ALFRETON

'Alfreton' is a town in the Amber Valley, Derbyshire, although some parts of the town are in the Bolsover district and North East Derbyshire district. It is at the junction of the A38 and A61. It has a population of 22,000. which includes the villages south of the A38. The Alfreton urban area (including South Normanton) totals 41,000.

Contents

Local economy

Transport

Geography

Politics

Notable Residents

Education

Sport

References

External links

Local economy

The main industry of Alfreton was coal mining; since the mines closed in the 1960s, it is light industry and warehousing. A large Thorntons chocolate factory is based to the south of Alfreton, between ''Derby Road'' (B6179) and ''Nottingham Road'' (B600) on the site of the Swanwick colliery. A lot of the local area is involved with manufacturing and warehousing, due to its proximity to junction 28 of the M1. At the A38 junction with the A61, there is a BP service station with a Little Chef and Travelodge. The A38 previously terminated at Derby, being extended north to Alfreton, along the course of the former A61 in the early 1970s. The section to the M1 used to be the A615. The nearby Hayes Conference Centre provides some jobs for local residents.

Transport

Alfreton's railway station was closed as part of the Beeching era of rail cuts. On 7th of May 1973 a station was opened on the same site called ''Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway''. When Mansfield regained its own station as part of the Robin Hood Line re-openings, the name was changed to Alfreton. Services run to London St Pancras in the morning and evening peaks with an hourly service also running to Liverpool and Norwich.

Geography

Alfreton is located at (53.1000, -1.3833)¹.

Politics

Alfreton is part of the Amber Valley constituency, the MP is Judy Mallaber (Labour). The local council for Alfreton is Amber Valley Borough Council.

Notable Residents

★ Benjamin Outram, Civil Engineer was born here in 1764^[1]

★ Robert Watchorn emigrated to America through Castle Garden. He served as the US Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, between 1905 and 1909. He later worked as vice president of the Union Oil Company.

★ James Young patented a process to obtain oil from coal whilst working here in 1848.

Education

The local secondary school is Mortimer Wilson School (ages 11-18) on ''Grange Street''.

Sport

The local football club is Alfreton Town, who are currently in the Conference North league.
Alfreton cricket club currently play in the Derbyshire premier league and run 4 senior teams on Saturdays. They play on the picturesque Alfreton park.
Professional wrestling shows were often shown in Alfreton, with the likes of British legends as Big Daddy, Jackie Pallo and Blackjack Mulligun performing.
There is also a Snooker Club situated on the High Street as well as Alfreton Golf Club on Wingfield Road close to the Cricket Club.

References

1. Schofield, R.B., (2000) ''Benjamin Outram,'' Cardiff: Merton Priory Press

External links

★ Amber Valley Borough Council

★ BBC Guide

★ Alfreton Male Voice Choir

★ Derbyshire Times