Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 04 - 'Illy 'Oleys
w/e 01 December 2002
All the pictures on the page this week were taken
at various times throughout the year which accounts for why some
have leaves on the trees and others don't.
After leaving the footpath from the museum, the view opens up
onto an area of parkland officially known as Chaucer Old Park
but popularly goes by the name 'Illy 'Oleys.
|
For many years I thought that this name was derived from the
undulating lie of the land and the fact that the holy ground
of St Mary's Churchyard lay to the left of this picture back
towards the museum and the consecrated ground of Park Cemetery
lay to the right.
|
This premise has proved not to be true however as the name is
actually a derivation of the hills and holes caused by mineral
extraction a long, long time ago. The "hills" are apparent
in this picture .....
|
.... And the "holes" - or the remains of them - here.
It is here that I remember another hole and that's the one I
tore in my favourite overcoat whilst sledging on the snow covered
slopes in the depths of winter way back in time with some school
friends.
|
This picture too dates from the depths of winter, January in
fact. As the ghostly figure heads off back towards the museum,
the children's adventure playground is just visible to the right
of centre through the mist. Chaucer Infants School lies just
beyond.
|
'Illy 'Oleys is the remains of a much larger park that stretched
right down to the River Erewash. The land has been filled in
recent years with a housing development on the site of Park Farm
and between the two is Park Cemetery which opened in 1892 in
response to the population growth in the town.
|