Ilkeston - The Shape
Of Things
w/e 08 June 2008
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
A quick count of the "Crescents" in Ilkeston indicated
nineteen such roads but as there are developments in the course
of construction there may well be more that I missed. The dictionary
defines a "crescent" as a "curved street, often
presenting a continuous façade" and this one that
I selected (from the nineteen) is Nutbrook Crescent at Kirk Hallam.
Not only do the houses present a continuous façade but
the road is crescent-shaped too.
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Not all of the nineteen have crescent-shaped roads though and
although the houses on Dorterry Crescent and Nelper Crescent
(pictured above) on the Middleton Estate are symmetrically arranged
in a crescent-like formation the road layout is anything but.
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Oakwell Crescent is the more traditional shape but it does split
at the far end to enclose a triangular green at its junction
with St Andrews Drive.
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As well as "Crescents" in Ilkeston there are also "Circles"
and "Squares" but neither of these are as numerous.
I can only think of five "Squares" currently in existence
following the disappearance when Chalons Way was constructed
of what was probably the most well-known in White Lion Square.
Three of the five remaining are in close proximity and similar
in appearance to each other on the Cotmanhay Farm Estate. Named
after places in the Derbyshire Dales, they are Ilam, Edale and
Darley.
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The fourth is Erewash Square. A plan view when the site was first
constructed would reveal the road layout to be almost square
but subsequent redevelopment means that this is no longer true
even though the name has been retained. The final "Square"
is this one pictured above. It is at Kirk Hallam and it goes
by the name of MacDonald Square.
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I know of only two "Circles" and they are at opposite
ends of the town. Dovedale Circle (like the Squares mentioned
above) is named after a Derbyshire Dale and it too is on the
Cotmanhay Farm Estate. Like its name suggests it is circular
and symmetrical in shape.
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Back at Kirk Hallam on the other hand, Nuthall Circle is not
as symmetrical as its counterpart at Cotmanhay. In plan view,
Nuthall Circle leaves St Norbert Drive by a crescent-shaped road
and is linked by a short straight road to another that circles
around a large open green complete with a children's play area
in a shape that is more like an oval than a circle. But maybe
I'm just being pedantic.
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So we have at least nineteen Crescents, five Squares and two
Circles and although there are many triangular pieces of land,
there is only one of The Triangle. And that's just about the
shape of things.
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