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Message: Emoticon Listing HTML Help	[quote]25th March 1977 Ripley & Heanor THE DUMBLES In my early years, one favourite place we often visited was the Dumbles, which was situated between Heanor, Smalley and Denby. It was ideal for picnics, rambles, and nature studies and because of its peculiar geological structures, to use as an adventure playing ground. Coal had been worked here for many generations as subsequent opencast mining operation exposed much evidence of these early operations. The name Dumbles is, I believe, a corruption of Dumbwells, which were made to drain the coal and ironstone workings. These wells had to be emptied by hand unlike the flowing wells, which are a feature of our Derbyshire countryside. The old Loscoe sough was constructed in the early 1700’s. One of the feeders to the sough that ran through the Dumbles we named the Red River, the colour of which I later learnt was due to a high content of ocre or iron oxide. Another thing we discovered was that if the mud on the bottom was stirred up with a stick, bubbles were formed which gave off a terrible smell, and could be ignited, burning with a blue flame. This I also learnt later was sulphuretted hydrogen. The area was also part of a nine-hole golf course, and many boys were the proud owners of golf balls, which presumably had been lost in the rough. The Dumbles could be reached by several different paths from Heanor, each of them interesting in different ways. One was by way of Nook End where one could see and hear the hand frames at work at Allen’s and Boroughs, continuing by the footpath past Calladine House (the local isolation Hospital) and into Glew Lane, which came to an abrupt end here. This had been the source of a dispute in the late 1500’s between Sir John Zouch of Codnor Castle and John Glew, churchwarden for Codnor, in which Sir John claimed his right to take his Codnor coal through Kidsley Park without fee, let or hindrance. The top of this lane was the entrance to the Dumbles. Another way was by the path from Derby Road which is now Hallington Drive, past the homes of the Fletchers (lace) and Marshall’s (laundry), then by a footpath which forked below Walter Price’s smallholding and rose nursery, the right leading straight to the Dumbles, the other to Banks Barn Farm which again was near our objective. One other way was by the side of the Laundry, which had been the Lace factory of Edward and Walter Bryan at one time. This path passed Kingstown, which had been the home of John King who built the gas works at Langley Mill in 1855, which provided Heanor with coal and illumination. King carried out his experiments in gas-making here, and at the house where he lived could be seen a large area of newer brickwork, made necessary by an explosion whilst he was working on the manufacture of coal gas. During excavations some years ago, a large well was discovered containing gas tar. John King was evidently a man of many talents as record of 1860 describes him as “Lace Maker, Gas Maker, Shopkeeper, Engineer Appliances for Mines and Railways. This footpath connected with the one previously mentioned, just below Walter Price’s I have not seen the Dumbles for many years, but doubtless opencast mining has left it entirely different to those happy days spent there when we were young. Mr. Eggleshaw Jenny[/quote]
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Jennypeg
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The Dumbles
replied on: 11/4/2005 1:06:00 PM

25th March 1977
Ripley & Heanor
THE DUMBLES
In my early years, one favourite place we often visited was the Dumbles, which was situated between Heanor, Smalley and Denby. It was ideal for picnics, rambles, and nature studies and because of its peculiar geological structures, to use as an adventure playing ground. Coal had been worked here for many generations as subsequent opencast mining operation exposed much evidence of these early operations.
The name Dumbles is, I believe, a corruption of Dumbwells, which were made to drain the coal and ironstone workings. These wells had to be emptied by hand unlike the flowing wells, which are a feature of our Derbyshire countryside. The old Loscoe sough was constructed in the early 1700’s. One of the feeders to the sough that ran through the Dumbles we named the Red River, the colour of which I later learnt was due to a high content of ocre or iron oxide. Another thing we discovered was that if the mud on the bottom was stirred up with a stick, bubbles were formed which gave off a terrible smell, and could be ignited, burning with a blue flame. This I also learnt later was sulphuretted hydrogen.
The area was also part of a nine-hole golf course, and many boys were the proud owners of golf balls, which presumably had been lost in the rough. The Dumbles could be reached by several different paths from Heanor, each of them interesting in different ways. One was by way of Nook End where one could see and hear the hand frames at work at Allen’s and Boroughs, continuing by the footpath past Calladine House (the local isolation Hospital) and into Glew Lane, which came to an abrupt end here. This had been the source of a dispute in the late 1500’s between Sir John Zouch of Codnor Castle and John Glew, churchwarden for Codnor, in which Sir John claimed his right to take his Codnor coal through Kidsley Park without fee, let or hindrance. The top of this lane was the entrance to the Dumbles.
Another way was by the path from Derby Road which is now Hallington Drive, past the homes of the Fletchers (lace) and Marshall’s (laundry), then by a footpath which forked below Walter Price’s smallholding and rose nursery, the right leading straight to the Dumbles, the other to Banks Barn Farm which again was near our objective.
One other way was by the side of the Laundry, which had been the Lace factory of Edward and Walter Bryan at one time. This path passed Kingstown, which had been the home of John King who built the gas works at Langley Mill in 1855, which provided Heanor with coal and illumination. King carried out his experiments in gas-making here, and at the house where he lived could be seen a large area of newer brickwork, made necessary by an explosion whilst he was working on the manufacture of coal gas.
During excavations some years ago, a large well was discovered containing gas tar. John King was evidently a man of many talents as record of 1860 describes him as “Lace Maker, Gas Maker, Shopkeeper, Engineer Appliances for Mines and Railways. This footpath connected with the one previously mentioned, just below Walter Price’s I have not seen the Dumbles for many years, but doubtless opencast mining has left it entirely different to those happy days spent there when we were young.
Mr. Eggleshaw

Jenny

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