Country Images Magazine North Edition November 2017 | Page 27
Derbyshire’s
A
Melbourne
ustralian visitors to Derbyshire are often
disappointed when they learn that the
name of their illustrious city is not named
after the attractive South Derbyshire town, but
after Queen Victoria’s fi rst Prime Minister, Lord
Melbourne. Brian Spencer went along there
recently to learn a little more about its history.
Entering the township of Melbourne from the north by way of the long
causeway of Swarkstone Bridge, it soon becomes obvious that Melbourne
has become a popular commuter town. Convenient to both Derby and
Burton and beyond, it is home for many of those who work either in the
air, or on the ground at East Midlands Airport. Others are engineers
based at Toyota or the highly technical sections of Rolls Royce or maybe
Bombardier; those who travel westwards every morning are, likely as not,
part of the massive brewing complex that grew around the special kind of
water pumped from deep beneath Burton.
Th e old part of Melbourne town still fi ts snuggly around its hall and
Norman church. With the open space and roofed market stand at the
top of the street beyond the hall, the rest of the town centre is mostly late
Georgian. Above the frontages of small independent butchers, bakers,
fl orists, tea shops and th