Arkwright Town

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Arkwright Town
Derbyshire

New Arkwright Town
Location
Grid reference: SK427713
Location: 53°14’14"N, 1°21’34"W
Data
Post town: Chesterfield
Postcode: S44 5
Dialling code: 01246
Local Government
Council: North East Derbyshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
North East Derbyshire

Arkwright Town, commonly referred to as Arkwright, is a village in north-eastern Derbyshire, and a place that is notable for having moved its location in the early 1990s.

The village is located between Chesterfield and Bolsover, on the A632 road

Arkwright was formerly a coal mining village, but the Arkwright Colliery closed in 1988. At this point it was discovered that the community was threatened by emissions of methane gas, a risk that caused some of its houses to be evacuated.[1] The whole village was owned by British Coal and a decision was taken, along with the council, to transfer ownership of the 52 properties to a housing trust, construct a new village of 56 properties to the north of the site affected by methane, and move all the residents. Construction was completed by 1995 when the old Arkwright Town was demolished. Part of the deal with British Coal included the use of open cast mining on a 100-acre site which began in November 1993 and continued for some years.[1]

A new nature walk was established in 2010 using the uninhabitable waste land that was once used as a railway line.

See also

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Arkwright Town)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 'Why will the village cross the road': Simon Beckett in The Independent on Sunday, 17 April 1994