Cossall - Walk Through History
w/e 02 June 2024
All of this week's
pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
 Although close to Ilkeston, when viewed on a map
Cossall appears to be a fairly remote village in the surrounding
countryside. To a large extent that is true but many motorists
use the narrow road that snakes its way through the village as
a short cut between Trowell and Awsworth thereby cutting out
the need to pass through Ilkeston. The road is always busy and
whilst I was there I crossed it back and forth several times
and it was often akin to crossing a motorway such was the volume
of traffic - in both directions. In these images I tried to avoid
the traffic.
I started this short walk around the village centre on Mill Lane
where a sign was advertising the upcoming Open Gardens event
on June 9th. This was adjacent to the village sign where flowers
in a planter were partially obscuring the "Please Drive
Carefully" sign (see header picture above). The road soon
swings to the right and becomes Church Lane but Mill Lane continues
straight ahead as a track which leads down to the Erewash Valley,
the border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and then into
Ilkeston.
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In less than 200 yards there is another 90 degree bend in Church
Lane, this time to the left.
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From that corner Church Lane continues all the way through the
village but this is the historic centre. just beyond the cottages
on the left is the entrance to the Manor House whilst on the
right are three more buildings of historic significance.
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I couldn't go any further though without fist popping into the
churchyard at St Catherine's Church through the Lych Gate on
the corner to view the memorial to the three villagers who fought
in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Two of them, John Shaw
and Richard Waplington perished in the battle but Thomas Wheatley
with whom I share an ancestor. survived and returned to Cossall.
Although I am not a direct descendant, Thomas's grandfather was
also my four times great grandfather. It is believed that Thomas's
grave is under the memorial.
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Also standing on the same corner of Church Lane as St Catherine's
Church is Church Cottage, once home to Louie Burrows who
was engaged to local author D. H. Lawrence for a while. Lawrence
based the character of Ursula Brangwen on Louis in his 1915 novel
"The Rainbow" and also used Cossall, calling it Cossethay,
as the setting for his story.
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Next to Church Cottage is another old building, the former schoolroom
built in 1850 which is now the Village Hall.
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And next to the Village Hall are the even older Willoughby Almshouses
built by George Willoughby,nephew of the lord of Wollaton, in
1685. The Almshouses were built to accommodate "for four
poor men and four women each of whom was to receive £5
yearly with grey material at 3s. a yard for attire and 5s. a.
year for coal". Thomas Wheatley ended his days living
here.
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From the end of the Almshouses this is the view looking back
to St Catherine's Church which had its origins in the thirteenth
century, is the burial place of George Willoughby, was rebuilt
in 1842 and is now Grade II Listed.
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It's nearly another couple of hundred yards from the corner by
the church to the next right angled corner but here I left the
road to follow the footpath on the left through the fields.
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This led me to the track where another
left turn took me back, avoiding the puddles, to my starting
point on Mill Lane. It's only a short walk through the village
but it goes a long way back through history.
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