Littleover

My personal challenge for this round of Miss Jenny Matlock's alphabe-Thursday is to post about a location within the borders of my own county of Derbyshire, UK, for each letter of the alphabet.

Look for the letter, to see where I am.

L is for Littleover.

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The city of Derby is made up of a number of different areas; some quite smart, others less so. On the sliding scale, I think Littleover would count as more towards the smart end, without being super expensive.

It is quite a large area with lots of residential streets, but I have focused on what is generally known as Littleover Village, which lies along the A5250, Burton Road (once the route of a Roman road) and combines some of the older parts with the more modern shopping area. The name Littleover comes from 'Little Ufre' (Domesday book) and the Old English "Ofer" which meant a slope or little hill. Not surprisingly, Littleover is built on a little hill, along the ridge of which the Roman road once ran.

Starting roughly at the outer end and moving in towards the city, we have the Headquarters of the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service. In the early 1600s, Sir Richard Harpur set himself up as first lord of the manor of Littleover and built himself a manor house to suit his title. In 1800, the house was sold to Edward MacInnes of the Derby China Works, who had the old hall demolished and replaced with the present red brick structure. It is that house, along with a number of modern buildings in the grounds, which now serves as the HQ for the fire service.

Almost opposite the Fire Service HQ is Littleover Methodist Church; a vibrant place of worship for the local community.

A little further in towards the city and away from the main road, is St Peter's Junior School which caters for children between the ages of 7 and 11...

and almost opposite the school is the church with which the school is closely linked. The church itself is squashed into quite a small space behind high hedges, but the war memorial in the churchyard is beautifully carved and stands tall above the road.

At the end of the street with the school and church is one of two pubs. Locally dubbed 'The Mucky Duck', the pub dates back 300 years and still retains beams and stone floors in its bar and lounge areas.

Some of the bigger houses in the village have been taken over as businesses.

...as can be seen here with the Medical Consulting Rooms and Private Tutoring...

 

 ...and here with the Chinese Takeaway; one of three in the village. Within a short distance down the main road, I also counted a Chippy, Subway, Pizza/Burger/Kebab outlet, Lunch Box sandwich bar and this Indian restaurant...


occupying one of the newer shops.

This little row is a continuation of the modern shops...

and below it, is a supermarket.

The other side of the road is much older at this point, with the Newsagents,

the village post office...

and the Half Moon pub, which dates back to at least 1577.

This area of Derby is quite familiar to me as my mum worked in the locality, so I would often come here as a child. The main road is very busy, but there is a lot of history attached to the village and there are some quiet and affluent residential areas set back from Burton Road.

I must seek out some more of the significant historical features for future posts!

Meanwhile, for N, I intend to show you a rather different face of Derby. It will be interesting to see what you make of the contrast!