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• Photos of Allenton, Derby, Derbyshire
Allenton is located in 2 miles south of the city centre with Osmaston to the north.
Allenton is probably most famous for it's Spider Bridge, this is an elevated pedestrian walkway which was built in 1971. The spider bridge allows pedestrians to get across the very busy outer ring road, At this point Osmaston road meets Chellaston road and Osmaston park road meets Harvey road.

In 2000 traffic lights were installed, which initially were cursed with problems due to their operating sequence. From the bridge you can see other landmarks for this area such as the Mitre Pub.

Another major landmark is Allenton Market, which was opened by Mayor Alderman Andrews in April 1961 and consisted of 90 stalls. Today there is a market on fridays and Saturdays and a flee market is held every Tuesday night. It shares its carpark with somerfield and some other retail outlets.

It seems hard to believe but one the area around Allenton, as with Alvaston and Sinfin was covered in swampland. During excavations in the area, large animal skeletons have been found, hippopotamus, elephant,brown bear, hyenna and bison.

The suburb was once known as Allentown after Issac Allen, who built the first houses in the area in 1878. It consisted of a few streets off the main Derby-Melbourne Road and several houses on the main road. He also built the Crown Hotel in 1891 at a cost of £1200.

After the first world war, there was an acute shortage of good housing in the town. In 1926, Allenton was visited by Neville Chamberlain to view the first iron framed houses to be put up in the country. There were 250 of them.

Gone but not forgotten....
On the corner of Stamford street and Osmaston Road once stood the Allenton cinema, designed by T.H. Thorpe of Derby. It opened on the 17th December 1928 with the film Charley's aunt, It had a seating capacity of 670. The cinema was renamed the Broadway cinema in 1939. It closed on the 24th September 1960 and was demolished in 1961 and Fine Fare supermarket was built on the location.

Pubs
The Mitre pub was built in 'stockbroker's Tudor' style designed by T.H. Thorpe for Zachary Smiths brewery (Shardlow) and opened in 1930.
The Crown inn was built by Isaac Allen in 1891 at a cost of £1200. The Ossified remains of the hippopotamus were discovered in April 1895 whilst a well was being dug on the premises. Sir Henry Bemrose managed to obtain them for the Derby museum where they are still on display.

Schools
The first school in Allenton was built in 1880 on the corner of Allen Street and Poole Street, today this is an Allenton infants school.
Allenton Junior School opened on 27 Aug 1928, It was demolished around 1992.
Allenton Senior School in Brookhouse Street opened in 1935 and was demolished in 1989 and replaced with Allenton Community Primary School.

Derby Canal
Along the East side of Allenton once ran the Derby Canal which opened in 1796. The former Derby canal traveled north from Shelton lock and under Boulton lane bridge, under Bracken's lane bridge and under Harvey road bridge on its way upto Crewton. Today all that can be seen of the Derby canal is a cycle path but this will be restored by the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Society over the next few years so that once again narrow boats will be seen navigating through Allenton.

Maps
For a local map of the Allenton area click HERE.
For a aerial photo with overlayed map click HERE