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Aspley is a
council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...
and a
ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of the city of
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
,
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, England. It is located within the boundaries of
Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Nottingham, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous ...
. The ward is located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Nottingham City Centre and is located only 1.6 miles south-east of Junction 26 of the M1. It lies south of Bulwell, west of Basford and is north of Bilborough. The principal road in the ward is the A610. At the 2001 Census the ward had a population of 15,689, increasing to 17,622 at the 2011 census. For a number of centuries the ward consisted of just a number of small settlements and was home to both Broxtowe and Aspley Hall, the latter home to the Willoughby family for a number of generations. In the early 20th century Nottingham City Council, after a number of purchase orders developed the area into a large housing estate. The ward contains three housing estates which consist of Aspley, Broxtowe (not to be confused with the borough Broxtowe) and Bells Lane estate. Aspley has a number of shops, a local library and transport links (by bus) with Nottingham City Centre and surrounding areas.


History

The earliest recording of the area is as 'Aspeleia' in 1108, derived from a word relating to Aspen trees. Originally known as 'Asshelepley Halle', Aspley Hall was constructed in or prior to the 16th century. The hall's original purpose was to house monks from nearby Lenton who had been removed from their previous dwellings due to the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. From then on the hall fell into various hands, most notably into the possession of the wealthy Willoughby family, who also owned the nearby
Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuilding ...
. The Willoughby family continued to manage the hall until 1925 until which the property was sold to
Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
G. E. Taylor. After Taylor's death in 1965, the hall fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished in 1968 and replaced with a number of detached houses. Until its demolition in 1937, Broxtowe Hall was situated on the present day site of Broxtowe Lane. Broxtowe takes its name from Brocul, who in ancient times was the holder of the "stoe," or place, and it was made one of the six wapentakes of Nottinghamshire when King Alfred divided England into its present counties. The earliest mention of Broxtowe Hall dates back to the 11th century in which gifts from Gilbert, son of Eustachius de Broculstowe were sent to Lenton Priory. Centuries later the Arctic voyager Sir Hugh Willoughby took up residency of the property. In 1590 the hall fell into the possession of the joint founder of the
General Baptist General Baptists, also called Arminian Baptists, are Baptists that hold to the doctrine of general atonement (belief that Jesus Christ died for all humanity and not only for the elect). General Baptist soteriology initially was not Arminian, bu ...
denomination,
Thomas Helwys Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 – 1616) was an English barrister (lawyer), Puritan leader, and theologian. His theological beliefs is one of the forming basis of the Baptist tradition. In the early 17th century, Helwys was the principal formulator of ...
, primarily serving as a centre for
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
of the region, Broxtowe Hall become a refuge for separatists such as John Smyth who would later become a close friend of Helwys. During the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
it saw action as a stronghold for Parliament and was commanded by the young Captain Thornhagh who after an attack on Shelford Hall was left fatally wounded by a bullet. On the other-hand Aspley Hall (connected to Broxtowe Lane by Aspley Lane, a distance of just 0.9 miles) was garrisoned for King Charles I by the Willoughby family. Many years prior to and sometime after the construction of the housing estates in the area, stood The Mineral Railway. The railway, ran from the west side of Nuthall Road and across to the other side of Aspley Lane, its main purpose was to carry goods and supplies to and from the local Cinderhill Colliery. Adjacent to the Bilborough, Basford and Leen Valley wards, development of the ward began in the 1920s as part of an initiative by the local council to clear inner city slums. Beginning with the purchase of land to the west of Old Basford in 1928, construction was temporarily halted due to the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, however, development of the ward finally resumed with the conclusion of the war, being completed shortly thereafter.


Government


Local elections

The ward elects three local councillors who thereby take seats in
Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Nottingham, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous ...
. In recent years the ward has become somewhat of a Labour Party stronghold, the 2007 elections saw Labour win, with all three of its candidates becoming councillors. Again the 2011 Local elections saw Labour taking all three seats with councillors Graham Chapman, Carole McCulloch and Leon Unczur being chosen to represent the ward.


