Part 06 - The Chatsworth Centre to West Park
w/e 07 October 2018
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
Information for this series has been sourced from
various places including the"Long Eaton Centenary Town Trail"
leaflet (CTT) and the"Long Eaton Townscape Heritage Initiative"
booklet (THI).
 This sixth part
of the Long Eaton Town Walk moves us on from the Chatsworth Centre
and the Duchess Theatre along Salisbury Street, across Tamworth
Road and into Broad Street to cross the Erewash Canal to West
Park. Salisbury Street was built early in the twentieth century
and is typical of many streets built around that time. Wilne
House (left) for example, which now houses eight companies, bears
the date stone 1908 and many of the houses in Salisbury Street
pre-date it by a few years. Heading towards Tamworth Road the
THI booklet mentions a number of houses on the right with "highly
decorated tiled front porches" but since the booklet was
printed some have disappeared and only two now remain.
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Broad Street is directly across Tamworth Road from Salisbury
Street and on the left hand corner is a building worthy of closer
inspection - Long Eaton's library. Access from Tamworth Road
is through the Art Nouveau style gates that were once matched
with similar railings around the grounds until the Second World
War.
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The listed Grade II library itself was built in 1906 for the
Long Eaton Urban District Council to a design by Gorman and Ross
following a competition open to local architects only. Typical
of many Carnegie libraries built at the same time the Arts and
Crafts building has several interesting features. The philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie in fact, expressed a willingness to provide £3,000
for the new library.
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The large plate glass windows are not normally found in Arts
and Crafts buildings of this period but show a number of classic
features such as the ceramic tiles above the window and the small
panes of glass at the foot of the window among others.
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The blue and gold mosaic above the entrance depicts an angel
with an open book in one hand and a torch in the other and it
is flanked by two gold mosaic panels with the Latin words PAX
(peace) and LUX (light) another classic example of the Art Nouveau
movement.
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Inside the library it was not until 1924 that borrowers were
able to browse the books. Originally they had to request them
from the counter but today they can not only peruse the books
but also have access to CDs (on request), DVDs, local studies
and free internet access. They can also admire the wonderful
stained glass window by Andrew Stoddart of Nottingham with panels
depicting Music, Painting, Literature and Poetry and bearing
the words "read not to contradict and refute but to weigh
and consider".
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Leaving the library by the Broad Street gate you pass a sensory
garden which was installed in 2002 which is a pleasant place
to sit and watch the world go by - or maybe read a book!
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At the other end of Broad Street to the library one of the last
buildings before a ramp leads up to the footbridge over the Erewash
Canal is a wooden building that houses the Long Eaton Spiritualist
Church. Spiritualist churches are found all over the world, a
spiritualist church being one affiliated with a movement that
started in the USA during the 1840s.
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Looking in a northerly direction from the footbridge is Long
Eaton Lock about 100 yards away. This is the first lock on the
canal following its junction with the River Treat at Trent Lock
about a mile and a half to the south.
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Also from the footbridge before descending another ramp to access
West Park, there is this general view over the park. The park
covers a much larger area than can be seen from here and it is
here we will pick up the walk in Part 07 but for a more detailed
look at the park and the Tree Trail within it, refer to the West Park Index.
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