IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Thatcham Close, NOTTINGHAM, NG8 5SQ

The houses to the left, on Meden Gardens and (behind the trees) Poulter Close, are on the site of Radford Colliery, which closed in the 1960s. The railway, now The Robin Hood Line from Nottingham to Mansfield and Worksop, was built by the Midland Railway in 1848. The many-windowed white building in the distance is Players Bonded Warehouse on Wollaton Road.

Ascot Works, latterly the Speedo factory, has been demolished, opening up a view across the allotments to Grassington Road and Ainsley Estate. The only clouds in a May-morning sky are from Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, eight miles away on the other side of the Trent Valley. For an idea of what was here before, and a fuller caption, see Image] (September 2011).

Trains from Worksop and Mansfield are on the last leg of their journey to Nottingham as they pass Bobbers Mill Bridge and the Speedo factory on the right. This line was built, in 1848, to carry coal, but is now used by commuter trains. The overgrown area to the left of the tracks was once part of Radford Colliery. Player's Bonded Warehouse on Wollaton Road is in the distance to the left of the tree in the centre. On this bright early-autumn morning the plume of steam from Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, eight miles south-south-west of here, showed clearly. For another distant view of it taken a couple of hours later, see Image Alan Murray-Rust took Image] here in much greyer November 2007.

A small estate is being built on the site of Ascot Works, near Bobbers Mill Bridge. Behind the camera the cinder path leads through allotments to New Bridge and Ainsley Estate. Image] was taken from a similar spot in 2009.

One of three competing railways up the Leen Valley between Nottingham and Mansfield, this was the first to be built and the last to remain. It is now the route of the Robin Hood Line. To the right can be seen part of the Speedo swimwear factory.

This not especially exciting 2009 photograph is now of some small historical interest as Ascot Works, latterly occupied by Speedo, was demolished in May 2013. This view from the path through the allotments (some of which are behind the hedge) which links Bobbers Mill, Ainsley Estate and Old Radford shows the former factory building (still standing) occupied by Collins Cash & Carry on the left and one of the more recent parts of Ascot Works straight ahead. Alan Murray-Rust's Image] shows Ascot Works from Bobbers Mill Bridge; my Image] and Image] show the site after demolition.

The Ascot Road end of a footpath through the allotments to New Bridge, Ainsley Estate and Old Radford. Player's Bonded Warehouse, on Wollaton Road, is on the skyline in the centre.

A new estate is being built on the site of Ascot Works, next to the Nottingham-Mansfield-Worksop railway line. In a while this view will change again as Player's Bonded Warehouse - in the distance to the left of the tree - is being demolished. Earlier pictures taken from this viewpoint: Alan Murray-Rust’s Image] (2007) Image] (2011) Image] (2013)

This housing development on the banks of the Leen was built on the site of Radford Colliery, which closed in the early 1960s. The streets are named after Nottinghamshire rivers - the Poulter, the Meden, the Greet and the Smite, but not the Leen.

This was the access road to Radford Colliery until it closed in 1961. The pithead was behind and to the left of the camera position. The concrete-post fence was the eastern boundary of the colliery land. The houses of Poulter Close were built on the levelled site of the embankment which carried the colliery's railway headshunt (siding). I was pleased to find a Skills bus parked here: until the 1960s Skills pale-green private-hire coaches were garaged at a depot on St Peter's Street, only a few hundred yards south of here.