56 St John Street

▪ Grade II listed building thought to have been rebuilt in the 1780s

▪ Part of the Miss Parkers’ school for young ladies 1798-1811

▪ Perhaps extensively renovated around 1811

▪ Owned by several prominent Ashbourne families:

➢ Goodwins 1779-96

➢ Bainbrigges 1796-1828 (also occupied 1812-28)

➢ Bradleys 1828-1868 (also occupied 1828-36?)

➢ Skevingtons/Rigbys 1868-1973 (also occupied)

▪ Remains a private residence to this day

Number 56 lies between Madge House, Number 58, and St John’s House, Number 54, and is on the south side of the street towards its eastern end.

The Building

The house has a rendered or roughcast exterior with coped parapet (roof not visible). At the front, it is three storeys each with three flat headed sash windows with exposed frames and glazing bars (at the rear, four storeys with the house built on a slope). The bottom storey windows have panelled shutters. It has a recessed, 6 fielded panelled door with rectangular fanlight and Gothic glazing.

The History of its Occupation and Use

Conveyance documents indicate that the house at this location was owned by four generations of the Bower family of Chesterfield from the early 18^thcentury until 1779 when it was sold. The purchaser was the attorney John Goodwin who lived next door at Number 54 and it is thought that he rebuilt the house in the 1780s. According to the 1779 conveyance documents, the house had been tenanted by the hatter John Howard and subsequently his son Samuel, however, from 1780-86, the occupant was a Mrs. (Ellen) Budworth. Her will of 1807 show that she had two sons, John and William Howard and research shows that she had married John Howard (Senior) in 1743. It has not been established when John(Senior) and Samuel (eldest son?) passed away.

John Goodwin died in 1786 and the house passed to his son also named John. From 1787-97, 56 St John St was occupied by Thomas Pidcock (d.1791) and his son also named Thomas who were plumbers and glaziers.

John Goodwin Junior probably passed away in 1788 but he died intestate and the house then came into the possession of Francis Goodwin, the younger son of John Goodwin Senior. Francis Goodwin subsequently built and occupied Hinchleywood House in Mappleton.

Numbers 54 and 56 St John St were advertised for sale in 1795 with the occupants respectively being William Webster, the brother-in-law of Francis Goodwin, and Thomas Pidcock (see below).

Both properties were acquired by Phillip Bainbrigge, the youngest son of Thomas Bainbrigge of Woodseat Hall in Rocester, in 1796. He was an officer in the Infantry and was a Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 20^th Foot when he was killed in 1799 in the battle of Egmont-op-Zee during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. There is a memorial to Phillip in St Oswald’s Church.

In 1797, No. 56 was sold by Phillip to his brother John who was a Captain in the Derbyshire Militia and he is shown as the proprietor in the 1798 Land Tax assessment (see below). The occupier at this time is shown as Miss Parker(s)who had expanded their school for young ladies at 58 St John St.

An 1805 conveyance document (lease for possession), shows Rachel Bainbrigge, Phillip’s wife, acquiring 56 St John St from her brother-in-law John. However, Land Tax records show John as the owner/proprietor up until 1811.

After the Miss Parkers left, Rachel Bainbrigge rearranged the garden area behind her two properties and likely conducted significant renovations to 56 St John St. From 1812, Rachel herself occupied 56 St John St while the larger neighbouring property was rented out.

In 1828 Rachel sold 56 St John St to Joseph Bradley, the well-known Ashbourne grocer and banker and it is likely that the Bradley family then took up residence there. Joseph died in 1834 leaving the house to his wife Mary, and his unmarried daughter, by a previous marriage, Frances. The 1835 commercial directory shows Mrs Bradley on St John St but she passed away in 1836. By the time of the 1841 census, Rupert Toogood, surgeon, was the occupant of the house and Frances had left the area to live with her brother.

The house when then rented out for some 30 years, first to Rupert Toogood, and then to his son William who was also a surgeon. After William Toogood purchased 58 St John St and moved there in 1859, the house was rented out to John Fox Junior who was a solicitor.

When Frances Bradley passed away in 1867, the house, under Joseph’s will, went to his five other children and one of them, Septimus, who had taken over his father’s grocer’s business, coordinated the sale of the house to Georgiana Skevington. Georgiana was one of the daughters of John Skevington, a surgeon, who had died in 1867. Upon completion, Georgiana immediately conveyed the house to her mother Anna. It can perhaps be surmised that the Toogood and Skevington families, with both men of the house being surgeons, had become close friends so, when John died, Anna decided to move next door to the Toogoods.

When Anna passed away in 1888, the house was inherited by her other daughter Clara Jane who had married the solicitor John Richard Rigby (of Holland & Rigby).

The Rigbys had two children, Francis John (b.1888) and Agnes Annie (b.1889) and after both their parents had passed away (mother in 1892, father in 1908), Agnes Annie continued living in the house her entire life. She passed away at the age of 84 in 1973. Her brother Francis John became a barrister in 1912 and volunteered for service at the outbreak of war. He became Captain in the Seaforth Highlanders and was killed in action in Iraq in 1916. His name appears on the Ashbourne Memorial Gates.

The Skevingtons and Rigbys lived 56 St John St for more than 100 years but, over the last 50 years, five different families have lived there.

© Paul Thompson 2025