Heanor and Loscoe is a civil parish within the Amber Valley district, which is in the county of Derbyshire, England. Mainly built up with rural fringes, its population was 17,337 during the 2021 census, a small increase from the 17,251 residents of the 2011 census. The parish is north west of London, north east of the county city of Derby, and contains the market town of Heanor along with other areas. It shares a boundary with the parishes of Aldercar and Langley Mill, Codnor, Denby, Shipley and Smalley.

Geography

Location

Placement and size Heanor and Loscoe parish is surrounded by the following local Derbyshire places:

Codnor, Langley Mill and Woodlinkin to the north Heanor Gate, Smalley and Shipley to the south Eastwood to the east Denby to the west.

It is in area, in length and in width, within the south western portion of the Erewash district, and is to the south east of the Derbyshire county near its border with Nottinghamshire. The parish is roughly bounded by land features such as the A610 Nottingham to Ripley road to the north, Bailey Brook and the Erewash Valley railway line to the east, Shipley Park to the south, and the Sough Wood to the west.

Settlements There are areas of built environment to the bulk of the parish, outside of this being essentially rural fringes and farmland. The main locales are:

Heanor, a town Loscoe and Loscoe Grange, villages Marlpool, a suburb of Heanor Langley, a suburb of Heanor

Heanor

This is to the centre south of the parish, and atop a geological ridge. It is the main settled location of the parish, taking up prominence in its title as it is the largest urban area. Heanor maintains primary services such as food stores and hospitality, retail park with medium sized retail offerings and other shops, market, churches, school, industrial estates and the core housing stock for the area. Common Side is a suburb to the south west.

Loscoe/Loscoe Grange

Lying to the north west of Heanor, these are villages which have grown and merged with the town. It is encircled by the adjoining parishes of Codnor and Smalley They are primarily residential or dormitory areas, with some small retail and industrial units amongst. Key buildings and features include a church, nature reserve and several factories.

Marlpool This location is to the south east of Heanor, here also coalesces into the town, bounded by rural area of Shipley parish, the main thoroughfare is from Ilkeston. It contains a mix of mainly residences with small retail outlets, school, churches and other local services.

Langley to the east of Heanor, this merges into the town and Marlpool and is surrounded by the rural portion of the adjacent Shipley parish. Primarily residential, It contains very few services including limited retail, school and church.

Routes The key road through the parish is the A608 road from Annesley in Nottinghamshire to the city of Derby, which cuts through the centre of Heanor. The A6007 road is from Bramcote in Nottinghamshire to Codnor and overlays the A608 through Heanor.

Environment

Landscape The centre of Heanor stands on a high ridge, the surrounding land to the east being noticeably lower as part of the Erewash Valley, except towards the south east by Marlpool and to the west towards Heanor Gate. Many of the roads towards the town are characterised by steep inclines. The parish is primarily urbanised, but has some sporadic greenfield land throughout, particularly recreation areas, along with some farmland on its fringes, this more pronounced surrounding Loscoe. Red River Local Nature Reserve is the only one of its kind within the parish, separating Loscoe and Loscoe Grange. Substantial areas of trees are few, with a small coppice to the north of Bailey Brook, and scattered clusters at Loscoe and Marlpool.

Geology Scattered throughout much of the parish and surrounding the River Derwent, the bedrock of the parish consists of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones of various types within the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation, formed between 318 and 309.5 million years ago during the Carboniferous period, the ridge at Heanor particularly persistent of the latter, along with Loscoe. Superficial deposits at the Heanor ridge are till, Mid Pleistocene - Diamicton. The wider area has historically been mined for coal and marl. Along the Bailey Brook are clay, silt, sand and gravel alluvium superficial deposits dating from 11.8 thousand years ago to the present during the Quaternary period.

Hydrological features Bailey Brook is a subsidiary of the River Erewash, it forms some of the parish north eastern boundary and flows to the east of Loscoe, where the Loscoe Brook joins after flowing through the village. Loscoe Dam is a man made lake which has existed since medieval times and filled by Bailey Brook. Other lakes include Osbourne's Pond to the very south of the parish at Marlpool, along with Red River Local Nature Reserve in Loscoe.

Land elevation The centre of the town of Heanor stands on a noticeably high ridge which is in the range of . Nearby areas with a similar height include Derby Road to the west of Common Side at Tag Hill, along with Marlpool. Loscoe is in the range of , Langley varies from , and Loscoe Grange is in the range of . The highest point is the far west of Loscoe by the parish boundary in the range of , the lowest is at Bailey Brook where it meets the A608 road, measuring ~.

