Shirebrook
Encyclopedia
Shirebrook is a town in the Bolsover district
Bolsover (district)
Bolsover is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. Its main town is Bolsover.There are fourteen town and parish councils within the district.In addition to the town councils of Old Bolsover and Shirebrook, there are the parish councils of:...

 of north-east Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

 on the border with Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. At the 2001 UK Census it had a population of 9,291 (civil parish), 10,412 (urban area). It is on the B6407, and close to the A632 road, between Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....

 and Bolsover
Bolsover
Bolsover is a town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 145 miles  from London, 18 miles  from Sheffield, 26 miles  from Nottingham and 54 miles  from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.The civil parish for the town is called...

.

The town is served by Shirebrook railway station
Shirebrook railway station
Shirebrook railway station serves the town of Shirebrook in Derbyshire, England. The station is on the Robin Hood Line, 35 km north of Nottingham towards Worksop.The line and the station were built by the Midland Railway...

.

Local economy

Shirebrook is a small market town with a market square (Market days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) surrounded by several shops. There is a large Co-operative food, a butchers, carpet shops, a photographers, 2 card shops, 4 cake shops, 3 Tattooists, 2 furniture shops, a baby shop, 2 pet shops, 3 cafes, 4 pubs, a lock smith, 1 solicitors, 2 DIY stores, multiple take-aways and 2 pharmacists. Shirebrook is home to many small local businesses. Much of the growth and prosperity of the town was built around coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 mining. Shirebrook Colliery opened in 1896 and closed in 1993. Like many former 'pit towns' in the area this led to high unemployment and other social problems. The former site of the colliery is currently being redeveloped. The Kissingate Leisure Centre is on Park Road. It has no swimming pool, but it does have an indoor five-a-side football
Five-a-side football
thumb|240px|alt=Men playing football on artificial grass pitch.|Five-a-side game on astroturf pitch.Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players , rather than the usual eleven on each team. Other differences from football include a smaller...

 area and a skate park. The Kissingate Leisure Centre itself was closed after being heavily damaged by fire on Friday 7 November, 2008, but reopened almost 12 months later.

The town is the head quarters of Sports World International, the UK's largest sports clothes retailer.

On 19 May 2008 Shirebrook featured on Tonight
Tonight (TV series)
Tonight is a British television newsmagazine, produced by ITV Studios and ITN for the ITV network. Since 1999, Tonight replaced the long-running investigative series World in Action...

on ITV1. It showed various places including Sports Direct, Shirebrook Market, the now demolished Empire Bingo/Cinema and also Carter Lane Social Club.

In 2011, planning permission was sought to build a new 30,000 sq/ft Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 superstore on the location of flats on Portland Road.

Education

The local secondary school is Shirebrook Academy on Common Lane is for pupils aged 11–16 at GCSE level and also post 16 (Sixth Form) students.

Shirebrook also has many primary schools and nurseries for all children to attend, such as:
  • Park Infant & Nursery Schools
  • Park Junior School
  • Stubbin Wood Special School
  • Brookfield Primary School
  • Model Village Primary School

Railway

Shirebrook once had three stations
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

, that remaining was on the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

 (later part of the LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

) route from Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

 to Worksop
Worksop
Worksop is the largest town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. It is about east-south-east of the City of Sheffield and its population is estimated to be 39,800...

 via Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....

, and was originally known as Shirebrook West, despite being on the eastern edge of the town. The route lost its passenger services in October 1964 - the same closure which left Mansfield one of the largest towns in the UK without a station, but remained opened as a freight route. On the site of the goods yard a diesel locomotive fuelling depot was opened when diesels replaced steam in the mid 1960's. The station was re-opened in 1998 on the new Robin Hood Line
Robin Hood Line
The Robin Hood Line is a railway line running from Nottingham to Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The stations between Shirebrook and Whitwell are in Derbyshire.The towns and villages served by the route are listed below:*Nottingham*Bulwell*Hucknall...

 services from Nottingham to Worksop. A wagon repair and manufacturing business have a connection with the main line.

Shirebrook North
Shirebrook North railway station
Shirebrook North railway station was a former railway station in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. It was opened by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway in March 1897 and closed by British Railways in September 1955.It was originally called Langwith Junction, and gave this name to the...

 station (originally known as "Langwith Junction", renamed in June 1924), was opened by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway was a British railway company built toward the end of the era of British railway construction. It opened its line from Chesterfield to Lincoln in 1897....

 (later part of the Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...

 and subsequently the LNER) in March 1897 and closed in September 1955. By then only one of the four routes converging on it was left anyway - that to Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

: the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....

's "Leen Valley Extension" line to Pleasley
Pleasley
Pleasley is a small village in between the nearby towns of Chesterfield and Mansfield, it is 8 km south east of Bolsover, Derbyshire, England and 4 km north west of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire...

 and Sutton-in-Ashfield
Sutton-in-Ashfield
Sutton-in-Ashfield is a market town in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of around 43,000. It is situated four miles west of Mansfield, close to the Derbyshire border.-Geography:...

 had closed in September 1931; the LD&ECR line to Beighton
Beighton
Beighton ward —which includes the districts of Beighton, Hackenthorpe, Owlthorpe, and Sothall—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the eastern part of the city, on the border with Rotherham and covers an area of 5.7 km2...

 via Clowne
Clowne
Clowne is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. It forms part of the Bolsover constituency. Clowne lies north east of Chesterfield and south west of Worksop. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Clune...

 in September 1939, and that to Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...

 via Bolsover
Bolsover
Bolsover is a town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 145 miles  from London, 18 miles  from Sheffield, 26 miles  from Nottingham and 54 miles  from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.The civil parish for the town is called...

 in December 1951, due to the unsafe condition of Bolsover Tunnel. The filling in of the tunnel began on the 10th of october 1966 and used waste from bolsover colliery. The route of this line can be viewed on google earth,The mouth of the old tunnel can be found on the southern edge of Scarcliffe, Emerging just south of Ridgdale road Bolsover.

Shirebrook South station was on the Great Northern Railway's "Leen Valley Extension" line mentioned above, opened in November 1901 and closed in September 1931.

Media

The town publishes a free newspaper, 'The Post', which is distributed to houses in the area on a monthly basis. The newspaper has a very strong Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 bias and is very vocal on local issues. The newspaper is published by Shirebrook Newspapers Ltd.

Notable former residents

Ray Wilson, a member of the England team
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 that won the 1966 World Cup came from Shirebrook. John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

, an English actor, lived in the town from birth until he was five, when his father was the vicar of Holy Trinity Parish Church. Other former residents include the actor Colin Tarrant. who played a number of roles including Brian Clough
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...


Sport

The town's main football club, Shirebrook Town
Shirebrook Town F.C.
Shirebrook Town F.C. are a football club based in Shirebrook, England. They are currently in Division One of the Northern Counties East Football League and play at Langwith Road.-History:...

, currently play in the First Division of the Northern Counties East Football League
Northern Counties East Football League
The Northern Counties East Football League is an English football league that was founded in 1982 by the merger of the former Yorkshire League and Midland League. The league has two divisions at present; The Premier Division and Division One which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football...

, and are based at Langwith Road.

External links

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