It seems only fitting that, as Mapperley was famed for the Chase, that it’s householders should love horses:–

Past street art:–

• Marshall Hill Gargoyles
• Gedling Lions
• Gedling House Elf
• Gedling Stick-men
• Wollaton Water Dog
• Phoenix Farm signs
• Nottingham Plaster Boys n Girls

Update 2 July 2022

Mapillary has changed it’s download URLs & therefore all links within my diaries that use photos stored in Mapillary are broken. I’m slowly going through to update them. The new URLs are terrifyingly long, but show OK on my screen (and I hope also on yours).

Here is a snapshot of recent history & developments within the suburb of Nottingham called Mapperley, and explicitly the private road called Podder Lane which I mapped a few hours ago.

This is what most of Podder Lane looks like today (1st photo below) and what the last 10 yards looks like (in my experience, the 2nd photo is an extreme example of the ‘normal’ condition of unadopted roads):–

… See full entry

Don’t misunderstand me; I like civilisation, I really do. I like that my grand-daughter Micaela can walk down the street without needing to actively fear every man that walks past, or worry about being pounced on by a sabre-toothed tiger, or a cave-lion. There are just so many benefits, like amoeba-free water plumbed direct into the home, lots of shops with shelves full of food good to eat, and maps of the area freely available. It’s all excellent stuff, even if it’s just the Matrix.

So why do I miss wild woods? With wolves, and deer running free? Possibly it is the Austrian blood from my mother calling to me, or perhaps because I have finally reached the edge of Nottingham’s suburban housing (Spring Lane), but at my last mapping session I was able to stand within Gedling Country Park and gaze from the high sierra south across a vista of naturally-seeded trees (please forgive my whimsy) and gain a hint of what the long-gone Sherwood Forest might have looked like:–

… See full entry

Please remove these Profile spammers (from Other nearby users, as shown in my Profile page).

Info on Profile Spammers

If you have access to their email address & IP you can signup at SFS & report them on to the DB, which will then prevent them from spamming any other forum/blog that makes use of SFS.

felineescorts (removed - thank you) (spam for escorts):–
Signed up:– 10 April, 2017
Edits:– 0
Traces:– 0
Diary:– 0

bohemiagirkl (removed - thank you) (spam for escorts):–
Signed up:– 13 March, 2014
Edits:– 0
Traces:– 0
Diary:– 0

debbie bryan (spam for a shop; no link, but is still spamming):–
Signed up:– 25 March, 2009
Edits:– 0
Traces:– 0
Diary:– 0

Steveford11 (removed - thank you) (pharmaceutical spam):–
Signed up:– 11 April, 2014
Edits:– 0
Traces:– 0
Diary:– 0

RDArchitects (spam for architects practice; no link, but is still spamming):–
Signed up:– 12 October, 2012
Edits:– 0
Traces:– 0
Diary:– 0

This is 5 of 30 users, suggesting that 16.7% (1 in every 6) of users sign up purely for the purpose of spamming OSM. After an analysis of those 30 users shown on my Profile, I found that 80% made no or very little contribution (3 or less edits) to OSM; this seems to be the classic 20%/80% split, and makes it very difficult to understand why all these redundant users should be retained.

A small snippet from my recent survey off Mapperley Plains, Notts.:–

The householder was a retired chap & explained that, when he & his wife got married & bought a house, some so-called friends had said that the two of them were now “Up the creek” (splendid friends, huh?). So, in response, they decided to give their new home a name:–

Update 2 July 2022

Mapillary has changed it’s download URLs & therefore all links within my diaries that use photos stored in Mapillary are broken. I’m slowly going through to update them. The new URLs are terrifyingly long, but show OK on my screen (and I hope also on yours).

We cannot (unfortunately) use Google Satellite to directly help us sketch buildings. I’ve spent the past 14 months using Bing (and now a week occasionally using DigitalGlobe) under JOSM to draw the outline of houses throughout Nottingham NG3/NG4. In my neck of the woods, DigitalGlobe is much newer, whilst Bing is less blurry, but Google normally knocks them both into a cocked hat, being both very new & as sharp as a pin (wistful sigh).

SomeoneElse showed me Google-3D — on a laptop/desktop hold down the <Ctrl> key whilst you use the mouse to move the satellite view & you will get 3D rather than 2D (I believe that this is accomplished using the 45° Imagery). I now use this imagery to re-walk the path that I took on my earlier survey + check the backs, etc. of the houses for all the bits that I could not see from the street when making the original survey.

