CHADDESDEN PARK
PARK LOCATION
The park runs in a north-to-south direction from Maine Drive to Nottingham Road and is well-used. There is a car park near the church off Maine Road.
THE PARK
Chaddesden or ‘Chad’ as the locals like to call it, is one of Derby’s largest suburbs. It has changed considerably over the years and is a mixture of modern housing and older council buildings. The estates mostly comprising of properties built in the early 1950s as housing for Derby’s West End after house clearance schemes.
The park, which caters for a variety of activities is located about two miles east of the city centre. A stream runs right through the park and there is a wooded section.
HISTORY
The slow absorption of what were once small villages around Derby, took place at Chaddesden in 1928, when it became part of the Borough.
Chaddesden Hall was the home of the Wilmot family from 1727 until the death of Sir Henry Wilmot’s sister in 1916. The estate was divided up in the early 1920s and sold and the hall was demolished. The site was later purchased by the Borough Council to be used as a public amenity.
There are monuments to the Wilmot family in the churchyard of the ancient church of St Mary the Virgin, which stands just back off Chaddesden Lane End. The small mound in the churchyard marks the place, where six almshouses use to stand. They had been founded by Robert Wilmot.
