There was once a windmill in New Sawley. The site is between Birchwood Ave and Hawthorne Ave, near the bends on the Twitchell. Sawley Windmill in 1835 – the miller’s cottage is by the road, further along the Twitchell, near the boundary with Long Eaton A later map showing the windmill between the railway (before Sawley Junction) and the canal bridge. It was a post mill – a relatively simple mechanism in which the whole wooden structure had to be moved around a central post to keep the sails facing the wind. Though sometimes the structure would sit on a round brick-built base. The design had been used in England since the 12th century, though its not known when the mill in Sawley was built. Later tower windmills had a fixed structure with just a moveable top section, which meant they could be much taller, with larger sails. One of the few surviving post mills in England is the Cat and Fiddle Mill, near Dale Abbey (built in 1788). Cat and Fiddle © Copyright Garth Newton (Creative Commons Licence). The earliest newspaper reference to the Sawley windmill is 1794. In 1799 the mill was put up for sale. In 1901 […]
Events & Blog
In the 1940s and 50s (and probably before) the railway ‘North Curve’ between Sawley Junction and Trent Station was used to accommodate the Royal Train overnight. In August 1940, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, on their way from London to Derby, had their sleeping coach shunted on to the North Curve, with the local Home Guard providing the guard for the night. In June 1949 Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were visiting Nottingham and spent the night on the Royal Train on the North Curve. The (now) Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh spent a night in the same place on 4-5 July 1955 when attending the Royal Show at Wollaton Hall. The Royal Train was there again in March 1957 and October 1958. When the Royal Train was parked on the North Bend it was the job of the Trent Station stationmaster to deliver the newspapers in the morning. Meanwhile the GPO (General Post Office) would put up poles to run a telephone wire to the train while it was parked there. The railway north curve has since been removed and is now mostly covered by Fields Farm Road. The inspiration and much of the information […]
Cobham Tiger Moth at Wilsthorpe In September 1937 an Air Display was held in New Sawley. Sir Alan Cobham’s flying circus brought two airliners (including a prototype Handley Page Hinaidi), an autogyro and several light aircraft to a field off Wilsthorpe Lane. Miss Joan Meakin performed aerobatics in a glider, whilst describing her actions over the radio. In another event 3 aircraft with the wings joined together by ribbons, looped their aircraft in formation. This event also saw the first public demonstration of the GQ parachute. Local people were offered flights from 4/ each Handley Page airliner
[A longer version of the following story appeared in the Long Eaton Advertiser in January 1947] Many details of the life and change in the ancient township Sawley are revealed by Mr William Smith of Towle-street, who is the oldest inhabitant of the village and who will celebrate his 93rd birthday this month. In a talk with this hale and hearty veteran farm worker he recalled scenes people and happenings as far eighty years ago. Born at Sawley in 1854 Mr Smith retains vivid recollections his youthful days. In his early days, Sawley consisted of 200 houses and less than 800 Inhabitants, then chiefly engaged in farming, boating, stocking making, warp net and lace making and blacksmith work. In Smith’s early days Sawley possessed four small one-storey factories containing about ten warp lace machines, owned by the Smedleys and Cliffords and later by Mr John Thorpe, several of these warp machines being subsequently shipped to America. An Italian named Arnabiliano also made warp lace in Sawley. A small number of women possessed lace frames and used to sit outside their homes in summer especially on Smithy-row (now demolished) working designs on plain net from paper patterns underneath. During the building […]
For many years the wooden Riverside Café stood at Trent Lock, at the end of the footpath that runs from the back of the ‘Trent Lock’ pub, alongside the triangular pond, nearly opposite the Scout Activity Centre. It’s not clear when the Riverside Café was built, but the first café at Trent Lock was opened in 1894 by Jane Rice (1858-1948). Her husband, Thomas Rice, had been the landlord of the Erewash Navigation (Steamboat) as well as operating the horse ferry and the Barton ferry. The same year, the license for the Erewash Navigation was temporarily transferred to Herbert Maltby. Mrs Rice started the business at The Cottage/The White Cottage (perhaps the white cottage behind ‘The Cabin’ next to Trent Villa). In 1895 she moved to the newly built Trent Villa (the large Victorian house just west of the ‘Trent Lock’ pub). Trent Villa 1896 1921 After Maltby drowned in 1900, Thomas Rice moved back to the Erewash Navigation, with Jane taking over after Thomas died. At some point the wooden café was built beside the Trent on land rented from John Stevenson Grammar at Great Grounds Farm. By 1921 Jane’s son William Henry Rice was running a cafe at […]
This photo from about 1895 shows an outing of local licensed victuallers on the Erewash Canal opposite the Nelson Hotel (now called the Barge Inn). Herbert Maltby of the Erewash Navigation, sitting at the rudder (on the far right) owned the boat, a converted lifeboat. Second from the right is Edward Carter, then licensee of the Blue Bell who later ran Carters’ mineral water in Sawley. Mr Beers of the Harrington Arms is just left of the engine in the middle of the boat. William Johnson (barman at the Erewash Navigation) is standing on the bow. Next to him are Mr Tanser of the Nelson and then Tom Meakin of the Tiger Inn. In 1894 the license to the Erewash Navigation Inn at Trent Lock was temporarily transferred from John Rice to Herbert Maltby, an agent for a brewery in Loughborough. Herbert and his wife Emma were from Hoveringham (by the Trent between Nottingham and Newark). This advertisement appeared in the Long Eaton Advertiser in February 1895. They stayed at the pub nearly 6 years, before leaving in early 1900. By 9th March Emma and their children had already moved to a house in Long Eaton, while Herbert remained to […]