In the past various MPGs have reacted with fury to me taking photographs in their vicinity (and have even tried to cause me serious injury), and there is a link between the location of these characters & missing sections of StreetView. I also know from many, many conversations just how common the irritation/anger is over Google’s street photography amongst Nottingham householders. This next bit will possibly cause their heads to explode.

In ordinary circumstances, pressing the + key on the Google Satellite view will eventually switch from overhead-satellite to StreetView (if it exists), and that change occurs in spite of the 2D/3D setting. I’ve discovered how to get closer without switching. Astonishingly close.

… See full entry

Frinz (removed - thank you) was your classic spammer, and in this case a Profile spammer:–

• Spammer (Oxford Dictionary) (Wikipedia)
• Profile Spammer:– Someone that places their spam within their forum Profile & then places at least one post within at least one of that forum’s boards
   
  (the purpose of the forum post is to get a legitimate forum link back to the Profile, something that all search-engines (SE’s) will follow — ALL spammer activity is intended to game the SE SERPs; any uplift from direct spammer links is simply a bonus)

In this case, Frinz placed his spam within the Personal page for his Profile. His stats are:–

• Signed up: 07:18 16 May, 2017
• Edits: 0
• Traces: 0
• Diary: 0
• Comment: 07:19 16 May, 2017: Comment content: “Hi Hello!”

Fairly transparent once you understand the method & motivations.

There are hidden gems at the corner of Arnold Lane & Mapperley Plains, both above & below ground.

The first item to be found travelling out from Nottingham town is a gas pipeline site, but let’s gloss over that.

Next is the 3WScouts site, and I think that it may be the best pocket-location for Scouts in the UK (it was locked up when I called last Wednesday, but this shot taken through the gate may give an indication of the delights behind) (or look through the photos at the 3WScouts website):–

The 3WScouts training ground is called “Pepperpots”. The photo below comes from the 3W website (I’m hoping to be able to arrange to take one of my own), and is one of the two sources for that rather odd name (the other Pepperpot is hidden within the woods at the eastern end of the site):–

… See full entry

(Wednesday May 10)
Some experiences I could do without but, at the same time, you can rarely choose those that you get. This particular one I have to be a touch careful about as (I very much hope) it may lead to criminal proceedings & I most certainly will not prejudice those (2 July 22 update: that never happened).

Added Friday 12 May:
Initially, after posting this I removed it & put in place a “(removed due to possible criminal proceedings)” notice. Today, John on the Newsdesk of The Nottingham Evening Post informed me that only once criminal proceedings are issued does there need to be a news embargo, so this diary entry can go ahead, as I have yet to receive any notice of any action.

Most of my recent time has been spent mapping Gedling NG4, UK, and had reached the point that it seemed right to extend a little further away from Nottingham, so I returned to the furthest place that I’ve mapped in an anti-clockwise direction, but further out. This was a large, recent development in the corner of the junction of Mapperley Plains and Spring Lane.

It was a blisteringly hot day. I normally set out at 9:30am, but this morning needed to finish off entering the previous survey, which took until midday. It was damn cold in the morning so I took 2 coats (English experience) but in the event needed neither after the first hour.

The emotional ripples on the way there were not very agreeable. On the evening at home I saw the Full Moon and went “oh, of course!”. Everyone is wound up tighter at the Full Moon, and unstable folks are more tripwire dangerous (mad dogs). I’m getting tired of continually only becoming concious of this after the fact. I need to complete my transfer to Java of an astronomical ephemeris that I wrote for VB4 35 years ago, and then I should be able to display the tides of human emotion on my desktop. Every good sailor needs to keep their eyes on the tide-tables.

… See full entry

Sadly, it is now too late to put your name forward to be elected on to the Management Committee (nominations are required 14 days in advance) but you can still attend & vote. Of course, it will help if you live close to Gedling Village, Nottinghamshire, UK.

Friday 19 May 2017:– Annual General Meeting

### Youth Centre Trust, Shearing Hill, Gedling The Notice:–

I’ve just mapped the Youth Centre & thought that I should give all the publicity that I could to try to help gather support as it attempts to relaunch itself. It is based within the Old Railway Station for the Great Northern Railway (1875-1960), and thus has extensive facilities available (there is a vast extra building to the RHS of the one pictured), but possibly needs a barrow-load of money to bring them up to scratch:–

… See full entry

Another interesting little snippet from the far north-east section of the Nottingham Suburbs called Gedling Village.

