Melbourne - Page 1 of 3
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The name of Melbourne signifies 'mill on the brook' or 'a mill stream' and the story of Melbourne is a long one. The Doomsday Book records the existence of a church here in 1086. Nothing much is known of that church, but with important Anglo-Saxon remains nearby at Breedon and Repton, it was possibly a substantial building. Early in the twelfth century someone with great wealth and authority replaced this church with the magnificent building we now see.

Factoids

• Melbourne Hall once belonged to Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister

• Melbourne’s Wake Fair, has been running since the 1500s

• Melbourne Parish Church has been described as a "cathedral in miniature"

• Amongst the top ten Norman churches in England.

• Melbourne is the birthplace of travel agency pioneer Thomas Cook

Melbourne Hall was originally the rectory house for the Bishops of Carlisle. It was substantially rebuilt by Thomas and George Coke in the early 18th century. The first Coke to live in Melbourne was Sir John Coke, Secretary of State to King Charles 1. He rebuilt the medieval house in 1629-31. Some of his work still remains. Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister to Queen Victoria, inherited the house and estate in 1828. His name was given to Melbourne, Australia.

The Hall gardens are of great interest and historic importance being laid out with the assistance of Royal gardeners in 1704. They contain fine examples of ironwork by Derby ironsmith, Robert Bakewell.

The Pool, originally the mill pool for the Hall's mill, is a favourite spot in summer with families with children.

Pool cottage below right was formerly the miller's house and has a picturesque front elevation. It was built in1839 in a Victorian Tudor style

The local inhabitants of the pool!, the white swan here doesn't like his family being photographed as he chases me away!

The Tea Rooms above were built in 1708, and were originally described as "A Wash House and Bake House with laundry over". Both washing and baking required open fires which, for safety reasons, were best kept well away from the main Hall. More recently the Tea Rooms have been used as a Chapel for Melbourne Hall and a Girl Guides meeting place before becoming a tea room.
 

The picture above is the small courtyard containing the small craft shops that you pass through before you reach the tea rooms

The parish church dedicated to St. Michael with St. Mary is one of the finest Norman examples in England. It has been described as a cathedral in miniature. There has been a church in Melbourne for many centuries. The Doomsday Book records a church here in 1086. The present church was built about 1120 and most of the original masonry is intact.  At the back of the church (west end) there is a gallery, and along each side there are walkways. These continue around all four sides of the crossing beneath the central tower, the final link being an upper chancel at the east end. Access would have been through what is now the central window, and the outline of the upper chancel is clearly visible outside the church. One theory suggests that this church was built as a royal church by Henry I as part of his manor at Melbourne. If this was so, then the west gallery was a 'royal pew' and the upper chancel was for the King's use. Therefore this church was already standing when Adelulf received it from the King in 1133.

The west end is massive, with its fine door moulding and two low towers, but the crowning of a parish church with three towers was a unique extravagance. The east end of the church originally had a triple apse, that is, three rounded ends. This was a feature of early Norman churches, and traces of these can be seen both inside and outside the church. We can be grateful to those who altered the east end in later centuries for leaving it rather untidy. This way we can easily visualise what was there before.

The tithe barn at the West end of the church, the picture on the left shows different types of roofing and the picture on the right shows the serious stone erosion on part of the wall.

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