Sitting just 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Derby, Mickleover lies within the unitary authority of Derby in Derbyshire, England. It is 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Burton upon Trent, 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Ashbourne, and 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Uttoxeter. The village borders Staffordshire to the west, and the A516/A38 Mickleover bypass, which opened on 19 February 1975 after construction began in April 1972 at a cost of £5.2 million, connects it efficiently to Derby and beyond. Those travelling further afield find reasonable access to Nottingham, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Manchester, and Sheffield.
History and Origins
Mickleover’s recorded history stretches back to 1011, when a charter documents King Aethelred granting land in the area to Morcar, a high-ranking Mercian Thegn. By the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, the village was recorded as Magna Oufra – “Magna” being early Latin for “great” and “oufra” deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word for flat-topped ridge. The abbey that owned Mickleover at this time, Burton Abbey, had been founded by Wulfric Spot, a kinsman of Morcar. The oldest surviving parts of the village run along Uttoxeter Road (B5020), where The Old Hall – a timber-frame building constructed between 1640 and 1650 by Robert Cotchett – still stands as the oldest house in Mickleover. Robert’s son, Thomas Cotchett, went on to run one of the earliest small-scale silk processing factories, and it was experience gained there that led John Lombe to build Derby’s first industrial-scale silk mill in 1717. Cotchett’s enterprise is considered among the earliest beginnings of industrial manufacture in England. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 1968, when it merged with Derby, Burnaston, Findern, and Radbourne, transferring from Repton Rural District to the County Borough of Derby.
Population Growth
Mickleover has grown considerably over the decades, shifting from a historic village into a suburb of Derby. In 1961 the civil parish recorded a population of 9,709. By 2003, the Mickleover ward population had reached 13,528, and current estimates put the figure in excess of 18,000. The village also has an Army Cadet Force Detachment, reflecting its continued community life alongside its residential growth.