Photo Gallery
Huthwaite Addressing
Main Street West
This section of a formerly named Town Street stretches northward, crossing over Chesterfield Road towards Barker Street along west side Main Street. As a simple cart track connecting a Top End Farm with the main thoroughfare, sloping farmlands rising on west began favouring earliest population growth, established the core of a 19th century rural Hucknall-under-Huthwaite hamlet.
Wright's Yard claimed entire left corner, before Robert Wright converted farm dwellings to open his Workpeoples Inn. A brewery takeover continued serving over a century, before selling off for a very quick transformation presenting a 2011 Tesco Express store.
Kath Wright retired from her family butchers shop home in 2003. Premises still closely resembled time when brothers Edward and George began individually selling pork and beef through adjoining windows. Its 2013 sale resulted in conversions to flats.
J Martin fronts his 1945 cobblers shop built onto side Wright butchers. Swanson Avenue has replaced entrance into Pilsworth Yard, from when that rather modest lean to property had also managed to provide home for raising the related Bradshaw family.
Privately constructed 19th century yards helped accommodate the mass of industrial workers. Some yards presented narrower branching streets before any actual need to first name Town Street. Ultimate 1960s slum clearances affected much of Main Street.
A detached residence cornering bottom right Swanson Avenue replaced Abbots Grocers. Slightly earlier semi properties cover past site holding more historic significance. This Main Street plot was where a newly styled Free Wesleyan Church erected an 1856 chapel, cornering onto adjacent Club Yard entrance. As the United Methodist Free Church, they moved into a newly built larger Sherwood Street chapel in 1884.
"Gem" picture palace then took over the old chapel, introducing Hucknall Huthwaite to a piano accompanied silver screen run by Mr and Mrs Brown. That enterprise was short lived, even less so when seven actors next tried out a live theatre renamed "Kosy Korner". Some could only vaguely recall that past building had simply last roomed a storage garage.
Guidelines towards building a relatively modern 1890 mining village afforded opportunity to relocate Marshall's news agent from their Harper Terrace shop. Previous generations recalled adjacent home was shopped serving boot dealer A Daffin, then Maxwell.
The 1960's semi replaced older pub entry that had grown into Swan Yard leading through onto Back Lane. A narrower gap had also been left amid next familiar block of terraces for entry into Sampsons Yard. That was recently blocked adding a garage plus flat.
Inset stone identifies a slightly later 1910 Ebenezer House. Some recalled Jonny Jones before passing Sweetmore's butcher shop when taking side path up to Barker Street Secondary school. Resurfacing entire 2006 length of Main Street sights a good indication of how Adlingtons past farmland used to be long seen standing waste before heavy clay soil sited two major developments.
Croft court flat complex was opened 1976 by Ashfield District Council, designed with good intention of providing retirement homes. But it proved poorly managed and underfunded, so total 2002 clearance profitably sold off grounds for 2011 Main Street housing.
Despite necessary removal of most earlier Hucknall-under-Huthwaite properties, Main Street still presents fullest timescale of west side housing developments. Some older cottages survived clearances. These finally saw recent completion of a 1970s house shell.
Towards corner of pre 1900 Barker Street developments are a few more familiar styled terracing. William Keeling apparently last kept a cornering shop. The White Lion was specifically built to closely serve Barker Street residents. Sighting 2010 transformation into offices, it finally ended up serving long anticipated relocation of a Brierley Forest Golf Club house from March 2013.
Establishing a Huthwaite golf course from around 1990, must have utilised much of the northerly farmlands initially worked from the Top End Farm. Name would have recognised location atop a waste area called The Falls, and when mapping some of the most fertile fields in a rural 18th century Hucknall Huthwaite, carting produce from that original farm primarily formed full length of Main Street. A very nicely appointed replacement house is basically recalled being last farmed by Cheetham.
25 Jan 13 by Gary Elliott Updated 07 Aug 20