This is to do with Gedling House (see the bottom of Gedling Treasures for Grade II listed information). This posting is to make note of the Walled Garden that the house had, but I’ll first make some brief notes on the origin of the house itself:–

Rear:–

… See full entry

Wood Lane is possibly the original heart of Gedling Village (although after a talk & a meal with the elders of the local tribe last Wednesday, 3 May, I’m moving that node close to the 1,000-year-old All Hallows Church, near the area that the villagers themselves call “Gedling Village”). The average recent prices of houses in Wood Lane is ~£500,000 GBP (€590,000 EUR; $650,000 USD), which is 3 or 4 times a typical price for Nottingham. Much of the area is a Private Road (unadopted), but I’ve got to say that the folks there are most welcoming & not at all snooty (my grandkids & their mum visited me this last Bank Holiday and, after looking at some recent Diary postings, we all decided to take Buddy, their dog, in a walk through Gedling House Woods & Meadows, and had a fantastic time making friends with other, local dogs; Buddy enjoyed it as well).

I had a similar warm welcome & assistance from Dr Soar at Gedling Manor:–

… See full entry

Friends of Gedling House Woods (schools pack)

Here is a (virtual) walk through a wood on the north-east periphery of Gedling Village. These woods & meadows are well looked after by local residents, and they try to help, so here is a taster of what you may see during your journey:–

Text (for Translators):– > Beautiful things to see today
> Small white wood anemones are in flower in the woods. You can see them as you look among the trees from the bottom path of the woods just above the first meadow (the meadow nearest to Wood Lane).

Overhanging the second meadow, but growing in the woods, is an elm tree which has a lovely shade of light green ‘foliage’. On close inspection you can see that what look to be leaves are in fact clusters of seeds.

… See full entry

[See #1 for “Who stole Willow Brook?”]

Did someone steal a Footpath?

Waterhouse Lane was a recent survey, and I’ve never seen so many footpaths & Service Roads coming off the top of a road before — makes it look like a tree. The north-south footpath travels eventually to Lambley, is complete, but has to appear on the OSM map in numerous segments due to the mapping constraints (1-6 is within Gedling streets, 6-10 is within fields & 11/12 are within Lambley):–

• (s-to-n):– [1][2][3][part of Yew Tree Lane][YTL#2][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

So the North-South public footpath seems complete.

There is also an East-West public footpath (seen clearly on this NLS Map but make sure that you choose “OS 1900s” as the “Background Map”). The E-W footpath appears on those maps to travel from Lambley Lane & stop at Waterhouse Lane, but an access strip is clearly visible on some maps between the end of the footpath & the bend in Wood Lane.

A resident close to the footpath asked me if I knew anything about a continuation of the footpath as described above. He thought perhaps that it had become sealed off. I had to both profess my ignorance in his case & state that I had seen such an occurrence many times elsewhere.

For the record, these are the segments of the E-W public footpath:–

• (w-to-e):– [1][2][3][4][Alma Close][part of Oak Tree Drive][part of Willow Lane][8]

What I find most interesting is the way that these ancients paths persist down the centuries, and how Waterhouse Lane was far more important to Gedling than it at first appears.

My last survey included the best-surfaced unadopted=yes road that I’ve yet seen:– Waterhouse Lane. In the course of that survey I discovered:–

1. Why Willow Brook was dry
2. Yet another (possibly) stolen footpath

Who stole Willow Brook?

One of the residents on Waterhouse Lane told me that it was so-called due to a Water Pump that originally existed in that lane. Today, that Pump has gone. An old OS map shows a stream falling north to south, eventually along this lane, and finally emptying into Ouse Dyke. Only a bit of that old riverbed remains, and it is dry.

Recently the local School’s caretaker showed me the dry riverbed of that stream (this was taken over the fence from Willow Farm School):–

… See full entry

I referred to the wiki entry for man_made=water_well & used the following tags to produce this result:–

• historic=yes
• image=https://www.mapillary.com/map/im/6dIxP4t24DxXw8GWw-YGIQ
• man_made=water_well
• pump=manual

This is not exactly my best photo ever, but the chap that I woke in the middle of the day with my knock on his door was a shift-worker (speaking to me naked from his cottage bedroom window) & I really did not want to disturb him any further, so fled without a better one (the pump handle is on the unseen side; the pump stands at the centre-boundary of two semi-detached cottages):–

… See full entry

(my problem is not in starting, it is in stopping)

1. Begin
2. Desk survey
3. Sources found to Lambley Lane
4. Culvert + stream traced to Willow Park

• Q: When is a stream not a stream
• A1: When it is dry
• A2: When it goes underground

I got to Willow Farm Primary School & it should have been closed due to Easter, but the school gates were open. My good fortune, because the School Caretaker lives in the bungalow near the entrance & came to check me out. After a little conversation he took me to see the stream that ran alongside the school, travels in a culvert beneath the abandoned high-level mineral railway then empties into Ouse Dyke.

