Welcome to Old Ilkeston – the growing story of a Victorian town

Ilkeston Ancestry is our exciting new Facebook group where you can get the same help as you receive from the Old Ilkeston website ... and more. And it's interactive.

It is for people interested in their Ilkeston Family History, telling others what they have discovered, asking for help, and helping others.

So easy to join. Everyone welcome. (If you think you might want to join just click here to review the group)

You can write to the site with questions or stories, or contribute your own material. Use either the Contact Form (left) or email me … [email protected]

To find your way around the site, there is a guide, a main index to the Grand Tour, and a supplementary index which is updated every month. You can also use the search boxes — top right and top left  — or use the menus on most of the pages.


Who is this fine-looking chap from the 1880s ?

Courtesy of Chris Willis (his great great grandson)

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Another look at the mid-Victorian Town Hall 

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A prominent monument in St. Mary’s Churchyard. But whose is it and what is his connection with George Small ?

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Recent Additions for 2023

December 7th ... destitution in South Street, 1885 and 1900

Deceember 5th ... typhoid in town 1900

December 4th ... a new memorial window is added to St Mary's Church, 1900

November 30th ... an updated Supplementary index for all recent additions

November 28th ... Felix Sisson adds to his crime sheet, 1899

November 23rd ... Cromwell House in Lord Haddon Road: a new manse in 1899

November 18th ... the Lifeboat Saturday Movement arrives in town, June 17th 1899

November 17th ... the grave of William and Mary Briggs in Park Cemetery

November 14th ... a lovers' quarrel in Burr Lane: Meakin vs Torr

November 13th ... disease outbreaks at the end of the century

November 11th ... Oscar Joseph Hooley of 274 Nottingham Road

November 9th ... the Lifeboat Saturday Movement come to Ilkeston

November 5th ... 1899: Isaiah Fishers's loose mouth lands him with a very large fine

November 3rd ... The Robin Movement, 1899

November 1st ... the tangled relationship of Silas Spencer and William Trussell junior

October 31st ... an updated Supplementary index for all recent additions

2023 ... (All additions for 2023 can be found here)


Who are the long-term residents of Albion Place ?

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One of the Brown family of Burr Lane … but which one ? (Pam Bates archive)

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Where can we spend this ?

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A part of Ilkeston about 1800 … but which part ? (from Jim Beardsley’s Collection)

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Look who’s visiting Ilkeston

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Chapel brothers: do you recognise them ?


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Who built the seven bedroom house in Market Street in 1878 (marked X on the map below) and was living there in the 1880s ?

Clue: At this time he also owned the Horse and Groom Inn at Gallows Inn.

 

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Seduction in Market Street … but who’s seducing who ??

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A new church for Ilkeston is begun 1893

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Who lies in this neglected grave in St. Mary’s Churchyard ? You might be surprised at the office he once held in Victorian Ilkeston.

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The photo above can be found in Trueman and Marston’s History of Ilkeston. It is labelled as “A bit of old Ilkeston, in Bath Street“. Any idea what it was called … or where it was ? (Be careful !! — don’t make the same mistake as the census enumerator Arthur Perriam made in 1881)

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This is supposedly a copy of an oil painting by G. Paulden (1952), imagining “Ye Olde King’s Head Hotel about 1895”. (courtesy of Ilkeston Reference Library).
There are a couple of clues within the painting to help provide an exact year … and it isn’t 1895. 

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Jim Beardsley has very kindly loaned a bundle of unique documents to the Old Ilkeston site from his personal collection. The papers include fascinating details of Victorian property ownership. All of the plans below are from Jim’s collection.

Any idea what this plan below is showing ? .. there are lots of clues within it.

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Burr Lane … but perhaps not as you know it

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Can you connect the Plan below with the Photo above ? (Jim Beardsley Collection) 

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Any contributions and comments are all very welcome.
If you have any questions about your own Ilkeston research please put them forward.

2019 ... (All additions for 2019 can be found here)

2021 ... (All additions for 2021 can be found here)

2022 ... (All additions for 2022 can be found here)



© since 2012

 

Search the site


  • The Grand Tour
  • Index to the Grand Tour and Site Guide.
  • Adeline’s articles and the Columbine family history
  • Old Ilkeston B/M/D Records and Census
  • Old Ilson Blog by ‘Insider’
  • Help and Reference Library

Contact Form


[email protected]

Dave Johnson