IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Old Mill Close, NOTTINGHAM, NG6 8TA

This is the meeting point of three local authorities, the actual point being in the middle of the road opposite the boundary marker to the right of the picture. The foreground is in the City of Nottingham, beyond, the centre line of the road is the boundary between Ashfield District (left) and Gedling Borough (right). The boundary marker http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3938689 was installed by the then Borough of Nottingham in 1877. The low wall beyond the boundary marker is the remains of the abutment of the railway bridge that crossed the road at this point; it carried the Midland Railway branch into Bestwood Colliery.

"The Robin Hood Trail" crosses the B683 (the Hucknall Rd/Moor Bridge - Papplewick road) from the Bestwood Lane end of Mill Lane here and enters its "Leen Valley Walk" section via this ramped footpath ahead.

The most northerly point of the City of Nottingham. See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3938685

There was an iron foundry at Bestwood early in the 17th century, and a cotton mill was opened in the 1780s (see Image]). This stone-and-pantile building is now a home.

This turning off Bestwood Road (the B683), as one proceeds in the direction of Hucknall Road (the A611), passes under a former railway line. Nowadays the bridge carries a nature trail across this farm track ahead allowing walkers and cyclists to join the Robin Hood Trail nearer to Bestwood Village. An imaginary inverted U shaped loop encapsulates this boundary marker, tying it - and this stretch of the B683 - into the administrative jurisdiction of Nottingham City Council. The photograph was taken from a spot that lies within Ashfield Borough Council's territory. The territory to the left of this cast iron marker is controlled by Gedling Borough Council.

These much-altered houses were built in 1897 by W E Shaw of Ilkeston as houses for employees of the Great Northern Railway. For more about the station at Bestwood, which was on the embankment to the left which is now a cycle route, see Image] and Image

The Great Northern Leen Valley Line, built to carry coal from the Leen Valley pits, opened in 1881 and closed in 1964, having lost its passenger service (duplicated by the Midland and Great Central routes) as early as 1931. This was Bridge No 7. The trees visible through the arch, on the other side of Moor Road, are growing on the site of the Midland Railway line to Bestwood Colliery, which crossed the road there before burrowing through the high Great Northern embankment to reach the colliery. For more about the GNR at Bestwood, see Image], Image], Image] and Image]

Millbank Place (ahead) is part of a horse-shoe shaped residential street that has been developed on ground previously owned by Bayles & Wylie. Forge Mill - a corner of which is seen here - was the last piece of property the company owned in Bestwood. It is Grade II-listed, straddles the River Leen and has a mill pond behind it. It was built as a cotton mill by the Robinson family (c.1783) on premises originally used as an iron foundry, hence its name. Consent was granted in November 2012 to convert the upper floors into 11 apartments "and for a charity to use the grounds and the first floor for textile-based employment purposes". Robin Hood Way - a long distance path - passes the front of the mill.

One of many water-powered mills in the Leen Valley, this mill at Bestwood was built about 1783 and rebuilt after a fire in 1838. Originally a cotton mill, it was later a corn mill and subsequently a store. It was last used in the 1970s. For more about it, see Howard Fisher's Thoroton Society article: http://www.thorotonsociety.org.uk/publications/articles/bestwoodmill.htm

Early November 2012 saw the completion of a sales contract that is intended to underpin the development of this former mill in Mill Lane, Bestwood. This marks the end of its fourth generation of family ownership since Bayles & Wylie are now operating exclusively out of modern industrial premises in Calverton. Forge Mill was the last piece of property owned by the company in Bestwood, most of the surrounding mill land having already been sold off for new homes in the vicinity referred to as Millbank Place. This Grade II-listed building straddling the River Leen overlooks a mill pond at the rear. It was built as a cotton mill by the Robinson family - c.1783 - on the same premises as an existing iron foundry. For the time being(?) a public footpath at the rear of the mill is no longer accessible. Whilst the new owners have consent to convert the upper floors into 11 apartments, it has been reported that "a deal has been done with a charity who will use the grounds and the first floor for textile-based employment purposes".