Hey Street was developed from the 1870s, mostly for employees at the Midland Railway’s Sheet Stores. It was named after the Reverend Samuel Hey, a popular rector of Sawley in the 19th century.
Initially the houses were nearly the only homes between the East End of Old Sawley and Barn Farm (the other side of the railway).
On this 1884 map, Victoria St, Harrington St and the start of Wilmot St seem to have been marked out but not built. ‘Woodbine Cottage’ is on Bradshaw St.
There was no running water in the village but Hey St seems to have been well provided with pumps (‘P’ on the map).
Originally the ‘Bell Hotel’ was at the far end of Hey St, on the left. In the early 20th century it moved to its current position on Nottingham (Tamworth) Road.
In 1901 the heads of household in Hey Street were:
- William Allen (Charnwood Villa) – Storekeeper
- James Morris – water keeper (bailiff)
- Frank Clatworthy – sheet maker
- Charles Shaw – rifle butt manufacturer
- Ann Allen
- Thomas Turner (Ellushi House) – boot maker
- Sophia Allen – railway sheet maker
- Amos Yardley – railway goods porter
- John Evans – railway platelayer
- Sarah Armison
- Mary Burrows – greengrocer
- Joseph Maddocks – bricklayer’s labourer
- Hannah Wilcox
- Thomas Clarke – lace maker
- John Burrows – gas stoker
- Frank Schofield – railway porter
- Richard Baxter – coal carter
- Anne Swift
- Arthur Kingscott – railway clerk
- Maria Wilcox – hotel keeper
- Thomas Thorpe – railway signal setter
- William Harrison – police pensioner
- Ernest Squires – bricklayer’s labourer
- Thomas Smith – painter
- John Wall – lace maker
- Edward Johnson – lace maker
- William Flint – sheet repairer, Midland Railway
- William Woodward – lace machinist
- Henry Woodward – lace maker
- Arthur Berrington – railway sheet painter
- Fanny Turner – living on own means
- James Meads – labourer, iron trade
- Albert Clarke – lace maker
- Thomas Wright – boot maker
- Joseph Freeman – railway crane man
- Frederick Chapman – railway sheet dresser
- George Smith – lace maker
- George Waldram – railway plate layer
- George Hall – lace maker
- Joseph Smith – railway clerk
- Alfred Warren – engine fitter
- Joseph Gundry – railway signalman
- William Morley – bricklayer
- Israel Smith – railway clerk
- Richard Hickton – lace maker
- Arthur Williamson – railway servant, general
- Frederick Chambers – Midland Railway sheet maker
- James Stevens – Railway signal fitter
- Frederick Winfield (Park Villa) – lace maker