About three miles south of Derby city centre, Allenton sits between the suburbs of Osmaston, Boulton, Alvaston, and Shelton Lock, falling within the Alvaston South ward. The area has a well-used shopping centre that ranks among the largest suburban retail areas in Derby, with familiar names such as Boots, Poundstretcher, and Greggs among its occupants. Free parking is available, and a busy outdoor market runs every Friday and Saturday along Osmaston Road, drawing steady footfall from across the south of the city.
History Beneath the Streets
Allenton was formerly known as Allentown, taking its name from Isaac Allen, who built the first houses there in 1878. Long before that, around 120,000 years ago during a warmer phase of the Ice Age, the whole area was a riverside swamp. Excavations have uncovered skeletons of hippopotamus, elephant, brown bear, hyena, and bison. The most celebrated of these finds, the Allenton hippopotamus, came to light in 1895 beneath the Crown Hotel, which had been established just four years earlier in 1891. The well-preserved skeleton is now on display at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. A functional sculpture by Michael Dan Archer, installed in the shopping centre in 2007 and commissioned by Derby City Council, echoes this discovery: it forms a circular seating area bearing laser-scanned copies of key bones from the hippo skeleton. Allenton also lends its name to a geological feature, the Allenton Terrace, the fluvial terrace of sand and gravel in the lower valley of the River Derwent on which the suburb and its surrounding settlements are built.
Local Landmarks and Connections
One of the most recognisable features of the local streetscape is the pedestrian footbridge over the Mitre Island roundabout, erected in July 1971. Widely known as “the Spider Bridge”, it earned that name from its eight legs extending in four directions, each with a set of steep steps and a stepped ramp for wheelchair access. The bridge has been painted various colours over the years and is currently white. Nearby, the former Alvaston and Boulton Board School on Allen Street, built in 1890, now houses the community library. The old Derby Canal has been converted into a tarmac bicycle track running through the local recreational ground and connecting Allenton to Derby city centre as part of the National Cycle Network. Rolls-Royce plc has its jet engine production facility immediately adjacent to Allenton, employing a large number of local residents in the aero-engine industry. The Victorian Crown Inn, originally the Crown Hotel, still operates as a public house beside the shopping area. Allenton is also the birthplace of Brexit negotiator David Frost, who took the title Baron Frost of Allenton in the County of Derbyshire when he was elevated to the peerage in 2020.