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Introduction and Brenda's Memories

West Hallam in the 1940s

West Hallam in the 1940s was vastly different from the West Hallam of today. England was at war for the first 5 years of the decade and this affected everyone’s life. It was a time of shortages, ration books, gas masks, air raids, propaganda, few cars, no central heating, few telephones, blackouts, loneliness and worry as the men folk were taken from their homes to enlist for the forces or to do war work. Vegetables were grown even in front gardens for food, blast walls were built to protect property, Anderson shelters were erected and air raid sirens were part of everyday life.

One of the main differences that were evident in the 1940s West Hallam was that there were a lot less houses then, as maps of the time show. The main local industries at the time were farming, coal mining and working at the ordnance depot.

Coming from Ilkeston, one of the first things you would see would be the Thelson Bridge. This bridge spanned the road and carried the railway line from Derby Friargate to Nottingham Victoria. It got its names from the advert for Thelson oils which could be seen from the Ilkeston side of the bridge.

On the left just past the bridge was Firs Farm, the first of many farms that were in operation at that time. During my childhood, the village was served by Felix buses that ran between Derby and Ilkeston only, leaving each town on the hour and reaching its destination in the other town around 40 to 45 minutes later. Each bus had a conductor or conductress inside the bus with the passengers whilst the driver sat in his own cab which was reached by climbing up the side of the bus to get into his seat. The conductors and conductresses would call out the name of the stops coming up and I always thought they called out first farm instead of Firs farm. This was logical to my childish mind as it was the first farm in West Hallam coming from Ilkeston.

post office

The row of semi-detached houses on the right hand side of the road, called the Bryants Houses (named after the builder who erected them) are much as they were then. The left hand side of the High Lane East has had infills of new housing right up to the Newdigate, as has the other side of the road past the High Lane East recreation ground and the old road leading down to the old West Hallam colliery and the coal screens that stood at the back of High Lane Central.

Arbury Farm

In the fields to the left were several farms including White Furrows farm, White House farm and Pastures Farm which was noted for milk production and deliveries. At the Newdigate Arms area, there were two farms. Arbury Farm was on the right and was the original Newdigate Arms public house. The barns and farm buildings were turned into cottages some years ago. Across the road was another farm, Lewcote Farm, owned by the Hancock family of which Polly was a member. Polly was known for being one of the few drivers in the war as she drove her old bull nosed Morris around the village. She was born and bred in the village and was a character, being a lady of large girth. No one pulled the wool over Polly’s eyes!

The farm labourers cottages were still there until fairly recently, at the side of the lane which leads to the footpath across the fields to St Wilfrid’s Road and there are some quite new houses now built on the farmyard here. The old farm house is also still standing and is the last house on the left before the fields.

There was the first of the three West Hallam post offices in this area of the village. This stood at the top of Lewcote Gate and was run by two spinster sisters, the Misses Harmer. Just past the Newdigate Arms, where the day nursery now stands was a general store owned by among others, the Allsopp family.

On High Lane Central were two farms on the right hand side as well as a ladies hairdresser. Before the war apparently, there was a chip shop there as well. On the other side next to the recreation ground, was another shop run by a Mrs. Buxton. She sold ice cream which you could fetch in basins towards the end of the decade. As with High Lane East, High Lane Central has had a lot of new buildings where there were once fields, orchards or allotments.

Mapperley Cross Roads had one road to the right leading to Mapperley. Down here and still in West Hallam were three more farms. Boam's farm - Coppice Farm, on the left, Woods farm was on the right at the side of the lane leading to the coal screens and Mapperley Brook. This lane was a wonderful source of catkins, pussy willows and bluebells when I was a child. There was another farm, Brook Farm - near the railway bridge where the elderly village road sweeper lived. He did his job by hand, travelling with a horse called Dolly and an old cart. Dolly was an old horse who was noted for her steadiness until one day just after the war when a steam roller let off steam at the side of her. Poor old Dolly took to her hooves and raced all the way down St Wilfrid’s Road, through the village and along Beech Lane until a miner on his way home from the pit managed to grab her reins and call her to a halt. The old cart had rumbled along behind her all the way, leaving the road man with his sweeping brush in his hand.

bottle kiln

Carrying along up High Lane West, again there were not so many houses. There was the old derelict West Hallam pottery on the left with its two bottle kilns as well as a chimney. The old building still had lots of unfired teapots, jugs etc on the dusty wooden shelves and boys would spend happy hours aiming stones at them. At dusk bats would fly from their sleeping places in the derelict buildings and fly around catching their evening meal of flying insects.

monkey bowl

West Hallam pottery made in the 1930s. A monkey bowl is in the centre of the picture.

There was a huge clay pit just to the side of the pottery. This clay pit was overgrown with brambles and crab apple trees and many a frugal family gathered fruit to make pies and jellies. When it was decided to fill this in during the 1950s, local people dumped old cars, old appliances etc in the hole before the council filled in it and made it safe. On the right of High Lane West was the Blacks taxi service which ran for many years. At the side of Blacks was a field with a railway carriage at the far end where Liddel Williamson, a horse dealer, and his wife Laura lived. Liddel liked his ale and could often be heard in full voice as he staggered up the road from Ilkeston. Laura had been a lady’s maid and was very gentile which contrasted with Liddel’s boisterous ways. Next to the field was Plantation farm, the home of the Porter family. At the Shirley area of High Lane (named after Nurse Ashley’s house Shirley) there was a fruit farm on the left hand side at the top of the footpath leading to Barney Fields. A little further up on the right, where several bungalows now stand, was Orchard farm which always had blossom-laden trees in the spring and plentiful fruit in the autumn. Mr and Mrs Lawley lived here.

Mrs. Spendlove lived at the big house on the left. This is now a nursing home. She was one of the few people who had a car in those days. Newlands was the next bus stop and it was near here where I lived in the 1940s. At the back of our house was a poultry farm owned by the Hill family who kept guinea fowls. A footpath went at the side of the farm to the fields known as Blue Fly because there were always a lot of Clifton Blue butterflies in the area. The other end of the footpath came out near Mapperley.

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