Town Walk 2026 - Part 22 -
East Street to the Erewash Museum
w/e 05 July 2026
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Nikon D3300 camera.
This part equates to Stage 35 from the original
Town
Walk from 2005.
And so, once again we are nearing the end of the Town Walk, a
repeat of the original route we followed between September 2002
and June 2005. "Having reached the top of Bath Street,
all that remains is to turn into East Street (above right) and
then up High Street to return to our starting place at the Erewash
Museum."
Next to The Borough Arms, which stands on the corner of Bath
Street and East Street, at nos. 4 and 5 East Street is a Grade
II Listed building. This is "a restored Georgian House
that" in 2005 was "home to a solicitor's practice"
but has now been converted into eight residential apartments.
"In the past, County Court Sessions were held here."
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"The next properties on the same side of the street are
far less grand than their Georgian neighbour but the cottage
with the steeply pitched roof would once have been thatched."
Although not a Listed Building like its Georgian neighbour,
the nearer cottage seen above is on an Erewash Borough Council
list of buildings of local interest as it was probably built
some time between 1700 and 1710, then altered and extended in
1932 at which time the thatch was removed. It was again restored
in 1982.
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"Not all the properties in Ilkeston have
met with the same fate" as the Georgian house and the
historic cottages. In 2005 the "dilapidated structure
standing opposite High Street" was " in a sorry
state of repair that belies its history. It was formerly "The
Gladstone Inn" and more recently home" to Ilkeston
Sauna. Dilapidated in 2005, it was finally demolished
about 2018.
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Much of the other side of East Street from Bath Street to High
Street is dominated by The Vaults. This building used to be a
pub and in 2005 was "called "Captain Gregory's Wine
Vaults". This probably began life as a cottage pub but by
the time of Charles Gregory in the 1870s had already been known
as the "Spirit Vaults" and the "Wine Vaults".
Most of it now has been converted into apartments.
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Some of The Vaults on the corner of High Street may still be
in need of some attention but the doors that were painted red
in 2005 and windows are all covered and painted black.
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In 2005 the central window portion had a plaque (see inset) briefly
described the life story of Captain Gregory. Sadly this too has
disappeared but it read as follows: "Born in Nottingham
on February 25th, 1841, Charles Gregory went to sea as an apprentice
at the age of 17 and for the next 16 years worked aboard merchant
men trading to India, China and America. So rapidly was he promoted
that at the age of 28 he was entrusted with the command of a
large East India man the Naturalist. Captain Gregory had several
narrow escapes of being shipwrecked and proved to a great leader
of men on numerous occasions. On one occasion when his ship met
with a heavy cyclone the vessel was virtually dismantled, so
terrible was the situation that all those on board were up to
the middle in water and Captain Gregory during the whole of one
night was engaged in reading the Bible to the sailors expecting
the ship would go down any moment. However to their joy and surprise
the vessel kept afloat and eventually landed at Calcutta. He
was married in New York in 1872 to Emma Jane and came to Ilkeston
and took the Old Wine Vaults in November 1873 and served on the
local board and was treasurer of the Freemasons Lodge for **
years having been connected with the Order for 12 (?) years.
**** truly remarkable man."
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"Between the 'Vaults' and the Museum is the Masonic
Hall. " This was originally a chapel built in 1865 replacing
an earlier 1718 building. It was converted to be come
a lodge room in 1983 and 'The Home of Freemasonry in Ilkeston'.
Between the Masonic Hall and the Erewash Museum is a footpath
to the Market Place called Anchor Row "named after Anchor
Carrier a former proprietor of the Anchor Inn on Market Street."
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The Building opposite the Masonic Hall was occupied since 1999
by the Shopmobilty, providing mobility scooters for disabled
people to use whilst shopping. A budget review in 2023 found
it was ‘difficult to justify that the current operating
arrangements represent value for money’ and it was forced
to close. The sign on the wall now says 'Twinkle Stars Daycare
Centre'.
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"And so we come to our journey's end - back where we
started in September 2002" and again in this repeat
of the Town Walk in June 2025 "at the Erewash Museum." Originally it took
about three years stretching over 35 parts often with only half
a dozen images in each part as I took it as a "fill -in"
for when I hadn't anything else to feature. This time having
been there, done that and even got the T-shirt for most of the
surrounding area, those "fill-in " weeks have been
more frequent and we've completed the route is just about a year.
In all honesty if you wanted to follow the route and put your
mind to it, you could do it in couple of hours - but where's
the fun in that when, even today, there's still so much to see,
pause and admire.
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I finished the original walk
with "So if you're ready, from the Museum it's
down the steps, through the underpass under Chalons Way and .....
That's the way I'm going too but for now, I'm off home to think
about the next update." And yes, the next update? To
quote King Mongkut (Yul Brynner) in Rodgers and Hammerstein's
'The King and I'- "It's a puzzlement."
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