Roman Times

Before Little Eaton existed as a village, there were tracks developing in the area. In Roman times, there was a road called Ryknield Way from Warwick in the south, through a camp, Derventio, in Derby and on to York in the north. Another road, The Street, travelled to Manchester and the west, passing by lead mines at Wirksworth.

There was a track between these roads, now The Packhorse Trail, shown in the picture.

The trail led up the steps by the Bridge Inn, across the fields and down Whittaker Lane. 

It took stone from the Outwoods and Rigga Lane quarries into Derby.

The Middle Ages

During Saxon times, a hamlet began to appear between Bottle Brook and the Derwent. This was named Little Eaton.

King Edward “The Confessor” (1042-1066) gave some land  just north of what is now Rigga Lane  to St Alkmunds Church in Derby, on condition that the Church sent out priests to the village on Sundays. The land was let to villagers who cultivated it with vegetables and fodder for animals in return for tithes in the form of labour and a share of the crops. Roads developed from the village into Derby and to the rented land off Rigga lane.

The Little Eaton Award Map, dated 1789, with the very early roads marked in red.

Over time during the Middle Ages, roads began to be given names. What is now the Duffield Road was called (north to south) Edge Cote Road, Long Lane, and Holme Lane.

Rigga lane was called Rigger Lane; and Alfreton Road was called Windarse Road. 

Stone roads of 17th Century and the “Knappers”

During the seventeenth century, roads began to be paved with rough stones. “Knappers” would be employed to work in “knapper’s bays” at the side of the roads to break down boulders into smaller stones which would be fitted together to make a durable road surface.

The picture shows one of the ten knapper’s bays that have been preserved by the side of the Alfreton Road between Little Eaton and Coxbench and can still be seen.

19th Century

In the early 19th century, John Macadam introduced a new road surface made up of small stones and sand. This was smoother than the paving stones on their own and easier to maintain. Later Edward Hooley, County surveyor for Nottinghamshire, was passing a tar works and noticed that a barrel of tar had spilt onto a macadam surface to form “Tarmac”. He patented the idea and it became widely used across the world. The term “Tarmac” is now used as a generic term to cover a range of bitumen and concrete products.

The first photograph of the village was taken in 1867. It shows one of the two toll bars in the village. One was to the south , where the Duffield Road now joins Alfreton Road; the other was to the north where Morley Lane joins. The four stone posts were moved in the early 20th century to fields by the river and are still there today.

Until the 1930s the usual way to travel in the village was on foot or with horses. Here are pictures of two local farmers – Tom Garrett of Moor End farm with his horse and trap and William Redfern of Vickers farm delivering milk on foot.

Modern Times

By the 1930s cars were beginning to become common in the village but the roads were far from busy.

During the 1940s and 1950s there was a rapid increase in road traffic, including lorries travelling from the north into Derby and Birmingham. The first solution to this was to keep the road through the village but to create a dual carriageway between Little Eaton and Derby. Work had started  before the war but the main project was carried out in 1957.

One of the casualties of the project was Carlier’s garage which was knocked down to make way for the new road. Heavy lorries rumbled through the village and accidents were commonplace. One local resident remembers “walking the kids to school from our house on Alfreton Road, the traffic was so loud you couldn’t speak to them until you got inside the playground”.

Within 20 years, it became evident that a much more radical scheme was needed. In the 1970s the present A38 was proposed. The idea was warmly welcomed but the Parish Council but was opposed by some people because of the effect it would have on the countryside to the east of the village.

The Next Step

The next major development will be the construction of a flyover at the Little Eaton roundabout. This has been in the planning stage for several years, delayed by legal challenges. Work on it is expected to start on building the project from 2025.

By Philip Hunter