Prior to 1821, much of Milton had been Harpur Crewe property, but in that year a large-scale exchange of land and property was agreed between Sir George Crewe 8th Bart. of Calke Abbey and the politician Sir Francis Burdett 5th Bart. of Foremark Hall.
On the exchange plan, the Swan is marked as the property of “R. Wilkinson”. Richard Wilkinson died in 1823 and his probate papers show him as an innkeeper of Milton in the parish of Repton leaving no doubt that that this property was already an inn some time before 1823.
Richard Wilkinson died at only 49 years old (1774-1823) leaving a widow and five infant children. There was no Will which may suggest that his death was sudden and unexpected.
In 1835 we have the first naming of the pub as The White Swan in Pigot’s Derbyshire directory of that year where the landlord was named as John Curzon Gamble.
As with most pubs The Swan Inn (as it had become known) has seen its’ fair share of drama. Public Houses were normal venues for inquests as in the case of Samuel Hallam who was found drowned in one of the ponds of the ‘New Fish Culture Company’ near the village in 1907.
The largest drama however pre-dated this by some 30 years when, in 1878, The Swan’s landlord, Jonathan Glasby was tried at the Derby Assizes for the manslaughter of his wife Harriet.
The Glasbys probably became tenants when the pub was advertised to let in 1855. Jonathan Glasby haled from York and had previously been a farm bailiff at Burnaston.
By 1877 the Glasby’s relationship may have been under strain for some time. “Mrs Glasby was in the habit of lying late in bed, sometimes most of the day, and would audibly grind her teeth”. Her husband commented “Her mental state had been badly affected by our daughter’s removal of a favourite grandchild from the household”.
We do not know what happened to finally lead to Jonathan Glasby hitting his wife twice on the back of the head with the heel of his boot – “causing a wound and a brain bleed, of which she later died.”
Glasby was tried and cleared of her manslaughter in 1878. We’re not sure how he was cleared but I guess it was different times.
The landlords continued to avoid paying the penalty for any misdemeanours as the following landlord, Matthew Redgate, was cleared of the charge of assault (in Repton) . He subsequently left the pub in 1881.
The next tenants were most likely the Bells when, following the death of her husband in 1902, Ann Bell continued to run The Swan until her own death in 1917. She was then 88 and still running the pub by herself – the epitome of the strong landlady.
Here we are in August 2021 with Oliver Way as your latest landlord – hopefully times today will not be as ‘interesting’ as the history pages.
If you have any interesting stories about The Swan or Milton feel free to get intouch.