Heanor & District Local History Society
Welcome
(Last updated on 20 August 2021)
News (for general introduction, see below)
Having had no in-
Our full programme of events for the coming year can be seen on the Programme page.
We are also looking at providing our non-
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-
Our monthly newsletters have changed a lot over the years. If you haven’t yet seen them the Newsletters 50th page, 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 -
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 -
Our 2022 calendar is now available, and will be appearing in local shops soon.
You can also buy them at any of our meetings, or order them from us online (postage and packing is extra).
Click on the calendar for more details.
The last year has had an impact on our society, as it has for so many others. One thing that we really need is a couple of new people to join our committee and help run things. It really isn’t a big task, but without volunteers on the committee we would have no history society.