Chilwell
- Broxtowe
- Nottinghamshire
- East Midlands
- Broxtowe
- List of places
- UK
- England
- Nottinghamshire
Chilwell is a suburban area in the borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on the west side of the town of Beeston and is 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of the centre of Nottingham.
History
Roman buildings, pottery and coins have been found in Chilwell.[1] Chilwell was originally a hamlet on the road from Nottingham to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, but along with Toton it became part of the parish of Attenborough. Suburban development spread gradually from Beeston along Chilwell High Road.
The area's population grew substantially during World War I, when most of the area of level ground between Chilwell and Toton was occupied by the National Shell Filling Factory No. 6 and the original direct route between Chilwell and Toton became a gated military road, now known as Chetwynd Road.
On 1 July 1918, 134 people were killed in an explosion at the factory, with over 250 people injured in the explosion. This tragedy remains the largest number of deaths caused by a single explosion in Britain.[2] The memorial to the dead can be found in nearby church yard of St Mary's, Attenborough.
The army continued to dominate the area with the factory becoming a major depot site for the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and more recently[when?] for the Royal Engineers. The Chilwell Bypass Road was constructed in the 1930s to take army traffic out of the village centre.
Chilwell had a number of pubs in its centre on Chilwell High Road. The Original Chequers Inn is on the border with Beeston and is a turn of the century pub that was once a coaching house, The Charlton Arms is named after a local landowning family who formerly lived in the now demolished Chilwell Hall. The Cadland is named after a locally trained racehorse that won The Derby in 1828.
Chilwell has had a long-standing non-conformist population. The Chilwell Methodist Church was founded in 1798 as the Methodist First Connection Chapel at Hallams Lane. Its Sunday School (provided jointly with local Baptists) provided the first free education for the poor of the area. The chapel moved to land provided by Squire Charlton in 1857.[3] Christ Church, Chilwell was built in 1903 to provide an Anglican church to serve the growing population, although it did not become a separate ecclesiastical parish from Attenborough until 1975.
Since 1900
The Inham Nook estate (including the Inham Nook pub) was built by Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council on land to the west of Bramcote Lane from the 1950s; St Barnabas's Church was constructed in 1957 as a "mission church" to serve the new population. For many years, Inham Nook's council housing was in sharp contrast to the surrounding areas of middle class suburban owner-occupation. Since the 1980s right to buy legislation, tenure has been more mixed, but Inham Nook remains relatively deprived compared to other areas in the southern part of Broxtowe borough. However Broxtowe borough council in partnership with NET have recently[when?] spent £100,000 on refurbishment works to the Inham Nook sports pavilion to help improve local facilities for the community. The works included updating the changing facilities for local football teams, and improving the bowls facilities and accessibility to the pavilion. The works were carried out by local contractor GPS Construction (Nottingham)
Chilwell Manor Golf Club was established in 1906 on land formerly belonging to the Manor. The Manor House and nearby Chilwell Green remained intact until 1965 when the bland Clarkes Lane development of large detached houses started construction.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Chilwell_Memorial_Institute_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1479039.jpg/220px-Chilwell_Memorial_Institute_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1479039.jpg)
Chilwell War Memorial Hall and Institute was opened on 3 May 1924. It was built to commemorate the memory of the gallant men of the village who scarified their lives during the Great War. The Hall and Institute was established to be a place for assembly and recreation for the community and surrounding neighbourhoods, and still offers many activities to meet this aim.
Chilwell School is located off Queens Road West adjacent to the golf course. It shares a site and facilities with the Chilwell Olympia Sports Centre. Prior to construction of the school in the 1970s, this area was Kirk's Farm. It had remained undeveloped as the land has a high water table and poor drainage. A hectare of the school grounds was not drained for playing fields and is now the Chilwell Meadow nature reserve managed by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust as a rare example of a "wet meadow" of unimproved grassland.
Parts of the golf course are also sites of importance for nature conservation; there has been some work in recent years[when?] to remove non-native species in the golf course planting, to improve native biodiversity.
Demography
Chilwell population is 14,024 with the average household at 2.30 with the population density per hectare at 44.30. In 1931, the Chilwell civil parish had a population of 2,584.[4] At the 2011 Census, the two Chilwell wards (East and West) had a total population of 12,864.[5][6]
There are 90.2% White British and 9.8% with people from 35 different countries including India, Pakistan, France, Germany, Poland, Jamaica, China, Ecuador, Australia, Ireland and the United States.[7]
Transport
Railway
Attenborough railway station is the nearest National Rail station, which hosts the following hourly services during weekdays:[8]
Tram
Line 1 of the Nottingham Express Transit tram line runs between Toton Lane and Hucknall, via Nottingham city centre.[9]
There are local stops at the following locations:
Buses
Chilwell is served by routes operated by three bus companies.[10]
- 36: Nottingham – Derby Road – QMC – Beeston – Chilwell
- Indigo: Nottingham – Beeston – Chilwell – Long Eaton – Derby
- 18: Nottingham – QMC – Beeston – Chilwell – Stapleford
Nottsbus Connect (Nottinghamshire County Council):
- 510: Beeston – Chilwell – Attenborough – Toton – Stapleford
Former civil parish
Chilwell is a former civil parish. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished, with most of its area being included in the new parish and urban district of Beeston and Stapleford, and a smaller area going to Clifton with Glapton.[11] Beeston and Stapleford Urban District was abolished in 1974 to become part of the new borough of Broxtowe. No successor parish was created for the former urban district and Chilwell is therefore directly administered by Broxtowe Borough Council.[12]
See also
References
- ^ Archi UK
- ^ "BBC Radio - World War One, WW1 At Home 16 - The Chilwell Explosion & a Wartime Entertainer". Bbc.co.uk. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
- ^ The Hudston Families of Beeston
- ^ "Population statistics Chilwell Hmlt/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ "Chilwell East Ward of Broxtowe Council population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ "Chilwell West Ward of Broxtowe Council population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ "Broxtowe - UK Census Data 2011". www.ukcensusdata.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ "Timetables". East Midlands Railway. May 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
- ^ "Download our timetable". Nottingham Express Transit. 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
- ^ "Stops in Chilwell". Bus Times. 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
- ^ "Relationships and changes Chilwell Hmlt/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 31 May 2023
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Chilwell Manor Golf Club
- Then and Now: Attenborough, Chilwell and Beeston – 1920 local history article by Robert Mellors on Nottinghamshire History site