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The earth didn't move for me.

Mixed thoughts on this. Yes, I do like to see landmarks but these chimneys have been unused for many years. I inspected them in the 80's and there were large vertical cracks running through many courses of bricks.

There has been a long-standing land use dispute, the owner wanted to use the land for purposes that the council did not. I don't know if it has changed hands.

Though the brickworks were not in use the landowner may well have had to pay for liability insurance, perhaps this is why they have been toppled. Perhaps the full story will become known in time.

That the chimneys were toppled without an announcement (is this the case?) suggests some clandestine reason? Normally such an event is for spectators and perhaps a charity earning opportunity.

Shame to see them toppled.

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Should have gone years ago when rest was demolished,true they were a landmark (though it's said they somehow camouflaged such during the war so's not to give away location of hucknall aerodrome) but no more so than wheldon & wilkinson's chimney (far as I know the highest in nottingham) or stanton's blast furnaces, end of the day the question is what can you do with 4 decaying chimneys?

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I think that it's a very sad state of affairs, Victorian and later brick chimnies are getting very scarce on the landscape these days, all we have left of Braintree's industrial heritage is the truncated remains of the gasworks chimney, and thank you BMW for putting money in to preserve that.

The Watnall chimnies have always been part of the landscape, a memory going back to my childhood. I always assumed that they were listed, obviously not, or were they. The whole episode smacks of a devious developer destroying them before a preservation order was put on them, no doubt another Local Authority blunder, but what do you expect, too much paper work and legislation to deal with, it's a hard life working for the council.

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I believe that a couple of the chimneys on the mills in Long Eaton have been given "protected" status - and a couple of the mill buildings too. It is a shame to see the industrial heritage of the area demolished, but I do agree that many of the areas look much cleaner (and healthier) than they did with the old spoil heaps, pit heads, etc.

On the other hand, in and around Nottingham there are several excellent examples of preserved heritage - of which Papplewick Pumping Station has to be one of the best in England!

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Just had another look at the nice photo posted by Littebro.

Have you noticed the low lying atmospheric contamination in the picture? Just like you can see over Malaga airport on a fine day.

Makes you wonder just what we are breathing!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Went up my son's at Eastwood, he's demolished a 12ftx8ft approx kitchen, all the brick's have "NCB Watnall" on them! was thinking of putting them on ebay but postage costs a bit high! if anybody wants any for shed base, hardcore etc or 15 bags of plaster/compo/brick rubble take as many or as few as you want, easy loading and parking

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  • 4 weeks later...

Good riddance to them. I lived up at the brickyard for 18 months back in the mid-80's, wife buggered off and I found she hadn't paid the rent on our house in Eastwood for a while, Watnall Brickyard was where Broxtowe Council used to put rent defaulters.

I'd have gladly pressed the button myself. Historic landmark my arse, they were a bloody eyesore! thumbsdown

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How did that work then, Stalag Luft Watnall, nissan huts, barbed wire and minor council employees enjoying themselves goose stepping around the base of the chimney stacks, I'm intrigued, tell us more Scriv.

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How did that work then, Stalag Luft Watnall, nissan huts, barbed wire and minor council employees enjoying themselves goose stepping around the base of the chimney stacks, I'm intrigued, tell us more Scriv.

Many a true word Firbeck; one of the low points of my life actually but since you ask........

.... There were twelve (I think) houses up there, two pairs of semis and a row of eight terraced. The terrace actually overlooked the M1, the semis formed the "L" at the southern end. From the road end to the houses was about a mile and a half up a hardcore track, complete with potholes etc.

Heating was provided by open coal fires, they also had back boilers for hot water but no central heating; the only other way of getting hot water was by an immersion heater which as you will guess cost a bomb.

Very few of us up there either had jobs or were able to work in the first place; most of them were in fact unemployable, either by virtue of unsuitability or record. There wasn't a lot of actual crime up there (no-one had owt worth nicking!) but you didn't leave owt lying around either. Goes without saying that you were in a "Catch 22" situation, it cost more to live up there so you'd got no chance of paying debts off and getting out. A 20th century workhouse in fact.

This of course was before mobiles were available to anyone except London bankers, and the only phone was one of the old 10p slot type which was frequently out of order, and located in the outhouse of one of the semis. Electricity was by prepay meter and if you ran out you had to walk down to Hucknall to get more, this before shops were open on Sundays. Power cuts were frequent; during the harsh winter of 1987 especially.

I brought two pre-school kids up there on my own. When I hear people whining about "child poverty" today when virtually every kid has a mobile, colour telly and X-box or whatever, I just smile and walk away.

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  • 10 years later...

Where was Manners brick yard dad built a garage in 60s with them my job was to wheelbarrow them up the long driveway and stack them then mix the cement by hand while he laid the bricks.The lorry driver for Manners was Charlie Page he lived on Larkfields est. Nuthall.

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9 hours ago, IAN FINN said:

Where was Manners brick yard dad built a garage in 60s with them my job was to wheelbarrow them up the long driveway and stack them then mix the cement by hand while he laid the bricks.The lorry driver for Manners was Charlie Page he lived on Larkfields est. Nuthall.

see second section on this page

 

https://eastmidlandsnamedbricks.blogspot.com/2017/03/west-notts-brickworks.html

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Thanks for all the information i am not on E -mail hope you get this.l lived at Newthorpe for a short time on the corner of Rolleston dr

. and Lodge rd.I know many places you have mentioned is Lloyd Henshaw related to Alf Henshaw a great railway and Kimberley historian i used to repair his car many years ago it was a Ford V8 pilot.l also knew William Barber back in the 50s.Thanks again Ian.

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