Ilkeston is a town in Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England, on the River Erewash. Its major industries were formerly coal mining, iron working and textiles, but all these have greatly declined. It is the site of Ilkeston Charter Fair which celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2002.

The town is quite close to both Derby and Nottingham and is near to the M1 motorway. Although the town lies within Derbyshire, it is closer to Nottingham, the city limit of which is only two miles from Ilkeston's eastern edge. Due to recent fill in of land between Ilkeston and Nottingham, Ilkeston is considered by the Office for National Statistics to be part of Nottingham's metropolitan area.

Ilkeston was probably founded in the 6th century AD, and gets its name from its supposed founder, Elch or Elcha who was an Anglian chieftan ("Elka's Tun" = Elka's Town). Historically, the town was known as Tilchestune, and appears in the Domesay book under that name.

Its most famous son is arguably the actor Robert Lindsay, star of My Family and Citizen Smith.

Click this link for an aerial photograph (http://www.erewash.gov.uk/outandabout/images/Ilkeston_Aerial.jpg).

Ilkeston has it's own community Wiki, which can be found on the town's Open Community website, The Ilkestonian (http://www.ilkestonian.co.uk/). You might also try The Ilkeston Community Homepage (http://www.ilkeston.org/), and Erewash Borough Council (http://www.erewash.gov.uk)'s website.

You will find many pictures of the town and surrounding area on the Ilkeston Cam (http://www.ilkcam.com/) website.

--Roscopeco 21:42, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)