Members of Parliament

For national elections to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
the area lies in the constituency of
Nottingham North Nottingham North was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency was abolished. Subject to major boundary changes – including gaining ...
, the constituency is represented by Labour MP Alex Norris.


Geography


Demography

According to data taken from the 2001 Census, the ward has a population totalling 15,689. The census data shows that the majority of the population is made up of 25- to 44-year-olds, who make up 28.8% of the population. Recent statistics have shown that Aspley has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. According to figures taken from 2009, roughly one in eight teenagers was falling pregnant, with 2008 showing that teenage mothers accounted for 218 births. While data from the 2001 Census showed Aspley as having a small unemployment rate of just 3%, recent figures show the unemployment rate in the area rising dramatically. The group BEST (Broxtowe Education, Skills & Training) released data showing that unemployment had risen over 7% in eight years, with just over 10% of the population not in work. This trend has continued into 2012, with data in June showing that 10.7% of people were without employment.


Economy


Education

There are several schools within the Aspley council estate, among them Trinity School, Nottingham Girls' Academy and Bluecoat Aspley Academy. It also had the since demolished William Crane Comprehensive School which in 1999 finished joint bottom in the GCSE league tables, with only 4% of the 104 pupils being awarded with five GCSEs A-C's. William Crane eventually went onto close in 2003, in an interview with ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' assistant director of education at Nottingham city council, Russell Andrews explained "What we've got is a multi-layered set of social problems -social unrest where the school is, low morale among staff, low expectations, low input among parents. Had we taken a multi-layered approach to solving the problems five years ago it might have been different." Since the closure of William Crane, the two remaining primary schools in the area are currently Ambleside Primary School and Rosslyn Park Primary & Nursery School which has since moved to the Amesbury Circus site. In 2012, according to research performed by the
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
only one in eight children in Bulwell, Aspley, Bilborough, Broxtowe Estate, Basford and Bestwood go on to university, just 13% compared to a national average of 34%. Within the wider political ward, which contains the housing estates of both Broxtowe and Bells Lane, there is only one other school, which is Rosslyn Park Primary and Nursery School.


Culture and community


Community

Originally opened on 18 December 1932 by the Duchess of Portland, Aspley Cinema was notable for installing the first panoramic screen in Nottingham in 1953. Over its 80-year history the building was rebranded a number of times, in 1957 at a cost of £30,000 the building was altered and renamed the Commodore Cinema and Ballroom with the cinema being removed a year later in 1958, the building was finally renamed the Commodore International in 1964. The building was finally closed on 31 August 2002. The building has now been demolished and replaced with a local ophthalmologist. The Beacon public house can be found on Aspley Lane. Located on Nuthall Road is Aspley Library, construction of the library began in early 1937 with the foundation stone being laid on 25 January 1937. The library was finally completed on 25 November 1937 and was opened by Principal Wortley of University College. The area is served by the Aspley Community and Training Centre located on Minver Crescent, the centre was built in 2001. Minver Crescent is also host to the Minver Crescent Sports Centre, built on the site that was formerly the location of William Crane Comprehensive School, the centre boasts a number of facilities which include a sports hall and a fitness suite. The council estate Aspley contains two parks, these are
Melbourne Park Melbourne Park is a sports venue in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Since 1988, Australia's bicentenary, Melbourne Park has been home of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament play ...
, just off Melbourne Road and the King George V Playing Fields which lies between Beechdale Road and Aspley Lane. The former a host to one of the Nottinghamshire branches of the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
since 2000. Located within the ward are two natural nature reserves. Within the Bells Lane estate is the Quarry Holes Plantation, the reserve can be found in a now defunct magnesian limestone quarry. Although beginning life as a quarry, with the building of nearby estates and suburbs during the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
, the area now boasts a range of foliage including false oat-grass, wood avens and
Comfrey ''Symphytum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae, known by the common name comfrey (pronounced , from the Latin confervere to 'heal' or literally to 'boil together', referring to uses in ancient traditional medicin ...
. As with Broxtowe Country Park, the Quarry Holes Nature Reserve has also benefitted from recent restoration schemes. Starting in 2012, work began to clear the reserve of overgrown foliage in an effort to allow new wildlife to grow. Also located within the ward is Broxtowe Country Park, covering over 46 hectares, the park has been a fixture in the area since before 1066, then originally known as Broculeston. In recent years the park has benefitted from several different rejuvenation projects, in February 2012 the park was earmarked to receive funding for a new cycle path at the cost of £170,000, the work being completed in March 2012. In reference to the new cycle path Councillor Leon Unczur revealed "We have received some great feedback, particularly from the local community, about the new entrances and footpaths which marked the beginning of a whole series of improvements that we intend to make to Broxtowe County Park. We secured some external funding which can only be used to create cycle paths and so this is the perfect bolt-on to our existing programme of improvements to this park". The new 2 km cycle path links two major roads in the area, Nottingham Road (which is close to the
Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...
tram stop) and Woodhouse Way. Plans are now afoot for further improvements to the park, the local council have recently announced that they are looking into the possibility of BMX facilities to be constructed in the park.


