All the pictures on the page this week were taken at various times throughout the year which accounts for why some have leaves on the trees and others don't.



After leaving the footpath from the museum, the view opens up onto an area of parkland officially known as Chaucer Old Park but popularly goes by the name 'Illy 'Olies.

For many years I thought that this name was derived from the undulating lie of the land and the fact that the holy ground of St Mary's Churchyard lay to the left of this picture back towards the museum and the consecrated ground of Park Cemetery lay to the right.

This premise has proved not to be true however as the name is actually a derivation of the hills and holes caused by mineral extraction a long, long time ago. The "hills" are apparent in this picture .....

.... And the "holes" - or the remains of them - here. It is here that I remember another hole and that's the one I tore in my favourite overcoat whilst sledging on the snow covered slopes in the depths of winter with some school friends.

This picture too dates from the depths of winter, January in fact. As the ghostly figure heads off back towards the museum, the children's adventure playground is just visible to the right of centre through the mist. Chaucer Infants School lies just beyond.

'Illy 'Olies is the remains of a much larger park that stretched right down to the River Erewash. The land has been filled in recent years with a housing development on the site of Park Farm and between the two is Park Cemetery which opened in 1892 in response to the population growth in the town.

Other stages of the "Town Walk" may be seen by following the links from the Archives page