This is the stream on the other side of the metal fence but look carefully - there was no water in the stream when I took this photo:–

And here is the culvert (middle of picture) that runs beneath the railway line:–

… See full entry

It has been a mighty long time since I documented some Street Art (the last was some Lions in Gedling, Gedling’s obsession with stick-men, then in Wollaton Avenue but the main last entry was back in November).

This first is Gedling’s variation on Nottingham’s Plaster Boys ‘n’ Girls:–

(that variation appears to be positioning them on the street such that motorists get a sporting chance to mow the actual schoolchildren down, and only then are presented with a line of Plaster Children to warn them not to do so) (the school entrance is behind the photographer & in front of these school_sentrys) (also, notice how Mapillary has carefully blurred every face)

See also:– > man_made=school_sentry

Next is a house-elf (at his feet are rescued cobbles from a Nottingham street):–

… See full entry

I’ve just uploaded some changes to this proposed road on OSM (I’ve also made it an associatedStreet Relation so that all the various connecting roads + roundabout(s) can be viewed together):–

Gedling Access Road (GAR)

Note:– the GAR cannot be viewed in ordinary circumstances on the OSM map until it is built. It has, however, already been mapped. Therefore, the link above will show the whole of the GAR as planned in the context of the current map.

See also:–

• Gedling Council GAR homepage
• Gedling Council LocalPlan homepage
• Gedling LocalPlan Map
• GAR Planning Application (2014/0915) (pdf)
• Notts County Council GAR announcement (20 May 2016)
• Keepmoat Homes announcement of 1,050 new homes (1 June 2016)
•  
• Chase Farm (Diary)
• Mapperley Tunnel (Diary)
• Glebe Farm (Diary)

The map provided from the council shows it passing through the middle of some Retention Lagoons (I certainly hope not - our route misses them).

No GIS is available (that I know of) so I’ve used a combo of what appears to be a detailed, accurate (but tiny) map & a much larger, and out-of-date, inaccurate map to hand-draw as accurate a route as I can manage.

The planned Gedling Access Road (GAR) is a 3.8km road which will run from Mapperley Plains to the A612 at the Burton Road/Nottingham Road and Trent Valley Way junction.

Planning permission for the road was approved in December 2014. Construction works for the road is due to start in (Spring) 2017 with completion set for (Spring) 2019.

Added 10 May 2017:
I’ve recently photographed + mapped the fields north-west of the abandoned Chase Farm (killed by the GAR). The fence on this photo (first one below) is the line that the GAR will take, and the land dead ahead for many miles is what it will travel over (initial work for the Arnold Lane interchange can be seen beyond the fields).

… See full entry

Yet another first:– the first working farm that I’ve mapped (other, non-working, farms in Gedling have been Manor Farm Arnold Lane, Glebe Farm Lambley Lane, Phoenix Farm Arnold Lane 1, Phoenix Farm Arnold Lane 2 & Scot Grave Farm Arnold Road). You can find Gedling Wood Farm farmyard & fields here:

• Gedling Wood Farm

The farmer was enormously helpful; she made a photocopy of the field layout for me and named every field. In return I’ve spent an hour moving the existing landuse=farmland out of the way & have entered the first 6 fields on to the map. I like the way that they are rendered on the standard map; much more subtle than drawing the hedges in.

I’ve got one difficult decision to make. Ordnance Survey have two “Gedling Wood” on the map, which OSM have duplicated + added a third:– [1] is to the north & larger; [2] is invented; [3] is close to the farmhouse & smaller. The farmer named the field containing the smaller wood as “Little Wood”. I’ve got a suspicion that the farmer will know the names of the fields & woods better than the OS do, so am tempted to rename it (and remove the invented wood). Still, that is for tomorrow.

This is the farmhouse; it is ever so much older than you think (1600s - she named some feature about the windows as being an example of that period, but I could not retain it; naturally, the farmhouse also has a well):–

… See full entry