DJ360 6,731 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 My brother tells me that the redevelopment of the site of the old NCV Garage at the top end of Bulwell Common on Hucknall Rd has been stopped. Rumours are out that caves or somesuch have been found. Has anyone heard anything? There was definitely a disused well close by. If you were to go down the left side of the building as viewed from the front, there was low wooden fence close to the top of the railway cutting. On it was a sign painted in a reddish brown colour with white lettering which said 'Dangerous Disused Well' Just over the fence was a bit of curved or vaulted type brickwork covering a hole. It was very close to the edge of the sandstone cutting for the Great Central, which points to it probably being there before the cutting was made. There was also a horizontal opening lower down in the wall of the cutting, in line with the apparent position of the 'well' shaft. It was too high for us to reach as kids and was also bricked up. At various times 'bigger boys' managed to break through the brick capping and we could drop objects into the well and hear a definite splash echoing up. One time we lowered an old paint tin on some of the steel cable that was used for signals etc. Suddely, it became very heavy and the cable ran through my hands burning them before I let go. Next the cable was round my foot and dragging toward the hole. It was far too small for me to go through, but still scared me half to death until I was free. Could only suppose the tin had dislodged something which had fallen in making it very heavy. The only other explanation would be the can getting into a flow of water and being dragged along, but that seems.doubtful. For a start where would the water come from? All info would be welcomed. Col 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 It's going to be a new Aldi shop. Great, anything to pee off Tesco. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
benjamin1945 16,165 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 I know exactly where you mean col.............it was always a piece of land that was very seldom trod,and its high up so how could water be there ? obviously don't know the answer,but when I was a kid,if you went down to Bulwell common 200 yards north west from where you mean and down the first dip it always filled with water on the left close to Bulwell common sidings. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Underground spring? Did the Railway use it for tenders? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,731 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 I know exactly where you mean col.............it was always a piece of land that was very seldom trod,and its high up so how could water be there ? obviously don't know the answer,but when I was a kid,if you went down to Bulwell common 200 yards north west from where you mean and down the first dip it always filled with water on the left close to Bulwell common sidings. Yes Benjamin. Along the footpath that went down the common alongside the railway as far as the Golden Ball/Station entrance. It's called something else now. It was a low point, but there was, if I recall, also some sort of brick culvert there from the common to the the railway that was blocked. It usually flooded after heavy summer storms and I remember Kenny Webster off Leybourne Drive turning up once in his swimming trunks and getting into it for a splash about! There was also a brick arch from the field on Southglade, apparently leading under the Leen Valley Line embankment and emerging on the Hucknall Rd side more or less in line with the spot you mention. I assume it was originaly intended for drainage, but who knows? It was blocked in the early 1950s and buried not long after by the landfill activities on Southglade. Possibly still visible on the Hucknall Rd side of the old embankment, so long as it wasn't obliterated by the Gala development. Col Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,731 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Underground spring? Did the Railway use it for tenders? Can't see it Ian. Too high up and more likely to be a simple well for water supplies to local dwellings /farms etc. It was mostly rural/farmland until early 20th C. The common and the golf course were all heathland within my memory, full of Skylarks, Gorse etc. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 So the likes of Rise Park,must have been rolling hills when I was a kid? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,731 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Indeed! I think the first ones went up around 1964, possibly a bit earlier and overlooked the lower end of Bulwell Common. Essentially, the whole area confined by Arnold Road, Hucknall Road and Bestwood Road, was farmland when I was a kid in the early 1950's, apart from the relatively small Bestwood Estate. Bestwood Park began to encroach in the 1950s and Rise Park etc were built in the late 60s. I worked on the drains around what is now Bestwood Tesco around 1970. As a kid, I frequently walked with my Dad, from Southglade Road on Bestwood Est., over to my Grandma's in Bestwood Village. She kept the Bestwood Hotel. We would pick our way over the fields directly oposite Southglade and up past the southern edges of the olf Bestwood Colliery spoil heaps. Then down through what is now Bestwood Country Park and down the old 'Park Drive'. This would bring us out past the ( now preserved) headstocks of Bestwood Colliery and onto Park Road. The Bestwood Hotel would be (still is) on the left, next to the pit baths (now gone). We'd generally get the 'Mecco's' bus back to Moorbridge, then a Trent Bus up alongside Bulwell Common and get off where the Gala Bingo is now. Then just cross over the Leen Valley railway to Southglade. Different world. Col 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Amazing to think you could walk to Bestwood village that way..but it was obviously the most direct route.Must be weird when you come home and stand at Archway etc.