Both Pennytown and Muckram are almost certainly old names although reference to them in documents is difficult to find. Pennytown is mentioned as a separate entity in the early census returns, and in F. White’s Derbyshire History, Gazeteer & Directory published in 1857 there are listings for four farmers in the hamlet.
‘Penny Town’ is said to owe the origin of its name to the fact that the tenants there paid a silver penny in rent to the Abbot of Beauchief Abbey although no records have been found to confirm this. If this is correct, it would put the founding date of the hamlet prior to 1536, when the Abbey lands became forfeit to the Crown at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
It is known that the monks of Beauchief Abbey, or at least their tenants, extensively mined the area around Birchwood, which was rich in coal. The seams were close to the surface and mined using Bell or Bee Hive pits, so called due to their shape. It is therefore understandable that the hamlets of Pennytown and Muckram would probably have been founded on the back of this fledgling industry.
Notwithstanding the ancient history, however, the houses that were erected to form these two hamlets were likely to have been built in the early 1800s, although the farms of Pennytown and Muckram no doubt pre-date these.
PHOTO: An old coloured postcard of Pennytown, dating from the early 1900s
The first instance of a record of Pennytown in local newspapers relates to the report of a death, and was published in the Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties, published on Friday 6 July 1827. It refers to the death of William Dawes, aged 68, who resided in Nottinghamshire. Part of the report states “… [He] left home between eight or nine in the morning, saying he was going to see his relatives in Derbyshire. About four o’clock the next afternoon, he was at the house of his nephew, at Pennytown, near Alfreton, by whom the old man was received kindly, but soon after he went out, and between eight and nine o’clock in the evening was found drowned in a large fishpond in Alfreton parish. By what means he got into the water, whether by accident or otherwise must ever remain a mystery. The Coroner’s Inquest, which was held on Sunday at Alfreton, returned a verdict of “Found Drowned”.”
The fish pond to which this news story relates is probably the first and largest of the Pennytown Ponds, now part of the Nature Reserve. The report also establishes the fact that houses existed at least as far back as 1827, and before the time that Somercotes Common itself had been developed.
One of the earliest references to Muckram appears to be a “Release and QuitClaim” document by John Zouch of Codnor Castle. This document mentions various people in the Alfreton area, including Edmund Meymott of Alfreton. In the same document it is stated that “…Edmund Meymott owns a messuage at Somercotes, a close at Alfreton known as Mockerome Hole and a close at Somercotes known as Lee Close…”. The place described as “Mockerome Hole” almost certainly refers to the area now known as Muckram.
The earliest newspaper report regarding Muckram was published in the Derbyshire Courier on 10 April 1875, as part of a report in to the sanitary conditions of the area. Part of the report stated that “…Some houses in “Muckram” Birchwood, were described to be in a wretched state, the water particularly bad…”. Despite the condition of the hamlet reported in the newspaper, Muckram was still inhabited well into the 20th century, although no doubt the state of the housing stock and infrastructure would have been improved.
PHOTO: A photograph of Pennytown cottages, prior to demolition
Regardless of the initial development of the hamlets both Pennytown and Muckram remained small, with, by the census of 1911, Pennytown Farm being the foremost dwelling, with others occupied in the main by colliery workers. Two buildings at Muckram, though, are worth mentioning. One is “Swiss Cottage” a large house nestled in a rural setting on the edge of the hamlet which used to house the manager of Birchwood Colliery. In the early 1840s it was the home of William Goodwin, the son of the mine owner, Humphrey Goodwin. The other building is the Mission Chapel which was built thanks to the generosity of Sir Charles Seely, who had taken ownership of Birchwood Colliery at the time. It was a building made of corrugated iron lined with varnished boards, and originally stood in about one acre of land on Muckram Lane, some 200 yards from the junction with Birchwood Lane. It was dismantled in 1940 and initially used as a colliery canteen.
PHOTO: A photograph of "Swiss Cottage", Muckram.
Although the houses of Pennytown continued to be occupied throughout much of the 20th century, the viability of it surviving became an issue, and the encroaching industrial estates gave the authorities a valid reason to demolish the hamlet and re-house the occupants.
The end came in 1982, although the last of the residents appear to have vacated their homes some months before demolition. The Smith family are recorded as the last to have moved out. Pennytown comprised of just twelve cottages and by 1980, in many respects, had long lost its separate identity and had been absorbed into the village of Somercotes. The location of the houses now lies under the vast sprawl of the Cotes Park and Clover Nook Industrial Estates, although the area known as Pennytown Ponds was rescued from the encroaching construction work.
The Pennytown Ponds are thought to be part the original Cotes Park Estate, dating back as early as the 14th century. Originally known to locals as “Shady Ponds”, the area had become, by the 1970s, an isolated and forgotten area almost entirely surrounded by the industrial estates. In the 1980s however, the area was designated as a County Wildlife site and in the following decade investment and work by the Pennytown Ponds Group and Groundwork brought a new lease of life to the neighbourhood, culminating in the creation of the Pennytown Local Nature Reserve in 2002, in some small way keeping the name alive for future generations.