Sawley & District Historical Society: 2023 – 2024 Programme Meetings held in All Saints’ Church Hall at 7.30 pm 28th Sept: ‘The Life & Adventures of Henry Walker RN’The ever-entertaining Stephen Flinders relates the extraordinary life of yet another hisrelatives. 26th October: ‘Kedleston and The Curzons’A representative of National Trust talks about the Hall and the family. 23rd November: ‘The Wars of the RosesGareth Howell talks about one of the most important periods in our country’s history. December: No meeting 25th January: ‘The River Trent, from Source to Sea’Our chairman takes us on a journey from Biddulph to the Humber, looking at places andpeople en-route, and ‘our’ river’s place in the industrial, leisure and social history of ournation. The meeting will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting 22nd February: ‘A Roman Empire Soldier’Jed Jaggard makes a welcome return, appropriately as a Roman Soldier, who could have visitedSawley’s Roman Fort. 28th March: ‘Inspiring Slavic Sisters’The lives of Slavic women, including Catherine the Great, and how they coped with marriage,work, revolution and war, related by Dr. Cathy McAteer 25th April: ‘Medieval Pilgrimage’Actor Tony Perkins dresses in period costume to explain the ‘who’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ ofa Medieval Pilgrim. 23rd […]
The next Sawley & District Historical Society talk is The Life & Adventures of Henry Walker RN related by Stephen Flinders Thursday 28th Sept 2023 @ 7.30pm All Saints’ Church Hall, Tamworth Rd Admission: Member £2 – Visitor welcome: £5 Contact: tel 01332 850321 Full 2023-24 Programme
A reader has spotted several drain and meter covers in Sawley manufactured by S J Claye Ltd of Long Eaton. Samuel John Claye opened a factory in Long Eaton in 1850. The site, between Huss’s Lane and Main Street had been the Manor House farm and the main site continued to be known as Manorhouse Works. It was well known for producing railway wagons for the Midland Railway. Many men from Sawley were employed at the works. Claye was sued for bankruptcy 1882 but carried on business until his death in 1887. He had himself a large house built on the other side of Main Street. The house ‘Belfield’ became Southlands Old People’s Home. It was demolished in 2022. The wagon works carried on as a limited company, but gradually fell into decline and the company was sold in 1937. Most of the buildings were demolished in the 1960s. The main site is now the Tapper’s Harker pub. The meter cover in Sawley is also marked LEUDC, so was presumably installed after LEUDC took over Old Sawley in 1934. But we thought Clayes only made railway wagons. Does anyone know more about other items made by Clayes? And another question […]
At about 4am on 20th January 1931, John Roe of Oakwood Bungalow, Plant Lane got up, complaining of a violent headache and difficulty in breathing. When he left home half an hour later, his wife assumed he was going to work early. But he wasn’t seen alive again. When it was realised that he was missing, dozens of villagers made unofficial searches of the riverbank. On 10th Feb an appeal was broadcast on BBC radio. John Roe had been born in Long Eaton in 1872. In 1895 he married Tacey Ann Clifford from Sawley. Their daughter, Gladys May, was born later that year. At first they lived in Co-operative Street, before moving to Myrtle Cottage on Nottingham Road in Sawley. Their next house was 13 Charnwood Avenue and finally Oakwood on Plant Lane. John was a Jacquard (lace machine) card maker. From around 1911 he had his own card punching business at Birchwood Mills (Wilsthorpe Road). At about the same time, his parents moved to ‘Avondale’ 81 Wilsthorpe Road. His father was a lacemaker, working as a foreman for Fletchers works and attended the nearby St Mary’s Chapel. John suffered from ear trouble. A short time before his disappearance […]
The original bridge over the canal on the road to Long Eaton (just past Magnet Garage) was built at the same time as the Erewash Canal, about 1778, one of 25 bridges along its length. It was an old ‘hogsback’ or humpback bridge and by the late 19th century it had become a bit of a bottleneck. It was just outside the parish boundary and thus the responsibility of Long Eaton Town Council. In 1883 the council received tenders to replace both this (Sawley Road) bridge and the canal bridge on Wilsthorpe Lane (Derby Road), but only the latter was done. By 1901 Long Eaton Council were complaining that Sawley Road bridge was dangerous and a disgrace to the town. If a steam roller driver wanted to go to Sawley, he had to go via Breaston. It didn’t help that when the council ran a water main over the bridge, they raised the footway to cover it, leaving the parapet on one side of the bridge only 28” (71cm) high. In 1905 a Castle Donington man fell over the side late at night and died. In 1911 the old bridge was demolished and replaced by the current structure. Photo […]
Sawley Junction Station (now Long Eaton Station) was opened by the Midland Railway in 1888. The Midland Railway became part of the London, Midland & Scottish (LMS) Railway in 1923. The LMS was nationalised in 1948 and became part of British Railways (known as British Rail from 1965). This is the back cover of the April 1958 edition of British Railways – London Midland Region Magazine.
