Ilkeston Past & Present

17/10/2026

17/10/2026

Ey up mi duck! 🎡
Just fancied sharing a bit about our Ilkeston Charter Fair, cos it’s one of them proper special things we’ve got round here.

It all goes right back to 1252, when King Henry III gave the Lord of the Manor (Hugh de Muskham) and the townsfolk of Ilkeston a charter. That let ’em hold a Thursday market and a two-day fair every August on the Feast of the Assumption. Back then it were all about trading – livestock, cloth, tools, bits and bobs – with peddlers and a bit of entertainment mixed in.

Later on there were also the October Statutes Fair (the hiring fair for farm labourers). In 1888 they joined the two together and shifted it all to the third week of October during Wakes Week. That’s why it’s still held then now, and why it’s one of the oldest and biggest street fairs in Europe – older than Nottingham’s Goose Fair, mind you!

Every year the Mayor reads out the words of the original charter in front of the Town Hall, then rings them two brass bells to open it. After that the whole town centre fills up with rides, stalls, lights and the smell of candyfloss. Proper brilliant atmosphere.

It’s been going for over 770 years (this year’s the 774th!), and apart from wartime and that Covid year it’s been a constant. Loads of folk from round here and further afield still come back for it every autumn.

If you’re about, get yerselves down – it kicks off Wednesday night and runs through to Sunday. See you there ducks! 🎉

15/10/2026

Old News Report From Back In the Day

13/10/2026

12/10/2026

From a cabinet Card by Seamans & Sons photo from very close to 1900.

09/10/2026

Leyland Atlantean photographed on the Market place 1960s

The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as a single deck from new.

It features a highbridge configuration built by Charles H. Roe (indicated by the distinct front profile and upper-deck window styling).