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Heanor & District Local History Society



History Topics

The area covered by the Heanor and District Local History Society is wide and varied. As well as Heanor itself, an old hill top market town, mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, there are many surrounding villages which are of equal interest. We cannot cover everything in just a few web pages, but we hope that all of the communities which go to make up the wider area are represented to a greater or lesser extent.

The numerous local history pages of the site are split into two categories - those based on location and those based on theme (although some pages could easily fit on either side).

The sections under this page cover the area geographically - you can access the pages via the buttons above, or by clicking on the appropriate photo in the slideshow at the bottom of the page. If you want to look at the themed pages, follow this link, or to see a list of all the pages available, click here.

Within Heanor itself, there are two pages, one looking at the Market Place, and the other at the Memorial Park.

Langley Mill was the major industrial centre of the area, though before the Industrial Revolution it was just a quiet rural river valley. The Langley Mill page covers the rise (and fall) of the industries of the village, while Aldercar has a lot of detail of the now disappeared Aldercar Hall, dating from the 17th century. There is also a photo gallery of Langley Mill in flood - a frequent occurrence in the past.

A history of Codnor Castle can be found on the Codnor page, while the Loscoe page gives a general overview of the village’s long history.

The Marlpool and Langley page has information about the Marlpool United Reformed Church, the old Langley Swimming Baths, and "Langley Castle," which was not what it sounds! There is a separate page on Marlpool Cemetery.

Moving further afield, Shipley has details of the home of the Miller Mundy family, and their mining wealth. There is also a collection of old postcards, and some examples of experimental photography at Shipley Hall.  There is also some recent history: a general page on the ill-fated attempt to launch Britannia Park in 1985, and a page on the craftsmen who worked under that venture.

Smalley’s connection with Bonnie Prince Charlie is explained in more detail on the village’s page, and there is also a page on Stainsby House. We also have a page on “Forgotten Place-names”.

Please let us know if there is anything specific you would like to see on our site - or better still, write an article and send it to us. See the Contact Us page for different ways of getting in touch



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.


We hope to present a new page on Britain from Above in the future.



Heanor - the Market Place

Heanor Market Place

Click on the photo to visit the page