Little known is the fact that the Peasants’ Revolt of 1831, led by Wat Tyler, spread north to Derbyshire in the ‘Summer of Blood’, as Patrick Coleman reports.
DEEP in woodland near the village of Horsley, just north of Derby, is one of the best-kept architectural secrets in the county. Lurking in a hollow, overgrown with trees and creepers, are the crumbling remains of a fortress which amount to little more than foundations and the broken base of a tower. The site is tranquil today, a curiosity for local dog walkers. But 640 years ago, it was a centre of action in one of the most celebrated events in English history: the so-called Peasants’ Revolt. If you’ve never heard about Derbyshire’s part in the attempted “English Revolution” of 1381, then you are far from alone. Even today, schoolchildren are taught that the key events took place down south, where an angry protest about a new Poll Tax turned into an all-out rebellion against the king, Richard II. The events around Essex, Kent and London were certainly dramatic. Yet the focus on the capital has somewhat overshadowed events that took place elsewhere in the country, and only recently have historians begun to unearth Derbyshire’s forgotten part in the revolt…