…would it tell you about the people who have passed by, or stood  and chatted awhile? Perhaps it would reflect on the changes it has been witness to?

Walking around Lenton on Christmas Eve was like visiting a deserted village. I began in the park, which I had to myself, and stopped to take in the view of the church and the flats (1), which I never tire of, especially on a day as crisp and clear as this. On Monday I had watched Tom from the Victoria Embankment treating the bowling greens (see photo on Dave’s page). Today, there were six holes in one of the greens (2), which looked as if they had been made by an animal. I then went along Church Street, across the Boulevard and past the Bag O’Nails, where the waste bins are still in the street (3) — just as they have been for the last few years!

I called in at the Crocus, even though it was officially closed, where Ian was preparing lunch for the Forum. I should have taken his picture. Park Street (4) was deserted and the footpath from behind Church Square to Galway Road (5) as bleak as ever. Local residents suggested greening the large strip of tarmac a decade ago. Surely, some imaginative use could be found for it.

From here I walked up Galway Road and passed a side gate which acts as a local noticeboard (6) to Harlaxton Drive (7), which was also deserted, then along to the footpath which takes you to Pelham Crescent in the Park Estate (8) and a short cut to the top end of Derby Road via Barrack Lane, where the demolishing of a house has opened up a view across Radford to the Player’s Warehouses on Triumph Road, beside the Jubilee Campus (9). The view will soon disappear again.

Then I crossed Derby Road and visited Wellington Square (10) for the first time in years. This forgotten corner of Nottingham is actually the north-east corner of historic Lenton. Not so long ago, this wonderful long terrace of Victorian houses had class. Now, the private landlords have taken over, the gardens are uncared for, unmatching uPVC windows are everywhere, bins and litter add to the air of neglect and decay which fills Wellington Square, as if it is waiting for a city council, which  should be protecting it, to sign its death warrant.

Then I headed home down Derby Road (11), which was devoid of traffic at times and saw a friend, who was off to see White Christmas at the Broadway Cinema. What struck me was the lovely run of Bulwell stone walls. On the opposite side of the road, just north of Harrington Drive, there is a modern house (12), built in the last 5-6 years. At the time I thought it was a bad development, as the house backs onto a sandstone cliff, but from the front, now the ivy has grown again and the plantings matured, it doesn’t look too bad.

A little further down Derby Road and a dentist has demolished a Bulwell stone wall (13) to create off-road parking. This has been happening for years and seems to have speeded up of late. At the present rate of demolition, Nottingham will soon lose one of its most distinctive landscape features. A few yards on, at the road’s junction with Cottesmore Road (14), you can see a clear example of what is happening. A new development has been allowed by Nottingham City Council to use bricks. On the opposite corner, a Bulwell stone wall survives. It would have been so easy to have imposed a planning condition which stipulated the new development had to have a Bulwell stone wall. If the City Council and its planners were minded to, they could issue a blanket city-wide planning conservation order to protect all the remaining Bulwell stone walls in Nottingham. I would!

Walls are things we screen out when we walk around, yet if they could talk (and I believe they can), they could tell you about who has passed by, who has stood and chatted awhile, and of the changes they have seen. If Lenton had its own local council, it could act to help ensure the protection of Bulwell stone walls in Lenton at least.

These were the thoughts as I walked the few yards from Cottesmore Road to my home beside the park and a Christmas Eve lunch of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toasted homemade bread. It was a good walk, enjoyable, thought provoking and, of course, healthy.

If this wall could talk…