The Day Brook (at Daybrook)


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I think it's one of those bridges which in the railway world is called an "occupation bridge". They were for farmers to get their carts and animals from one side of the line to the other when the railway split their fields and land. The railway companies had to provide them as compensation for making a mess of the farmer's land

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Spike - in my Arnold boyhood days (1950s) we used to play in a stream that was, for some reason, called 'the dyke' and 'swimming' in there, among other things, were 'toe-bitters. I believe this stream

There was another thread which got sidetracked onto this topic, but I reckon it deserves a heading of its own Still there, but well hidden and sometimes underground So to understand it all in

The name Ernehale first appeared in the days of the Angles around 600AD and later appeared in the Doomsday Book. In the Eagle pub in Arnold was a framed notice on the wall proudly showing the history

I see that the south of the rail line is marked as 'allotments'for quite a length.So a bridge there from the housing estate would have been well used.Not a sign of it now on Google earth.

Edit..Having said that..on the map showing the estate houses the bridge is already dismantled...so I guess it was for farm carts and livestock not local gardeners...

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Yes I guess so, was one hell of a size though, and come to think of it I don't recall another "occupation bridge"? no doubt there were some? but only things I've seen were bridges under, mostly GCR, and private "level crossings" as per the one on GNR Leen Valley opposite NCV garage on Hucknall Lane/Road

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I grew up in Arnold on the killiisick estate and we would play in an area known locally as the hobbocks (dont know why ) most of which has now been built on. there was a stream that started up the hobbocks that fed into the lake at arnold park.unfortunately its mostly been filled in.Evidence of the stream can be seen on Google Earth. From the land fill at Dorket head if you look towards the rugby club you will see two lines of bushes thats were the stream forms .its then piped under the newer standen houses built around the early 70s. the brook then went down the eastern side of the playing field. As a child I remember playing there, the sandstone bridge can still be seen on Coppice rd.If you continue to go south you can see the stream in the open in a storm culvert.Then it is piped again going under the car parks of the county council and Jessops it would then reamerge following Brookfield Rd I remember this as an open stream but now unfortunatly its now piped. Carrying on it goes under Hallams lane But it was allowed daylight again as it ran don the side of the old Arnold baths(now where Wilkos is)It then ran down the side of Henry Jews,then it was piped untill it fed in to the park lake on the north .The last section is under Charles Street along the western edge of the playing field (i just remember as open)then under George Street into the pond. Hope this helps,

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Thanks for that detailed account popothepixie. I can place quite a few parts of the stream's travel that you mention. I also used to play a bit in the

hobbocks as a kid. Remember vividly where the stream was/is piped into 'park pond' at Arnot Hill Park, at the south east corner. We used to wait with our sixpenny fishing nets - bought at the pet shop on Front Street - for the minnows and sticklebacks coming out!

I'm thinking of another stream as well - at Redhill where it emerged at the foot of Monsell Drive/Enderby Garden very close to Mansfield Road. The stream used to run through a deep ditch and was then piped under Mansfield Road before it travelled south. It's now piped completely underground I never knew where it went to from there but judging by it's direction I'd say it was a banker that it ran underground and joined the Day Brook at some point.

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As I've read there were eight or more springs to the north of Arnold a couple of centuries back.I guess they all run underground now to feed the Daybrook.When I lived near the Eagle pub land to the North was still fields and I walked along a typical Dumble there with a nearly dried up stream.I guess this is your 'Hobbocks'

On crossing the playing fields on Coppice road there is a twichell that leads into the housing estate.Over the years when walking up there I've heard rushing water from under an inspection cover...I used to think it was just a sewer..it makes more sense now that it is probably ground water piped from your 'Hobbocks making it's way to Arnot Park lake.

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Think I used to access the Hobbocks at the top of Surgeys Lane on memory. Big 'playground' for a lot of Killisick kids nearby there (therefore could be a bit dangerous for us kids from the other side of Arnold) ;)

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off topic area wise but there was a drain or stream used to run down "piggy lane" from whitemoor ave (wilkinson street) , and assume into The Leen behind Gerards, one afternoon a cast iron inspection lid ( too heavy for one person to lift) was balancing about 4 ft off the ground on top of water gushing out following summer storm, like the ping pong balls did at goose fair rifle ranges

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Mate of mine as a kid spotted something on the bank of the Leen there...He said it looked like a bike battery...and being a kid threw it into the stream...Seconds later he was thrown to the ground by a huge explosion and water spout. Whatever it was...and probably left over from wartime....it was not meant to be mixed with water. Frightened the crap out of him.

