SANDIACRE & STAPLEFORD GOSSIP.

In former years there stood toll gates at Sandiacre, one on the Derby-road, on the town side of the Stanton and Bostock lanes, and the other at the bottom of Stanton-lane. An old resident (to whose reminiscences we have already referred) relates that he remembers the gates being pulled down. Starch manufacturing, first from wheat and subsequently from rice, was an old-established industry in the village. The starch works have been turned into a foundry in more recent times. Another old Sandiacre industry was that of rope-making. Mr. Ball had a ropewalk down Longmore-lane, and he used to spin boat ropes a quarter of a mile long. Sixty or seventy years ago the Stanton furnaces found work for the larger proportion of Sandiacre’s workers. Few were employed on the railway in those times. It will surprise a few in these days of high wages to be told that then a man thought he had made a good week if he drew 12s. or 13s. in wages. And a quartern loaf cost a shilling then! A good many years ago English and Irish labourers at Stanton had a dispute which one day culminated in a serious free fight, in which sticks were used, and in which four Englishmen so suffered at the hands of their Irish opponents that they had to be carried home from the fray in carts. That exciting affair came to be known as “the battle of Sevenoaks.”

The lace trade has long had a place in Sandiacre’s business life. One William Smedley had a lace factory which was burned down in 1869. It stood down by the “Blue Bell,” and adjoining his house. Fire also destroyed an old windmill which was owned by Mr. John Radford, and stood on a hill in a field near the Boat Inn.

Describing conditions in Sandiacre round about the middle of last century, our old friend recalls the time when one Samuel Lakin kept a baker’s shop and the village post office combined. A goodly number of people made their own bread, and a happy arrangement existed by which those folk could make the dough and have their bread baked in Mr. Lakin’s oven. The reason for this was that few had ovens at home that were large enough to take the bread to be baked. There was only one postman for Sandiacre in those days, and at the time referred to old Jimmy Doar fulfilled this important avocation, and on his rounds delivering letters he was taken as far as the other end of Dale, and round Stanton. It was a common practise in those days to give nicknames wherever an opportunity occurred, and the appellations given to some so stuck to them that they were little known by the name of their christening.

Speaking of old local worthies, our unofficial historian thinks the eccentric and witty William Doar, a road mender, who used to make good company for a chat, should be mentioned. They used to celebrate high days in the proper manner in old Sandiacre. As part of the parishioners’ celebration of the marriage of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, a sheep was carried on a board round Sandiacre and later roasted in the Pinfold. On one side of Station-road there were fields in one of which cricket was played.

Newspapers were luxuries in the period we are speaking of, and at Sandiacre it was the custom for several to club together in order to purchase newspapers. The number of residents who could read and write was very limited, and one of the few “scholars” would read the newspapers to a group. We have previously mentioned that education in reading and writing was given in the local Sunday school. It was the custom to have lessons in reading and writing, lasting one hour each, every Sunday morning.

In case of accident in which the motor ambulance is required, the public should ring up Sandiacre-40.

Mr. F. C. Darington, 26, Moorbridge-lane, Stapleford, writes as follows:—“Through the medium of your paper I would again point out the wretched state of the sanitary arrangements of the parish, especially in Mill-lane and Moorbridge-lane. The pans had not been emptied for 11 days at the time of writing, and the stench from the manholes in Mill-lane was awful. They were covered with sods by inhabitants to try and keep the stench in. Then the stench was awful. With the fire burning in the brickyard and the wind in the west it has not been pleasant in Moorbridge-lane. When the election comes round I hope the electors of this parish will remember these things and remove these stone age councillors. My motto is ‘Health,’ not ‘Wealth’—which latter you have to leave behind. Let us have the benefits whilst living. We ought to be the healthiest town in England—surrounded as we are by rivers and hills. Instead, we are courting disease by the unsatisfactory way in which the sanitary committee are dealing with this matter. My advice to the electors next time is to ‘out the lot and try some young blood.’”

📚 Sources

• Type: newspaper
  Title: Sandiacre and Stapleford Weekly News
  Date: 1920-08-13