Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 20 - Into
Wharncliffe Road
w/e 21 March 2004
Before continuing our walk along Wharncliffe
Road (on the left of the image above) we must first  examine
the Town Hall on the Market Place. It was built in 1867-68 to
an Italian-style design by R. C. Sutton of Nottingham under the
direction of the Local Government Board, the predecessor of the
Ilkeston Borough Council. The original Town Hall has been extended
and is now one of several premises used by the Erewash Borough
Council. Public access to the building can be obtained via several
entrances and above one of them on the side of the building is
the Borough Coat of Arms (extreme left above and enlargement
right). It was good to see a group of schoolchildren having a
history lesson and studying the front of the building when I
captured these images.
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The children were paying particular attention
to these three commemorative plaques either side of the main
door to the Town Hall. The ornate plaque to the right of the
door (top right) is a tribute to over 100 men from the Borough
who served in the South African War 1899-1902 (i.e. The Boer
War) and a memorial to three men named as Privates Charles Spencer,
John Goldsmith and Frank Webb who all gave their lives for their
country and the Empire. The large plaque to the left of the Town
Hall door (left) is to the memory of 1409 Sherwood Foresters
(see note below) who gave their lives and the 140,000 of the
same Regiment who served with honour during the First World War.
On the wall below this (shown here bottom right) is a smaller
plaque commemorating 1520 Foresters who lost their lives and
their comrades from 13 units of the Regiment who served in World
War Two.
NOTE: I have also added to the site this week three
modified pages from my original site about Crich and the Sherwood
Foresters. They can be accessed from the Specials Index or by
clicking here.
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We've now moved into Wharncliffe Road and
from the steps of the United Reformed Church on the corner of
Albert Street, the Town Hall extension can be seen as we look
back towards the Market Place. In my school days, the site was
occupied by the town's open air swimming baths. Children from
local schools were marched through the streets to the baths in
all weathers to have swimming lessons. I have many painful memories
of sessions there, shivering in the unheated water or standing
on the side of the baths in the depths of winter wearing just
a pair of swimming trunks. It's no wonder I never learned to
swim. Previously the site had been a reservoir and provided a
gravity supply of water into the network.
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Opposite the Town Hall is the Ilkeston Department Store or the
Co-Op as it is still referred to by most Ilkestonians. The white
lettering on the blue canopy indicates the entrance to the Royal
Regency Rooms. Before the prefix was added the banqueting suite
on the top floor was known simply as the Regency Rooms and it
was here in 1967, as was the case with many young couples in
those days, that our wedding reception was held. Subsequent visits
by members of the Royal Family enabled the name to updated to
include the word "Royal" although their mode of transport
was no doubt more luxurious than those that now deposit and pick
up passengers along this part of Wharncliffe Road. Looks like
that old cliché - You wait ages for a bus then three arrive
at the same time!
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The portraits of three Royal Princesses, Margaret, Anne and Diana
plus the Duchess of Gloucester adorn the staircase to the Royal
Regency Rooms where at various dates, they all attended charity
luncheons.
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Until fairly recently, this building was the town's
Police Station and the word "Police" can still be seen
on the columns outside (right). It was built in 1905 and was
designed by the Borough Surveyor at that time, R. J. Kilford.
The design incorporated the Borough Coat of Arms (left) and included
a mortuary which, when Ilkeston Hospital was built, was converted
later into cells. The building has now been taken over by the
Co-Op and is the headquarters of their motoring division.
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Other stages of the "Town Walk"
may be seen by following the links from the Archives page.
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