Giltbrook, Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution

Start: North of the roundabout, B6010 outside IKEA. OS ref. Explorer 260-486 453

(S/E) Come out of IKEA car park, turning right (South), walking down to the roundabout below the A 610 (A). Cross the slip road going under the A610 and across the next slip road. You are now on the A6096, to Awsworth and Ilkeston.

(1) Walk about 20 yards down this road and turn right (North-West) going through a gate onto a footpath. Follow the footpath as it goes over a bridge across the Gilt Brook.

Turn left and follow the path, with the stream initially on your left until you cross another bridge and then continue on the path with the stream now on your right. When you reach the end of the path you will face the sewage works and wind turbine across an unpaved road.

(2) Turn right on the roadway and walk about 10 yards. You will reach a stile in the fence to your right. Cross the stile and go straight (North-North-East) over the field. It can be muddy if horses have been at the gate. Cross another stile and go through the subway/tunnel under the A610.

Walk on for a short way and then follow the footpath to the left (West-North-West). Walk to the turning to the right a few yards then turn left and continue ahead across the footbridge. Follow the footpath ahead, between the A610 to your left and the houses to your right. Do not take the turns to the right towards the houses. Walk on through the trees until you come to a track.

(3) Turn right (North-West) on the track and walk up to the street of houses (B). This is Wessex Drive, notice Godber Drive, named after the rebel Josiah Godber on your left (C). Turn right (North-East) and walk on to Smithurst Road. Turn right out of Wessex Drive onto Smithurst Road and walk on past Bacon Close, Brandreth Drive, Ludlam Avenue, Turner Drive, Brassington Close, Weightman Drive. Walk on until you reach the playground on your right.

(4) Cross the road and take the footpath to the left which crosses the Smithurst Meadow Local Nature Reserve. Continue straight ahead (North), initially keeping the wooded hedge on your left, then fences at the rear of houses. Continue straight ahead on the path until you go into Portland Road (D) through a gate. Continue straight ahead up to Nottingham Road (B6010).

(5) When you reach Nottingham Road turn right (South-East) and walk down the hill. Turn right into Gilt Way, at the traffic lights. Turn first left into Tannery Road and to the left is Pentrich Road.

Retrace your steps to Nottingham Road and continue to the right to the bottom of the hill, IKEA and the end of the walk. (S/E)

Care is needed when crossing roads. Footpaths, roads, boardwalk.
Car park: IKEA car park or take the bus from Nottingham or Ripley
Start: North of the roundabout, B6010 outside IKEA.
OS ref. Explorer 260-486 453

More information at Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution group here.

In the morning of 10th June the Pentrich rebels approached the stream, the Gilt Brook, marching down the Nottingham Road from Eastwood. This walk takes you to places associated with these events and follows the route of the final part of their march.

(A) Here at the Gilt Brook was to be the end of the rebels' march. They were to face a party of dragoons and fled across the fields back towards Eastwood and Langley Mill.

(B) This housing development includes seven streets named after the Pentrich rebels who were executed or transported. This was the hillside of Newthorpe Common across which the rebels fled, chased by mounted dragoons on the morning of 10th June 1817. 30 pikes and 17 guns were found on the hillside, which had been thrown aside by the rebels.

(C) Jeremiah Brandreth, Isaac Ludlam and William Turner were all executed in Derby, while Thomas Bacon, George Brassington Josiah Godber and George Weightman were among those who were transported to Australia.

(D) As you walk up Portland Road you will pass Hampden Street on your right. This street is named after John Hampden, a Parliamentary leader in the English Civil War and hero for republicans and the early democrats. The Hampden Clubs, set up in 1816 by radicals like Major Cartwright, quickly attracted wide support among working people across the country, reflected in clubs being established in many communities in the area, including Pentrich, Ripley, Nottingham and Derby. Many of the rebels heard the arguments for reform and universal suffrage in these meetings. Early in 1817 the government banned the Hampden Clubs and this drove many to consider that their only alternative was an armed revolt.

At Nottingham Road you have come to the route taken by the marchers on the morning of 10th June as they marched from Eastwood after leaving the Sun Inn at 7 a.m. They followed the Nottingham Road passing Hill Top and Pinfold Lane before going down the hill towards the Gilt Brook. They were to stop near the tanyard, remembered today in Tannery Road with Pentrich Road sited near the place that the rebels stopped to rest.

Morale was low after leaving Eastwood. Many had already thrown away their weapons and left, whether because they had expected many more to have joined or had growing doubts about whether they had been misled by the agent provocateur ‘Oliver’. It was a much-reduced group who gathered at the tanyard. They presented ‘a forlorn picture’ according to witnesses.

When they saw the party of 18 Dragoons and two officers of the 15th Hussars from the garrison in Nottingham, together with two county magistrates, Lancelot Rolleston and Mr Mundy, approaching from Gilt Hill they were too few to oppose the soldiers. They threw away their weapons and they fled across the fields back towards Langley Mill. Brandreth ran towards Kimberley, hiding his gun behind a hedge at Mr Green's farm. Many were to be captured and taken to be imprisoned in Nottingham and Derby before their trial in Derby, the executions and transportation.