Clay of Derbyshire

Silver chalice with Clay coat of arms donated to the church at Heath in Derbyshire in the year 1698 by Mrs Barbara Clay gentlewoman of Heath. She died in 1717, the chalice is still kept by the church.

Coat of Arms granted to John Clay of Crich, Derbyshire in 1588.

Portrait of John Clay of Kelham, Notts. born 1596 at Sutton-in-Ashfield, grandson of Thomas Clay of Rowthorne in Ault Hucknall, Derbys.-brother of Hercules Clay Mayor of Newark. (On the back of the painting it says - "John Clay 1669" ).

Hardstoft. October 1873.

The tea service is held by his great grandaughter.

Sampson Clay

One particular branch of Clay's lived in a rural village called Hardstoft in the parish of Ault Hucknall. Derbyshire. They had farmed the land there for some centuries and eventually they combined farming with the selling of beer. They turned their farmhouse into a pub and called it “The Shoulder of Mutton” It is still there today and is now also a hotel.

In the 1800s the landlord was Sampson Clay (born 1819) who lived with his wife Mary and they had 13 children. Sampson Clay was a very popular man and people would seek his advice in farming matters, he was so helpful that the local community presented him with a silver tea service, the spoons have his initials engraved upon them and the silver cup has the following inscription...

“This silver cup with tea service, one dozen teaspoons, sugar bowl and forty sovereigns was presented to Mr Sampson Clay by a few of his friends and neighbours in appreciation of his many valuable and gratuitous services rendered to their cattle and sheep during a period of thirty years”.

Silver Tea Service presented to Sampson Clay

The Shoulder of Mutton, Hardstoft

Job Clay

Job Clay of Wensley born 1854 (son of William and Eliza Clay of Wensley). He was the great grandfather of David Clay. Job was born at his grandmothers house at "The Cliff" which is on theTansley / Matlock border. He married Ada Rouse and lived in the stone cottage at Wensley with his widowed mother Eliza before moving into a house on "The Lane" just below his mothers house.

He had various occupations through his life ie.- Agricultral labourer, engine driver at the stone quarry, leadminer and railway labourerer. He was on the committee and an organiser of the "Wensley Wakes" which was an annual village event. He was a keen gardener and won many prizes at horticultral events and became an official of 'The South Darley Annual Flower Show'.

He was also contracted by Wensley Council to bring stone up to the village by horse and cart and is referred to several times in the minutes of Council meetings over a period of years.