History

Toponymy Only the settlements of Heanor and Langley were listed in the Domesday 1086 landholding survey. Heanor was described in it as Hainoure, which was thought to mean ‘The high ridge’ in reference to its elevation. Langley was Langeleie and stood for 'long clearing'. Loscoe was recorded by the late 13th century as Loftskou, Loscowe or Loskowe in various texts and meant 'wood with a loft (house)'. Common Side was derived from Heanor Common and was first noted in the 17th century. Marlpool was a much later addition in the early 19th century, with suggestions marl was shallow mined alongside the Heanor-Ilkeston road and the resulting hole filling with rainwater.

Prehistory to modern times The parish holds very little proof of its prehistoric past, with relics from that era recorded mainly in the surrounding area just outside the boundary, although a stone axe was found at Marlpool in 1953, and much of these dating from the Neolithic to Late Bronze Age (4000 BC to 701 BC). The location formed part of the southern boundary of Sherwood Forest, and the high ground offered good vantage points for defence from approaches and attacks. It is thought the earliest settlements, built of wattle and daub were located around the area of the present day Heanor Market Place. There is evidence of a Roman presence in the area with contemporary discoveries of Roman artefacts, and with Ryknield Street, a primary Roman road running less than two miles to the west, suggests that the parish may have had part of the Roman road system through it. Later Anglo-Saxons were the main settlers of the area, with local town and village names being derived from their influence. Heanor in particular because of its strategic location became a centre for the area and became more developed than its surroundings, certainly by the time of the Norman Conquest, with it being recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a church. It was associated to the manor of Codnor which was held by Warner, the local lord who paid tax to the tenant-in-chief, William Peverel. The manor was granted by the early 13th century to Henry de Grey, early ancestor in the House of Grey; Codnor Castle became their seat, they used a number of local bowmen during the battles of Crecy and Agincourt. After Henry, the last Lord Grey of Codnor, died in the early 16th century the Codnor estate passed to John la Zouche. Sold on by the family in 1634, to Archbishop of York Richard Neile and his son Sir Paul Neile, later descendants sold the manor and castle in 1692, to Sir Streynsham Master, who was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1712. Descendant Charles Legh Hoskins Masters was Lord of the manor by the 1850s, however the parish was described in trade directories as being freehold and in the hands of several landowners, especially after enclosure activities in 1792.

Loscoe was associated to the Draycott family, with records showing Richard and William De Draycott at Loscoe in 1401. Loscoe Manor was their seat, it was demolished in 1704. The associated Grange Farm continued through to the 1960s when it was cleared and a food processing plant built. Henry Garnet, a protagonist in the 1605 Gunpower Plot was born in Heanor. The Fletchers were a notable family in the wider region and owned several coalmines in the 17th century, they resided in Heanor Hall which was built in the period, it was bought by the Suttons and through inheritance came to the Ray family, both of whom also had mining interests. The estate was bought by the Mundy family of Shipley Hall and split up by the 1880s, the parkland donated to the town to become the Market Place in 1894 and the then economic centre at Tag Hill on Derby Road losing custom as a result. The town had begun to see some focus towards the church with some buildings being erected alongside, particularly the Heanor Town Hall in 1867, which for a time was also a movie theatre. Heanor Hall became a secondary school, Heanor Grammar, opening in 1893 until it was demolished in 1910 and rebuilt in 1912. In 1976 it became a campus for the South East Derbyshire College, and after further reorganisation, Derby College before being mothballed in 2013. The Ripley & Heanor News title started in 1889 as a Ripley-only newspaper, but in 1890 was renamed Ripley and Heanor News and Ilkeston Division Free Press, after a relaunch in 1977 its regularised name was used from 1979 until 2021 when it was merged into the Derbyshire Times. A school was built in 1895 at Loscoe to cater for boys and girls of infant age. It closed in 2003, with the opening of a new primary school. Calladine House was an isolation hospital to the south of Loscoe Grange until the early 1900s. Heanor Memorial Hospital was a dedication to fallen World War I locals, it was constructed in 1925. It was rebuilt in 2018 as a medical centre after asbestos was found. A methane gas explosion from landfill waste occurred at a Loscoe bungalow in 1986, and led to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection.

Governance