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Author	Message / Information
Jennypeg Researcher	The Dumbles replied on: 2/17/2008 7:51:31 PM Historic Denby By Ernest Roome R/H 1956 I have mentioned the Dumbles as being Denby’s summer resort. It is many years since I first went into the Dumbles, but the other day I decided I would pay a visit. I was greatly disappointed, because compared with the Dumbles of the past it looked more or less derelict. Scores of trees must have been felled and where there was a long forest of them, they have been split apart and a big gap left. So now from henceforth the Dumbles which in the years when people did not take a holiday at the seaside, but visited it for picnicking and sun- bathing cannot now be designated a summer resort. I am forgetting to state why this change has taken place. It is simple because of out-cropping and this had slipped from my memory. It might be amusing to relate that a certain “tribe” known as the Heanor Taghillians often trekked to what must have been then truly a summer resort. Still there is no reason why anyone fond of walking should not take a walk down Dumbles Lane, where at the bottom one can get over the fields to Heanor and Smalley, or by turning sharply right at the first of the two pairs of cottages over some humpy ground which leads to a stile, the destination could be Flamstead.
Jenks This message was updated on 2/17/2008 10:36:37 AM by Jenks	The Dumbles replied on: 2/17/2008 9:38:51 AM quote: Aye, i remember that old house which was knocked down. As nippers, we used to play among the ruins of it. The old brick/concrete copper used to make a grand hiding place when needed. A small boy could just fit inside it nicely - pull the top cover over the circular entrance and all was well. I know most of the names which you mention. Well, the sons anyway and a few of the men. It could be that 'private' mine was actually the many small coal diggings on what was/is known as 'The Delves'. Eventually its grassy surface resembled the cratered surface of the Moon. There was literally dozens of small/medium sized holes dug all over it, a few even having brick lined arched roofs and entrances and they were still prominent in the 1940s and 50s. Azzabuv. I'm a bit late on this one, but was the area that you mention 'The Delves' or the 'Dells', both my elder brother and I recall it as the latter, but then it is over 50 years since I was down there. Thanks for the memories of 'Red River', a lovely area that we would get to from the Kingsway side. Jenks
RMMee Moderator	The Dumbles replied on: 11/13/2005 11:03:44 AM I am currently reading an unpublished book on the author's reminiscences of his bird-watching rambles in the late 1930's up until around 1942. I thought people might be interested in his description of the Dumbles. "In my district the largest common for miles around is the Dumbles, which lies about half-way between Heanor Gate and a small village known as Denby Common. It consists of a wide, gorse-clad waste that slopes down to a little brook at the bottom of a wooded dell. On occasion, after a careless rambler has set fire to the gorse, the Dumbles becomes a desert of blackened shrubs; but mostly it is a colourful place, especially in early summer, when its broad slopes are all ablaze with gold." The chapter, as the rest of the book, goes on to talk about the bird watching in the area - in this case he finds a cuckoo's egg in a whinchat's nest, listens to the skylarks, and grabs hold of a grass snake which was heading for the next, depositing it a good distance away to protect the birds.
db639	The Dumbles replied on: 11/6/2005 8:45:22 PM sad how we used to accept bird nesting and egg collecting as normal . Yellow hammers are what we used to call marking pens , their eggs are covered in brown squiggles almost like Arabic writing .db
Azzabuv	The Dumbles replied on: 11/6/2005 12:35:51 PM No, DB., you've lost me on the 'marking pens' and scribes. A couple of us had a sharp pointed 'quill', for 'blowing' birds eggs. That's one thing i could never really take to. It just seemed like murder of the innocent. The trees and overgrowth round the largest Everick Pond, was an ideal area for 'bird-nesting'. It eventually got boring though. So then came the old '4.10', before reason dawned. Azzabuv.
db639	The Dumbles replied on: 11/5/2005 9:04:19 PM Azzabuv , we used to go bird nesting in Sough wood do you remember what " marking pens " or scribes were ?There used to be lots of them !each egg had its own number - so we thought .There were lots of jays there as well.db
Azzabuv	The Dumbles replied on: 11/5/2005 12:50:06 PM Well, that discounts the need for wellies then, Jenny. Yes, i've seen the Red River dwindle to a trickle at times..... but never completely dry up. The presently increasing hot weather has a lot to answer for. Where you go down the field from the end of Glew Lane and over the stile at the bottom, then turn left up the small steep rise and over that stile, immediately to the left, at about a hundred yards or so distance, was a small swamp in a hollow. This dried out completely and very suddenly in the 1950s (in one year). The reason stated was, that it had drained down into some old colliery workings. Whatever, it never appeared, or reformed again. Azzabuv.
Jennypeg Researcher	The Dumbles replied on: 11/5/2005 8:45:25 AM Hi Azzabuv, I've not been yet but we've been told the pond is empty? we did walk up by Red River a few weeks ago and all the water had gone we was told this happens from time to time. Jenny
Azzabuv	The Dumbles replied on: 11/4/2005 8:53:44 PM Some really good historical Dumbles information there, Jenny. Have you been round those Ponds as yet. If you do go to inspect 'em, don't forget your wellies. Azzabuv.
Jennypeg Researcher	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
Azzabuv This message was updated on 11/4/2005 11:04:01 AM by Azzabuv	The Dumbles replied on: 11/4/2005 11:03:26 AM Hi, DB. I too remember, on a few occasions, following that same meandering course to the top of Smalley Hill via Sough Wood Etc. Have you checked the following thread on the Heanor Forum - 'Heanor Loscoe Rd; Boys School Teachers - L-1940'? Azzabuv.
db639	The Dumbles replied on: 10/28/2005 9:24:53 PM I remember going on the dumbles as a kid ,from loscoe road school we used to go up through sough wood and come out at the bend on smalley hill ? The delves is where the men used to play pitch and toss , with a lookout on top of one of the banks db
Azzabuv	The Dumbles replied on: 9/1/2005 8:18:04 PM There's the wise man part of it then, Robert. I still wonder though, if it was originally 'Glew's Lane', or whether they just used the abrupt surname to begin with? Old Records needed......... Azzabuv.
RMMee Moderator	The Dumbles replied on: 9/1/2005 7:44:04 PM As it says on the main site, Glew Lane is probably named after John Glew, churchwarden of Codnor in the late 16th century (or one of his family).
Azzabuv	The Dumbles replied on: 9/1/2005 3:51:35 PM The name of the lane, which runs from Loscoe, through the old farmyard and leads to Smalley, across the top of the Dumbles, is called 'Glew Lane'. This is originally a Yorks. slang name, meaning - 'a nickname for a cautious, prudent, or wise man'. Its variant name is 'Glue Lane'. Perhaps its real name should read - 'Glew's Lane'? Azzabuv.

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