MUSEUM PROJECT ON COURSE FOR AUTUMN OPENING 3rd May 1991 HEANOR’S town museum and heritage centre is on course for an autumn opening. A fund-raising campaign for the Heanor Museum Project will be launched next Friday (May 10) when Heanor and District Local History Society present a slide show. Memories of Old Heanor, in the Wilmot Street Centre. The society has leased the former Marlpool Non-Conformist Chapel one of the Marlpool Cemetery chapels from Amber Valley Borough Council to use as a town museum and heritage centre. Work is now being carried out on the building, which for some time was used as a council store. It has not been used for services for many years but the chapel opposite is still used occasionally for Church of England services. Society secretary Mrs. Barbara Allsopp said that when the museum said that when the museum became established it was hoped to change displays every six months or so. “The room is not particularly large 25ft by 25ft, and one of our original ideas was to reproduce an early 1900’s kitchen, with a mangle and similar implements. “It remains to be seen whether we can do this. The walls will probably be used for displays of photographs and documents but I am still hopeful that there might be enough room to exhibit other material. “Another idea is to change the exhibits every six months. That way people would be attracted to return to the museum instead of feeling that having been once they had seen everything. Heanor and district Local History Society was founded in 1968 and since then membership has increased steadily. We have two principle aims, said Mrs Allsopp. “We have tried to acquire items from Heanor’s past, such as photograph’s documents and everyday items of interest. “We have also set out to record the present by means of photographs and tape recordings. “A large collection of documentary evidence of the history of the Heanor area has been collected. We also have a varied assortment of everyday objects illustrating the life of the area in the past”. The society holds occasional exhibitions of its material and produces a newsletter. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month from September to May in St Lawrence’s Church Hall at Heanor. In the summer outings to places of interest are held. Chairman Roger Hull, Treasurer Brian Key and secretary Mrs. Allsopp are part of a committee of 12 which runs the society. HERITAGE The stone-built chapel was erected in 1857 and gravestones around the outside of the building are the oldest in the cemetery. The memorials in the whole of the cemetery have been indexed and this record of the Heanor area’s heritage will be available for viewing when the museum is open. Before the cemetery was consecrated and opened in January 1858, burials took place in the parish churchyard. This had been used for 800 years, mot only for the burials of Heanor people but for those from Codnor, Loscoe, Langley, Milnhay, Shipley and Cotmanhay, all of which were in the Heanor Ecclesiastical District. But a government inspector, visiting Heanor in 1856, saw the problems of an over-crowded churchyard and said that for the protection of public health, a cemetery must be opened. No more burials were allowed at the church except in brick graves or vaults which could be opened without disturbing the earth. A four and a half acre piece of land called The Hollows was bought for £150 an acre from Mr. Howitt. A cemetery was established and at the turn of the century was extended on to land sold by Mr. Mundy. OLDEST The oldest gravestone in the cemetery is near the museum and bears the names of Isaac and Mary Farnsworth and some of their children, dating from the early 1700’s. It is thought that this stone was brought from the churchyard during the 1960’s road widening. Memories of Old Heanor will start at 7.15pm and admission charges of £1 includes refreshments.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 19:47:02 +0000
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