SOUTH SITCH, IDRIDGEHAY. 3 



quotes a quaint punning epigram on Derby's first Mayor, from a 

 book of epigrams published by Bancroft in 1639 — 



" You seeme the prime bough of an ample tree 

 Whereon if fair expected fruits we see 

 Whilest others' fames with ranke reproaches meete 

 As mel or manna shall your name be sweete." 



From Glover's account of this family we leam that Robert 

 Mellor, of Iderichaye, who died in 161 6, by will dated May 6th, 

 161 5, devised a copyhold estate in Iderichaye to his son George 

 in tail male, with remainder to his son Thomas in tail male, 

 remainder to his right heirs. George Mellor, who appears to 

 have been the youngest of four sons, married Millicent — and is 

 described as in 1617 of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and in 

 1621 of Derby, B.A. ; in 1659 he surrendered his copyhold at 

 Idridgehay to his son Robert. This George Mellor would 

 appear to have been the builder of the house at South Sitch, for 

 on the oak tie-beam of the north gable of the house is cut 

 16211GMM, clearly indicating George and Millicent Mellor. 



Externally the house does not proclaim its interest; most of 

 the \vindows have been more or less altered in later times, and 

 the whole of the walls covered with rough-cast, though the 

 thatched roof, now becoming a rarity in Derbyshire, is still 

 retained; but immediately upon entering, the position of the 

 door in relation to the fireplace and the stairs, and the construc- 

 tion of the stairs themselves, tell the great age of the building ; 

 on mounting the stairs and examiningi the walls on the first floor 

 the timber construction can in many places be easily traced 

 through the wall papers with which it is covered, and when the 

 attics are reached it is clearly exposed to view. The plan of the 

 original house was extremely simple, and typical of the ordinary 

 comfortable farmhouse of the period. It comprised on the ground 

 floor two rooms, with the staircase between the two; the present 

 dining-room, with its deeply recessed and cosy fireplace, would 

 have been the general living room or house-place. If the second 

 room, now used as a drawing-room, originally had any fireplace 

 it seems that it must have been in the comer as at present, though 



