SWARKESTONE, a parish in the hundred of
REPTON-and-GRESLEY, county of DERBY, 5 miles (H.
by E.) from Derby, containing 243 inhabitants. The
living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Derby, and
diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's
books at £5, and in the patronage of Sir (irnrgc Crewe,
Bart. The church, dedicated to St. James, i principally
in the Norman style, though inurh disfigured by
the insertion of modern windows; it has lately received
an addition of one hundred sittings, of which severity
are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement
of churches and chapels having granted £35 towards
defraying the expense. Swarkcstone is in the honour of
Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster, and within the jurisdiction
of a court of pleas held at Tutbury every third
Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The
Trent and Mersey canal passes through the parish, and
is here joined by the Derby canal. The bridge over the
Trent is constructed so as to secure a passage over the
low grounds, which are usually flooded in the winter;
the span over the river is only one hundred and thirtyeight
yards, but the whole length of the bridge is one
thousand three hundred and four yards; it was originally
not more than eleven or twelve feet broad, but
has been widened in many places, so that carriages can
now pass each other at very small intervals. About the
beginning of the year 1643, Col. Hastings fortified Sir
John Harpur's house at Swarkestone, and threw up
some works at the bridge, to secure the passage of the
Trent. Sir John Gell marched thither with Sir George
Gresley's troops, when the garrison at the bridge offered
a determined resistance, on the part of the royalists,
but the men were at length driven from their works
with considerable loss.