Rykneld Secondary Modern School Derby

The name Rykneld derives from the great Roman Road of Rykneld Street connected the garrisons of the wild north with the civilised Roman towns of the south, and Rykneld School and the adjacent Rykneld Recreation Ground are on land originally known as the Firs Estate. The Firs Estate belonged originally to Canon Edward Abney along with a Regency house in which he lived on Burton Road. Abney's son, Sir William Abney sold the estate; most of which went for housing in St Luke's Parish Derby. Canon Edward Abney, a friend of William Fox Talbot, was a pioneer of photography, and his son Sir William Abney became one of the most important figures in Victorian photography. 11 acres of the Firs Estate…