A Sentimental Journey
- No. 05
Ilkeston To Cossall - Part 4
w/e 17 February 2008
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Gonna take a Sentimental Journey, Gonna set my
heart at ease.
Gonna make a Sentimental Journey, to renew old memories.
We've now reached the final leg of our sentimental journey
from Ilkeston to Cossall and in this part we will follow Derek
Thorpe's suggestion from the Nottingham Canal into the village
itself. To start the walk again from the Market Place before
proceeding from here, click
here.
We start this final section of the walk at the canal and continue
up the hill that is Mill Lane.
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At the brow of the hill where the lane levels out, there is a
footpath on the left across the field into the village but heavy
overnight rain had left standing water and muddy conditions underfoot.
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We opted for
what appeared to be the lesser of two evils and continued along
Mill Lane although from the number of puddles we had to negotiate,
this may not have been the best option. Mill Lane leads to Church
Lane and meets it at a right angled bend in the road (right).
The Monk's
Way route that we had followed previously in the opposite
direction carries straight on but to reach the centre of the
village, we must turn left to follow Church Lane to another right
angled bend. The name of the village is derived from "Nook
of land of a man called Cott" the old English words being
"Cott" and "halh". It was recorded in the
Domesday Book as Coteshale.
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As
we turn the corner in the centre of the village the Willoughby
Almshouses come into view. These are named after George Willoughby
who executed a deed in 1685 stating that he had erected a hospital
for four poor men over 60 and four poor women over 55 and that
it was conveyed to twelve trustees, together with more properties
in Derbyshire. Among other conditions, all eight residents were
to be single and were liable to be turned out if they married
or misbehaved themselves. To the right of the almshouses is the
old schoolroom and Church Cottage (left), the former home of
D H Lawrence's fiancée, Louie Burrows.
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Crossing the road and looking back we can now see what has become
an iconic view of the village and St Catherine's Church, parts
of which date back to the thirteenth century. The centre of the
village is now designated as a Conservation Area and it was here
that part of the TV adaption of Lawrence's 1915 novel "The
Rainbow" was filmed. Lawrence renamed the village Cossethay
in his book.
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Continuing through the village we come to another sharp bend
and as far as we are concerned it is the end of the road for
Derek's sentimental journey. The almshouses are just visible
above the vehicle in this picture but if you would like to see
a closer view of them plus some more images from the Open Gardens
event held in May 2002, there is a page of images (click
here) plus a link to more photos at Webshots.
To return to Ilkeston from this
point in Cossall there are numerous alternatives. We could of
course continue along Church Lane and return via Cossall Marsh
and Ilkeston Junction which is, in fact, what we did after taking
these photos. We could have retraced our steps through the village
and back down Mill Lane. Derek's route that we have followed
in this part is shown on this map by the yellow line and marked
A-B-C in pink letters. Joanne Apergi's sentimental journey which
is the same as Derek's to point A follows the canal towpath to
D before crossing the field to cut out the loop of the canal.
We will be picking up Joanne's walk in Sentimental Journey No.
6 in the vicinity of D but to combine Derek's and Joanne's routes,
we could follow the light blue dashed line from C to B (the second
picture from the top on this page) and then continue via another
footpath to D. The picture below shows the footpath from the
end of Derek's route looking from C towards B - and it doesn't
look at all muddy from here!
Cue song:- Never thought my heart could be so yearny. Why
did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that Sentimental Journey, Sentimental Journey home.
If you have a sentimental journey of your own that you would
like featured, email
a few details to me.
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