Ilkeston & Dale Abbey - 10th Anniversary
w/e 19 February 2012
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
The ilkcam domain name was registered towards the
end of 2001 but the first pages uploaded to Ilkeston Cam did
not appear until February 2002. The first page for the week ending
17th February included pictures from the town centre and the
Pewit Golf Course and the following week there were half a dozen
images from Dale Abbey. For the images on this page a decade
later, I decided to revisit some of the same locations and try
to capture similar images to see if the ten year interval had
made much difference. Although taken with a different camera
and in different weather conditions I tried as near as possible
to recreate the same views - you can see the 2002 images for
comparison by clicking the links below which will open in new
tabs or windows.
Ilkeston - The Market & Pewit Golf Course - - - - - - Dale Abbey - The Village
In 2002 Ilkeston had a thriving and busy Saturday market but
since then the economic climate and changes enforced by local
government decisions have conspired to diminish the number of
market traders and the number of stalls. A small market is still
held on Fridays and the popularity of the Thursday market when
this image was captured appears to be on the up and it is now
almost as well attended as the Saturday market. Despite the cold
and foggy weather ten years ago, the flower bed around the Cenotaph
was displaying much more colour than can be seen today after
a comparatively mild winter.
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It was much too cold in 2002 for anyone to be sitting at the
tables adjacent to the refreshment stall outside the Town Hall
but this year that was not the case. The small coal wagon being
used as a flower tub has long since disappeared though and the
uniform council owned covers on the market stalls have been replaced
by an assortment owned by the stall holders themselves.
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At first glance little seems to have changed in this view down
South Street since 2002 but closer inspection reveals several
subtle differences. Traffic priorities at the Coronation Street
junction have changed and the pedestrian crossing has been moved
closer to the camera but irrespective of its position, people
still cross the road wherever they think fit! One of the telephone
kiosks has been removed and the remaining one now stands at an
angle just like that famous tower in Pisa. The old Post Office
building in its recent past has housed a restaurant and in 2002
was a building society but is currently a public house trading
as The Charter.
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The rest of the images on that first page were taken on the Pewit
Golf Course and here I reveal the secret of how I figured out
the approximate place to stand to recreate similar pictures.
Armed with a set of prints I lined up the shot through the viewfinder
before moving my left hand and pressing the shutter. Or as in
this case press the shutter release first.
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This present day view on the golf course is very similar to its
predecessor although comparison of the trees appears to show
more growth ten years ago than now so they have obviously been
pruned in the interim.
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The second set of images ten years ago all came from Dale Abbey
and the same cannot be said of the trees there where they have
added some significant growth but the thing I noticed first was
the absence of crocuses on the triangular island. It took a little
longer for me to notice however that a seat now surrounds the
tree in the middle of the island.
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It would take far more than ten years for any significant change
to be seen in the Manor House and Abbey Cottage as they are incorporated
into the stonework of the ruins of the Abbey and are protected
as listed buildings.
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In the view of the Abbey ruins from the lane around the corner
from Abbey Cottage I was surprised when comparing with the image
from 2002 that the boundary around the burial ground on the right
appeared to be a hedge whereas today it is a stone wall. Old
pictures clearly show the wall has been there for many, many
years - see here
and here for
example - so I'm assuming that in the 2002 image the wall was
obscured by the greenery which has since been removed.
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The final image from Dale ten years ago showed the ivy clad Carpenters
Arms and today the view is pretty much the same except that the
pub is even more covered with ivy and the trees show an extra
decade's growth. The keen eyed will also notice the public footpath
signpost on the left.
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To complete this set of images is another that has been more
or less constant since Ilkeston Cam's inception and has formed
the background to all the other images. Taken from the footbridge
over Chalons Way the Bennerley Viaduct is the main feature in
the distance.
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