The early years of the Parish Council

The first meeting of Great Longstone Parish Council took place on the evening of Thursday 2nd January 1895, in the Infant School Building.

The minutes from that first year are now available on this website and you can see details of the first meeting here:
https://greatlongstone-pc.gov.uk/meetings/council-meeting-2nd-january-1895/

The rest of the minutes from that year are also available (See https://greatlongstone-pc.gov.uk/meetings/?view=all&meeting_year=1895)

There is also a report of a joint meeting, held with Bakewell District Rural Council, on 24th July. This might be of particular interest (with the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting the following day) for residents of Victoria Terrace and the first part of Station Road (referred to as Mill Lane in the minutes).

In the September Minutes there is a reference to the Longstone Wakes and the charges levied on the owners of various stalls and rides:

“Mr. Buzzard stated that in accordance with the resolution of the Council he and Mr. C. Johnson had demanded toll from the various persons who had settled on the Village Green during the Wake’s week with swing boats, stalls, vans, hobby horses, etc. The owners of the swing boats had paid 1s., the owner of the sweetmeat stall 2s. 6d., and the owner of the fish stall 2s., making a total of 9s. 6d.”

They were less successful getting money from the “proprietor of the hobby horses”:

They had demanded the sum of 10s. from Mr. W. Whiting, the proprietor of the hobby horses, who refused to pay more than 5s., whereupon, on the Thursday morning, they along with the Clerk served him with a written notice either to pay the amount demanded or quit at once, and that if he refused, legal proceedings would be taken against him.

Mr. Whiting had set them at defiance, and remaining till the Friday morning, had then departed without paying the toll demanded.

In 1905 Mr G T Wright, of Longstone Hall, wrote about the early years of the Parish Council in his publication “Longstone Records”.

“The Parish Councils Act of 1894 aroused much interest and excitement in Great Longstone. There were two grounds for this — one class of the inhabitants looked forward to the social and moral improvement of the village by a good water supply, drainage, lighting, and general sanitary work, whilst another class feared the prospect of a considerable addition to the rates. Consequently there was a great and (as events proved) on the whole a successful effort to elect on the Council a majority of persons who were opposed to any undertakings that would involve expenditure. It is not surprising therefore that the net result of ten years has been very small, and the benefit to the Parish imperceptible. The Rural District Council’s scheme for a Water Supply was carried out quite independently of the Parish Council and has been generally appreciated. The chief work has been in connection with sanitary improvements of cottages, with the parochial charities and the Gilder quarry arbitration. Water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal, and lighting were either vetoed or allowed to drift. Since the first two Elections no interest has been taken in the doings of the Council, and according to Mr. Spanton, the Vice-Chairman throughout, there has been considerable difficulty in getting enough Parishioners together to elect the Council from time to time. Until 1901 elections were held annually: since that date triennially. The number of Councillors, which was six at first, was reduced to five in 1904.”

N.B. In 1904 the Election was conducted by an assembly of two electors and two dogs.”