Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 16 - The
Market Place (East Side)
w/e 14 December 2003
The eastern side of the Market Place is
taken up entirely by the church and grounds of St Mary's. The
church was founded around 1150 and extended during the reign
of Henry III (1217-72). A steeple surmounted the tower until
it was badly damaged by a storm in 1714. A new tower was not
constructed due to lack of funds until 1731 but ten years later
the roof of the chancel fell in and it was not until 1854 that
enough money could be raised to finance a complete restoration.
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 Further alterations
to St Mary's took place in 1909/10 when the nave was extended
and the tower moved westwards. This view along the church wall
also shows more recent changes to the area occasioned by a pedestrianisation
scheme. A commemorative plaque on the wall reads "Erewash
Borough Council, Ilkeston. The Upper Market Place improvements
were opened by the Worshipful the Mayor, Councillor Mrs Mary
Henshaw. 18th November 1993"
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The churchyard was closed for burials in
1852 and following World War II, part of it was made into a Garden
of Remembrance to honour the fallen. Since then, the Cantelupe
Community Centre has also been built in the churchyard and can
be seen here behind the Garden of Remembrance.
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In front of the Cantelupe Centre is this large lump of stone.
An engraved plate on the top shows that the stone was the base
of a mediaeval cross that originally stood in the Lower Market
Place.  The plate is difficult to read
but shows that the stone was presented by Mr C Wood Esq and gives
the date as September 1958. This picture above also shows the
Cantelupe Centre, the name Cantelupe coming from the family that
owned the manor of Ilkeston in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries.
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There are still some headstones in the churchyard and here
beneath the east window of St Mary's all of them bear the name
"Cocker" a prominent Ilkeston family during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries.
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When the churchyard was closed for burials in 1852, an extension
was made into Hallcroft but now the two sections are bisected
by the inner relief road, Chalons Way, and neither is now used
as a burial ground. From the footbridge over the road both sections
of the churchyard can now be seen.
Other stages of the "Town Walk"
may be seen by following the links from the Archives page.
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