Mapperley Village - North, South, East and West
w/e 27 February 2005
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490



It's almost three years since we last looked around Mapperley Village. Then the daffodils were in full bloom but this year just as they are starting to put in an appearance, winter with snow, sleet and freezing temperatures brought by cold easterly winds finally arrived in the East Midlands. Even though we've managed to escape the worst of it in our little corner of Derbyshire, we awoke several mornings last week to a light dusting of snow. On one of those mornings we left the urban landscape of Ilkeston to enjoy a pleasant walk around the rural setting of Mapperley Village.

Slack Road

Signpost to IlkestonMapperley is a compact village clustered around the junction of four lanes that point in the direction of the main compass points. This view along one of those lanes is to the east and as the signpost on the left shows, Ilkeston is only two miles away. These days the lane is used mainly by walkers and farm traffic although the name Slack Road, bears testament to the coal mining past of the area and suggests more vehicular movement.
Coronation Road

Looking in the opposite direction from a few steps closer to the village centre we can catch a glimpse on the extreme right of this view of the former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel that was built in 1874/5 and closed in 1969. It is now a private dwelling. I have always known this street as Slack Road but according to the name plate, it is actually Coronation Road. The photo was taken from a footpath that leads to the back of the properties on the left.
Wintry Scene

The footpath leads to a track behind the properties on Coronation Road where the view to the east again in the direction of Ilkeston looked quite wintry but to the west (inset) the first of this year's daffodils were pushing up through the snow. The building in the inset picture is the church that opened in 1966 after the original church in the same place had to be demolished due to mining subsidence.
Mapperley Lane

From the front of the church we can look due south down Mapperley Lane. This is the main access lane that leads into the village from the cross roads on High Lane.
Village Centre

Heading back into the centre of the village one change from three years ago is immediately obvious. Then I wrote that three buildings usually found in any village are the church, pub and village shop. Well since then the village shop which used to be housed in the white building on the corner has closed. The lane north leads only to Mapperley Reservoir and then up into Shipley Country Park, the trees on Shipley Hill visible on the horizon. To complete our walk through the village though we turn left here into Main Street just beyond the tropical looking plants that would probably look much more at home in a warmer scene.
Main Street

From a little way along Main Street we can again turn and look eastwards back beyond the Old Black Horse public house to the centre of the village. The pub staked its claim to some sort of fame at the turn of the last century when it was kept by the appropriately named Mr Beer. He also preceded Ilkeston with electricity as he generated his own five candle power supply on the premises. Main Street continues out of the village to become Park Hall Lane before returning to another crossroads further along the High Lane.

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