The Society still has copies of the booklet The Sawley Trail, an illustrated guide to a 1½ mile walk around the village, with historical notes. And other walks in or near Sawley. The booklet is available on Amazon for £34.99, on EBay for £75, or just come along to one of the Society meetings and pick one up for £1.50!
Albert Edwin Smith was born in Castle Donington, where his mother, Eliza’s (Hickinbottom) family lived. Albert’s father was Edwin Smith, a lacemaker from a long-established Sawley family. Albert and Eliza set up home at 141 Sawley Road, Long Eaton. In 1914 he joined the Army, serving with the South Nottinghamshire Hussars; though he may already have been a volunteer trooper before the war. After mobilization, the South Notts Hussars served in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and then at Salonika before deploying to Egypt as part of the Desert Mounted Corps. Albert was promoted Lance Corporal. (* Ed. When I was very young I heard that Albert (a neighbour) had been in the cavalry at Omdurman. I assumed he’d been at the famous 1898 battle in which a young Winston Churchill took part in the last full-scale British cavalry charge. But Albert wasn’t that old, so he must have visited Omdurman (in Sudan) during his time with the Desert Mounted Corps around 1917.) In early 1918 the South Notts Hussars gave up their horses and were transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) and set out for France. But early the next morning, their troopship, the SS Leasowe Castle, […]
As early as 1889 there were discussions about whether Sawley should have gas or electric street lighting, as it had neither at the time. This was rather ambitious, as small-scale electrical supplies were only just beginning to appear in Britain. As it turned out, Sawley only received gas lighting around 1897, about the same time Long Eaton was converting to electricity. Sawley’s first gas lighter was Stephen Smith. Harrington Mill (off Wilsthorpe Road) set up its own electric lighting system in the 1890s. In 1899 Long Eaton council decided to install their own electric cables and lighting, powered by a coal-fired generating plant between Milner Road and the Erewash Canal. This opened in 1903 using a 3-wire direct current system. Three years later it was converted to alternating current. The system was a financial success for the council and mains electricity seems to have reached New Sawley about 1913. In 1931, when the Wilsthorpe Road streetlights were converted from gas to electricity, the provision of electricity to Old Sawley was still being discussed. In 1932 it was announced that, rather than coming from Long Eaton, the Notts. and Derbyshire Electric Power Company would supply the village. An underground connection […]
In 1873, Sawley had plenty of shops, but those who needed to travel, and didn’t have their own horse, would have relied on the railway or local carriers (see below). Bicycles had been invented but didn’t really take off until the late 1880s, with developments like the pneumatic tyre. Roads had originally been maintained by the parish, but the 1862 Highways Act transferred the responsibility for most roads to the County Surveyor. The roads would have used the Macadam techniques, e.g. medium-sized stones at the bottom and smaller stones on top. But they’d have been muddy when wet and dusty in dry weather as they weren’t sealed with tar (tar-macadam, i.e. ‘tarmac’) until the 20th century. Canals and rivers were still used for transporting bulk cargo, although they’d lost a lot of business to the railways. There were no passenger river services, apart from the ferries at Trent Lock (across to Cliff Farm and the path to Red Hill) and Thrumpton (a long walk down Meadow Lane/Pasture Lane, Long Eaton). Carriers The carriers were men with horse-drawn wagons who provided a regular service, usually on market days, to towns or cities, and then back later the same day. In more […]
All meetings are held on a Thursday in All Saints’ Church Hall at 7.30 pm 22nd September – Bricks and Mortals Our chairman takes a look at some of Sawley’s buildings and the lives of their occupants. 27th October – St. Petersburg Dr. Cathy McAteer relates the story of this fabulous and fascinating city. 24th Nov. – The story of Boots the Chemist Chris Weir describes the origins and growth of this industrial giant. 26th January – 40th Anniversary – ‘More Bits and Bobs’ Bob Neill brings another box of puzzling antiquities for us to identify. 23rd February – ‘The Fall of Saxon England’ Mike Kelley describes the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings. 23rd March – ‘An Introduction to Heraldry’ John Titterton explains the rudiments of understanding armory. 27th April – ‘My Derbyshire Life’ Renowned local journalist and photographer Ashley Franklin presents fascinating facts, stories and photographs. 25th May: ‘The Life and Poems of Lord Byron’ Hugh Sharp concentrates on the life of the poet and how events and places influenced his writing. June, July and August – Outings to be arranged Membership fees: £12 + £2 per meeting Visitor fees: £5 per meeting 2
