Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 20 - Into Wharncliffe Road
w/e 21 March 2004
Before continuing our walk along Wharncliffe Road (on the left
of the image above) we must first  examine
the Town Hall on the Market Place. It was built in 1867-68 to
an Italian-style design by R. C. Sutton of Nottingham under the
direction of the Local Government Board, the predecessor of the
Ilkeston Borough Council. The original Town Hall has been extended
and is now one of several premises used by the Erewash Borough
Council. Public access to the building can be obtained via several
entrances and above one of them on the side of the building is
the Borough Coat of Arms (extreme left above and enlargement
right). It was good to see a group of schoolchildren having a
history lesson and studying the front of the building when I
captured these images.
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The children were paying particular attention to these three
commemorative plaques either side of the main door to the Town
Hall. The ornate plaque to the right of the door (top right)
is a tribute to over 100 men from the Borough who served in the
South African War 1899-1902 (i.e. The Boer War) and a memorial
to three men named as Privates Charles Spencer, John Goldsmith
and Frank Webb who all gave their lives for their country and
the Empire. The large plaque to the left of the Town Hall door
(left) is to the memory of 1409 Sherwood Foresters (see note
below) who gave their lives and the 140,000 of the same Regiment
who served with honour during the First World War. On the wall
below this (shown here bottom right) is a smaller plaque commemorating
1520 Foresters who lost their lives and their comrades from 13
units of the Regiment who served in World War Two.
NOTE: I have also added to the site three
modified pages from my original site about Crich and the Sherwood
Foresters. They can be accessed from the Specials Index or by
clicking here.
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We've now moved into Wharncliffe Road and from the steps of the
United Reformed Church on the corner of Albert Street, the Town
Hall extension can be seen as we look back towards the Market
Place. In my school days, the site was occupied by the town's
open air swimming baths. Children from local schools were marched
through the streets to the baths in all weathers to have swimming
lessons. I have many painful memories of sessions there, shivering
in the unheated water or standing on the side of the baths in
the depths of winter wearing just a pair of swimming trunks.
It's no wonder I never learned to swim. Previously the site had
been a reservoir and provided a gravity supply of water into
the network.
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Opposite the Town Hall is the Ilkeston Department Store or the
Co-Op as it is still referred to by most Ilkestonians. The white
lettering on the blue canopy indicates the entrance to the Royal
Regency Rooms. Before the prefix was added the banqueting suite
on the top floor was known simply as the Regency Rooms and it
was here in 1967, as was the case with many young couples in
those days, that our wedding reception was held. Subsequent visits
by members of the Royal Family enabled the name to updated to
include the word "Royal" although their mode of transport
was no doubt more luxurious than those that now deposit and pick
up passengers along this part of Wharncliffe Road. Looks like
that old cliché - You wait ages for a bus then three arrive
at the same time!
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The portraits of three Royal Princesses, Margaret, Anne and Diana
plus the Duchess of Gloucester adorn the staircase to the Royal
Regency Rooms where at various dates, they all attended charity
luncheons.
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Until fairly recently, this building was the town's
Police Station and the word "Police" can still be seen
on the columns outside (right). It was built in 1905/6 and was
designed by the Borough Surveyor at that time, H. J. Kilford.
The design incorporated the Borough Coat of Arms (left) and included
a mortuary which, when Ilkeston Hospital was built, was converted
later into cells. The building in March 2004 had been taken over
by the Co-Op and was the headquarters of their motoring division.
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