Page 5 - HeritageEbooklet

Old Osmaston

Osmaston is situated about two and a half miles south of the centre of Derby.
In the Domesday Book of 1086, the village is recorded as Osmundestune and
is thought to be named for Osmund, who held the land in the reign of King
Edward the Confessor.

By 1868, when The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland was published,
Osmaston was described as a small village whose inhabitants were “wholly
engaged in agriculture.” Despite its close proximity to Derby, the parish was
a rural community made up of scattered dairy farms. It was also the site of
Osmaston Hall, home to the Wilmot family.
Osmaston Hall

Robert Wilmot of Chaddesden bought the Osmaston estate in the early 17th
century and passed it on to his second son, Nicholas. When Sir Nicholas died
in 1682, his son Robert inherited the 3,709 acre estate. He rebuilt the house
in 1696 to a design that was nine bays wide and three storeys high. Further
alterations and additions were made in the eighteenth century to both the
property and its extensive grounds. In 1772 the Wilmot family was raised to
the baronetcy. Notable family members who lived at the house include the first
three Wilmot baronets of Osmaston, and Sir John Eardley Wilmot who became
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
Osmaston Hall remained the main Wilmot family residence until 1823, when
they moved to Catton Hall near Walton-on-Trent. On inheriting Catton, the
family became the Wilmot-Hortons and Osmaston Hall was leased with 32
acres to the Fox family of Derby.

In 1888 the Wilmot-Hortons sold the house and estate to the Midland Railway
Company, and the land in the northern section of the park was used to extend
the carriage and wagon works. In 1892 part of the estate’s landscaped grounds
became a nine-hole golf course and home to Derbyshire Golf Club, which used
the hall as their club house.
Osmaston Hall was demolished in March 1938. In 1946-7, Derby Corporation
bought the grounds and developed them into what is now the Ascot Drive
industrial estate.

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