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I have very vague memories of visiting a spring/stream that ran through a wooded dip - IIRC we got there by walking up Churchmoor Lane, and the through a field (or two). Looking at Google maps, it looks like the probable area is now built over (Sutton Road).

More often than not, the stream bed was dry!

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Ashley.....

An old timer we mentioned this to years ago reckoned it would be one of the weird and wonderful devices dreamed up by the local Dads Army lot that exercised there.Usually more dangerous to them than it would have been to any Germans. ;)

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Here's a couple more photos I'd forgotten about.

jacobs.jpg

The area with the trees (which seem to be arranged in a deliberate circle) is now Five Ways pub. The bridge in the background was apparently known as Jacob's Ladder and it carries Edwards Lane over the Day Brook.

dayb.jpg

Same location from the other side. You can see Jacob's Ladder in the background, with Day Brook in the centre of the picture.

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Cracking pictures...But if my memory serves me right you had to decend steps about fifteen feet to the kids area at the rear of the Five Ways where the swings and play area were.(yellow spot)This would be at the level of the brook so I would imagine the pub itself would be at the higher level same as 'Jacobs ladder' and not built in the circle of trees, but further back in the picture.This would put the little girl in the area of the modern play area.Unless of course they built up the area where the pub was built.The one thing we can be sure of is that the brook is still at the same level as it's always been ...and the pub is at a higher level.

Nice find those pictures though... :)

e23601e4.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Looking at the original map again, I noticed another now-vanished big old house in the area.

Daybrook Vale (the house) and Daybrook Vale Farm have been mentioned, but on the right edge is Daybrook House - near the junction of what is now Thackerays Lane. Looking at Old Maps it seems to have disappeared sometime between 1919 and 1938. Never heard of it before, and Pic the Past don't have anything on it

This was covered in a local history session I attended this week. It stood roughly behind the old Roxy cinema, the latter being built in front of it at a later date. There were some claims it was used as a Masonic hall and other opinion alsohad it that George Akin owned it at one time. As mentioned above, Tom Potter was the most renowned owner.

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Stu I would think there is something in the George Akins story. He certainly owned the Roxy at the time it was demolished and also the small plating company next door.

As to Daybrook House I am sure that in the seventies I went to a wedding reception in that area a right posh job behind the Roxy.

Colin

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There used to be a stream I used to get minnows/frogspawn from in the very early fifties on the side of Arno Vale Road - the same side as ArnoVale school field but just a little way further along. There was a tree that leant over the stream and I remember climbing on it to hang over the stream. Is this a tributary of the Leen? The water must have drained down the hill from Mapperley Plains I suppose? I don't remember where the stream went after the particular place I remember - underground, I suppose..... Thinking about this area I also remember a concrete 'pill box' on the fields up the hill on the other side of the road further along. This was before that area was built on. Only went in it once cos it smelled of wee!

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Margie, take a look at this. It's where you mention, and the lady in this Streetview image is crossing a small concrete bridge. Looking at a few old maps. that seems to be where your stream was, although now it's just a dried up trench. A bit of zooming around here and you can follow it for quite a way. https://goo.gl/maps/6bQR8Vek8m42

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Cliff Ton, thanks for taking time to look. I have looked at that on Street View before but missed the little bridge - everything looks so different of course, with all the new houses. I can now repeat the old saying: "I remember when it was all fields round there! " or in the case of the opposite side of the road - rough bumpy grassland and heath. I now feel so sad I could cry.... Not just about my little stream but about how it will never be like that again for other kids to play on and in 20 years or so, NO-ONE will remember how it used to be. I know, I know, we do need houses and it's a pleasant area to live in, so I'm just going to have to get over it aren't I!! When we're in Nottingham in a couple of weeks perhaps we'll take a drive up there so I can have a proper cry...

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Margie,

That stream still exists. I should know considering the number of times our dog paddles in it!

It's in the open when it goes through Arno Vale park (now nicknamed Helicopter park due to the kids play area) then piped as it goes through Arno Vale school grounds, reemerging in back gardens.

Dropped pin

near Arno Vale Recreation Ground, Nottingham NG5

https://goo.gl/maps/9Qre65fv6xk

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Thank you Rob for that. I'll definitely go and have a look in a couple of week's time - don't expect I'll see any little fishes in there, though. Not on the subject of the stream, but I mentioned in #45 that there was also a concrete 'pill box' on the opposite side of the road up the hill a bit. I wonder which house has the foundations of that in their garden.... and why was it there in that particular place anyway? (Never thought of that before)

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If you do, give us a wave. We live at the top-end of that park. :)

Never seen a pill box there, but there is still one in a field along the Plains, at the junction with Bank Hill.

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