Welcome to Trusley

Trusley (click for a Google map) is a very small settlement and conservation area, in Derbyshire, England. Technically we are a village but we would be a hamlet if we didn't have a church - we are smaller than most hamlets!

Pumpkin patch 2023!

The Trusley Pumpkin Patch had its second great year in 2023 - despite the bad weather. You soon realise there is nothing kids like better than messing about in wellies and mud - the pumpkins are an added bonus!

What exactly is Trusley?

Trusley is a small rural settlement and, even though most of us no longer make a living from agriculture, we are very concerned and worried about the future of the countryside.

The definition of "Trusley" varies. It could be:

The civil parish of Trusley - the lowest level of local authority organisation in England.
The smaller ecclesiastic parish of Trusley based on All Saints Church. The boundaries of this parish have changed over time - especially after Christ Church was built in Long Lane Village in 1859.
Trusley Estate. This has been held by the Coke and Coke-Steel family for generations but includes land outside the parishes of Trusley.
The core area close to the church where most of us live.

In the core area, in 2023, there are eleven homes, nineteen adults and four children and there are two farms south of the core (one farmed) and three farms north (one farmed).

Please visit our maps page for a collection of old and new maps of Trusley and the surrounding area.

Downtown Trusley has: a church, a Manor, an Old Hall, an Old Rectory, one farm, one renamed farm (now an Airnb opportunity) and five cottages.

There are a few more farms and cottages around the parish but our population is very small. We don't have a parish council but we do have the ultimate in democracy - a parish meeting where everyone can participate.

Discovery of the Temple of Mithras

Things get a little complicated in the small patch of Trusley that extends north of the Roman road of Long Lane.

A few years ago, during a periodic escape attempt by some of Home Farm's cattle, a heifer got into The Old Rectory orchard and tripped as she was guided out of the gate. She was fine but where she tripped turned out to be a vast underground room. Our conclusion was that it was an ancient Temple of Mithras, complete with altar, used by the Roman soldiers when they stopped at Long Lane Village to quench their thirst on their way from Little Chester in Derby to Rocester.

We were very disappointed to find out later that it was an empty Victorian cess pit!

It's quiet round here

Trusley is a very quiet place, nothing much was happening here at the time of The Doomsday Book at the beginning of the Norman occupation in 1066 - and nothing much is happening now.

If you hanker for night-life, or even a lonely street light as found in the nearby village of Radbourne, then Trusley is not the place for you - even our papers are delivered to a box fixed to an Oak tree about half a mile away where our little village lane ("Unnamed Lane" or just "Road" according to a sat nav!) meets a slightly larger lane. The limit of our public facilities is a post box in the wall at Home Farm - what more could we want?

Our area may be quiet and relatively unchanging (which is great!) but it has a fascinating history - from the deserted village of near-by Osleston to the reasons for the erection of the Primitive Methodist chapel at Lane Ends in neighbouring Sutton on the Hill.

Please click the image below for more about our village church. The strange pattern of mowing (visible on Google maps!) resulted from the rough ground left when the churchyard was mowed many years ago by a full-size tractor. When the mowing was later done by a smaller lawn tractor the rough parts could not be reached.

During 2023 the churchyard received some well-needed TLC and is now in excellent condition.

Please click the image below for a larger photo of Trusley in November, 2018 - not bad as a view from one's study desk!

The place that time forgot?

One of the great things about England is that there are still so many little places that give the appearance of being forgotten by time - Trusley is one of those places. In the hurly-burly of city life, or while working in "the global village", it is easy to forget what "quiet" really means.

Just because Trusley gives the impression of being stuck somewhere around 1848 belies the truth! Many of us here are all too familiar with the modern world and we make our living in it - from farming to high-tech electronics and software. We are pretty clued up on the world around us and some of us trade internationally - in some cases we do far more business outside the UK than within it!

So, "quiet" certainly - that's one of the things we love about the place, but "behind the times" - never! We are within 15 minutes of Derby and Burton-on-Trent, under an hour to Birmingham, Sheffield and Nottingham, and under 1.5 hours to Stratford on Avon - for the theatre don't you know!

Welcome to our site visitors from China! We are pleased to see that news of Trusley is spreading world-wide!

One of our contacts in China has provided some photos which may be seen here.

