Long Eaton

The town's recorded history began with its entry in the Domesday Book as 'Aitone', an Anglo-Saxon name, probably meaning 'farm in marshland'.

During the 18th Century navigation on the River Trent was improved and new canals were built. Trent Lock was an important waterway crossroads from Neolithic times and by the 19th century warehouses, boat-building yards and public houses were all serving this busy hub where the Erewash canal, the River Trent and the River Soar converged.

Long Eaton remained a small settlement until the arrival in the 1840's of the railway.
Until this expansion, the district was mainly agricultural with some stocking-making in the village.

Around 1,000 men were engaged in the construction of the line between Derby and Nottingham. The following year the line was extended to Leicester, Rugby and London. In 1847 the Erewash Valley line, which passed close to the village centre, was opened and another station was built at Nottingham Road. Subsequent additions to the network, the building of Trent station and the expansion of the Toton sidings made Long Eaton an important railway town.

Lace making started before 1830 and by 1842 a steam powered factory had been built. In 1852 the first four-storey factory was erected near the Market Place - the first of many multi-storeyed lace factories. The development of lace making and associated industries continued in Long Eaton mainly because the costs of manufacture were less than in Nottingham, where the industry was centred. The growth of lace manufacture continued significantly until after 1890 and most of what is called Nottingham lace was in fact made over the County boundary in Long Eaton.

In the thirty year period from 1840 to 1870, Long Eaton developed from a village of 850 people into a town with a population of 3,200. The census returns of 1871 show that 62 per cent of the working population was employed in the lace and railway industries.

Until 1875 Long Eaton was administered by its own freeholders. In 1894 local government reorganisation created the Long Eaton Urban District Council.

Among the important buildings in Long Eaton is the Grade II listed Hall, probably designed by the famous Georgian architect Joseph Pickford of Derby.
It was built in 1778 for Henry Howitt, a gentleman farmer and one of the most prosperous families in the town.

St Laurence's Church in the centre of the town is by far the oldest building in Long Eaton and is of late Norman origin. The church has been substantially altered but the Norman building stones and Norman arch in the south doorway inside the porch still exist.

Other buildings of interest include the Old Bell pub which was almost certainly the village pub and dates from around 1700. Incorporated into the first floor of this old inn was the village meeting room which would have also been the venue for school classes before the first purpose built school.