6 LIST OF THE INHABITANTS OF MELBOURNE, 1695. 
The aspect of the parish of Melbourne has been changed 
beyond recognition since 1695 ; for'where there are now rich water 
meadows, fertilised by the Trent, there was then an undrained 
swamp, which produced nothing but gorse ; whilst a dreary waste 
of common, which was let for #10 a year asa rabbit warren, 
extended over 2,500 acres. The common was not enclosed until 
1787. The roads were impassable for vehicles on wheels, and the 
corn was carried to market on pack horses. The whole number 
of sheep in the parish was under a thousand, but the price of 
stock was low in 1695 compared with wages ; for it appears, from 
an old account book at Melbourne Hall,* that an ewe, with two 
lambs, fetched 8s., a barren ewe 6s., and a ram 8s.; whilst a 
labourer’s wages were 1s.a day. ‘The average rate of wages at the 
present time may be taken at 15s. a week ; so that the Derbyshire 
labourer, judging from the price of mutton, was much better paid 
and better fed in 1695 than he is in our own days, with all our 
boasted progress. 
The original MS. of the Melbourne assessment consists of 14 
folio pages legibly written. It is divided, in pursuance of the Act, 
in six separate columns, showing the names and surnames of the 
inhabitants of Melbourne, and their occupations, and the amount 
of the duties for which they were respectively liable. It is signed 
at the end by two assessors, John Ragge and Samuel Symes, who 
both figure in the list as yeomen; by two collectors, John 
[illegible] and. Owen Maples, who are respectively described as 
(?) and flaxdresser ; and by two Justices of the Peace, 
Henry Heveningham and Robert Hardinge. MHardinge was lord 
of the manor of King’s Newton, but Heveningham was not resi- 
dent in the parish. He was lieutenant of the band of gentlemen 
pensioners, and was the nephew of Sir William Heveningham, of 
Ketteringham, Norfolk, who was called “the regicide,” from his 
having been one of the judges at the trial of Charles I. His 
nephew’s connection with Derbyshire was through his marriage, 
for Henry married Frances, Countess Dowager of Bellamont, one 
* These particulars are gleaned chiefly from Briggs’ “ History of Melbourne.” 
