Godfrey Holmes revisits the huge project he undertook, 14 years ago, to write a ‘biography’ of each of the nine main routes radiating out of Chesterfield town centre.
BIOGRAPHY of a road: why not? After all, local historians have written biographies of MPs, inventors, villains, explorers, whoever; biographies also of schools, hospitals, neighbourhoods, railways and coach operators. So to celebrate 90 years after the very first A-Roads were numbered by the Ministry of Transport, I boldly set out to document the eight points of the compass out of, and into, Chesterfield, ‘Centre of Industrial England’: N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW.
Perfect? Because there happened to be an A-road roughly following seven of those eight directions: clockwise, the A61 north to Dronfield; the A618 Staveley road; the A632 to Bolsover; the A617 for Heath; the A61 through Clay Cross; the A632 Matlock road; not forgetting the A619 over to Baslow, gateway to Chatsworth. And the immediate exception? The B6051 north-west to Barlow, on to Owler Bar.
Soon a second exception: to my great surprise, there turned out to be two, not one, A-roads heading out of Chesterfield north-eastwards! What became Reflections’ Route Nine being the important A6135 out to Eckington via Old Whittington – ancient settlement, site too of Revolution House – thence to Rotherham.
So came this summer and – rather than describe each of those roads again – I determined to take nine buses out of Chesterfield and back to see if anything had significantly altered between my original mission at 90 years after the initiative of National Highways’ numbering. I concluded the Ministry must have found the A6 carriageway – from London to Manchester (via Derby) crucial – because all nine of my routes selected started with a ‘6’.
And I certainly knew the perils of bus travel. In return for 100% concentration on new developments along the way, I would encounter hold-ups, diversions, distractions, interruptions, repetition – whilst being able to take photographs prompted by far shorter anticipation; with the definition of those images suffering twist and shake.
Nevertheless, I did come across isolated roadside phenomena recognisable, striking, memorable, enough to come up with a decent narrative. But why isolated phenomena? Isolated because, to my genuine astonishment, very little had, in fact, changed since David Cameron entered into a governing coalition with the Liberal Democrats in May 2010. Whole swathes of commercial, domestic, residential and retail life along the way had stayed almost entirely static. So nothing to see here?
Yes there had been some titivation: a new shop-front here; a new entrance there; change of a chapel’s religious affiliation; ESSO rather than BP at the petrol pump. And yes, there had been some very gradual demolition of eyesores; some instatement of pedestrian or taxicab or cycling priority; at the same time some reinstatement of colliery winding wheels, canal towpaths, bus shelters, picnic benches, marble paving.
At least five public houses had recently become convenience stores; another 10 or 11 popular inns now boarded up, for sale. And as for real supermarkets: discounters ALDI and LIDL have evidently undergone appreciable growth, most notably in Clay Cross, Lower Brampton, Littlemoor and Lockoford.
Meanwhile, B&M, also Home Bargains, even One Beyond, are destined to become the Wilkos and Woolworths of the late 2020s. Which brings me on to the fascinating subject of fast food. On each of my nine expeditions, I spotted innumerable, usually franchised, fast food joints or coffee parlours: some of these established brands; others arriving in hope. And this represents a definite change in Chesterfield’s plate offering, its mealtimes too.
So I was particularly keen to observe whether there had been any bunching together of incoming shops and takeaways to form parades attractive enough not to become as tatty or metal-shuttered as some of their misguided 1960s’ predecessors. And my three biggest and best discoveries in this direction were all situated on the Sheffield Road, first next to the Donkey Derby; second alongside ASDA; third – this architecture truly innovative – the Batch House constructed on the footprint of that iconic (1972) entertainment venue: the Aquarius Nightclub.
Two enhanced and very well-patronised motorcycle meet-ups also caught my attention: CMC on the A61 south, entering Clay Cross; and Harleyworld on the A6135 exiting Whittington Moor. And speaking of congestion outside these two showrooms, I noted a growing, not diminishing, heavy traffic build-up on all nine major routes out of Chesterfield.
I dread to think how many work days, downtimes and family occasions are sacrificed to the internal combustion engine. Over 15-years plus of charting North-East Derbyshire’s hesitant regeneration, I have observed no traffic movement improvement whatsoever. It’s still bumper-to-bumper, standstill and tailback: the M1 motorway and the Dronfield bypass, affording scarce relief?
HOUSING
My latest project might stand or fall in line with brand new homes being built and completed, then sold, beside those nine key highways. Here I was never disappointed – although it was not always apparent whether developments had started before or after 2010.
Encouragingly, many of the new estates I passed on the bus were built on “brownfield” – or formerly contaminated – land: principally Wingerworth’s Avenue Plant, Egstow and St. Lawrence Fold at Clay Cross, Arkwright Town, Duckmanton, Hollingwood, Brimington Road, Tapton, Dunston Lane, the Boatyard at Unstone – and so many more.
On certain estates, new access roads were already being laid. At others, JCB diggers and cement lorries were still at work.
But all developers, almost without exception, were not benefiting from the services of either artists or architects. In other words, the design of the majority of these new homes were lifted: if not identical to one’s neighbour, then identical to most others given planning permission by the Borough.
Yet a couple of thousand pounds’ additional outlay on each property would provide variety and peculiarity, differentiation and joy. On a more positive note, nearly every municipal park – and nearly every other play area where ball-games were not prohibited – that I passed on my travels was immaculate, a real asset to often hard-pressed communities.
‘MEGASHEDS’
Which leads me on to my final observation for now, ‘Megasheds’: those enormous new barns erected on marginal land very near trunk route roundabouts. Each barn yielding several thousand square feet of virgin space for fork-lift warehousing; for the assembly of parts; and, essentially, for distribution. The ‘Megasheds’ I passed east or south of where I began – several dedicated to household brands – were simply gargantuan, at the same time curiously anonymous. Is this shielded activity the paid employ of most 18-50-year olds of the future?
Editor’s Note: readers, do pop your smart-phone in your pocket and spend each bicycle or bus or car passenger journey absorbing the roadside in all its ribbon detail. Whether heading for business or pleasure out of a rejuvenated Chesterfield town centre, you’re sure to experience both excitement and reassurance.