Ilkeston

Ilkeston was probably founded in the 6th century AD, and gets its name from its supposed founder, Elch or Elcha, who was an Anglian chieftain ("Elka's Tun" = Elka's Town). The town appears as Tilchestune in the Domesday Book when it was owned principally by Gilbert de Ghent. Gilbert also controlled nearby Shipley, West Hallam and Stanton by Dale.[3] Ilkeston was created a borough by Queen Victoria in 1887.

Ilkeston is one of several places where the distinctive dialect of East Midlands English is extensively spoken. Ilkeston is referred to as 'Ilson' in this dialect.[4] Generally the name is pronounced with three syllables, Ilkisstun, not Ilk's tun.

The American Adventure, a large theme park which closed in 2007, was located on the outskirts of Ilkeston on the former Woodside Colliery adjoining Shipley Country Park.

The NatWest Hole Ilkeston, an architectural tourist attraction outside the Bath Street branch of NatWest bank gained much media interest when Tripadvisor[5] decided to suspend reviews in February 2020.

Stanton Ironworks

One of the biggest and most important local employers was the Stanton Ironworks, later known as Stanton and Staveley - the continuation of a long-standing tradition of iron working in this area. There has been evidence of iron working and quarrying in the area since Roman times, and the industry began blossoming into a huge industrial concern in the 1780s. By the mid-19th century there were several blast furnaces and the production rose from around 500 tons of pig iron per month to 7,000 at the end of the century. The Stanton Ironworks acquired a number of smaller ironstone quarrying and ironworks companies. These included the Wellingborough Iron Company in 1932.[6]

Steel pipe manufacturing began at Stanton after World War I and later concrete pipes were produced, Stanton being the first in the UK to develop the 'spun pipe' process.

A restored Stanton Wagon, Chalons Way, Ilkeston

In the mid-19th century the works produced 20,000 tons of iron castings per year, 2.5 millions by 1905. Up to 12,500 people were employed during the period when the works were part of British Steel Corporation, of which 7,000 worked at the Stanton works.[7][8]

During its long existence the works produced huge quantities of a variety of products, including pig iron, tunnel castings, (used in projects such as the London Underground), pipes and street furniture as well as bitumen, roadstone, chemicals and munition casings. It is likely that if you live in the UK, you are not far away from a S&S manhole cover or lamp post.

The works gradually declined, the business being run from 1985 by the French Saint-Gobain Group. The last casting was an emotional event in 2007.[9] The huge Stanton site has been partially given over to business park and the rest of the site is earmarked for redevelopment which is subject to local opposition.[10]

Ilkeston Market Place is the site of a Charter fair.[11] The fair celebrated its 760th anniversary in 2012, the Charter being granted by King Henry III in 1252. This makes the fair older than Nottingham's famous Goose Fair and it is one of the largest street fairs in the Country, indeed in Europe.

The present fair developed from two separate fairs, as another 'agricultural hiring fair' or 'Statutes Fair' was traditionally held on Wakes week in October as well as the original Charter Fair which was held on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August). The two fairs were combined in 1888 and the one Charter Fair has been held in October ever since.

Since 1931 the fair has been officially opened by the Mayor - first of Ilkeston and since 1974 of Erewash - on the Fair Thursday at noon with the Town Clerk (Chief Executive) reading the Charter from the steps of the Town Hall.

From early in the 19th century the existence of natural mineral waters was noted here and exploited. A local businessman Thomas Potter built, in 1831, the famous Ilkeston Bath at the bottom of Town Street attached to the Rutland Hotel.[18] For over 60 years the baths helped tourism to the town at a time when spa towns like Bath and Harrogate enjoyed popularity. 'If you're doubled in pain and thin as a lath, Come at once then and try, the famed Ilkeston Bath,' was a well known advertising slogan. A mixture of a general decline in the popularity of spa bathing and, reportable, contamination of the waters from mining activities led to the eventual closure of the baths just before 1900. The baths and the adjacent Rutland Hotel, which also enjoyed a revenue from tourism, no longer exist though they are remembered in the name of 'Bath Street'.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club played one or two first-class cricket matches per season on the Rutland Recreation Ground between 1925 and 1994 and one-day matches at the ground from 1970 to 1994.

Local football club Ilkeston Town was liquidated in 2010, after a 114-year history. It was reformed as Ilkeston F.C. in 2011, which was in turn liquidated in 2017. In July 2017 a new club, Ilkeston Town F.C. founded by Notts County chairman Alan Hardy, replaced the liquidated Ilkeston FC, and will play at the New Manor Ground in Ilkeston.

Local rugby club Ilkeston RUFC - known as the "Elks" - formed in 1926. The home ground in the town is called The Stute.

There are also two main basketball teams situated in Ilkeston; the Ilkeston Hawks and Ilkeston Falcons. Both are members of the Ilkeston Outlaws Basketball Club, who have teams for ages 4 – 18.

Ilkeston is twinned with:

• Châlons-en-Champagne in France, since 1957.[19][20][21]

• Samuel Taylor (1816–1875) the famous 'Ilson Giant' who reached the height of 7' 4" was born nearby at Hallam Fields. His grave in Stanton Road Cemetery was restored by the Cemetery's Friends in 2008.
• William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street, grew up in Ilkeston. He now holds the world record as the longest-serving actor to play the same role continuously, having been with the show since its inception in December 1960.
• Robert Lindsay,[22] the stage and television actor probably best known for his parts in Citizen Smith and latterly My Family, was born as Robert Lindsay Stevenson in Ilkeston on 13 December 1949. Before he became an actor he worked at the nearby Stanton & Staveley steel works and also attended the Ilkeston detachment of the Army Cadet Force.
• Linda Armstrong, an actress, born in Ilkeston
• Robert Holmes FRGS (born 1943) Photographer, author and adventurer Member of the RGS 150th Anniversary expedition to the Karakoram[23] Fellow of the Explorers Club of New York
• John Paxton (1819–1868), cricketer

• 
  Armstrong's Mill
• 
  Park Cemetery Chapel
• 
  St Mary's Church, Ilkeston
• 
  North Side of Market Place
• 
  United Reformed Church
• 
  Ilkeston Town Hall
• 
  Needle Makers Pub
• 
  Stanton Ironworks Oct 2008 (demolished Autumn 2009)
• 
  Stanton Ironworks Remnants
• 
  Our Lady and St Thomas of Hereford
• 
  Helter skelter at Ilkeston Fair
• 
  Bennerley Viaduct

Ilkeston Skyline

• Ilkeston Corporation Tramways
• Ilkeston Grammar School
• Ilkeston Community Hospital

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ilkeston.

• Ilkeston & District Local History Society