Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 11 - South
Street
w/e 20 July 2003
The scanned photograph above was taken
circa 1986 when I worked on the top floor of what is now Toll
Bar House looking up South Street towards the town centre.
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Apart from a few coats of paint, some different
road markings, new safety railings and bollards and an increase
in the number of vehicles on the road, the view today is pretty
much the same as can be seen from the similar shot from ground
level.
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What has changed significantly in those
intervening years is the view from the bottom of South Street
across White Lion Square towards Nottingham Road. The area is
now dominated by a large traffic island at the southern end of
the town's inner relief road, Chalons Way.
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It was in this area on South Street that
long ago, a toll bar was erected to pay for the upkeep of the
road but today the electrically operated barrier just to the
left of centre in this picture, serves only to restrict access
to the car park of the Ilkeston Health Centre.
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The Health Centre is one of the newer buildings in the town but
it stands right next door to one of the oldest surviving buildings.
Bearing the date 1784, the former Baptist Chapel is now known
as Jimmy Deans and attracts a customer base looking for spiritual
guidance of the liquid kind. Food is also available.
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Next to Jimmy Deans another pub, The Prince of Wales*, is visible
in the top two pictures on this page. Opposite, the site of another
chapel (South Street Methodists) is now occupied by this office
block that houses the Department of Social Security and is now
also the home of the Job Centre following its move from previous
premises on Nesfield Road, near Victoria Park.
*Update Summer 2006 - The Prince Of Wales has recently undergone
a major refurishment and is now called The Poacher. 'Prince turns
Poacher!' - not sure what the Royal Family thinks.
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We are now about half way along South Street and as we "Paws
4 Thought" we can see a variety of architectural styles
in this view towards the Market Place. Just beyond the new block
in the centre the sign on the wall reads Weaver Row and is a
reminder that in the 17th and 18th centuries, the area was occupied
by weaver's cottages.
Other stages of the "Town Walk"
may be seen by following the links from the Archives page.
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