Some of Swadlincote's most famous buildings and landmarks will be celebrated with plaques as part of a heritage trail which will mark the town’s rich history.
The trail is fast becoming a community project with a total of 42 people, buildings and industries having been identified as having the most influence upon Swadlincote.
Burton and South Derbyshire College pupils have also designed a mobile phone app which will provide more information to people who are using the trail.
The trail is part of South Derbyshire District Council's Swadlincote Townscape Scheme which is using a portion of a £400,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
This includes £500 for the trail development and plaques and £500 for research, consultation and associated events (walks) led by The Magic Attic. A total of £700 towards the cost of plaques from the East Midlands Airport Fund has also been received.
Swadlincote Townscape Scheme was set up to improve the special historic character of Swadlincote town centre's conservation area and also to get people involved in the town’s heritage.
Members of the district council's environmental and development services committee are set to approve the development of the heritage trail and the plans to complete it at a meeting on Thursday, September 28.
The local desire for a heritage trail came from extensive public consultation for the Swadlincote Townscape project carried out during 2014. This is being turned into reality by the Magic Attic team's local knowledge and archive materials and work by a group of council officers.
Research and the development of a trail around Swadlincote has been overseen by a cross party working group including district and county councillors and officers from both authorities - South Derbyshire District Council and Derbyshire County Council - Swadlincote Tourist Information Centre and The Magic Attic.
A total of 42 people, buildings and/or industries have been identified in the Swadlincote area and split into two sections, each represented by a leaflet currently in draft form. Part one will showcase Swadlincote town centre, while part two will include the areas surrounding Swadlincote such as Newhall, Midway, Woodville, Hartshorne and Church Gresley.
The working group will be applying for planning permission to honour half of the sites included in the leaflets, which are included in the panel below, with wall or pavement plaques.
A logo for the project has been designed as a result of a competition which was run at the Festival of Leisure and attracted high-quality entries. Draft leaflets are available for the project and will be completed following consultation replies from the remaining landowner, the TG Green site.
The environmental education project team is looking at a Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Sharing Heritage’ fund as a possible option to deliver the trail further.
Sites and people to be included in the trail
The heritage trail will include 42 people and places who have made a big impact on Swadlincote. Half of these are set to be given plaques.
Alexandra Rink (on the site of Connexions, Rink Drive)
The Alexandra Rink dance hall started in 1909 as a roller skating rink. Later, lots of well-known dance bands appeared there and Ernie Hall, 'The Law of the Floor', ran the rink for a long time.
Helen Allingham
Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson (Allingham) was born in a house on the High Street on September 26 1848. She became known for her watercolour paintings of the countryside, flower gardens, her children and especially picturesque old country cottages.
Salt Brothers stores
In the 1890s, brothers Enoch, Joseph and Hezekiah Salt opened their first shop in Swadlincote in High Street. Eventually, this extended to three stores which included a haberdashery and menswear shops and, in the late 1920s, a hardware store. Salt Brothers finally closed all its shops in 1982.
The Nag's Head
The Nag’s Head was a large pub which stood on the corner of The Delph until the 1960s. The England football caps worn by Ben Warren, the first husband of the landlady Mrs Hall were displayed behind the bar.
Tram sheds
In 1906, a tramway system linking the Burton railway station with Ashby and Castle Gresley, along with the villages in between. The tram sheds were next to Eureka park. The trams could not compete with the more flexible bus system and the last tram pulled into the Swadlincote sheds on February 19, 1927.
John Avery - The Bear Inn 1927-2016
John Avery was born in 1927 at the Bear Inn, in West Street, Swadlincote, which was managed by his parents. He served as both a Bevin Boy and a welder at Church Gresley Colliery during the war, before working at the Empire Cinema and the Majestic Theatre in Swadlincote in the 1950s. In 1974, he was appointed general manager of the London Palladium, where he worked until his retirement in 1992. He died on May 11, 2016, aged 89.
The Snooker Hall - birthplace of the Magic Attic
The snooker hall at the back of the leisure centre originally belonged to the Sharpe family farmstead (The Grove, which was demolished in 1972). Later, the building became the birthplace of The Magic Attic, Swadlincote’s very own local history group, started in 1987. The Magic Attic is now in the Sharpe’s Pottery building.
Eddie Hardy
Local boy Eddie Hardy had a long, distinguished career in athletics. As a member of the Derby and County Athletic Club, he gained international honours for his cross country running. He won the Derbyshire Senior mile event seven years in a row before retiring due to injuries in 1956.
Jack Bodell 1940-1916
Possibly South Derbyshire’s most favourite sporting hero, the ‘Gentle Giant’ was born in Newhall, worked as a miner and took up the sport of boxing quite late. He became a light-heavyweight champion, fighting 243 amateur fights and losing only five. Bodell represented his country in the European Championships, winning a bronze medal.
