Dalbury (All Saints)
DALBURY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Burton-upon-Trent, hundred of Appletree, S. division of the county of Derby, 6 miles (W. by S.) from Derby; containing, with the hamlet of Lees, 221 inhabitants. In the reign of Edward II. Dalbury and Lees were the property of Sir Robert Holland; and both places were held by Sir Samuel Sleigh, who died in 1679. They passed with his daughter and co-heiress to Samuel Cheetham, Esq., and on that gentleman's death, without issue, to Rowland Cotton, Esq., of Bellaport, in Shropshire, who had married the other coheiress. The parish comprises 1172a. 26p., mostly rich pasture land and dairy-farms; about 29 acres are common: the surface is beautifully diversified with hill and dale, the soil is a thick loam, and the scenery is picturesque. Lees is an inconsiderable village, scattered round a green of about 36 acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £4. 16. 3.; patron, incumbent, and lord of the manor, the Rev. C. Evelyn Cotton, whose tithes have been commuted for £184, and whose glebe comprises 47 acres, with an excellent house, built by the incumbent. The church is in the later English style, and is an ancient edifice covered with ivy; it has a Norman arch over the belfry, and contains a fine stone font with a richly carved oak covering: in one of the windows, of stained glass, is a figure of St. Michael, and the date 1627. A north aisle was lately added, and the church thoroughly repaired, at a cost of £300. The communion-plate, of great value, was presented by the Cotton family. There is a place of worship for Primitive Methodists. £14 per annum were left by Ann Pole for putting out apprentices, or for the poor. The parish is indebted to the incumbent for a line of upwards of 1000 yards of public road, constructed at his expense, and for extensive plantations.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.