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