Heanor & District Local History Society
Welcome
(Last updated on 21 February 2021)
News (for general introduction, see below)
With the ongoing pandemic, we have taken the decision that the rest of the season’s planned events will now be cancelled. Watch out soon for the publication of our 2021/2 Programme of meetings.
HOWEVER, we are going ahead with a meeting in March -
If you’ve never been to a Zoom event before, don’t worry -
Although we have not been publishing monthly newsletters, there have been a few editions since lockdown began (in May, September, December and March). Where possible, these have been sent by email. The May 2020 edition, commemorating the 75th anniversary of V.E Day, can be downloaded by following this link.
The Britain from Above website contains a huge number of aerial photographs from
the 1920s and 30s - this is just one taken in the Heanor area.
Using photos from that website, we have now created a Heanor from Above page.
Heanor Market Place, 1928
Heanor is no longer the shopping hub that it once was, and side street shops are almost all now gone.
But the shops of our past continue to hold a fascination for all, and we are always keen to receive copies of photographs taken of them.
Heanor’s Shops -
Here is a shot of Perrin’s Bakery, at the top of Market Street, taken in 1928.
A coal wharf on the Cromford Canal at Langley Mill, dealing with coal brought down for transportation from Eastwood and Brinsley. Beggarlee was in operation until after the end of the Second World War.
Beggarlee Wharf
Coal and transport are two vital themes to the history of the area -
Finding old photographs (and by “old” we mean anything before 2000!) taken on side
streets is never easy -
Jessop Street, Codnor
This photo, taken in the early 20th century, shows Jessop Street at Codnor, along with the Jessop Arms public house.
Lying at the extreme edge of the History Society’s area, between Codnor Castle and Ironville, the pond in Foxholes Plantation has a rather eerie feel about it, even in the best of weather. A good walk in the summer though.
Foxholes Pond
The History Society covers all the area around Heanor, including Smalley, Shipley, Langley Mill, Loscoe and Codnor.
A theme park at Shipley, built on the site of the former Woodside Colliery, ran from 1987 to 2007.
The American Adventure
Even really recent history plays a part in the activities of the Society -
Did you know that the town’s fire station has been in four different locations over
the years?
We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who has a photo of the fire
station when it was at what is now the Wilmot Street Community Centre.
Here is a crew lined up for inspection on the Town Ground (date not known).
Heanor’s Fire Service
Vic Hallams was a timber construction company, founded at Marlpool at the end of the First World War, before moving to Langley Mill after the Second World War.
Vic Hallams Ltd
In an area such as ours, much of the emphasis is on the now lost industrial history of the 19th and 20th centuries.
One of the biggest employers in Heanor, Morley’s was originally established in Sneinton,
Nottingham around 1797 -
I & R Morley
We would like to hear from anyone who can tell us of their time working at Morley’s.
Heanor (in case you are just browsing and don't actually know) is a market town in Derbyshire, England, very close to the border with Nottinghamshire. Not a major tourist area, but we are here to celebrate our history and heritage, which is as strong as anyone's!
In September 2006, research was published into the "most English" places in the country,
based primarily on the analysis of names in the most recent census, which split the
country's population into 200 ethnic groups. Heanor was declared the second-
We hope you will find our site both interesting and informative. We aim for the site
to undergo regular changes -
The Society's interests extend well beyond this immediate area, and covers all the old Heanor Urban District Council area (including Langley Mill, Loscoe and Codnor), along with Shipley and Smalley.
© Except where otherwise stated, the contents of this website are copyright of the
Heanor and District Local History Society. If you want to use anything you find here,
please ask -
Where items have not been prepared by the Society itself, we would like to thank the owners of copyright of the images and items used on this site for granting us the necessary permissions for their use. In some cases, despite our best efforts we have not always been able to locate the copyright holders. If you believe that any rights that are yours have inadvertently been infringed, we would ask you to contact us and to accept our apologies.
The Society is a registered charity. We are non-
Staying with newsletters, you can also see how they have changed over the years. On a new page, Newsletters 50th, we have added downloadable copies of our first newsletter, in January 1970, and our 410th newsletter, from January 2020. Have a look at see what you think.
Email newsletters: If you enjoy these digital newsletters, why not subscribe to future
editions? The cost is only £5.00 a year, which (pandemics allowing) means that you
get nine editions, monthly from September to May. Please don’t pay for next season
until we know what is happening, but if you would like to read back over the last
year, just go to the Membership page to join for 2019-
Just a reminder -
More and more we are using Facebook to promote the work of the Society, which means
we’ve been a bit lax at adding new items to the main website -
Please let us know of any subjects you would like to see us cover -
We still have a few 2021 calendars left. You can now only get them direct from us, so click on the calendar for details about ordering (postage and packing is extra).