Events & Blog

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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.