In Swadlincote, collections and industrial history sit alongside a variety of parks. This gives you several clear focal points to choose from when planning your trip: ceramics and technology, local history, or nature and leisure activities. You can decide which to focus on based on your interests.
Ceramics, Technology and Remembrance
The collection at Sharpe’s Pottery Museum ranges from toilets and teapots to tiles and Toby jugs. Its scope spans everyday objects to decorative ceramics, giving the museum’s theme a tangible framework. For anyone interested in ceramics, the museum is therefore about more than a single product: it offers a varied collection.
The history of Sharpe’s Pottery can also be traced to a specific date: the pottery was founded in 1821. Another historical connection is Edmund Sharpe, who patented a variation on the flush rim for water closets in 1855. The founding and the patent mark different aspects of ceramic and technological history and should be considered separately in time.
Eureka Park dates from the 1920s. Its name comes from a coal seam running beneath the park. It is also home to an 18-hole miniature golf course. The park thus combines a link to local mining history with a specific leisure activity, although the two need not be the same focus.
Parks with Their Own Character
Swadlincote Woodlands is an 80-acre park with 40,000 trees. Its landscape includes ponds and meadows, which are home to a variety of plants and animals. Its size, tree cover and different habitats make the park a multifaceted nature destination. If you want to include green spaces alongside culture during your stay, this offers a different focus from the collections or industrial history.
Cadley Park also brings together two different themes. It was created on the site of the former Cadley Hill Colliery, which was founded in 1861. The park’s pump track provides a sporting contrast. For anyone interested in cycling facilities, it is a destination in its own right, while the site’s former use brings its industrial history into focus.
Archives and Guided Walks
The holdings of The Magic Attic Archives include newspapers, photographs, maps, artefacts and family history material from South Derbyshire and the surrounding areas. The different types of material offer different ways into local history: family research, photographs and maps each provide a different focus from newspapers or artefacts. Groups can visit the archive on a guided tour by prior arrangement. Make arrangements before you travel.
The National Forest Walking Festival takes place annually and includes more than 80 guided walks. This sets it apart from the individual park activities: the focus here is a recurring programme of guided tours. Dates and programmes vary from year to year. If you want to include the festival in your travel plans, check the information for your intended year of travel.
The Maurice Lea Memorial Park offers another historical perspective. Local businessman Herbert Lea gave the park to the District in memory of his son Maurice, who fell in France during the First World War.
Discover more destinations: Whatstandwell, Draycott, Belper, Buxton, Walton, Pilsley, Ilkeston, South Wingfield.
For the main travel guide: Derbyshire.
