Around Newbold Coleorton Village
Newbold Coleorton is a hamlet within the parish of Worthington. This 2 km (1.25 mile) route will take you to various points of interest around the village. You will see where the first farm buildings were located before Newbold became a busy industrial area in the 1800s. You will see where the shops and other amenities were situated. Most of these are now houses but the original use of some of the buildings is still obvious.
Walk 2
Start in the layby (what3words cages.stray.greyhound) at the top of Pipeyard Lane. Face the main road and walk right to the end of the layby then along the narrow path with the hedge on your right.
• The first building of interest you will reach is the Cross Keys pub. The original building was at the back of the current car park where the chalets are. The current building was erected in 1856.
• Continue past the pub until you reach the junction of Worthington Lane, School lane and Ashby Road. The confluence of these 3 roads is the centre of the village where there was originally a well.
• Turn right into Ashby Road. The Co-op, was on the left-hand side of Ashby Road behind the bus stop.
• Laburnum Cottage (opposite side of the road to the Co-op) one of the oldest buildings in the village, was situated to the left of Bellflower (no 8) which is also one of the villages oldest dwellings.
• Walk through the gap between numbers 19 and 21 Ashby Road into the playing field – the backs of the Hodges houses on School Lane and Ashby Road surround the field, they were built by Frank Hodges for the mine workers at New Lount Colliery in the 1930s.
• Walk diagonally across the park past the swings, look to your right, in front of the swings the circular indent in the ground is where the paddling pool used to be.
• The line of trees on your right behind the swings is the
route of the old railway line.
• Exit the park in the far-left corner after the row of garages and walk down the track to join School Lane. Turn right and walk to the school, the current building was built in 1872 to replace a smaller building that was originally on this site.
• Number 46, the house adjoining the school to the left as you look at it,was the school master’s house.
• Cross over the road and head back up School Lane in the direction of the pub. On your right the bungalow called Forest View (number 9) was originally the Miners Club and number 5 School Lane is where the Glove factory originally was.
• As you reach the centre of the village (opposite the end of Ashby Road) there are a collection of houses on the right which were part of old farms which appear on maps from 1806. The first property you reach is The Old Cow Shed (now number 1 School Lane) and then Birch Tree Barn which was originally the old stable block for Newbold Farm. Newbold Farm was one of the original farm buildings in the village, the farmhouse itself is now number 2 Worthington Lane. Well Courtyard behind it, now developed into houses, was the farmyard.
• Walk past Newbold Farm and you reach a track which separates it from the next farm on the right, Elms Farm. This old white building is now two houses, numbers 4 and 6 Worthington Lane. As you carry on walking along Worthington Lane, all the land to the right was originally owned by Elms Farm, the wall opposite the pub carpark, behind the stone planter was originally part of the milking shed.
• When you get back to opposite the layby keep walking and you will reach the children’s play area. This is the site of the old Vicarage which was built in 1855. It was set back from the main road with the garden in front, where the play area currently is (with the same tree). When the Vicarage was demolished and the new houses were built, the road was named Henry Dane Way after The Reverend Henry Dane who was vicar of Worthington Church (and lived in the vicarage) from 1949 to 1972.
• Keep walking down Worthington Lane. The properties on either side of the road were originally social housing built for workers coming to work in the industries in Newbold. They would have walked or arrived by bus from surrounding villages to the bus stop on Worthington Lane.
• When you reach the end of the houses, on the opposite side of the road is number 87, this was originally a barn and is on the old maps dating back to 1810. It was converted into a house in 1910.
• Walk back up the road to the layby passing Anne’s Cottage, the white house next to the allotments, this was one of the oldest houses in the village built in around 1765. You are now back at the top of Pipeyard lane which originally led to the Pipe and Brickworks at the bottom of the hill on the other side of the railway line (see walk 3).