The next Historical Society event is a talk about Bess of Hardwick by Julie Ede. 26th May 2022 starting at 7.30pm. Cost is £1.50 for members, £4 for non-members. Church Hall, by All Saints Church, Old Sawley NG10 3AT After 26th May, the next scheduled talk is 22 Sep 2022 – ‘Bricks and Mortals‘ by Graham Grammer
Magnet Garage (now Long Eaton Garage Services) is on Tamworth Road, just before the Erewash Canal Bridge. In 1920 the proprietor was Albert Robert Bott. He was born in Milford in 1881. His father was a traction engine maker and Albert started work as an engine fitter. During the Great War he served with the Tank Corps before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps and becoming a photographer at No.1 Aeroplane Supply Depot at St Omer, France. In about 1928 John Thomas (Jack) Allen took over the garage, having previously worked for Rolls Royce in Derby. He was born in Long Eaton but grew up in Myrtle Avenue, New Sawley. In 1939 he was living nearby at 58 Tamworth Road. He was still running the garage in the late 1950s. The nearby Sea Scout facility next to the canal was opened in about 1956,
Between 1934 and 2000 Sawley did not have its own council and the signs by the roads entering the village said LONG EATON. In 1981 two local lads decided to fix that. One of them now runs this website.
Here are some advertisements from the 1730s and 1750 found in the Derby Mercury newspaper. Whilst its not (yet) possible to work out which houses are referred to; it’s worth looking at the meaning of some of the terms used. The Derby Mercury ran from 1732 to 1900. From 1882 to 2008 Sawley’s local paper was the Long Eaton Advertiser. Messuage. This means a house together with its outbuildings and adjacent land. The legal definition is still current, but the term was often used in adverts for houses in the 18th and 19th century. Lady Day (the Feast of the Annunciation) is 25th March. It is the first of the English quarter days (the others being Midsummer Day (24 June), Michaelmas (29 September) and Christmas (25 December). The cross-quarter days are Candlemas (2 February), May Day (1 May), Lammas (1 August), and All Hallows (1 November). Until 1752 Lady Day was the first day of the civil year in England, Wales and the American colonies (from 1752 it became 1 January to harmonise with Scotland). In the same year the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar, which meant dates advanced by 11 days. So, the ‘old’ Lady Day […]
Society AGM followed by Bob Neill – More Bits and Bobs A quiz about the objects from my grandfather’s shop and my grandmother’s house Monday 27th January 2020 at 8pm, All Welcome, Members Free, Visitors £4 Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley
Please note this is not a valuation evening. Monday 25th November 2019 at 8pm. All Welcome. Members £1.50 / Visitors £4. Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley
Monday 28th October 2019 at 8pm. All Welcome. Members £1.50, Visitors £4. Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley. Full poster.
A look at the memorials of All Saints Church that commemorate some of the interesting people who have lived and worked in the community of Sawley. Monday 23rd September 2019 at 8pm. All Welcome. Members £1.50 / Visitors £4.Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley Link to Poster
SAWLEY AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY presents a talk by Julia Powell on artist Dame Laura Knight. Monday 27th May 2019 at 8pm. All Welcome. Members £1.50. Visitors £4. Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley Poster
SAWLEY AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY presents a talk by Rod Pearson – When Mat & Mel Came to Town. Ordnance Survey in South Derbyshire in the 19th Century. Monday 29th April 2019 at 8pm. All Welcome. Members £1.50, Visitors £4. Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley. Poster
SAWLEY AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY presents a talk by Andy Smart – Nottingham’s Theatre History. Monday 25th March 2019 at 8pm. All Welcome. Members £1.50, Visitors £4. Sawley Church Hall, Tamworth Road, Old Sawley