Ilkeston town is situated in the Erewash Valley, 9 miles N.E of Derby and 8 miles N.W of Nottingham. It is the third largest town in Derbyshire.

Standing on a hill, this former mining community was mentioned in Domesday when it was known as Tilchestune. The pits have closed in Ilkeston but it still a busy industrial town, whose many industries include engineering,hosiery, lace and fabrics, electronics, plastic and food distribution. A history of the town's industrial past is told in the Erewash Museum, housed in a fine Georgian building in the High Street.

Despite it's industrial outlook, parks, trees and flower beds are a feature of the community and there is some pleasant countryside around the towm.

Ilkeston offers an unrivalled shopping and leisure experience, being perfectly placed between Nottingham and Derby, with excellent transport links.

Ilkeston appears to have begun as a hilltop settlement of the Anglo Saxon Chief Ealac (or ‘The Elk’) around the 6th century AD. Later, in 1252 the Lord of the manor was awarded a Charter, permitting a weekly market and annual fair. The market and fair continue to flourish in the town. The market place is brought to life every Thursday and Saturday offering an excellent range of goods, from toys, confectionery and greeting cards to electrical goods, books and clothes. The Ilkeston fair, in October, has become an event not to be missed, which is now one of the largest street fairs in Britain.

Ilkeston has over 200 shops of all sizes, offering a wide variety of goods and services to the discerning customer. Many of the leading high street retailers are in the town, along with a superb range of independent shops. A variety of these can be found in the pleasant surroundings of the covered Albion Centre. This diversity of shops in Ilkeston enables all your shopping needs to be catered for in one visit, saving you time and money. So, whether you are looking for toys and china gifts, or a morning suit and millinery for a wedding, Ilkeston has it all for you

St Mary's Church dates back to around the year 1200, but little is left from this period apart from the 3 East piers between the nave and the South aisle. The nave was doubled in length when the church was enlarged in 1909-10 by P. H. Currey, and the tower was rebuilt in a new position. It contains a rare and remarkable early 14th century stone screen. There is a well preserved effigy of a cross-legged knight, presumed to be that of Nicholas de Cantelupe, who died in 1272. The Cantelupes were lords of the manor in the 13th century.

Opposite the church is the Town Hall, a modest barogue brick building of 1868. It was extended in 1974. Another interesting building in the market place is large red brick Carnegie Library, built in 1904 by Hunter and Woodhouse of Belper, with it's decorative Art Nouveau stone panels between the small windows under the eaves.

Sport is well catered for in Ilkeston, with an 18 hole golf club just south of the town. Cricket is played at the Rutland Recreation Ground, so called, because the Dukes of Rutland once owned much of the land here. It has a football team and a rugby team. A swimming complex known as the Victoria Park Leisure Centre is situated in Manner Road and there is a 10 pin bowling alley in the town centre.

Twinning became popular following the Second World War and was encouraged as a means of redeveloping links with other countries and communities. The processs was encouraged to break down barriers and prejudices between nations with the aim that this could help prevent another global conflict.

Twinning in the Borough
The borough's two principal towns Long Eaton and Ilkeston have well established twinning links with European towns under which there is an active programme of exchange visits. The Borough Council is pleased to support these twin town arrangements wich are described below, and extends a sincere welcome to all visitors to Erewash from overseas.
Ilkeston Twinning Association
The towns of Ilkeston and Châlons-sur-Marne (later to be renamed Châlons-en-Champagne) signed a twinning charter on 11 April 1957, but the story had really begun some ten years earlier. In the grim atmosphere of an exhausted and devastated Europe the city of Bristol decided to send a goodwill mission to Hanover, to offer the hand of friendship and help. It was accepted. Further twinning links between some of the leading British and German cities and towns followed in 1948 and 1949. The idea caught on. This was a way to develop real understanding between people, to prevent discord and war. It could add another dimension to local community life. It provided activity for young people. Ideas and culture could grow.
Twinning also began between French and German cities and then in the 1950's the Société Bilingue with the help of the British local authority associations assumed the role of broker and began to urge British towns and cities to sponsor twinning links. They wrote to Ilkeston and in 1955 the Borough Council of Ilkeston decided to seize the opportunity. The rest, as they say, is history ...

Originally, the link was primarily a civic one between the former Borough of Ilkeston and the Municipality of Châlons. Whilst the civic link with the twinning association remains, twinning activities have been extended in recent years to include exchanges between groups and societies in the two towns. Sporting exchanges are very popular with strong links through athletics, basketball, football, gymnastics, judo, rifle shooting, rugby, squash and table tennis. Châlons-en-Champagne (population approximately 60,000) is notes for the many historical associations and its connections with the production of champagne.

Visits between the two towns take place on a two yearly cycle. The last visit by Ilkeston to Chalons-en-Champagne took place at Easter 2005. The 50th anniversary of the twinning link will be celebrated in Ilkeston at Easter 2007.
The Ilkeston Association is managed by an Executive Committee which is elected annually by the Association and which meets, very approximately, at monthly intervals.

- Information Source - Erewash Borough Council