Cossall - Family Roots - Part 01
w/e 29 March 2020 All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
As the coronavirus restrictions on movement take
hold, it's obviously becoming more and more difficult to get
out and about for photos so continuing the theme of "Over
The Boundary" which started with a short walk into Nottinghamshire
at Trowell, here's a selection from another walk of about a mile
and a half also over the county boundary to Cossall. These pictures
were all taken earlier in March.
This first picture is actually in Derbyshire at Potter's Lock
on the Erewash Canal.
From there we walked down the path towards the railway line and
crossed the River Erewash, the boundary between the counties,
where horses were grazing on the Nottinghamshire side of the
river.
After crossing the footbridge over the railway we started the
climb up to Cossall along Mill Lane. Recent rainfall had left
a number of muddy puddles to negotiate.
We also had to negotiate a fallen tree that was blocking the
path as we neared the former swing bridge position over the now
disused Nottingham Canal (Top Cut).
On the other side of the canal there were intermittent views
through the hedgerow of the surrounding countryside and we could
make out the traffic flowing along the M1 through the haze.
This zoomed shot from the same position as the previous photo
shows the traffic on the M1.
Although you would expect the ground conditions to be better
on the higher ground as Mill Lane levels off as it enters the
village, it was just the opposite with wider and deeper puddles
and more muddy conditions.
Reaching the road junction with Church Lane which wends its way
through the village, we turned left to approach Church Cottage
(centre above), the home of Louie Burrows who was engaged to
D. H. Lawrence. The author featured the cottage in his novel
"The Rainbow".
Before reaching the cottage we turned right into the churchyard
to view the Waterloo Memorial, which was erected in 1877 to the
memory of three men from the village, John Shaw, Richard Waplington
and Thomas Wheatley who fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
In 2015 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo,
an event was held in Cossall and a plaque unveiled on the wall
behind the Memorial. At the moment the plaque has disappeared
and part of the wall has been demolished but presumably it will
soon be rebuilt and the plaque replaced.
John Shaw and Richard Waplington were never to see Cossall again
but Thomas (b 1793) survived the battle and returned home. When
he died he was buried in the churchyard of St Catherine's Church.
His grandfather William Wheatley (b 1735) on a different branch
of the family tree is my four times great grandfather.
We returned to Church Lane to continue the walk through and see
more of the village. Forward to Part 02
