OLD HOUSES OF DERBY. 93 



else may lie said in favour of those we have erected in their stead, 

 we have not erred on the side of too much good taste. It is not, 

 however, intended in these remarks to enter into the question of 

 what is or is not the best style to be adopted in building, but 

 simply to give, in plates which accompany this brief letter-press, 

 some sketches of old houses in Derby and the neighbourhood 

 that appear to be worthy of being preserved in this way. They 

 cannot fail to be of interest in future years, when the quaint 

 originals no longer exist. 



There was, till lately, in Friar Gate, where the G. N. Railway 

 now crosses, an old inn named the Old White Horse — (Plate VI.) 

 It was a queer-looking old place for an inn ; but was much fre- 

 quented, at no very remote period, by lovers of good ale. We 

 have often been much amused on a Sunday, to see a number of 

 these pacing to and fro in the front, waiting till the hour arrived 

 for opening the house. Each one tried to look quite unconscious 

 that any such place existed ; and yet, when the door opened, they 

 took the earliest opportunity of gliding through it, to procure their 

 favourite beverage. On Sunday evenings, the number of persons 

 of both sexes who made it necessary to call and " wet their 

 whistles" was astonishing, and gave one the impression that a 

 large number who were not total abstainers frequented the locality. 

 Hutton, in his History of Derby, relates a curious story of a former 

 hostess of the Old White Horse, whose very free manner of life 

 gave to it a not by any means enviable notoriety ; but the story is 

 too long to transcribe, so the curious reader is referred to his 

 pages. The White Horse Inn is incidentally mentioned in the 

 Churchwardens' Accounts of All Saints', under the year 1632. 

 Much of the old building, recently removed, was doubtless of that 

 date, though the windows, Szc, had been subsequently renewed ; 

 and the same remark will apply to the old thatched house adjoin- 

 ing the inn, which is shown on the sketch. 



Besides this old inn, Friar Gate contains several other old 

 houses of more or less interest. There is part of one near the 

 Savings Bank, the barge boards and hip-knobs of which were of 

 good design ; some of the latter remain, but the original barge 

 boards have long since passed away. There is in Farker's 



