Nicks` Cabinet of Curios

  Basil Dearden (Director) - The Blue Lamp - Ealing - 1950 Recently had a welcome opportunity to watch The Blue Lamp, a film I`ve seen many times before. Many regard the film as a bit one-dimensional, a story of salt-of-the-earth coppers pursuing reckless young villains.  They can`t have been paying attention (or possibly they are confusing the film with the spin-off TV series Dixon of Dock Green). In fact, the film is a remarkably gritty depiction of a post-war Britain in which kids play on bomb sites and one officer has a spare room to let because his son is dead.  As the introductory voice-over makes clear, the young would-be hoodlums come from families damaged by war and are avoided by established organised crime as being undependable ("stick to gas meters" sneers one gangster when Dirk Bogarde`s psycho misfit Tom asks him to handle the proceeds of a proposed robbery). The signs of a war-ravaged city are all around, particularly in the scenes where the Police are out ...

Kevin Wharncliffe - Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deeds in Nottingham - Wharncliffe - 2003 I am not posting reviews at present but thought people might be interested in this book I read recently. Recommended if you like a bit of non-fiction historical crime. A very impressive account of one of Nottinghams` most notorious murders,  Herbert Mills` killing  of Mabel Tattershaw,  looks at Mills` confession to a journalist and suggests a motive for both the killing and the (quickly recanted) confession which I had not heard before.   Also includes Samuel Atherley`s murder of his family at their home in Arnold, which I hadn`t heard of before, despite my  having spent many years living in and around the Arnold area. 

Andrew Forrester - The Female Detective - British Library - 2014 In the British Library Crime Classics series Andrew Forrester is the pseudonym of James Redding Ware  Mr Forrester/Ware was a prolific author who was not specifically a crime writer but did contribute at least three titles to the genre (The Female Detective, Revelations of a Private Detective, Secret Service or Recollections of a City Detective). If he has anything to say to us today it is more by accident than design as it seems likely he wrote for money and not for posterity ! That said, at his best he conjures up such an authentic feel that, although there were no female detectives in his day, some have suggested that he may have had some contact in the Police Force of the day whose attitudes and observations he drew on.  Unfortunately, some of the stories in this collection simply don`t represent him `at his best`. It`s true that tastes have changed and that some may have seemed more impres...

A while ago self, spouse and offspring walked along Nottingham Canal from where it joins the River Trent to the junction of Great Northern Close/Station Street. Along the way I took some pictures of the underside of bridges. This is the one I`m most pleased with, the underneath of the first bridge we came to , with water reflected on to it.

Blands Cliff is a cobbled street near Scarborough sea front and dating apparently to the 18th century. All I know about the murals is that they were done by artists local to the Scarborough area with work commencing in 2002. Some refer to World War One and these incorporate contain passages of prose from those who were there, apparently including some from an ancestor of one of the artists.  I`ve posted other pictures of the BC Murals on Facebook if anyone`s interested. 

Aqueduct Cottage, as it is known locally, is a derelict lock keepers` cottage located on a bank of the Cromford Canal. A Member of the Friends of Cromford Canal told me that it has not been inhabited since 1974, that no utilities have ever been connected to the cottage and that after it fell into disuse it was damaged by a fallen tree, with no attempt to restore or renovate it since that time. Blogger Peter Daykin (pandy.me.uk) states that it now belongs to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (there is a nature reserve backing on to and overlooking the cottage) and refers interested parties to Wirksworth Parish Records and the Friends of Cromford Canal, though presumably the Wildlife Trust may also be able to help. Recently the owners have had the building boarded up and commissioned local artists to do their thing to the exterior where possible. Before it was boarded up I personally did enter it and explore a number of times. I now realise that may not have been sen...

Known locally as `The Folly` , this building is actually the remains of an ice house used by the inhabitants of the now-demolished Shipley Hall.  For anyone who doesn`t know, an ice house was a stone building used in those pre-fridge days to keep food fresh. There are the remains of many ice houses dotted around the country. This one is unusual in that it was built from `clinkers`, waste from a foundry which has taken the form of a stony residue.  I am told there is a house built from the same material somewhere in the area - West Hallam I think - and in Heanor there is a low wall alongside a tarmac footpath running from Ilkeston Road to William Gregg Leisure Centre along the edge of Heanor Memorial Park which I personally believe is also made of clinkers. 

Friar Gate Station, Derby was closed down during the `Beeching` cuts of the 1960s. As people and trains moved out, wildlife moved in. Various proposals have been made for development of the site, but not one has come to anything. While I`m not claiming that the area has existed in a hermetically-sealed bubble since that time - there are periodic complaints of fly-tipping, vandalism etc - you can readily see that nature has been gradually taking over for 50-60 years. Technically, this is a brownfield site - it`s previous use was industrial. It`s a half-truth at best that brownfield sites automatically have no environmental merit, but in this case, when the last train to run along the tracks did so decades ago, the `brownfield` designation is in any case meaningless. A number of rare/unusual species have been found there, and 23 species of butterfly have been recorded at the site.   A Facebook group has been set up "to promote the site, hopefully helping to conserve at ...

