Home > Family History > Annie Wozencroft (Menu) > Hundall

Family History

Hundall

*** WORK IN PROGRESS ***

Hundall is a small village in the parish of Unstone, just north of Chesterfield, in Derbyshire (Grid Ref SK387773). In many lists it doesn't even exist, but is regarded as part of either Unstone or Apperknowle. Searching for it on the internet will mainly find you references to its cricket team!

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

The village comprises 3 post codes, and (about) 30 or so 'addresses' including 5 farms and one pub. Most of houses are identified by a house name - house numbers seem excessive.

On old maps and in some old records the village is known as 'Hundow' - which is probably how some poor foreigner (perhaps from Sheffield) rendered the local pronunciation. I have found one reference (that I have not substantiated) to the names Hundall, Hundoel, Hundoe and Undoe all being mentioned in the 'Bishop's Transcripts' for Dronfield in the late 1700s.

The census returns for 1881 (Chesterfield Enumeration District 12) give the name as 'Hundow', and many of the households show their address simply as 'Unstone', which is the 'township' (later the 'civil parish') in which it lies. Where groups of houses are identified, it is often by the name of one of the residents or the owner - e.g. Booker's Cottages. A few names found their way onto the OS maps (shown below) - e.g. Ebenezer Cottages.

In 1891, the village is called 'Houndall', and most addresses (except the Miner's Arms) are also simply 'Houndall' - specific houses are not identified. In 1901, the name is again given as 'Hundow'. Check out previous years!

Trade Directories also show some uncertainly. In White's Directory of 1879, we see 'Hundall', while in 1891, Kelly's has 'Hundow'.

Bacon's Atlas of the British Isles (above) still refers to Hundow in the 1904 edition (above), even though the Ordnance Survey had adopted the current name by 1876.

Click for larger image of the 1876 1:2500 OS Map

The 1876 large scale map (above) shows that the extent of the village was then very much as it is today. The main difference was the colliery, that was still working until the 1890s, and its 'tramway' which even found its way onto the Bacon map shown above. The track which the tramway crosses (under the word 'Tramway' on the 1876 map) is shown as a road on the Bacon map and is the right of way marked on the modern 1:25,000 map running south of Hall Farm across to the edge of Stubbing Wood.

Hundall Colliery, operated by the 'Hundall Colliery Co.', is listed in the 1880 'List of Mines', but was not there in 1869 (according to transcriptions at CMHRC). The colliery was no longer in the official 'List of Mines' in 1896 (transcribed at PDMHS) and a web site relating to the history of coal mining in the area lists the notice of sale of Hundall and New Whittington Collieries on October 8th. 1887.

A 'Luke Lee' of Hundall Lane, Unstone was operating a mine called 'Orchard' in 1908 (with 8 men underground and 2 above). In the 1917 and 1918 'lists' his address was 'Knowles House, Apperknowle, Unstone, Sheffield' (and the workforce had expanded to 15 underground and 3 above in 1918). The 1917 list (of which I have a copy) gives the location of the mine simply as 'Unstone', and notes that it worked the Piper seam (which outcrops in the valley near Unstone, and was reached by shafts around Apperknowle - as shown in the 1921 6 inch Geological map of the area).

Though 'Orchard Mine' is not mentioned in earlier lists, and I have not identified it on any map, it is unlikely to be a re-opening of Hundall Colliery since the colliery is marked as 'Disused' in the 1899 6 inch OS map (below), and its buildings are no longer shown.