Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 05 - Around Park Cemetery
w/e 12 January 2003
Another page where the pictures were taken at various
times throughout the year which accounts for why some have leaves
on the trees and others don't.
Leaving 'Illy 'Olies we cross the road to the Park Cemetery.
Although the first burial took place here in the 1892, the cemetery's
chapel was not built until 1910.
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Standing just inside the cemetery gates is a memorial inscribed
thus: "This cross of sacrifice is one in design and intention
with those which have been set up in France and Belgium and other
places in the world where our dead of the Great War are laid
to rest." The building standing directly across the
road ('Illy 'Olies is to the right) is now Brooklands Nursing
Home but for many years it was the town's maternity home and
called Parkhurst. This is where both myself and my wife along
with many other Ilkestonians began that great adventure we know
as "life".
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The cemetery is situated on an area of land that once formed
a large park down to the River Erewash. 'Illy 'Olies (Chaucer
Old Park) is the remains of that park but the hills and holes
caused by mineral extraction from which the name is derived could
possibly be the reason for the undulating landscape within the
cemetery too. Originally the cemetery had plots for "first,
second and third class" citizens. Wildlife has no such distinctions
and grey squirrels can often be seen scampering between the headstones.
There are also many bird boxes attached to the trees in the cemetery.
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Leaving the cemetery and standing on the corner with the ex-maternity
home on the left and the cemetery gates to the right, many people
will be familiar with this view towards 'Illy 'Olies looking
particularly attractive here in this photo taken after a snowfall
during the winter of 2002.
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Standing on that same corner far fewer people would be aware
of the cast iron fingerpost sign immediately behind them. Made
locally at what was the Stanton Ironworks, the sign bears a crest
with words "Borough of Ilkeston". Pictured here in
contrasting seasons, this composite shows it is dwarfed by trees
and an adjacent lighting column so that the unwary would pass
by without giving it a second glance. I believe, as it is part
of our heritage that it deserves one, hence the two images.
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Our route now takes us away from the cemetery along the tree
lined Park Avenue. Taken from near to its junction with Park
Road and Park Drive is this picture in dull, damp and cold weather.
Nevertheless it presents a good view of the chapel before leaf
growth on the trees obscures it until the autumn.
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