Allenton, Derby

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Allenton
War Memorial, Allenton, Derby - geograph.org.uk - 5278.jpg
Allenton war memorial
Derbyshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Allenton
Location within Derbyshire
Population5,000 (Approx 2011 Census)
OS grid reference SK3732
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town DERBY
Postcode district DE24
Dialling code 01332
Police Derbyshire
Fire Derbyshire
Ambulance East Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Derbyshire
52°53′02″N1°26′46″W / 52.884°N 1.446°W / 52.884; -1.446

Allenton is a small suburb of the city of Derby, England, situated about three miles south of the city centre. It is located between the suburbs of Osmaston, Boulton, Alvaston and Shelton Lock, and is within the Alvaston South ward. Allenton has a high footfall, with a variety of modern shops, stores and other facilities, including free parking. The suburb has its own busy market every Friday and Saturday located on Osmaston Road.

Contents

History

Allenton (formerly Allentown) was named after Isaac Allen who built the first houses there in 1878. One hundred and twenty thousand years ago, during a warmer part of the Ice Age, the whole area was a riverside swamp, and skeletons of a hippopotamus, elephant, brown bear, hyena and bison have been found there. The Allenton hippopotamus was found in 1895 underneath the Crown Hotel (established in 1891) and its well-preserved skeleton is displayed at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery.

Landmarks

Branding with the Allenton hippo Hippo sign.jpg
Branding with the Allenton hippo

Allenton gives its name to a geological feature known as the Allenton Terrace, which is the fluvial terrace of sand and gravel in the lower valley of the River Derwent that it and the surrounding settlements are built on.

Allenton has a cosmopolitan outdoor market, although this has been in decline. The suburban shopping centre is among the largest in Derby although there are few high street chains except for Boots, Poundstretcher and Greggs. A functional sculpture by Michael Dan Archer was installed in the shopping centre in 2007. [1] Commissioned by Derby City Council, it forms a circular seating area on which are laser-scanned copies and models of some of the key bones of the Allenton Hippo skeleton at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. [2]

An easily recognisable feature of the local streetscape is a pedestrian footbridge over the Mitre Island roundabout, erected in July 1971. This footbridge is popularly known as "the Spider Bridge" and gains that popular appellation because it has eight 'legs' in four directions. Each direction has a set of steep steps and a stepped ramp (for easier wheelchair access). The footbridge has been painted various colours over the years and is currently painted white.

Culture

Looking south along Chellaston Road from the Spider Bridge SpiderS.JPG
Looking south along Chellaston Road from the Spider Bridge

Allenton has a large number of employees in the aero-engine industry as Rolls-Royce plc has its jet engine production facility adjacent to Allenton.

The former Alvaston & Boulton Board School, built in 1890, on Allen Street, houses the community library.

Brexit negotiator David Frost took the title "Baron Frost of Allenton in the County of Derbyshire" in 2020, [3] in recognition of Allenton being his birthplace,[ citation needed ] although he was educated in Nottingham. [4]

The old Derby Canal has long been transformed into a bicycle track with tarmac surface; this track, which runs through the recreational ground, offers access by bicycle from Allenton into Derby city centre – it is part of the National Cycle Network.

Adjacent to the shopping area is a public house: The Crown Inn (see Crown Hotel above), a Victorian roadside inn dating to 1891 and built by Issac Allen, the original developer of Allenton. Another public house, in a Stockbroker's Tudor design, by the name of The Mitre, was opened in 1930 for Zachary Smith's brewery when Harvey Road was built, and was demolished in 2020.

There is a school, a dentist, a playing field and a sizeable public recreational ground, beauty salons, hairdressers, several charity shops, several hot food outlets and a flower shop. Just beyond the edges of Allenton can be found a secondary school and several medical practices. The local fire station, in Osmaston, is just a few hundred yards from the shops in Allenton.

Facilities

The Moorways sports centre £42 million redevelopment is scheduled to be completed by March 2022 with a competition-standard, 50-metre competition swimming pool having moveable booms and two leisure pools with flumes. The location has further infrastructure of sauna, dance studio and gym to complement the existing running track, with the whole being named Moorways Sports Village. [5] [6]

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References

  1. ↑ Allenton Artwork (from Derby City Council website) Archived 15 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 10 November 2010
  2. ↑ The Allenton Hippo (Derby Museums "Treasures" Page) Archived 27 September 2011 at the UK Government Web Archive , accessed 10 November 2010
  3. ↑ "Frost, David George Hamilton". ukwhoswho.com. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u42701. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  4. ↑ Cordon, Gavin; PA Whitehall Editor; Pegden, Tom (14 December 2020). "Lord Frost: Born in Derby, educated in Nottingham, the former diplomat leading Boris Johnson's Brexit talks". Business Live. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  5. ↑ New £42m Derby leisure facility on track to open in spring 2022 BBC News, 7 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021
  6. ↑ We go inside Derby's £42m swimming complex as it's almost completed Derbyshire Live , 6 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021
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