Nun’s Green: Bitter land dispute divided local people

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Rachel Whitty, from Derby’s Local Studies Library, looks at the controversial history of Nun’s Green and its role in helping shape the future of the town.

NUN’S Green is an area of Derby with strong links with the history, traditions and folklore of the city. At the end of the 18th century it became the subject of a bitter local dispute that was to divide opinion throughout the town.

Today, the area of Nun’s Green comprises the land behind Friar Gate, stretching as far as Kedleston Road, taking in part of the West End.

The earliest reference to the green dates back to 1393 when the nuns of the Convent of St Mary de Pratis received the land as a gift. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, however, the lands passed to the borough and the area became common grazing land to be used free of charge by the people of Derby.

This situation remained unchanged until 1768 when part of Nun’s Green was enclosed and sold off, leaving 48 acres of common ground.

By the end of the 18th century, inadequate conditions within the town had left Derby a dangerous and unpleasant place, in desperate need of proper street paving and lighting and it was generally agreed that improvements had to be made.

A plan was proposed by the burgesses of the town, led by William Strutt, to sell off the remaining land at Nun’s Green in order to fund these improvements.

A committee set up in 1789 to oversee proceedings established that the initial sum required to undertake improvements would be £7,571.

By this time, Nun’s Green had become an open expanse of inhospitable wasteland, mostly frequented by thieves and robbers.

Despite this, however, the proposal to sell off the remaining land was met with much opposition and marked the start of a bitter dispute between the opposing sides.

The argument against the sale of Nun’s Green became one, essentially, of principle. Opposition to the plan centred around the idea that if Nun’s Green were to go then so, too, would the civil and personal liberties of the poorer people of Derby.

A letter addressed as A Caution. To the Inhabitants of the Town of Derby, urged local people: “Nun’s Green yet belongs to you, and you will do well not haftily to part with thofe valuable rights which you received from your forefathers, and which you ought to tranfmit whole and entire to your pofterity.”

Those in favour of the sale were equally as adamant. One supporter of the town’s improvement Act was Erasmus Darwin, who, in a pamphlet published in 1791, stressed the benefit to health that the improvements around the town would bring.

This was a common theme among those in favour of the sale, as it was believed that the improvements would be of benefit to everyone. There were also those who felt that, although the changes to the town were a necessity, funds should be found from elsewhere.

The arguments both for and against the Act raged on in newspapers, pamphlets, ballads and handbills. All parties evidently felt that they were in the right. Nonetheless, in 1792 Parliament allowed a private Act to be passed enabling the corporation to sell the land of Nun’s Green.

As a result, the town underwent much renovation work and the Improvement Commission, set up to manage the scheme, went on to become an important local government body.

The sale of Nun’s Green must therefore take its place as a turning point in the history of Derby.

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