What to do with old farm buildings?

Go back 100/150 years and Trusley would have been an agricultural community with most people working on the land.

In the 21st century this is no longer the case - in the centre of Trusley there is only one farmer (at Home Farm) and further out there are only two farms with farming tenants: Trusleywood and Goldhurst.

However, the village has a legacy of 19th century farm buildings at Ivy Close (now The Old Court House), at Home Farm and elsewhere. Graingefields Farm, accessed from Long Lane, is no longer a tenanted farm but its outbuildings have been converted into a very attractive wedding venue - the farm house itself remains in a sad state.

As a conservation area what is Trusley to do with old buildings no longer suitable for modern agricultural use?

At the moment there is no clear answer - but suggestions are welcomed!

Doing nothing is a perfectly valid option - it isn't a requirement that things must have an alternative use - they can be allowed to grow old and decay like the rest of us. Sometimes we worry too much about "the efficient use of resources" when instead we should be concerned about how a place "feels". "Efficiency", "making a profit" and "maximising return on capital" can be destructive - we don't want to be like the gambling dens in the City of London that brought the world to the verge of financial collapse in 2007/2008.

A chance to spend a few days in Trusley!

The Trusley Estate has renovated Ivy Close Farm, renamed it "The Old Court House" and made it available for rent on Airbnb. We have had a look inside and it is bee's knees!

So, you can spend a few days in luxury while stepping back in time in quiet Trusley.

Our battle with broadband and mobile signals

For many years we suffered from broadband speeds of under 0.6Mbps because our nearest BT cabinet is over 2 miles away. However, fibre arrived in 2018 and we now get speeds in excess of 100Mbps - but unfortunately our mobile signal remains poor, especially indoors.

Our lanes

We are surrounded by a network of small lanes (sat navs call the one through Trusley "Unnamed road") - some of which can be death-traps given the number of potholes in them - so drive carefully - and watch out for slow moving tractors!

In September, 2021, the whole length of the "Unnamed road" through Trusley, from "the triangle" to Butterpot, was resurfaced!

Eateries close by

We don't have a village pub or eatery but there are lots within easy reach of a pleasant cross-country drive.

Your can find full details of each one by Googling for them.

As in other parts of the country, many of our rural pubs have gone-up market (to bring in enough to stay open!) and some have had new extensions. The downside of extensions is they tend to be noisy: hard floors, hard walls, lots of echoes - difficult for the hard of hearing - especially when many customers seem to spend most of their eating-out time on their smartphones! However, most places retain tables in the bar area where the noise is less obtrusive.

The first three below are now part of a local chain and offer good food.

The Cow, Lees. Used to be "The Black Cow". Gone up market from being a rural pub.
The Horseshoes, Long Lane Village. Used to be "The Three Horseshoes".
Changing the name shows a lack of respect for history. "The Three Horseshoes" has always been the sign of a pub run by, or next to, the village blacksmith: horses with three shoes meant work for the blacksmith.
The Bluebell, Kirk Langley. Good food.
The Cock Inn, Mugginton. Standard food, nice tables in the bar area.
However, it is now owned by RedCat which is funded by a massive American "asset management" company so we won't be visiting again.
The Red Lion, Hollington. Simple pub grub, good beer, not posh! Proper pub.
The Great Northern, Mickleover. Decent food.
The Boot, Repton. Excellent food, excellent beer, nice place - not cheap! Good for a "special" evening out.
The Bulls Head, Repton. Good food - but thought it was trendy to serve food on slates! Good food on plain plates: that's the secret.
The Wheel Inn, Ticknall. Very good. Nice village. Close to NT Calke Abbey.
The Dog & Partridge, Marchington. Very good.
The Roebuck, Draycott in the Clay. Very good.
Holly Bush Inn, Church Broughton. Simple pub grub, good beer, not posh!
Seven Wells, Etwall. Standard "chain" food - decent steaks.
Saracens Head, Shirley. Excellent.
The Crown inn, Marston Montgomery. Not been for ages. Was very good.
The Light House, Boylestone. Open Wednesday to Saturday. Good food - not cheap.
Jinnie Inn, Rolleston-on-Dove. Very good.
Dog & Partridge, Tutbury. Not been for years.

Trusley.com

A Derbyshire village