CODNOR PARK, formerly extra-parochial, now forms part of the ecclesiastical parish of Ironville (a brook which runs under the principal street, about half-way up, dividing the township); it has a station on the Erewash Valley (Great Northern and Midland) railway, and is also on the Erewash and Cromford canals, and distant 132 miles from London by rail, 4 south-east from Alfreton, 3 east from Ripley, and 8 north-east from Belper, in the Ilkeston division of the county, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, Basford union, Smalley petty sessional division, Alfreton county court district, rural deanery of Alfreton, archdeaconry of Derby and diocese of Southwell. The canals form a junction here, and the railway, with a station at this point, is in direct communication with the works and collieries in the neighbourhood. Codnor Castle, formerly standing in a park, covering an area of 1,500 acres, appears to have been a large fortress, and a part of the walls and foundations still remain: it belonged to the Lords Grey of Codnor, and after passing through several hands, was bought, in 1712, by Sir S. Masters, and is now the property of the Butterley Company Limited, who have laid out 7 acres as a park and recreation ground, in the centre of which, on the top of a hill, is a monumental pillar of stone, 70 feet high, erected in 1854 by the workmen and friends of the Butterley Company to the memory of William Jessop esq. the founder of the works; 150 winding steps within the column lead to a gallery at the top, from which very extensive views can be obtained; some years ago it was struck by lightning and traces of the occurrence are visible down the whole of one side. The Butterley Co. Limited have very extensive ironworks here for the smelting and manufacture of steel and all descriptions of iron, several blastfurnaces being constantly at work; the company are also proprietors of several collieries in this county and in Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire; ironstone, coal and other minerals abound. A Temperance hall. Institute and baths, were erected by the company in 1866; the former building is now occupied by the Conservative Club. The greater portion of the population are employed in the ironworks and collieries. Aldercar Hall is the property of Arthur FitzHerbert Wright esq. The chief landowners are the Butterley Company Limited, the trustees of the late Venerable Archdeacon Woolley, of East Bergholt, Suffolk, and F. C. Corfield esq. of Codnor. The soil is clayey; subsoil, marl and clay. The crops are wheat and oats, but the land is chiefly in pasture. The area is 1,431 acres of land and 27 of water; rateable value, £10,696; the population in 1891 was 1,077.

National Infant School, Golden Valley, erected in 1871, for 70 infants; average attendance, 43.