A Sentimental Journey
- No. 05 (also No. 06)
Ilkeston To Cossall - Part 2
w/e 03 February 2008
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Gonna take a Sentimental Journey, Gonna set my
heart at ease.
Gonna make a Sentimental Journey, to renew old memories.
As we continue our sentimental journey from Ilkeston to Cossall
we will again be following the route suggested both by Derek
Thorpe (by the Park Cemetery, Monks Way, Potters Lock) and
Joanne Apergi (Park Cemetery, a gitty near Millfield Road
to the allotments and Potter’s Lock). There have been
some changes to the landscape over the years but in this part
we will still follow that suggested route from the cemetery to
the canal.
Click here if you would
like to see Part 1 before continuing.
Old maps of 1901 show that the main access to the Park Cemetery
was along Park Avenue (on the extreme right of this photo) which
then splayed out in both directions from the main gates as Park
Crescent. Since then, the road to the left has been extended
around much of the the perimeter of the cemetery as Cantelupe
Road but the right hand arm of the crescent now links with Millfield
Road and still retains its original name. It is that road we
shall be following but first a word about the cemetery itself.
I also checked the 1887 map but this showed neither the roads
nor the cemetery but I didn't expect to see it as the first burial
here did not take place until 1892. The chapel was not built
until 1910 and is now a grade II listed building.
|
  In Part 1 of this walk I mentioned we were following
the same route as the Town Walk but it is at the cemetery gates
that we deviate from that route (which turns right along Park
Avenue), to follow Park Crescent to its junction with Millfield
Road (above). Here we follow the gitty that Joanne remembers
as leading to the allotments. In other parts of the country you
may hear "alley", "ginnel", "jitty",
"snicket" and "twitchel" among others but
they all mean "a narrow, pedestrian, urban passageway".
|
Those allotments have long since disappeared as in the latter
half of the last century they became prime building land. The
gitty is bisected now by an extension to Heathfield Avenue which
in turn leads via a short footpath   through
to Doris Road, a view of which from the opposite end prompted
Derek's suggestion for this "Sentimental Journey" series.
The older houses seen in the image above beyond the second lighting
column are in fact on Doris Road. At this point we can either
to turn to the left and follow Heathfield Avenue (left) or continue
across the road and along the narrower dog-legged gitty (right).
|
Both ways lead to what I have always thought to be the strangely
named Winchester Crescent. It's strange only in that it is not
crescent shaped at all but merely a straight road ending as a
cul-de-sac. Such are the whims of the people responsible for
allocating names to roads but be that as it may, we must continue
along Heathfield Avenue a little way to its junction with Park
Road and Monks Close.
|
 It
is here that we join the route we followed in the Monk's Way walk but from here to Cossall
we will be following the same route but in the reverse direction.
Until the 1960s all of the land to the left in the image above
was farmland. Park Road led only to Park Farm or as it was named
on those old maps, The Park. In those days it was used by the
Ilkeston Co-operative Society where I believe they stabled horses
used to haul delivery vehicles for their Bakery and Dairy departments.
In 1963 however, the farm was standing derelict and a fire that
swept through the buildings sealed its fate. It was after this
that the Park Farm Housing Estate began to take shape.
|
  A
lane still leads between the houses down to Potter's Lock on
the Erewash Canal. Reference once again to those maps of the
1880s and 1900s reveals that the lock was then called Ilkestonmill
Lock. With the demise of the mill the name changed over time
taking its inspiration from the Potter family who were occupants
of Park Farm prior to the Co-op.
We'll pause here in our walk before crossing the bridges over
the canal (left) and the river (right) and heading for the railway
bridge where we'll start again in Part 3. But before we leave
this part, there's time for a little sentimental journey memory
of my own from here.
Back in my school days in the 1960s much of the route of this
walk formed our cross country course in our physical education
lessons. I, along with several friends, was not a long distance
runner. Sprinting was my forte so the thought of a four mile
run across the Erewash Valley - down one side and up the other
and then back again - bore no enchantment whatsoever. Our "runs"
out to Cossall were not that frequent but occasionally we did
have to make the effort. I remember one instance where several
boys (not me!) hid under the bridge at Potter's Lock, scuttling
along from one side to the other to avoid being seen by the teacher
who was following behind to make sure everyone completed the
course.
Then there was that famous occasion indelibly inscribed on my
memory when five or six of us athletically challenged students
made a detour home to sit drinking milky Camp coffee out of my
mum's state of the art 1960s pearlised coffee cups before sprinting
back to school just in time for the end of the lesson. We probably
expended more energy in that sprint than if we'd walked round
the four miles but it was certainly one up for us over the teachers.
And we still have the nerve to criticise the youth of today and
their escapades - what would our children think of our antics?
They say as you get older, your memory starts to fade but you
are often able to recall events from many years ago. Try as I
might I cannot recollect the footpath from Millfield Road to
Potter's Lock with any degree of clarity and yet I must have
traversed its length on more than one occasion. Maybe I'm not
that old after all or I've just become accustomed to its current
appearance!
Cue song:- Never thought my heart could be so yearny. Why
did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that Sentimental Journey, Sentimental Journey home.
Continued in Part 3
|