Culture

Aspley has several churches, of which include, St. Margaret's Church, Aspley (1936), Aspley Methodist Church, Aspley Evangelical Church (1931), Aspley Pentecostal Church (1948) and the Aspley branch of the
Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
. All are situated on Aspley Lane.


Notable residents

Among the area's most notable residents are those of the Willoughby family, this as a result of their ownership of Aspley Hall. Born at Aspley Hall in 1777, Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby (son of Robert Willoughby) was a British Royal Navy officer, who, after being knighted in 1827, became
rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
in 1847. His service included stints on board during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and command of the frigate ''Néréide'' during the
Battle of Grand Port The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle fought on 20–27 August 1810 between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France (now Mauritius), as part of ...
. Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton (1817–1877) eldest son of Henry Willoughby (1780–1849) and Charlotte Eyre (died 1845) was also a resident of Aspley Hall.


Transport

The ward is served by a number of different bus services, most of which are operated by
Nottingham City Transport Nottingham City Transport (NCT) is the major bus operator of the city of Nottingham, England. NCT operates extensively within Nottingham as well as beyond the city boundaries into Nottinghamshire county. Publicly owned, it is today the second ...
. The bus services link the ward to the
City of Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
. Nottingham City Transport Turquoise Line * *77: Nottingham → Maid Marian Way → Broadmarsh → Victoria Centre → Canning Circus → Alfreton Road → Aspley Lane →
Strelley Strelley is a village and former civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe and City of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is to the west of Nottingham. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 653, and 496 at the ...
*77C: Nottingham → Maid Marian Way → Broadmarsh →
Victoria Centre The Victoria Centre is a shopping centre and social housing complex in Nottingham, England, constructed by Taylor Woodrow between 1967 and 1972. It contains fashion and high street chain stores as well as cafes, restaurants, and the Nottingham ...
→ Canning Circus → Alfreton Road → Aspley Lane → Strelley → Cinderhill * *78: Nottingham → Maid Marian Way → Broadmarsh → Victoria Centre → Canning Circus → Alfreton Road → Strelley *79: Nottingham → Maid Marian Way → Broadmarsh → Victoria Centre → Canning Circus → Alfreton Road → Nuthall Road → Cinderhill → Bulwell, Bus Station → Rise Park → Top Valley → Bestwood Park → Arnold *79A: Nottingham → Maid Marian Way → Broadmarsh → Victoria Centre → Canning Circus → Alfreton Road → Nuthall Road → Cinderhill → Bulwell, Bus Station → Rise Park → Top Valley → Bestwood Park → Arnold Orange Line *35: Nottingham, Victoria Centre → Angel Row → Derby Road → QMC/Nottingham University → Wollaton Vale → Bilborough → Strelley → Cinderhill → Bulwell


See also

* Listed buildings in Nottingham (Aspley ward)


References


External links


Aspley Evangelical Church

Aspley - Nottingham City Council site

St Margaret's Church

Aspley Community and Training Centre
{{Nottinghamshire Areas of Nottingham