The Wilmot Arms

The oldest public house in Chaddesden is the early 19th century Wilmot Arms. It was originally known as the Wheel Inn, but was renamed after the Wilmot family. Inquests were heard and property auctions took place here, also meetings of farmers groups and larger parties, some funded by the Wilmot family for the village people.

One of the earlier landlords was John Millington who was born in Chaddesden in 1788 and married Ann Bennett on 15 February 1814. He appeared in the Derby Mercury as the landlord of the Wheel Inn when he hosted a meeting of the Association for the Prosecution of Felons on 26 October 1816. Millington's name appears in trade directories up to 1835. In 1841 Edward Cholerton was listed and in 1851 George Brigg had taken over.

Until the introduction of the Intoxicating Liquor (Licensing) Bill of 1872, there was no restriction on the hours that inns could be opened and they were often used for different activities. The Derby Mercury recorded that on 2 July 1864 “a public tea drinking event took place through the kind liberality of Sir H.S. Wilmot, the Misses Wilmot, and several subscribers in the village. About 200 people were supplied with a most excellent tea, plum cake, buns etc., at the Wilmot Arms, every one being invited throughout the parish. After tea, dancing was commenced and kept up with great spirit for some hours.”

On 13 July 1864, the Derby Mercury described the Wilmot Arms as having a “green and bowery rose garden at the back, and at the front the Wilmot arms and crest in which eagles heads and escallop shells play a prominent heraldic part, and preside over an inscription which Sir Wilfred Lawson would decipher as “licensed to be drunk on the premises”.

The Wilmot Arms is seen below in two picture postcards which show the junction of Chaddesden Lane, Morley Road and Wood Road before it was widened in the 1930s. The Wilmot Arms is the only feature that has survived from a hundred years ago.

Wood Road is behind the wall on the left and, on the far side of the road, is Chaddesden Village post office. The parked car with the back seat driver and central steering wheel helps to date this photo. It is a Stoneleigh 9hp Utility car of which fewer than 150 were built by Armstrong Siddeley Motors in Coventry between June 1922 and June 1923. This one appears to carry a Derbyshire registration, NU4174. The reverse of the card carries the date 17 May 1928 but that could be several years after the photo was taken.

The Wilmot Arms has received new name signs in the next photo. The bus is a Dennis Lancet, registration RB7906, which was new to Felix Bus Service in 1932. The former village post office is closed, the name removed and the wall bricked up where the letter box was. The building was demolished in 1933/34 as part of the road widening. Note the street light in the foreground, placed to illuminate not only the road junction but Chapel Lane which passes the right hand side of the Wilmot Arms.

The near-white colour of the road surface in both photos shows that it is water-bound macadam which required regular attention from Derbyshire County Council's roller if the surface was to be kept in good condition. A tar-bound macadam surface would be laid when the road was widened.

In 2014 the premises were bought by the Steamin' Billy Brewing Company who removed the name from the building and substituted their own, giving the impression that it had been renamed. Local residents still know it as the Wilmot Arms, and an approximation of the Wilmot Family Arms appears on one wall.

Further Information

Follow these links to read more about Chaddesden's history.