Might you still have Dexters in your midst in the lanes of Ticknall? The last Dexters to live in Ticknall (or rather the last people named Dexter) were probably Alfred and Helena Dexter who fittingly lived in Dexter’s Cottage until this burned down in the mid 1960s.
Dexter’s House (108 Main Street) was built near the original site of Dexter’s Cottage in 1985. Dexter’s Cottage is said to have been built in the early 19th century but we have yet to find any more certain information about previous Dexter occupants. Alfred and Helena had previously lived at Pywell’s Yard north of Main Street.
The track from where Dexter’s Cottage stood runs through the lime yards and eventually over the fields to White Leys. Dexters were farming at White Leys from the early part of the 19th century. This continued when Lucy Dexter married John Shaw and they were at White Leys in 1911. Any Shaws still living in Ticknall may well be Dexter relatives.
Further down into the valley where we now find the reservoir stood New England Farm. Dexters were farming there also from the early part of the 19th century. There were Dexters there too in 1911, but at some point they upped sticks and moved to Derby Hills House.
In 1891 Dexter relatives called Cook were living at Calke Mill Cottage which is also now under the reservoir.
Dexters were also farming at Oak Farm in 1911.
Dexters also lived closer into the village.
The Dexters have a long connection with Brickyard Cottage (otherwise known as Hill Cottage). They were there between at least 1881 and 1911. Brickyard Cottage was the family home of the four Dexter brothers who served in the Great War. The fifth Dexter was a cousin from the family that lived at Dexter’s Cottage.
In 1881, John and Sarah Dexter were living in Stanton Lane. John and Fanny Dexter were living at Brookside.
In 1891 Alfred and Harriet Dexter were living in Chapel Street. Richard Dexter and his niece Harriet were living at 73 Highway Side.
In 1861, Ann Cook – daughter of Maria Dexter – was a house servant at an inn on the Ashby Road.
In 1901 George and Hannah Dexter were living at Cackle Hill (near the junction of Main Street and High Street).
Isabel Dexter married George Wood and they were living at 38 High Street in 1891 and 3 The Continent in 1901.
Elizabeth Dexter married Nathan Marriott and they were living at 3 Chapel Lane in 1891.
Hannah Dexter married William Heafield and they were living in Burton Road in 1911
Maybe there are Dexter relatives called Shaw, Wood, Marriott or Heafield still living in Ticknall.
Perhaps the longest known Dexter residents of Ticknall of all are those in the church graveyard! The only marked graves seem to be John (died 1863) and his wife Ann (died 1852). The last residents of Dexter’s Cottage are also buried there – Alfred and Helena both died in 1965.
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