George Newbury
George Newbury made his living as a blacksmith at a local pottery but was well known for being part of the 'Swadlincote Wheelers' cycling club. At the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, he captained the British 4,000 metres pursuit team to win a bronze medal.
Timothy Sabine
Sabine was a blacksmith who lived in Swadlincote and invented the extrusion machine for sockets used by the pipe manufacturer Thomas Wragg. The family home and business was in High Street and Belmont Street.
Joe Jackson
Born in Burton in 1954, Joe Jackson lived in Coronation Street, Newhall. He later moved to New York and became well known as a singer and songwriter. He recorded 19 studio albums and received five Grammy Award nominations during his career. His first hit, named 'Is she really going out with him?' made him an overnight success in 1979.
Moses Cartwright's Colliery, Midland Road
In 1880, Moses Cartwright's Colliery was developed. It was known locally as the 'Owd Shoddy' pit because of the poor working conditions and badly faulted coal seams. There were problems with flooding and one of the two shafts collapsed. It closed in the early 1900s.
John Hurt
The renowned actor, John Hurt, moved to Woodville when he was five years old, when his father became vicar of St Stephen's Church. Alongside two Academy Award nominations, Hurt has received many awards throughout his career, including the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement for outstanding contribution to British cinema. He died in January this year, aged 77.
Hill Street Baptist Church
Founded in 1867, Hill Street Baptist Church has been home to a growing group of Christians for nearly 150 years. Since its establishment, the building has been extended and modernised. The church hosts regular concerts using a spectacular pipe organ, alongside a varied programme of other events.
New Empire - cinema and theatre in West Street
In December 1912, The Empire Picture Palace opened, presenting 'Pictures and Varieties' to a hall seating 500 people on one level. In the 1930s, this building was demolished and replaced by the New Empire Cinema, seating 716 people. The cinema closed in the early 1960s and the building is now home to a bar and restaurant called The Empire.
Majestic Cinema, Alexandra Road
This well-loved venue, now demolished, launched the career of John Avery before he moved on to the London Palladium
TG Green, Church Gresley
TG Green and Co Ltd operated in Church Gresley from 1864 until 2007. At its peak it employed 1,000 local people making pottery for the international market. There's no country in the world that doesn't have its famous Cornish Ware stripes in a kitchen. The remaining four Grade II* listed bottle kilns and stable block are a significant reminder of the area's importance within the pottery industry. Mason Cash will also be included here.
Springfield Junior School, Springfield Road - completed in 1936
Designed by architect George Widdows. Widdows designed school buildings which maximised natural light and allowed air to circulate. This was a new direction for school buildings. In an article on provincial school building in 1913, 'The Builder' stated that his work "constitutes a revolution in the planning and arrangement of school buildings. A real advance which places English school architecture without a rival in any European country or the US".
Diana Memorial Garden, Grove Street
Among other things this garden was once the site of a clay hearth, part of Sharpe's Pottery. The memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales is also here as she visited the garden on her visit to the town in 1991. The garden is being restored as part of the Swadlincote Townscape Project.
Autoquip Building in West Street
The shop frontage is semi-circular in shape as the original building here was one of Sharpe's bottle kilns.
Eureka Park
The park has a rich history linked to mining including 'Owd Shoddy' pit and the 'Eureka' coal seam. It is also an important focus of commemoration for lives lost during the Great War and the Second World War.
Edmund Sharpe, 1811-1894
Edmund was the youngest and most influential brother at Sharpe’s Pottery on West St (established 1821). Sharpe's Pottery and Edmund's enterprising personality were driving factors behind Swadlincote's growth from a small hamlet to a bustling town.
Bretby Art Pottery, Swadlincote Road, Woodville
Bretby Art Pottery operated in Woodville from 1883 to 1996 under the company Tooth & Co. The pottery was internationally famous, winning awards for its Art Nouveau designs which are found throughout the world. The showroom, a grade II listed building is all that remains of this important industrial past.
Paramount Cars
This British Company produced cars from 1950 to 1956 and was based in Swadlincote in the High Street before moving to Melbourne.
Emmeline Jean Hanson 1919-1973
Jean Hanson was a well-known and respected biophysicist and zoologist born in Newhall and a forerunner in the discipline of sports science.
Rene Cutforth 1909-1984
Rene was born in Woodville and became a well-known broadcaster working on international projects for the BBC.
Hannah Mitchell
A well-known suffragette and political activist, Hannah lived in Newhall for most of her married life and her husband worked at Salts. Her autobiography was published by her grandson in 1968.
Anne Beverley (McDonald)
Anne's son, Sid Vicious, is her main claim to fame and it is said his ashes were scattered on The Delph.
Other venues and people approved for the trail in principle and being researched:
Swadlincote Market Hall/Swadlincote Town Hall - local court and the inspiration for Chrissie Hynde's song 'Time the Avenger'.
Richard Holden, armourer to King James II.
Ben Warren, international footballer.
Charlie Hextall, early film actor (and local character).