, opened previously blocked up fireplaces (indeed, removed a Victorian fireplace in the Drawing room to expose the original Georgian one).

Eyam developed as an industrial village around 1800 when lead mines, cotton spinning, silk weaving, boot manufacture and stone cutting all thrived. Before 1800 there was no direct coach connection through Eyam, and until such times it was truly isolated. The Sheffield to Buxton route went up Sir William Hill to the Barrel Inn at Bretton, and the Manchester route passed through Stoney Middleton, up the hill where Laporte Industries are now located, and right round through Wardlow where it joined the 'main' road. The road along the bottom of Stoney Middleton Dale, with the branch up to Eyam (Eyam Dale) was built about 1815 as part of the Chesterfield to Chapel-en-le-Frith turnpike. Eyam New Road was built in 1797 so that coaches could easily pass through Eyam. There was certainly an Omnibus service in Eyam in 1803, for in that year a man was killed by a coach, and another man, Edward Dooley, is recorded in the parish register as also having died, killed by an omnibus, in 1854. Coaches used to stop at Aughton House, which at that time had a verandah which served as the waiting area for the coach station.

With the completion of the Cowburn Tunnel in 1896, coaching services ceased. However a Mr Kenyon began operating a horse bus business from Grindleford railway station, meeting every train, and My Godber ran one based at Aughton House with stables adjoining known as Aughton Croft. One bus served Eyam and Foolow and the other went to Calver and Baslow. The horse buses served the area until the late 1920s when a motorised service was introduced by Whites of Calver. The service gradually decreased to morning and evening business services and eventually ceased altogether in 1989. There are several photographs of Aughton House; the one showing the verandah and with the Post Office next door was taken in 1918. The Post Office was sited there for convenience to deal with the mail brought in on the horse buses from Grindleford station.

In Aughton House today you can still see the remains of the narrow second flight of stairs that used to lead up to the coachmen and servants' quarters. At each end of the house there remain the original open fireplaces. One can only guess at the conditions they found there but at least they should have been relatively warm. Two servants are known to have been employed in the 1800s and no doubt as with all servants in those times their tasks will have been fairly onerous, perhaps looking after the coachmen, the horses and stables, the family, and who knows perhaps having associations of one form or another with the farm workers. Today, at the end of the 20th century, as far as our ownership is concerned, and sadly in many ways, the farm has long gone as have the coachmen and stables, not to mention the servants, although Aughton Croft still exists under separate ownership along with the stables. The Coach House, as it is now known, still exists although we suspect it may have been the Farm Manager's or labourer's cottage since there is a massive yet ruggedly beautiful fireplace some 7 ft high at one end. Today's contents probably resemble rather more the typical late 20th Century garage although you may occasionally hear the growl of the chainsaw cutting logs for the open fire in the Drawing room. With the halogen light fitted outside on the drive at the back of the Coach House (so that you can park you car safely off the street) some 20th Century technology even at Aughton House exists, but in one sense not too much we hope. One day we may convert the Coach House into a holiday cottage.

The Patio is sited on the former brick built vaulted cellar, the remains of which can still be seen today. Most of the roof had collapsed, or been collapsed into a border and we excavated by hand some 10 tonnes of bricks, earth, stone, and all manner of material. Above the cellar there used to be a secret garden edged with lillies of the valley, and access could only be gained through the sitting room window, for where the present kitchen door is situated was where you went down into that cellar, and the back door was where one of the kitchen windows is now. That secret garden must have been a special place.

We think Aughton House is a little bit special, a very different house and home - we hope you enjoy it.

TOP OF PAGE

RETURN TO EYAM MAP HOME PAGE