4 NOTES ON OLD HELPER AND OLD HELPER BOOKS. 



horses were taken into the cellar and the others brought up 

 covered with foam. " Paddlewell Yard " remains to mark the 

 site of the old mill. 



"The Pottery" was established f'lrther along the same road 

 at a place known as the Gutter. Here the ordinary brown 

 ware was produced by Messrs. Blood, Webster, and Simpson.* 

 The ware was made of a vitreous clay found on the spot, 

 and consisted of bowls, pancheons, dishes, pitchers, and all the 

 commoner variety of domestic ware. These were of an 

 excellent and durable quality, as may be seen by examples still 

 to be found in the locality. The names of " Belper Pottery," 

 '■The Gutter," together with "Pothouse Lane," another street 

 in the vicinity, will always assist the student of nomenclature in 

 his investigations as to the site of the manufactory. About 

 the year 1800 the Pottery was removed to Denby, where 

 Messrs. Bourne continue to carry on a large and lucrative 

 business at the present time. 



From the building of the new Cotton Mills, Belper began 

 to put on a prosperous appearance, and the population, which 

 in 1741 had been only 532 persons, residing in 113 houses, at 

 the beginning of the present century leaped to 5,000, and 

 Belper was considered to be the second town in the county. 



The great Volunteer movement of 1803 found Belper all 

 aglow with enthusiasm. In his forthcoming work, " Three 

 Centuries of Derbyshire Annals," Rev. Dr. Cox gives a large 

 amount of interesting information, from which a few quotations 

 in advance are here given by his permission. " A large meeting 

 was held on October loth, 1803, of the inhabitants of the 

 townships of Belper, Shottle, and Holbrooke, when they en- 

 gaged themselves to form four Volunteer companies for the 

 three townships. The number of the men was to be 240, 

 and they were to be armed with firelocks at the expense of the 

 Government with 20/- per man towards the uniform. Among 

 the officers were Joseph Strutt, Lieut. -Col. ; Francis Bradshaw, 



* " Ceramic Art," p. 354, Llewellyn Jewitt. 