Heanor, home of the Gingerbread Duck,  is a small town in Amber Valley, Derbyshire, pretty much on the South Derbys/North Notts border.   Built in 1876, the Town Hall was during the early part of the twentieth century a cinema called Buxton`s Picture Palace. Bromley House. This former bank has been converted into flats and is owned by a charity called Aspire.  The date plaque at the top is dated 1895 with the lettering NJSB, which stood for Nottingham Joint Stock Bank. There are other interesting buildings in the area, but given my limited expertise with a camera, I`ve not been able to achieve a decent picture of them !  I`ll try again another time.  There is a local history group, Heanor and District Local History Society, and a Facebook page, Heanor Bygones. 

Situated at the junction of Cheapside and St Werburgh`s Churchyard (near Derby Museum and Art Gallery), this is one of Derby`s best-known ghost signs and a personal favourite of mine.  It would be interesting to know if any pictures survive showing T Gorman`s business as it was, or indeed that of previous proprietor R Howitt. 

This ghost sign appears on the side of a private house on the road between Langley Mill and Eastwood (North Nottinghamshire).  It`s size and position means it is very apparent to motorist driving along that road, but sadly it`s not so easy to get a decent picture of it. As you might be able to tell, it advertises a business called Nevilles` Garage, which it describes as being, IIRC, a mile further along the road.  I`ve only come across one other photo of it, which was posted on Flickr by someone called Claire, who had the good sense to take her shot from the other side of the road at a time when there was little traffic about.  It is captioned `Neville`s Garage, Eastwood` . It would be interesting to know whether the eponymous Neville lived there at some point and saw a chance to plug his business, or whether he perhaps paid someone to have his sign on the outside of their home.  If anyone knows, get in touch. 

As you may know, `ghost signs` are the remains of old hand-painted signs on buildings drawing the attention of passers-by to a business that either occupied that building or could be found nearby. Naturally, the businesses usually no longer exist but the sign has outlived them, at least for now. Walk from Nottingham city centre through Hockley towards Sneinton and you will find this advertisement for `Benleys`, purveyors of furniture, carpets and women`s and children`s clothing. Judging by the size of the building I would say it was a substantial enterprise, possibly quite up-market in it`s day. As yet we`ve not been able to find out anything about it. Perhaps others can help ?

I do like a good castle ! Took these and others on a recent family visit. the others will be appearing on Facebook some time soon.  I also like a bit of history so I shall tell you that there has been a castle on this position since Norman times, but as I understand it the surviving buildings date from the thirteenth century. The Castle has seen it`s share of rebellion, Civil War, treason and treachery. A colourful history that`s well worth reading about ! There is a Friends of Dudley Castle that can help you with that. 

My own attempts to get a useable picture of Wilford Gazebo have not worked out, so this time I`m using a picture taken by Jonathan Thacker which I found on Geograph. The Gazebo was built as a summerhouse for writer Henry Kirke White but came to have a slightly grisly alternative use as for a time the basement was used as a mortuary for those who had drowned in the Trent ! Once again, a building which others find too plain but which I rather like !

Another day, another dinosaur. This one can be found in the grounds of Dudley Zoo.

The British Waterways Building, adjacent to the Nottingham/Beeston Canal. Formerly the warehouse of the Trent Navigation Company, I believe it may now have been turned into apartments.  

Severn`s Building is a medieval merchant`s house located near Nottingham Castle. Originally it stood near the Middle Pavement area but was dismantled and rebuilt when the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre was built. There had been later additions to the building but only the original medieval structure was saved. If you`re interested, the Picture the Past site has a picture of it in it`s original location. I must admit I personally don`t find it an attractive building, but certainly it has historical interest. Should you be interested, it takes it`s name from John and James Severn who used it as the base for a wine importing business in the 1700s. As far as I know it is currently standing empty.  .

I took this pic of Ripley Hippodrome on a visit there two or three weeks ago. Some say it`s an original 1913 building, others say it`s actually a 1920 building that incorporates parts of a building dating from 1913. Still others say it has too much of a plain brick appearance to be really distinctive. I have no idea how old it is but I do know I like it. I gather it was under threat of demolition a couple of years ago but has since been reprieved. Unfortunately, it`s been standing empty for a while and it`s future must be uncertain.

This is a picture Mrs Nick took of  an old railway bridge on the edge of Straws` Bridge Nature Reserve, which is often referred to by it`s local nickname Swan Lake. The bridge leads from the main lake to two smaller ones nearby. The bridge that gives the reserve it`s name no longer exists, but was a bridge over the Nutbrook Canal.

Having mentioned the English Civil War in my previous post, that reminded me I`ve never posted this.  I`ll leave it to others to discuss the rights and wrongs of the life of Henry Ireton and just tell you that I noticed this plaque on the outer wall of a private house near Attenborough Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire.