As we have seen already, naming streets in Cropwell Bishop after local people is popular. Marshall, Brownhill, Clarke – all the names of people who had an impact on our village.

With that in mind, what are we to make of Barlows Close?
I am not aware of a Mr, Miss or Mrs Barlows (with an 's' on then end) ever making their mark on Cropwell Bishop life – and neither is St Giles Churchyard.

In a previous article I stated that Rushcliffe Borough Council have the final say on street names and they make their decision with reference to their published guidelines.

Section 5.1, “General naming Convention”, states:

• it should reflect the history or geography of the site,
• it should not be difficult to pronounce or spell,
• it should not be named after living people (except Royalty)
• if named after a deceased person, the individual should have been dead for 20 years or be over 100 years old
• permission must be obtained from the person’s family

Are these rules set in stone?

I feel sure that if you were to discover a vaccine for Covid-19, the Council would be only to happy to celebrate your name locally.

Other councils named streets after the 1966 World Cup Winners in the 1960s and Nottingham City named streets after skaters Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean.

More to the point, Kerrs Walk in the village, was named after Margaret Kerr just a year after she died!

Getting back to Barlows Close, where has the name come from? Does it refer to several members of the Barlow family perhaps?

Over the last 100 years many members of the Barlow family have been involved in the life of Cropwell Bishop.
So, the secret is out, Barlow is the name source for Barlows Close. But which Barlow?

Search the graves in St Giles churchyard and you will find 8 with the name Barlow engraved – and the first arrived little more than a century ago: the Barlow family entered the Cropwell Bishop spotlight, relatively recently. How did it all come about?

Thomas Barnet Barlow started his working life as a butcher in the village where he was born, Keyworth.

He learnt his trade with a local butcher and by the time he was 30, he had the savings and confidence to bring his wife and 5 children to Cropwell Bishop and start his own butchery business.

By 1911, when he and his wife, Sarah Ann, were 45 years old, Thomas was not only an established butcher, but also a farmer. They had been busy since their arrival: they now had another 5 children making a total of 10 - about average for those times.

Of these, the two youngest are of particular interest here; Arthur (born 1903) and Harold (born 1908).

In 1928, when Arthur was 25, he married Gladys May Salvin. Gladys’ father, David Leavis Salvin, was an established, principal land owner in Cropwell Bishop - and he was wealthy.

Arthur and Gladys had their first child, David (full name: Thomas David Salvin Barlow) in 1930 followed by a second boy, John, a few years later.

In 1938 they were living in Lenton House on Nottingham Road when they had their third child, a girl, Edith.

The children grew up, as they do, and when Arthur's eldest son, David, was 28, he married Audrey Starling from Cropwell Bishop. They had their first child Patrick and then, some years later, a girl, Sara.

Sadly, Audrey died when she was just 40 years old.

In 1968 David married Pamela Gould and they had a son, Mark.

David and Pam were living at the top of Mill Lane but in 1970 they moved into his grandmother's house, The Manor on Fern Road.

For decades, David served as a Cropwell Bishop Councillor and for a long time was chairman. He also became a Rushcliffe Borough Councillor and in 2001 he served as its leader.

Meanwhile, Pam committed herself to the organisation and running of the Memorial Hall and it was only recently that she stood back from her role as chair.
David died in 2010 and Pam died in 2023.

What of the other local Barlows?

David’s brother became a professor at Glasgow University while his sister, Edith, married local builder Denis Smith and they lived on Fern Road.

Then there was Harold Barlow. I have already mentioned that Harold was Thomas Barnet Barlow’s youngest son.

As Harold grew up, he worked to develop the butchery and farming businesses of the family whilst his older brother Arthur (who I have already described) was no doubt devoting much of his time in developing the farming interests of his farther-in-law, David Leavis Salvin.

Never-the-less, Harold and Arthur worked side-by-side to develop their businesses and, when the time came, went on to share their father’s estate. But there was only one ‘Barlow Butcher Shop’ in the village, and that was Harold’s.

Harold was married to Rose and they lived their whole life at the ‘Old House’ on Nottingham Road – the building that is now occupied by the Hair Barn, Nyce and Heavenly Beauty.

They had 3 children but it was the 2 boys who eventually took over Harold’s two business interests. Older son, Tom, worked on the farming side whilst his much younger son, 'young Harold', worked on the butchery side.

Tom married Kate and they had three boys: Richard is now running Home Farm on Fern Road, Mathew runs his veterinary practice, also at Home Farm, and Simon has developed a Fencing business elsewhere.

Tom’s brother, ‘young Harold’, married Lesley and they worked to develop the butchery business at the shop on Nottingham Road.

This was in the early 1970s when hundreds of new homes were being built.

When old Harold died in 1983 his wife, Rose, stayed at their bungalow (built 8 years earlier) on ‘Barlow land’ next door to the shop. She lived there until her death in 2006 when she was 98.

Lesley helped in the shop and also worked in the back to provide a range of prepared meals for sale. She also raised their 2 children, Kerry and Tina.

Sadly, Young Harold died in 2001 when he was just 51.

The Butchers Shop is now run by Gary Jowett but Lesley still lives nearby and her daughter, Tina, and her family occupy the home built for Rose – but now converted from bungalow to a house.

So now we face the same dilemma we had with Squires Close: who is Barlows Close named after?

Well the answer is, all of them. The death of David Barlow in 2010 raised the prospect of naming a road after him but his widow, Pam Barlow, suggested ‘Barlows’ and this found favour with both the parish council and the borough council.

As you can see, naming a street can be a complicated business. Now you know why some less adventurous parish councils name their new streets after flowers: shame on them.

Tony Jarrow

Note:
Particular thanks to Anne Terzza, Pam Barlow and Lesley Barlow for their help with this article.