Local Attractions
HucknallHucknall
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Hucknall, a historic mining and textiles town, where the graceful River Leen dissects the undulating landscape. Hucknall
is a thriving market town, with a bustling market on a Friday and a flea market on Thursday evenings.
The town boasts a number of famous sons including the poet Lord Byron; his daughter Ada Lovelace, who worked with Charles Babbage on the first computer; Eric Coates, composer of the Dambusters theme tune; and Ben Caunt, champion boxer of all England, after whom the Big Ben bell at Westminster was reputed to have been named. All these famous people are buried in the graveyard at St Mary Magdalene Church. Every July the town hosts the International Byron Festival. See the Ashfield District Council events diary for details
In the evening there are many pubs and restaurants and you can even catch the 'flicks' at the Byron Cinema on the High Street. The town also boasts a modern Leisure Centre with swimming pool and fitness centre. There is a town trail available around the sites of interest in the town, which was recently used as a location for the British hit film 'Once Upon a Time in the Midlands'.
A visitor information point is located in the town centre's library, where visitors and residents can find that all-important information to enable them to have an enjoyable and interesting day. This is open during normal library hours.
Hucknall is situated on the Robin Hood Line, just a 15-minute train ride from Nottingham and 20 minutes from Mansfield. Trams from Nottingham also terminate at Hucknall. The National Cycle Network runs through Hucknall from Nottingham on its way to Newstead Abbey and Sherwood Forest.
St Mary Magdalene Church
Market Place, Hucknall, Notts
Phone: 0115 9635850
www.hucknall-parish-church.org.uk
Open: 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm Monday to Friday and 10am-12pm Saturday morning.
Sundays during and after service times.
Dating back to Saxon times, St Mary Magdalene Church is most famous for being the burial place of the romantic poet Lord
Byron, whose body was returned to his native Hucknall from Messolonghi in Western Greece. On view are many Byron memorials
including a marble slab given by King George I of Greece in 1881, which is laid above Byron. At her own request Byron's daughter,
Ada Countess of Lovelace, was buried beside her father in the family vault in 1852.
The Church also has the largest collection of stained glass windows from the studios of CE Kempe, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian stained glass artists, along with several wall mosaics in pre-Raphaelite style. There is a Visitors' Centre in the Church and a sensory garden in the Churchyard. Visits and tours can be arranged by telephone.
Further information about St Mary Magdalene Church
Mill Lakes and Bestwood Country Park
Off Wigwam Lane, Hucknall
Telephone: Rangers Office 0115 927 3674
Mill Lakes once used to power the textile mills, and is now an attractive recreational area, rich in wildlife and a gateway to Bestwood Country Park.
Bestwood, once a Deer Park, is now a 650 acre park including woodlands, heath, grasslands and wetlands as well as formal gardens. The park also hosts the Winding House, to commemorate the industrial heritage once prevalent in what is now an area for conservation.
Hucknall 'Gateway Islands'
Public artwork on the bypass roundabouts (A611) celebrates the 'Flying Bedstead', the first vertical take-off and landing vehicle built at the local Rolls Royce factory; and a falcon, Hucknall being the home of one of the King's falconers.
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