First Impressions
No. 08 - Part 01 - Heanor Road
w/e 05 February 2023

All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300

We've now reached the 8th of the nine main roads leading into Ilkeston and this one, Heanor Road, approaches Heanor, Marlpool and Shipley and all places in the north.

Hassock Lane South

I remember being taught at school many years ago, that Ilkeston sits on the last hill at the southern end of the Pennines which means the Heanor and Marlpool must be on the penultimate hill. The road from Heanor passes through Marlpool drops down through Shipley and then rises again slightly before crossing the boundary into Ilkeston. The sign for Ilkeston marking the boundary and the change from Hassock Lane South, Shipley to Heanor Road, Ilkeston can be seen to the left of the central refuge.
Old School

One of the first building on the right on the brow of the hill is this pair of large semi-detached houses. Old maps show a school on this site and the appearance of this building suggests that these dwellings were converted to residential properties from that school.

The Mallard

On the opposite side of the road is The Mallard, a pub built on the site of the former Brick and Tile Inn. The pub sign shows that the name refers to the bird rather than the famous steam train. An image of the Brick and Tile can be seen on the
Picture The Past website - insert DCER000048 into the Keyword search box and click on the resulting photo for more details.
Heanor Road

From The Mallard, Heanor Road gradually descends towards Ilkeston and in this view the tower of St Mary's Church in the town centre can just be seen on the sky line at the far end of the road. It's only about a mile and a half away but to reach it means a further descent before a rise up the hill to the Market Place.
Woodland Avenue

After passing Woodside Crescent - a narrow unmade road that is just an access to a few properties - the next road on the left is Woodland Avenue. This leads to the Cotmanhay Farm Estate.
Cotmanhay

Wikipedia tells us that Cotmanhay was once a Viking settlement and that a flint discovered in Cotmanhay Wood indicates that the area was inhabited several thousand years BC. It is now a suburb of Ilkeston and is overshadowed by the wind turbine at Newthorpe.
Wide Verge

The title of this series is "First Impressions" and the impression given of Heanor Road to the first time visitor would be one of wide tree lined avenues with grass verges and detached and semi-detached properties set well back from the carriageway. Pleasant as it is, it's a little at odds with the town's mining and industrial heritage.
Church Street

The next road on the left is the main road into Cotmanhay and is called Church Street. Cotmanhay and Shipley Parish Church stood a little way down Church Street but was a victim of subsidence caused by extensive coal mining in the area and was demolished in the latter half of the last century. It was replaced by a modern building on the adjacent Vicarage Street. Other buildings on the corner of Church Street and Heanor Road have also been demolished and replaced by residential properties but the old buildings that housed shops can be seen in a photo at Picture The Past by searching for DCER000416
Shipley Hall Estate

Opposite Church Street is the entrance to a lane running through Shipley Wood which, on some maps, is also referred to as Church Street. The large building next to it was originally the Cotmanhay Lodge on the Miller-Mundy's Shipley Hall Estate. (See Picture The Past ref. DCER000304 for an image from c.1905)
Shipley Wood

The houses on the east side of Heanor road from The Mallard to Church Street back on to the Cotmanhay Farm Estate but those on the west side are backed by Shipley Wood. The wood continues beyond the entrance opposite Church Street and after a little way a building can be seen through the trees. This is Ilkeston Hospital and that is from where we'll continue in the next part.
 First Impressions Index
Forward to Part 2

Site Navigation

Home
"Pick A Picture"
Weekly Favourites
Latest Images
Holidays &
Days Out
Special Features
The Guest Page
Archives
Site search Web search

powered by FreeFind
Jigsaw Puzzles
Recommended Links

Terms & Conditions of Use
This website is copyright but licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.
Please credit the photographer Garth Newton, or add a link to these pages.