Shipley Park - Miller-Mundy Memories
w/e 01 April 2007
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Miller-Mundy Memories Title Panel

Part 4 - From Coal To Cricket

So far in our probe into the Miller-Mundy Memories, we have for the most part been heading generally in an south easterly direction along the route of some old railway lines that now form a section of the Nutbrook Trail. Having reached The Field at Shipley, remains of the mineral line that served the collieries are still visible in the road and it is here that the Trail leaves the route of the railway to head in a more southerly direction. Although our destination in this part is the home ground of the Shipley Hall Cricket Club, the source of the Miller-Mundy's wealth, coal, is never very far away as we shall see as we go down Dog Kennel Lane.

Follow The Horse

Lakeside Business ParkAs we follow the horse seen in the image above to descend Dog Kennel Lane we must first pass what is now known as Lakeside Business Park (above and right). The lake that the business park is beside can be glimpsed to the right of the horse and also above the gate. It was this same stretch of water that gave its name to the "The Inn On The Lake", a public house that traded here in the same building prior to its conversion to the business park. Before that it had been used successfully as a restaurant for a number of years in the latter part of the last century and was well known locally as "The Coppice" but that was not the original use of the building.
Office Building

Dog Kennel LaneAs we descend the slope that is Dog Kennel Lane (left) , a better view of the building is afforded through the fence on the right hand side of the lane. It dates from 1890 and its original use was as offices for the Great Northern Railway Company. It was also used for a similar purpose by the Shipley Colliery Company so in reality despite its more recent usage as both an inn and a restaurant, it has actually gone full circle and is now once again an office building. The size of the building gives some idea of the importance of the rail and coal industries in the early part of the twentieth century.
Dog Kennels Site

As the lane levels out an overflow from the lake which, along with Osborne's Pond and Mapperley Reservoir, was built to provide a water supply and as a feeder for the Nutbrook Canal, is crossed by a small bridge. Although there is no trace to be seen today, it was here on the left that the kennels housing dogs for the hunt were sited.
Path To Cricket Ground

Cricket GroundIt is only a few more steps beyond the bridge that there is a footpath (above left) on the right leading through a gate (above right) and onto the Shipley Hall Cricket Club's home ground also seen here in the small image on the right from the front of the pavilion. On the left of the path is a post and wire fence and although now in a state of disrepair, it is interesting to see that the "wire" is actually reclaimed cable from the mining operations. This has obviously been here for quite a number of years as most of the collieries closed in the 1960s so the life of the cable has been extended by another fifty or so years. Who said recycling was a newfangled idea?
Cricket Pavilion

Tea BreakBrothersThe path reaches the ground at the left of the pavilion and scoreboard and we were surprised to find a number of gentlemen, including members of the club, sitting outside. But what better way to spend an hour on a warm sunny spring afternoon than putting the world to rights with friends. All that was missing was the cricket but games don't start until later in April and by then, the rains will probably have returned!
Pavilion Interior

The fact that members of the club were there was a bonus as I was invited to have a look inside. As well as a trophy cabinet, there were numerous pictures, paintings and photographs of famous cricketers, former teams and views of the ground and Shipley Hall.



The club was founded by the local landowner and "Squire", Edward Miller Mundy and a portrait of the Squire is displayed in pride of place in the pavilion. The first game on the ground was played on 7th July 1899 between 37 married men and 60 single staff from the estate. Quite how that worked I'm not sure but the ground had been created on the former haystack yard. Over a hundred years later the ground is still undergoing improvements and the pavilion is part way through a redevelopment. A new bank is also being constructed on which seats will be placed to provide improved viewing facilities for spectators. While we were there a number of lorries accessed to site to deposit loads of soil to form the bank. Taking leave of our hosts, this time via the vehicular access to the ground to return to Dog Kennel Lane and the Nutbrook Trail, we noted the welcome sign to the the ground on the end of the pavilion which bears the black wolf crest of the Miller-Mundy family and also a small building in the trees near the entrance that once served as an electricity generating station providing lighting for the Hall.

Back to Part 3 - Mainly About The Railway ------ Forward to Part 5 - Up Shipley Hill
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