Those Places Thursday - Woodyard Lane

Woodyard Lane- Photo Credit: The Paul Nix Collection.

I recently came across a short article by the Nottingham Hidden History Team entitled "A Look around Wollaton in the Early 1900s".  The article mentions Woodyard Lane, which brought back some memories of time spent along there when I was (much!) younger.

Woodyard Lane runs across the back of my Grandparent's home on Elstree Drive, crosses the railway lines, passes the Kingswood Methodist Church and becomes Lambourne Drive - finally emerging onto Wollaton Road.

My Grandparents could recall horses pulling huge tree trunks up Woodyard Lane to be processed at Brown's sawmill. I believe this was situated where Siemans is now, but when I lived around there it was a training centre for East Midlands Electricity. They could also remember prisoners of war being marched up the lane during World War II.

I have fond memories of being lifted up so I could peer over the railway bridge & wave at passing train drivers - it made my day if they waved back!

I can recall many walks around the Lane, at one point you could follow the path of the derelict Nottingham Canal, but this has now been filled in and the Torvill & Dean housing estate built on top of it. Torvill Drive follows roughly the path of the canal.

It's nice to see the fishing pond is still there, just off Lambourne Drive. It used to be surrounded by fairly dense woodland, but was built on some years ago, possibly in the mid 1980s if I recall correctly.

We used the short cut Woodyard Lane provides to walk to Wollaton Park & Hall on many occasions, the most recent being the Splendour Festival.

 

Woodyard Lane - Wollaton end.

Happy memories!