The ruins of Derwent church emerge from Ladybower Reservoir

As is traditional in a dry summer, Our History Underfoot has been to Ladybower Reservoir to see what remains of Derwent village have been revealed by the receding waters.

In a second video, he wonders at the many people who claim to have seen the steeple of Derwent church standing proud above the waves when they are not old enough to have done so. It was dynamited in 1947, partly because visitors had taken to swimming out to reach it.

Proof that the historical record is wrong? No, just another reminder of the fallibility of human memory.

A vanished island in the Trent near Nottingham

Shakespeare knew all about the River Trent's fondness for changing its course. Here's Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1:

Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here,
In quantity equals not one of yours:
See how this river comes me cranking in,
And cuts me from the best of all my land
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out.
I'll have the current in this place damm'd up;
And here the smug and silver Trent shall run
In a new channel, fair and evenly;
It shall not wind with such a deep indent,
To rob me of so rich a bottom here.

In and around Nottingham, these changes of course often have more to do with human engineering than natural forces.

Our History Underfoot has been investigating. Here he looks for a lost island at Clifton Grove, a few miles upstream of West Bridgford.

Exploring the Ivanhoe Line east of Coalville

With the Leicester Mercury reporting a new push to restore passenger services to the railway line from Leicester to Burton upon Trent, it's time to visit it again with Our History Underfoot.

In May we saw the line between Burton and Coalville, which hasn't carried any goods traffic for two years and is already showing signs of decay.

This time we go east from Coalville about half the way to Leicester. Matt sees, or at least hears, more quarry traffic than he expected and comes across relics of the district's early railway history. 

A third video will complete his journey to Leicester.

Following the course of the River Leen through Nottingham

Our History Underfoot – like and subscribe, my children, like and subscribe – follows the course of the River Leen through Nottingham. Just as in John Rogers' London river walks, we are taken to parts of the city we wouldn't normally see.

Except that I have been to some of these places. To prove it, here are my photographs of the railway bridge – I was surprised at how low it was, but didn't guess the reason – and the start of the Tinker's Leen beside the Nottingham Canal.