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,731 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,731 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Southglade, not yet built, is to the lower end of the above pic. Pic is around mid 1930s, but the fields stayed pretty much the same till 1950s. Bottom left is Rigley's Wagon Works, with golf course opposite. Various old Bestwood Colliery branch lines visible higher up on left, with old Moorbridge and bit of Bulwell Hall Est. Moving around top right, first chimney is Bestwood Ironworks, second is Bestwood Coliery. Bestwood village visible between. Edges of 'Bestwood Woods', now 'Bestwood Country Park' to top right. Farm at bottom right is 'Jarve Goddard's', this is now the 'Southglade Rd/Eastglade Rd area. Farm above. Can't remember name but it was where the Harvester's pub existed briefly. The line between top of Rigley's and the old 'Harvester's' area was known as 'Lover's Lane' and though not evident from pic was in a deep hollow. The point where it met a solitary tree just before the track split above and below the farm, was a favouriite spot for us. It's almost paiinful to recall. Col 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJBrenton 738 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Didn't Alan Sillitoe write about walking across rolling hills to Bulwell or something? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Eye opening picture Col,things changing all the time,when I visit Bulwell and see what is now built on Marshalls lorry yard and the railway land..frightening. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 #10 Great image, Col. Don't suppose you've got a corresponding one to the right of there showing Colliers Pad up and over to Redhill? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
benjamin1945 16,165 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 DJ360.............Lovers lane col.that you refer to,was a dip between two hills that's what we always called ;Tit Hill' and the fields between Old Bestwood est. and the Pit village of Bestwood were known to us has 'Seven Fields', Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,470 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 I posted several aerial views of Bestwood / Top Valley in this thread; posts 25, 36 and 106. http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12073 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Nice to think that Malcolm drove the 141,and took me to Clay Cross..a cracking bird was Maureen! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,470 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Don't suppose you've got a corresponding one to the right of there showing Colliers Pad up and over to Redhill? What was the route of that? I'd only heard of Colliers Pad going from Basford area to Wollaton colliery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted January 24, 2016 Report Share Posted January 24, 2016 What was the route of that? I'd only heard of Colliers Pad going from Basford area to Wollaton colliery. Thanks K. Still in existence, if you look at the map with the two chimneys showing in Bestwood Village, the one to the right is of the colliery. From around that point, and where the old Bestwood Hotel still stands at the Eastern end of Park Road, the road - then path continues straight on to Mansfield Road at Redhill and is named Colliers Pad (or sometimes Path). The map references to look out for are Gaunt Hill and Violet Hill I think. Colliers Pad is approx 2.25m long and emerges at Redhill in two spots. The main one these days is on Thornton Avenue, Redhill which is the main access for New Farm (Hammonds Farm) and the other one at Henry Street which is off Mansfield Road opposite the Ram Inn a few yards down the road. Colliers Pad has a historic origin as the men living in Redhill; and Arnold employed at Bestwood Pit would walk it daily to their shift, therefore the name. A very pleasant walk indeed but a fair trek after a day at the face I'd say. Here's Colliers Pad, heading from Redhill towards the now Bestwood Country Park and Bestwood Village. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted January 24, 2016 Report Share Posted January 24, 2016 That'd make a good circular walk from Hucknall Rd. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted January 24, 2016 Report Share Posted January 24, 2016 Yes, easy to access Bestwood Lodge, Goosedale and Papplewick from Colliers Pad too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,731 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 Well, no more info on the NCV site. Stu, the Collier's Pad from Redhill end is a mystery to me, though I do have an old family friend living in Henry St. I'm not taking credit for the Aerial shot. I think I got it from something posted on your site or from here. Col Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted February 9, 2016 Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 The main two ways of accessing it, Col, are from Henry Street, turn into there and immediately turn left into Harberton Close. Within a few yards the path begins on the right, tracing up behind the houses on the south side of Henry Street. It takes you past New (Hammonds) Farm and you just keep going straight to Bestwood Village (around 2m). A simpler, more obvious way is to locate Thornton Avenue from Mansfield Road. It lies a couple of hunred yards south of the junction with Redhill Road on the opposite side. Simply walk up there and it takes you straight on to the same path, joining up with the other route at New Farm gates. The path is very obvious all the way to Bestwood Village. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJBrenton 738 Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 And they've finally come across the well that was talked about here a month ago. http://m.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/news/local/new-aldi-in-bulwell-delayed-by-deep-well-discovery-1-7726617?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Thanks DJ,is that the well of Bull i wonder? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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